Mated To The Barbarian King Who Is My Ex-husband's Father.

Kane had gone to check on the builders before heading back to the campsite. As he approached his tent, he noticed Samantha slipping inside his tent after a brief exchange with his guards.

​Normally, he wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but the recent clash between her mother and his queen was a loud enough warning. He needed to ensure no more fights broke out.

Furthermore, the assassin from the previous attack was still at large and had yet to be caught. After finding that stray patch of fur left behind in the tent, Kane no longer trusted anyone...not even his own family. One of them had betrayed him and he had to keep investigating until he unmasked the traitor.

​"What did Samantha go inside for?" Kane stopped and questioned the guards.

​"To deliver a scroll to the queen, Your Highness," one of them answered immediately.

​Kane nodded, wondering what kind of scroll was so important that she couldn’t simply send a servant to deliver it. He stepped into the tent, only to find her lingering by the table, handling something that didn’t look like a scroll at all.

​He kept perfectly silent, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. Samantha was so completely absorbed in what she was doing that she didn’t even sense the presence of her Alpha entering the room.

​But the moment she spun around to leave, she nearly crashed right into his chest.

​Her heart began to hammer so violently against her ribs that Kane could hear the frantic echo of it with his own sharp hearing.

​"Y-Your Highness?" Samantha managed to find her voice, placing a trembling hand over her chest to steady her nerves. "I... I didn’t see you enter. You startled me."

​"Why are you so frightened? What exactly were you doing?" he asked, his brow furrowing deeply.

​"I... I..." she stammered, nervously scratching the back of her head as her gaze dropped to the floor, as if desperately searching the dirt for a believable lie.

​"Did you lose your voice?"

​"N-no, cousin," Samantha muttered, shaking her head as she finally forced herself to look up. Fear gripped her—fear of what he might do to her if he discovered she had just stolen from him. "I came to drop off this scroll. Mother sent me to deliver it to your wife."

​Turning back toward the table, she picked up the scroll she had just set down.

​To her utter surprise, the king snatched it right out of her hand and unrolled it. He scanned the parchment briefly before fixing her with a hard stare. "Is she handing over Ragnar’s dowry as well?"

​"W-what dowry? N-no..." Samantha’s confusion was genuine. That was absolutely not supposed to be the content of the scroll. She had swiped it from her mother’s desk, fully believing it was the official authorization handing over control of the market to the new queen.

​She had no idea about any dowry for Ragnar. Wait, was her mother planning her brother’s wedding without telling her or anyone else?

​"I can read, Samantha," the king growled, his brow furrowing as he turned the parchment toward her, pointing directly to the top where the words Ragnar’s Dowry were clearly written.

​Her eyes widened in absolute shock as she read the heading. Samantha wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

​Her mother was secretly arranging Ragnar’s engagement to the daughter of a neighboring pack’s Alpha.

The laws of the royal family were absolute: the king alone decided who his relatives could marry. A noble could bring a proposal to him, but the king held the ultimate authority to approve it or choose someone else entirely.

​Samantha cursed herself for not reading the scroll before bringing it into the king’s tent. Now, she hadn’t just gotten herself into trouble—she had dragged her mother into the fire with her.

​"So this is how your house operates now, is it?" The king folded the scroll, tucking it away instead of handing it back to her.

​"I-I have no idea, Your Highness. Mother must have just been drafting the dowry list without thinking," she pleaded.

​"I am not a child, Samantha," he reminded her, his voice dangerously low. "This scroll carries your mother’s official seal and was ready to be sent out. The arrangements have already been made completely behind my back. She acts as if she has the command to do whatever she deems fit. Does Ragnar even know about this?"

​"N-no, I am certain he doesn’t! Even I... I just found out this very second," Samantha answered quickly, bringing her hands together in front of her chest in a desperate gesture of apology. "Please forgive my mother... I am sure she was going to tell you very soon. Please, Your Highness, do not punish her."

​"You have no right to demand that," the king said coldly, walking over to the bed. He set the scroll down before taking a seat on the edge of the mattress.

​Just as Samantha was about to plead for mercy once more, Eira emerged from the inner chamber. She clearly hadn’t expected to find the two of them there. Keeping her head down, the maid quickly bowed and hurried out of the tent.

​A moment later, Arianna stepped out, wearing a thin, crimson nightgown robe. Her thick, black hair fell loosely over her chest. Framed by wide, striking eyes and sweet, nude-colored lips, she offered him a soft smile before dipping into a graceful curtsy.

​Kane couldn’t even blink as he stared at her. She seemed to grow more extraordinary with each passing day and he simply could not get enough of the sight of her.

​When Arianna lifted her gaze and her eyes met his, she looked away immediately, a slight blush warming her cheeks.

​"Princess Samantha, you are here?" Arianna asked, walking closer with a welcoming smile.

​"Yes, Queen," Samantha replied, forcing a tight, fake smile onto her face. "The king and I were discussing something of great importance before you joined us."

​Arianna was taken aback by her sharp reply, but she tried not to let the woman get inside her head and ruin her mood. It was obvious Samantha was trying to make her jealous.

​"Samantha is already finished here, my queen," Kane interjected smoothly, his intense gaze still locked entirely on Arianna.

​Arianna chuckled softly, turning to look at Samantha, whose expression had quickly soured into anger. "And here I thought I was interrupting, Your Highness."

​"No," he answered bluntly. "You may leave, Samantha."

​"Your Highness..." Samantha gasped. She hadn’t expected him to dismiss her so callously in front of the human princess. Humiliated, she forced a stiff bow, spun on her heel and stormed out of the tent.

​"What now?" Arianna asked once they were left completely alone. Her heart was beating so incredibly fast that she genuinely feared it might give out and stop altogether.

​"Can you read the books to me now?"

​She hadn’t anticipated him being so eager to have the texts read aloud. Arianna walked over to the table, but as she looked down, she found only two books resting there.

Her brows furrowed in confusion and she frantically looked around the immediate area for the third volume.

​There was absolutely nothing. Who could have possibly taken it?

​"I only have two here," Arianna said, turning around to face him. "I suppose I can read the first one tonight. We can save the second for another time."

​"No," Kane countered, his dark eyes locked onto hers. "I prefer the other one."

​Arianna swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry as she looked down at the remaining book on the bottom.

It was the heavily illustrated guide, filled with the most explicit explanations of sex positions.

Why on earth did he choose that one? Could he actually tell the difference between the covers, or was this just a terrifying coincidence?

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