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

The dust Kane stirred up as he leaped into the air sprayed across Samantha’s face, but she stood completely frozen, doing nothing to shield herself. In truth, she barely even felt it over the sharp, suffocating ache in her chest.

​What had just happened?

​Only a few minutes ago, everything had been going so well, but now it felt as though the Moon Goddess herself had turned against her. Before Arianna had set foot in their tribe, Kane had actually cared about her.

​Samantha vividly recalled how, whenever they used to come to these jagged rocks with Ethan, Kane would always ask if they were strong enough to make the leap using their own primal strength.

Even though he already knew she was capable, he would still wait for her to reach the peak safely before following behind. He had done it simply to ensure their safety—and that quiet, protective nature was precisely why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

He possessed a good heart, no matter what dark rumors were whispered about him.

​But that Kane no longer cared for her. Tonight, for the first time she could remember, he had abandoned her at the base of the cliff without a backward glance to ensure she was alright and it was all because of that insufferable human, Arianna.

​Samantha clenched her hands into tight fists, marching over to the nearest tree and slumping against its trunk.

Her chest burned with the bitter realization of what her future would become if she failed to get rid of the princess.

​Arianna was a blight, a bad omen who ruined everything good in her life. She had somehow bewitched Kane, warping his mind until she was the only thing he could see or think about.

​Samantha fought back the scalding tears pricking at her eyes. She refused to climb up there and face the two of them together.

Instead, she turned and sprinted back toward her mother’s tent, collapsing inside and sobbing her heart out. Tonight, her mother wasn’t conscious to hold and console her, making the isolation feel far more painful than ever before.

​She was still weeping when a sudden, dark thought struck her.

​Samantha wiped her eyes and stood up from the floor, striding purposefully into her mother’s inner chamber.

​"Get out, all of you," she commanded, turning to the maids who were tending to Freya.

​Though confused, the servants obeyed her without argument, slipping out of the tent. As soon as the flap fell shut, Samantha approached the bed to ensure her mother was truly sound asleep.

The heavy draft the priest had administered after his spell had worked instantly, plunging Freya into a deep, unbroken slumber.

Samantha went straight to the heavy wooden chest where her mother kept her most precious belongings and flipped open the lid.

She reached inside and pulled out the ornate ring the king had gifted to her mother—a legendary piece that the last Luna had worn for years before her passing. It was no ordinary ring.

​The piece was so precious to Aunt Freya that she rarely wore it, saving it strictly for the grandest occasions.

​Samantha took the ring and tucked it securely into the bodice of her dress. Just as she was about to close the heavy lid, another glistening item caught her eye: the golden necklace that Ragnar’s father had given to her mother on the very day he was born.

​Ragnar and Samantha didn’t share the same father. Her own father had abandoned them long before Aunt Freya married Ragnar’s father who was now Astrid’s husband.

​A sharp, mischievous smile flashed across Samantha’s face as she snatched up the gold necklace and slipped it into the pocket of her dress.

​She closed the chest gently and stood up. Her mother remained sound asleep, completely oblivious to what was happening in the room.

Quietly, Samantha slipped out of the tent only to nearly collide with her uncle and cousin right outside the entrance.

​"Oh, Moon Goddess, Ethan! You two scared me," Samantha gasped, pressing a hand tightly against her chest to keep the stolen ring from sliding out. The two men had moved so silently that she hadn’t noticed them until it was almost too late.

​"Why are you acting so jumpy?" Ethan asked, his brows drawing together in a heavy frown. He looked far more pained and pissed off than she did.

​"It’s none of your business," she snapped back.

​"Get out of my face," he said rudely.

​"Is the king in your tent?" Cassius asked with a serious face. He didn’t even care to greet her or stop Ethan from speaking so brazenly.

​Since they couldn’t enter Aunt Freya’s tent without permission, Samantha decided to punish them. "I have no idea...not until you tell Ethan to apologize for being rude."

​"What?" Cassius was not expecting her to be stubborn at a time like this. "Can you just go in and inform the king that we have come to see him?"

​Samantha rolled her eyes. She recalled what had happened this morning and how Cassius had embarrassed them all in front of the guards. It was only fair that she pay him back, now that the ball was in her court.

​"The king is busy with Aunt Freya discussing important matters, Cassius," she began with a cruel smile. "As such, whatever you have to discuss with him is the least of his problems right now."

​Those were the exact words he had used on her this morning. The moment he realized it, his brows pinched together in absolute frustration and anger.

​"Do not play with me, Samantha," Cassius warned.

​"Or else what?" She couldn’t care less about what they could do to her.

​Ethan didn’t even bother to beg her to let them in. He just stood there silently, which was so unlike him. Samantha wondered why they were so desperate to see the king at this hour. Something serious must have happened, which meant Ethan would surely apologize soon.

​"I want you to stop this madness..." Cassius started, but his voice trailed off as Samantha burst out laughing. "What is so funny?"

​"Tell him to apologize, and this will all be over."

​"You know his rank and position... there is no way he is going to apologize."

​"Even if I were an omega, I wouldn’t apologize to her if she was an alpha" Ethan hissed, spitting onto the ground.

​He only succeeded in making his cousin even angrier. Samantha didn’t bother talking back; she knew exactly what to do.

It was obvious Cassius was about to report Ethan to the king anyway, which was why Ethan couldn’t care less about apologizing to her.

​"My cousin went to his favorite spot with his wife. You can go and meet them there."

​"Seriously?" Cassius growled, utterly annoyed. She had been playing mind games with them, knowing fully well the king wasn’t even inside the tent.

​"Go on, both of you... who knows where he’ll go after that," Samantha laughed softly. She watched them storm off against their will, thwarted in their attempt to settle scores with her.

​As soon as they disappeared into the night, she hurried over to the servants’ quarters. Finding Maria’s tent didn’t take long. Moving quickly, Samantha pulled out the stolen ring and hid it deep inside Maria’s small wooden box.

She took extra care to ensure the box belonged to Maria specifically, since she shared the tent with another servant—both of whom were currently down at the river gathering water.

​Mission accomplished, she slipped out of the tent and made her way down to the empty market square.

At this hour of the night, the grounds were completely deserted, though many shopkeepers had left behind heavy items like storage crates and mats to save themselves the trouble of hauling them back and forth.

​No one would ever dare steal within the king’s pack.

​Samantha halted right in front of Astrid’s stall. The woman was notoriously paranoid, leaving behind nothing more than a simple wooden table and her woven mat.

​Samantha bit her lower lip, scanning the area as she pondered where to conceal the necklace. It would be an absolute disaster if someone else got blamed for it instead of Astrid.

​Deciding on a spot, she knelt down and dug a shallow hole directly into the dirt floor of the stall, burying the gold necklace before carefully smoothing the earth back over it.

Satisfied, she wiped her hands and slipped away, making her way back toward the tents.

​A surge of wicked thrill washed over her at the thought of what tomorrow would bring.

Her mother would throw the entire tribe into chaos over her stolen treasures, and the king wouldn’t rest until the culprits were brought to light.

​And once the dust settled, both Arianna and Astrid would be cast out of their lives for good.

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