Chapter 7 - The King Before Adrian|
The previous Alpha King had been Adrian's father, King Edmund Blackthorne.
Officially, Edmund had died after a sudden illness when Adrian was twenty-two. The kingdom had mourned, the council had declared Adrian the rightful successor, and the royal archives had been sealed for security reasons.
Hazel had never heard the story before that day.
“Why would my mother be involved?” she asked.
Adrian led her to a private archive beneath the royal library. The room smelled of old paper and cold stone. A guard unlocked a cabinet and withdrew a folder marked with a silver crescent.
“My father believed the Moonveil bloodline could challenge the royal bond,” Adrian explained. “He wanted to find the surviving heirs.”
“To protect them?”
“I don't know.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were reports written by royal investigators. One named Hazel's mother, Lydia Montgomery, as a medical assistant at a northern territory clinic. Another accused her of removing a sealed bloodline record from the royal archive.
A final document was stamped RESTRICTED BY ORDER OF THE KING.
Hazel read the line twice.
“Why would my mother steal a record?”
“Perhaps she discovered what it contained.”
“Or perhaps she was framed.”
Adrian looked at her.
“That is possible.”
He did not defend his father's reputation. Hazel noticed.
A page in the file listed several names connected to the investigation. Malcolm Voss. Richard Sinclair. And one name that made Adrian go still.
Thomas Vale.
The oldest member of the High Council.
“Your council elder was involved?” Hazel asked.
“He was my father's chief adviser.”
A cold silence settled between them.
Hazel turned another page. It contained a handwritten note in Lydia's script.
The bloodline is not a weapon. If the king believes it can be controlled, he will destroy the very thing he fears.
Below it was a date: the day before Edmund disappeared.
Hazel's fingers trembled.
“My mother knew something had happened.”
Adrian studied the note.
“Yes.”
“Did your father kill her?”
“I won't accuse a dead man without evidence.”
“Would you investigate him if he were alive?”
Adrian met her eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer carried more weight than a promise of protection.
They spent hours reviewing the file. Each page revealed a larger network of secrecy: medical records altered, witnesses transferred, royal correspondence destroyed. Lydia had tried to preserve evidence, but every attempt had been blocked by people who claimed to be protecting the kingdom.
Near midnight, Hazel found a small envelope tucked into the back of the folder.
It had never been opened.
Her name was written across the front in her mother's handwriting.
Hazel struggled to tear the seal because her fingers had begun to shake.
Inside was a short letter.
My darling Hazel,
If you ever read this, the people who promised to protect us have failed. Your blood is not a curse. Never allow anyone to tell you that your life belongs to a crown, a pack, or a man who fears your freedom.
There is one truth I could not tell you while you were young.
Your father is alive.
Hazel stopped breathing.
Adrian took the letter gently and read the final lines.
He is the only person who knows why King Edmund disappeared. Find him before the council does.
Beneath the letter was a name.
Rowan Ashford.
Adrian looked toward the archive door.
“Rowan Ashford was declared a traitor twenty-five years ago.”
Hazel stared at him.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because he was the king's younger brother.”
