Chapter 65

Nick POV

Dylan had been back for three days, she had been going to school with me, Arya, Adrien and his mate, Jana for the entirety of those three days, much to her confusion. In fact no one knew why she was spending her days in the classrooms with everyone else, it was unfair really, if she actually ever did manage to retain the information given to her during lesson she would just forget it all again after her and King Josh left for the next district.

I personally didn't understand how she was still so vibrant, if I'm being honest. She still laughed with her stomach at things that were funny, she still talked back to the teachers, and most importantly she still stood up against the lycans, despite getting consistently beaten by King Josh anytime she speaks.

The most shocking turn of events, is king Josh's treatment of her... She's his mate, his other half, like Arya to me only his temper towards her is appalling, I've even heard the schools principal saying so this week.

Some people argue that her rejection has made him like this, even Erin has said it before, her attitude changed though as soon as Dylan saved her from punishment a few days ago, but rejection or not, no one should ever treat a person the way he does her, especially not if you claim to live that person.

Don't get me wrong, she has her moments when nothing but panic crosses her eyes, and anyone with eyes can see she truly is afraid of the king. In that instance it was almost as if there were two Dylan's fighting for themselves to be seen.

The first was the same Dylan everyone already knows, the one who doesn't take any bull shit, the one whose mouth consistently runs away from her. The one that stands up for everything she believes and damns the consequences of her opinions. Then the other was this empty shell of emotion, the Dylan that starts trembling when the king appears, the one whose eyes can't hide the terror running through her body at his proximity, the one who tiptoes around the kings every word, flinching if he so much as looks at her for too long.

In the past, and despite everything that had happened in the last five years, Dylan had never been afraid of the lycans, sure she never liked getting punished, but the thought of the pain never once stopped her from expressing her views.

I genuinely don't know the full extent of what's happened to her or what she's been through in the last few months that she's been away, but I do know Dylan, I know that before his grace, she would have stood up to everyone and anyone that had something to do with the oppression of our kind. So seeing her cower before the king, and watching her flinch in anticipation of pain every time he nears her, broke me more than words could express.

Her treatment at the palace must have been so excessive and unrelenting that she's developed this completely rational fear of him, it is the only explanation for her to be acting the way she was.

We were currently all sat around the table, everyone was tucking into individual pieces of pie, everyone except Dylan. She was sat on a chair that was leant against the wall, her head was back and she was staring at the ceiling. Out of curiosity I followed her gaze and looked up discreetly, seeing the blank ceiling for myself, perhaps she was counting the tiles that were scattered on the roof, that's the only thing she could be doing, there was nothing else up there.

She genuinely wasn't showing any signs of even being aware of where she was. She was tired, anyone could see that just by looking at the dark bags under her eyes, her skin held a dullness to it that she had never had before, and the plethora of scars that subtly pocked out from under her clothes were enough to make anyone's stomach churn. She had been through so much, and I strongly believe it wasn't going to get any easier for her, especially now that the 5 year celebrations had continued and the king had began his tour once again.

"The announcement will take place later this evening, Arya, King Joshua has asked if you would provide queen Dylan with a gown that's suited to her status?" My beautiful mate nodded at her father while a scoff sounded throughout the room, along with it came a quiet mumble and a deep tone full of resentment.

"Status my ass!" Even I heard it and turned to my old friend as her eyes widened. There was absolutely no way in hell, that she meant to say it out loud. Her head snapped to the king before ducking her head quickly under her arms in a protective gesture. I questioned her actions slightly in my head but my thoughts were cut short when a glass hit the wall directly over her head and completely shattered from the impact, the tiny pieces of sharp glass sprinkled over Dylan like glitter, cutting her lower arm slightly and entangling themselves in her tied up hair.

She slowly unwrapped her arms from her head and looked at her left arm in shock, tiny drops of blood began to gather down the length of her appendage, and she quickly began to pick the little imbedded transparent pieces out of her flesh.

"You are trying my last nerve, mate. One more outburst from you and you'll be spending the remainder of our time here, in the pack's dungeon." She rolled her eyes at his words while continuing to pick the glass out of her wound, however I did notice the slight tense in her body.

"Our dungeon, your grace, is currently full." Alpha Adrian stated meeting the kings eyes before subtly grasping hold of his mate Jaba’s hand. I only noticed the action myself because I was seated next to his opposite side.

“If that is the case then perhaps a public execution is overdue.” The newly appointed Gamma, Warren stated, we learnt about him in school the week before the kings arrival, he was new to the role and we were told to memorize everything we could about him. Luckily the old Gamma was promoted to beta, so most of the districts already knew of him and his background. Of course being the kings main envoy the entire world would know bits about them, but not anything truly personal. No one knew what had happened to the old beta, or why he was suddenly replaced, but no one questioned it, despite all our curiosities about it.

“Perhaps you are right, your grace, especially if you wish to use the dungeon, I assure you everything in our fine district is yours.” Adrian’s dad spoke sparing a single glance at the boy sat next to me.

The atmosphere was beginning to thicken, which Arya knew full well, it had been months since I’d moved into this house, and one thing that I was certain of since the move was that Adrian hated his father.

“I’ll take Queen Dylan to get cleaned up, and I assure you, your grace I will help her choose a beautiful gown for your announcement.” Arya spoke respectfully, trying to ease the growing tension between alpha and son. This was often the case. Being mated to Arya meant that I got an inside look into the lives of our district leaders, both current and future. Both Aryas father and the king were just as unhinged as each other. King Josh performed a simple nod of his head, as Arya stood and gestured over to Dylan, who begrudgingly stood up. “Jana, why don’t you come and help, it’ll be good to have two sets of opinions.”

I watched Dylan groan unintentionally as Jana jump up and slipped her arm into Aryas. They were going to be sister in laws soon, so my smile was permanent as I watched the girls walk away.

“So What is this announcement about, father?!” The current alpha shook his head at his sons words and shrugged.

“Oh? Well me and his grace have been rejiggering the educational curriculum, and we’re have been extremely lucky as the king has agreed to allow us to be the trial run.” He deliberately didn’t give anything away to Arian as he spoke, tiptoeing and sliding around the question in order to doge it.

“We’re going to abolish it…” the king spoke his voice slightly risen in question. “I am aware that the rebels in the west have grown in number dramatically. Due to this we have simply concluded that humans do not need education to be useful to us. All the knowledge provided to you, is simply unnecessary, so we have taken it away in its entirety.” He held a smug grin as he looked at everyone around the table still and chuckled. “A human cannot rebel if it’s never taught the skills needed to do so.”

Oh my god, I can’t believe his intentions are to take away our rights entirely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***Hey guys, quick one for you to answer in the comments. What POVs would you like to see/more of?? Let me know and I will try to make it happen.

Thank you for reading. *