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

​"What happened to your hand?" the king asked, his gaze settling on him. He hadn’t noticed it until his wife spoke up.

​"I-I was helping my sister train, and she cut me by mistake with a knife," Cassius explained, hastily lowering his gaze.

​"When did this happen?" the king asked.

​"It happened after I went to check on the prisoners... but it’s nothing, Your Highness."

​"So why aren’t you healing?" Arianna refused to let it go. She was curious as to why he was unable to heal like other werewolves...even Alara’s healing had been abnormally slow.

​"That’s true. You are supposed to be healed by now," Ragnar chimed in, his face full of curiosity. "What is going on, Uncle?"

​"Wolfsbane..." Cassius admitted, swallowing hard. His eyes darted to the king, nervously searching for a reaction.

​Kane’s expression remained entirely blank, making it impossible to tell what was going on in his mind. He turned back toward Alara and spoke to the medicine women. "Make sure she recovers soon."

​The women bowed as he turned to leave. His sharp gaze locked onto Cassius. "Come with me. Now. We have much to discuss."

Arianna watched the men leave the tent. Her questions hadn’t been answered properly. It was obvious Cassius was hiding something, and whether the others couldn’t see through it or simply weren’t bothered, she remained suspicious.

​Alara had muttered his name. Even though she hadn’t said enough to complete the story, Cassius’s behavior now made Arianna suspect him all the more.

Even if he hadn’t launched the attack himself, he could very well have been at the scene of the crime.

​Curiosity ate at her slowly. Excusing herself from the room, she stepped outside. Kane and Cassius were heading toward the King’s tent to discuss the matter privately and she was determined to hear what was said.

​Grabbing the hem of her dress, she followed them, bypassing the front entrance to sneak in through the back.

The guards at the back post allowed her passage only because she was the King’s wife, suspecting nothing untoward.

​Arianna moved with careful, silent steps, closing in on the partition that led to the main quarters. Peeking through a small opening, her eyes locked onto the two men.

​Without a second thought, Kane threw a heavy punch straight at Cassius, sending him flying across the room.

Cassius slammed into a wooden table, dragging its contents to the floor with a loud, crashing thud as he went down.

Arianna’s palm flew to her mouth in shock, though part of her found the sight oddly satisfying.

She hadn’t expected a punch to be the first thing Kane threw at his friend, but the tension had clearly reached its boiling point.

​Cassius didn’t retaliate. He knew better than to try.

​"Is this how you manage things around here? You have no idea what goes on in this pack anymore!" the king roared at him. A single punch clearly wasn’t enough to quell his rage. His hands balled into fists once more, trembling with restraint. "Did you even look at her face? Did you see the terrible condition she is in?"

​Cassius looked thoroughly remorseful, unable to bring his eyes up to meet the king’s.

He slowly pulled himself up from the debris and lowered his head.

​"First it was my wife... My wife was strangled in my own pack, under your watch. The assassin is still out there and now someone else gets attacked...to prove what?" Kane growled, the veins along his neck bulging with anger. "My aunt’s jewelry went missing, and now Alara gets gutted? You know damn well that wasn’t an animal attack. It’s one of us!"

​Cassius opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself and merely shook his head, wise enough not to interrupt the furious king.

​"I gave you this position to protect my people, not so you could spend your time lingering in brothels. This is a massive responsibility involving innocent lives... my people’s lives, Cassius. If it was too much for you to handle, you should have told me."

​"It’s not too much, Your Highness!" Cassius snapped his head up immediately, realizing that if he failed to defend himself, his position would be ripped away.

​"Then explain to me what the hell is going on in my pack! Why these sudden tragedies? Why is my commander carrying a wolfsbane-laced wound on his hand when we haven’t even gone to war?"

​"It was an accident, Alpha! I was training."

​"I hope you also have an explanation for the attempts on the lives of my woman and yours," Kane demanded, his brows furrowed in pure rage.

​"Alara is not my woman, and what happened to her is an absolute atrocity! I could barely even recognize her earlier," Cassius pleaded, tears welling in his eyes. "Give me one more chance. Let me make this right."

​"This isn’t a marriage, Cassius. I don’t have to grant you forgiveness every time you mess up."

​A soft, inadvertent chuckle escaped Arianna’s lips—a mistake she instantly regretted. Panicking, she took a swift step back, but her foot collided directly with a wooden basket.

​Abruptly, Kane fell silent.

​"Who’s there?" he growled.

"I can go and check who it is, Your Highness. I think it might be one of the maidens," Cassius offered, stepping forward.

​Kane completely ignored him. His intense gaze remained locked on the wooden partition, his large frame blocking the path as he waited for her to reveal herself.

​Arianna bit her lower lip, terror seizing her as she realized the storm that would unleash if Kane caught her eavesdropping on private pack business.

​Heavy footsteps approached the curtain, stopping just on the other side.

​"Come out now," Kane’s voice cut through the air, cool and dangerous. "And I will spare you... wife."

*****

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