Chapter Seventy-six

Dagen's POV


Everyone was right. Life had to go on.
Before long I was subsumed in my responsibilities as Alpha of my pack. The concerns surrounding Alpha George's ascension to the throne were becoming a huge discourse and even more troubling were the rumours of his ties with the underworld. Thus, I made my work my life. I made sure I had no time to moan over how pitiful life was.

Then one day, Nydia came to me with news that should have made me happy.

“You're pregnant?” I quipped, certain that I had heard her wrong the first time.

“Can you believe it? After all these years,” she looked elated. She had tears in her eyes and her lips were stretched out in a wide smile. Her eyes searched mine for the joy it held, but they turned disappointed when they could not find the joy she was searching for in them. Try as I might, I could not share her feelings. My own state of mind confused me. Why was I not happy?

“I am going to make you a father, are you not happy?” she asked.

“Has the royal physician examined you? You should send word to Madam Margaret to help you through the pregnancy. If you will excuse me, I have work to do,” came my cold shrouded response.

Love was a funny thing. There was a time I swore I could lay down my life for Nydia, now I could barely stand her presence except I needed to be intimate with someone. And recently, I have entertained other women. I no longer care for her expertise. The truth was, I wanted to suggest that she leave the palace altogether since I had no feelings for her anymore but news of her pregnancy changed everything. Even if I did not want her within my sight, I still had to ensure my child was born in the capital city.

“Is this how it is going to be between us? You want me to get lost, don't you?” her eyes, once clouded by tears of joy, were now heavy with tears of disappointment. Once upon a time, those tears would have moved my heart but now, they only increased my irritation.

“Alpha Dagen, the butler sent me right here. Is something the matter?” Lord Edvin had just walked into my private library. He looked at his sister with something like pity in his eyes.

Nydia hurriedly wiped the tears from her eyes and walked out in fury. I turned my attention to Lord Edvin, grateful that he had interrupted us.

“Lord Edvin, we have much to discuss. Something very dark is happening…”

“Dagen, speak to me as a friend. What is going on?” his voice bore concern and I knew that he meant well.

“Nydia is pregnant.”

“With your child, I presume?” he quipped.

“I believe so.”

“And you are not happy?” I could hear the unspoken words in his tone. He had told me several times that a day was coming when I would fall out of love for Nydia. That whatever love spell she had cast on me would dissipate and he would remind me when that happens. Those words and you are not happy? Were a reminder.

“The pack will have a crown prince, I have done my duty as Alpha of the pack,” came my stoic response.

“What about you, Dagen? How is Dagen?” he asked me.

“I do not know,” was my honest response.

“If you are unwell, the pack suffers as well. I see you gave up searching for Regina,” I had made that decision months ago and sometimes I wonder if I had done the right thing. It could be that she was still out there somewhere but if she was it meant she did not want to be found.

“It is pointless; my child within her is dead. I should let her go,” I said with a tight smile as I held the tears behind my eyes. Why did my heart grieve for my unborn child who was long dead and could not be bothered about the one growing within Nydia?

“If you do find her, what will you do?”

“The law requires that I end her life to…”

“I do not speak of the law, I speak of you.”

“I am inseparable from the law.”

We said nothing to each other for a while and when the silence had dragged on enough, I said to him, “Alpha George, the Council of Elders want him investigated.”

“Rumour has it that he has solicited the help of a powerful vampire king to help him hold onto his throne,” added Edvin.

“A vampire king? That makes no sense; he is a werewolf,” came my response.

“My thoughts exactly; I believe he is doing something with the underworld ruler. He might be trying to buy powers from hell. Do you remember the rumours about him being a sorcerer?” asked Lord Edvin.

“I thought there was nothing to it, I was too little to make sense of anything then.”

“The rumours about Alpha George may mean nothing but I will look into it more closely.”

“Would you like to go riding sometime? Thunder will get rusty if you keep her indoors all the time,” Lord Edvin said, changing the subject.

“And you have gotten quite good at scaling walls,” I returned with a smile. His face bore confusion.

“Are you ashamed of your relationship with a maid or are you scared that the law will catch up with you,” I looked him directly in the eye. I had known for a while that he was seeing one of my maids but I had thought it was a fling and their flame would soon die off but their affair had been going on for several months now.

“You knew,” Edvin stared right back at me when he said this. He was not one to bow his head in shame or shy away from an accusation.