ARIA.
I now stood before a fuming Queen and a raging Lyall. Mason, whom I found out was his ststepbrothersat at the far end of the room, holding an ice pack against his swollen jaw.

Right now, the Queen was in command. I had never trembled this hard before anyone in my whole life. There was something about her that made me want to run and hide in a cave. Something about her that made me want to cease to exist and forget about Lyall once and for all.
She was livid. She was angry and I could tell from the way she kept glaring at me.
"Mind telling me what's going on, Lyall?" She asked. But Lyall was too focused on peeling skin around his fingers than actually listening to her. "Alpha Lyall! Is Mason right?!"
Scoffing, he shook his head. "Because Mason can sense any fucking thing doesn't give him the right to joke with a lie." Lyall faced his brother who only laughed. Just as he made to lunge at him, a guard whom Sheila had placed before him blocked the way and Lyall went back to his seat, fuming in anger. "I don't have the time for this."
"As it seems, we all do have the time for this, don't we, Aria?" She pronounced my name like she was picking them letter by letter.
I could barely speak. I was paralyzed with the fear of what was likely to happen if she found out his brother was right. I despised Mason. I wished Lyall had knocked him out for good.

Besides, all of that was solely my fault. If I had remained in my room instead of forcing Tiffany to assign me to a job because I couldn't just stay without seeing Lyall, maybe none of this would have happened! Now I saw why he had asked me to stay in the servants' quarters until he was about to rectify every issue.
"Answer me!" She barked and I nodded, lowering my head.
"Yes, my Queen."
"Mason, what did you sense?" She asked, her voice calmer now.

"Pheromones. From her and him. Whenever two people release it at the same time when they are in proximity, it means something is off. He has been sleeping with her. Definitely, while you were away."
"I would fucking strangle you till every breath leaves your lungs, Mason!" Lyall raged. "You speak nothing but lies!"
Sheila smiled and shook her head. "You forget, honey, that I am capable of bringing the truth out of anyone but you. It's why you can easily get away with things from me. Well, I am going to find out from our maid here. She can't resist me."
Lyall gave me eye contact and I knew he didn't want me to bend under her pressure. But how the fuck was I going to do that if I had no idea of how strong she was.
Slowly, Sheila took my hand and stared into my eyes. When I tried to look away, she shook her head. "Don't even dare."
Nodding, I remained staring. She said nothing for a moment and just as I began to wonder why, I started to feel it.
My body felt weak like it was being controlled by her eyes. I felt light-headed and I swayed from side to side.
"You're taking this out of proportion, Sheila," Lyall's voice floated into my ears and for a split moment, I felt like I was out of her spell. His voice.
His voice could get me out of it. I wanted him to speak again but when he did, it came as a muffled sound and I was unable to hear anything again.
Shit.
"Tell me," Sheila's voice came like it was in my head and I jumped, eyes wide in fear as I stared at her. How the hell had she done that? "Did you sleep with Alpha King Lyall?"
"I-" my voice was so tiny. I wanted to lie. I wanted to say no but I couldn't force my mouth to. The reply was in my head but I couldn't even make it up as a word. She was fucking powerful. "I did."
That must have shocked anyone to the marrows but when her voice came again, it sounded fucking composed. Mason's laughter distracted me for a moment before it went out abruptly.
"When did it all start?"
I didn't want to speak but I was unable to. Tears began to stream down my cheeks and I heard the sound of a chair scraping.
"Tell me!" She commanded, her voice coming with full force. "When did this all begin?!"
"I-"
"Enough!" Lyall's voice came and I was immediately snapped out of the spell. My eyes fluttered open and I just realised that I had kept it close. "Stop, Sheila. I'll tell you everything you need to know."
She pulled away from me and wiped her hand on her dress before she turned to Lyall.
"Can I leave now?"
Lyall looked at me. I could see the pain in his eyes. I knew he had a lot to tell me but I wasn't willing to listen. Not anymore.
"You are not allowed to," Sheila replied. "You're going to remain here for as long as this lasts then I will decide what will be done to you."
She seemed so in control now. I don't know how she was able to do it. To have two grown powerful men kept in their seats. Although Lyall still had the power, like he had commanded her to stop, she still controlled a lot. And that scared me.
"So are you going to tell me now, honey?" She asked, smiling at him.
"Yes, I will. But first, Mason needs to get the fuck out." He glared at his brother who immediately pushed to his feet.
"Of course, I will. At least, now I know that you're not perfect after all. Oh, how beautiful it would feel to use this against you. What do you think, Sheila?"
"Out."
The door swung shut and Sheila went to take a seat. "I am listening."
"Uhm, the elders have been on my neck for a while now, asking me to provide an heir. We got a letter from the Lycan Confederates that a game was going to be held in a few months and every participating Alpha had to come with their family consisting of his wife and a child. Preferably an heir, whether he has been born or not. I didn't want to do this, I promise. I had no option."
I hid my hand under my dress. Sheila was watching me and I didn't want her to see me shake. Lyall was warping all sorts of lies and it had me wondering if he really cared about me in the first place if he was ashamed to actually tell her that we were mated together.
"I had no option, Sheila. I didn't. Do you think I wanted to do this?" He laughed and shook his head. "It wasn't a mistake I have to admit. On the night I couldn't sleep, I went over to the galleys and sat there, thinking of how to do this because they surely want you out of that throne and I couldn't risk that. So I saw her and she was fancy to look upon. At least, I could bear breeding her. So I took her—"
"And you were planning to hide it from me for how long?" Sheila asked. She was fuming now. I could see it in the way her jaw trembled. "How long?! If Mason hadn't mentioned it to me, I would have remained in the dark about all of this! Oh, gods!"
"I'm sorry," He took her hand and looked into her eyes. I couldn't bear to watch him show this much care to another woman while I craved for him. I couldn't bear to watch him assure her when I got nothing so I turned my face away, holding back my sobs as it threatened to crack through my body. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings, honey. It's why I kept it from you. I couldn't bear doing this to you. You've been so good to me and suddenly, I have to turn my back against you and sleep with another woman because of fucking tradition? Do you think I want to do this?"
"Of course, you do!" Sheila screamed and the tears began to pour. "Look at her! She is fairer to look at than I am! It's why Mason picked it up immediately! Any man will be attracted to this woman! Any man! Why didn't you tell me before you did this?"
"I knew you weren't going to agree to it."
"And you did it. You broke our trust. You slept with another woman and the whole time I was away, I couldn't wait to be back in your arms! Tell me, when I came back, had you already fucked this filthy thing?!"
Lyall closed his eyes and sighed before he nodded. "Yes, I did."
Sheila crashed to the ground, letting out a wail that marred my heart forever.