Stolen by the Beastly Lycan King-Chapter 20: Princess in the Tower

The dark shadows of the night drowned the area around the royal palace in its thick black blanket.

Rhaegar, concealed in his long black cloak, stood silently in the shadow before the princess' palace; only his bright, glowing amber eyes were visible in the blackness of the night, reflecting the silver moonlight.

Born with a shadow wolf, the man had no issue blending in with the shadows surrounding him, but his eyes were always flaming like two burning coals, betraying his presence.

Rhaegar took a deep drag of his fragrant cigar, exhaling thick gray smoke from his mouth.

Tonight, the pain was somewhat unbearable.

Smoking usually helped with that. Naveen was good with everything herbal, and she made sure to make this special blend of a pain suppressant just for him; for his personal and very irritating needs.

Rhaegar took another drag and closed his eyes, feeling the smoke fill his lungs and sending a slight relief all around his tense muscles.

It was not enough.

Nothing was.

Ever since he turned eighteen, it was his time to look for his breedmate. The beasts knew better than to prolong this process. After all, if a beast refused to mate, their body would start rebelling, and that rebellion would inevitably turn into a bone-crushing ache that could not be endured.

But Rhaegar repressed his inner beast.

The herbal cigars helped him tolerate the pain, but then, for the first time in years, he encountered something that relieved him of his suffering completely.

It was her. Princess Lorelai. She was his mate.

Thinking back about that tiny, fragile woman made Rhaegar scoff. It was ridiculous. Of all the people all around the continent, why did it have to be her?

No, he refused to believe it. Or maybe... he had to check it again to make sure.

His glowing eyes shifted slowly to the only window that still had the light on.

'The only one working, huh? I guess there is nothing else you can do when you are locked in the tower with a dragon watching over you.'

Another shadow moved closer to the man and a pair of golden eyes fixed on his expressionless face.

"King Rhaegar," a low male voice addressed him quietly. "Why are you here? We are going to meet them soon anyway. I'd rather we don't spend more time here than necessary."

Rhaegar silently nodded at Gian, his second in command, and took another drag of the black cigar, his eyes returning to the window of the princess' room.

He could not simply shake her off his mind. The night he spent with her was unbelievable. And although he almost gave in to his sanity and refused her that night, the glimpse of her red dress turned him into a madman.

She bewitched him.

When Rhaegar accepted that invitation from Erelith, he thought it was his chance. He had been frantically searching for the perfect opportunity to meet her again and repay his debt, but there was nothing.

And then, on his first night in Erelith, she came to him on her own. Small, frightened, desperate.

She asked him the most outrageous thing and yet, he could not refuse. How could he refuse those big green eyes?

After that night, he could only think about her. His blood kept boiling and he could not help but feel drawn to her. He wanted to get closer. For the first time in years, he actually wanted someone.

While the king was deep in his thoughts, Gian suddenly frowned as he smelled something strange in the air.

"Do you smell it?"

Rhaegar threw the cigar onto the ground and put it out with his foot, closing his eyes tightly in order to focus.

After the night with Lorelai, he could only smell her all around him. Her intoxicating vanilla scent refused to leave his body no matter how many times he took a bath or enveloped himself in the cigar smoke.

But this time, his aide was right. There was a peculiar, strong stench of blood surrounding the entire palace grounds, and Rhaegar found it alarming.

"Does it remind you of something?" Gian asked again as he noticed his king frowning.

Rhaegar opened his eyes and looked back at the princess' window once again. The light was now off.

His frown deepened.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. And to be honest… I could not care less if it does."

***

Lorelai pulled her legs closer to her chest and hugged her knees, resting her tired head on top of them.

Once she turned the lights off, her headache finally subsided and she was able to relax again.

Visiting her father tonight was a definite mistake. Now, even though it had been hours since she returned from his chambers, she could not help but think about her family.

'I miss Mother...'

Lorelai missed the late queen every day. Why did she have to leave her so early?

Althea played the role of the queen perfectly in front of others, but she could never care to even pretend to act like Lorelai's mother.

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She was the one who bullied the late Queen Sienna to the point that the latter drowned herself in the lake.

Sienna was the only daughter of Archduke Zenett and it was only natural that she were to become the next queen of Erelith. Her marriage to King Yanis was not perfect, but she did her best to work for the sake of her people.

Her only flaw, as it turns out, was her poor health. Sienna miscarried six children before she could give birth to Lorelai, and two more after that.

Lorelai was not enough. The king needed a male successor. And that was when Althea suddenly appeared.

Beautiful and cunning, she arrived at the royal palace holding a son in her arms and claimed that he belonged to the king. There was no mistaking it; the boy had the king's bright green eyes, but most importantly, the blood test performed by the Temple confirmed his royal lineage.

King Yanis got his successor.

Later on, Althea accused Archduke Zenett of sending a sick girl to the king in order to obtain more power, and after a long trial, he was executed while his daughter, the ousted Queen Sienna, ended her own life in shame.

As soon as Althea was crowned the queen, Lorelai's fate was sealed––she was no longer considered a successor; now she was just a puppet in the hands of a greedy queen.

But it was not only the princess who was Althea's puppet. Somehow, it seemed as if the Queen had bewitched almost every noble in Erelith, and since no one wanted to oppose the crown, her silent tyranny was doomed to continue for years.