#18 Accomplice

Lilly’s last words to me “please take care of my child and death can’t separate us for my spirit will always be with you till we meet in the afterlife”. Her majesty was laid in a vault which is a stone-lined room with wall shelves that hold the coffins. It also features a small altar at the far end,
where in the past royals would go to reflect and pay tribute to their lost loved ones. She was laid to rest with her father in Rozzano Lilly was buried with her and her husband’s wedding rings, and also buried wearing as much of her jewelry as could be on her body.
She was buried with a ring on every finger, bracelets stacked along her wrists, and her neck layered with necklaces. She was laid to rest with the lace wedding veil signifying that finally in death her days of sadness were over.

The king also requested that the public not wear black in their mourning for her, preferring them to wear white! After the funeral there was a grand feast to complete the burial, but the king did not want to celebrate for any reason.
There were several items such as wild rice, deer meat, smoked fish, potatoes, as well as the three sisters: corn, squash, and beans. Weeks after the burial of the queen Lilly, the King said to himself “Jack and his accomplices need to be found,
for Jack to have successfully kidnapped Lilly with the guards on duty he must have accomplices within the knights. I don’t think I can sleep well without punishing Lilly Kidnappers”, the King sent a messenger to his second in command,
“Yes Luke, I shall be there, there was a hold-up on my end but I am on my way now", he said, slipping on his Italian leather shoes. He had a very insane policy of wearing expensive clothing when he wanted to deal with someone who had the nerve to go against him.

It was a way of showing how much he liked their courage and bravery, although he was still going to end the person no matter what. “Very well, my lord. I shall await your arrival”, the second in command said. He left the room shortly after and walked through the deserted hallways.
He stopped at a window looking over the garden, there he remembered when he and Lilly had their first kiss which was at the garden. He remembered the smiles on her face, he remembers her beautiful fish-like eyes, which increased his guilt;
guilt that he was not able to protect Lilly when she needed him the most, then he felt anger; anger that he had to lie to his mate because of a treacherous guard.
He swore on his life that whoever caused this would wish they were dead once he began with them.
His eyes locked on the garden as he reminisced about the old times. It reminded him that it had been a while since he had brought her flowers to her grave, Maybe today after everything, he would handpick some Roses to give to her.

Hopefully, then she would forgive him for making such a mess of things and not being there for her. As the alpha king walked into the large clearing of the campgrounds,
The men; already in line and waiting for the king to give them their next order, were nervous about his arrival. Word had gone around that there was a traitor amongst them, they had lost trust for one another and the place became chaotic at the news,
but they wondered why they had just found out a day before they were being questioned and to face trial. They were all confused when they were told to report to the training campgrounds, it was unusual for the alpha king to make such a decision on short notice, it was almost unethical.
They had decided not to ponder on that for too long, as the main problem here was that there was a traitor and this traitor had accompanied Jack in the kidnapping of the late queen.
They were all shocked to hear that Jack was the main cooperate behind her kidnap, even the second in command Luke was shocked since the king didn’t inform him about it.

It could be any of them! Who could it be? The whole atmosphere reeked of fear, anxiety, and tension, it was so thick, that it could be cut by a knife. This made the alpha king angry; how could he sniff out the one he was looking for when all the men were acting guilty and jittery.
He strode towards the men quickly, his inner emotions showing through his features. At this, the men straightened up as beads of sweat ran down their faces due to the hot weather and the nerves boiling in their bodies.
“I assume you already know why all of you are gathered here and why I do not trust any of you enough to guard the premises for the last six-ten days”, he said, moving in between the men;
smelling their fear and enjoying it in the most sadistic way possible, “Yes sir”, they chorused, bowing their heads as a sign of respect to their king. “Now, one or even more of you have taken it upon yourself to double-cross me in an act of treachery, betrayal, treason, and murder.
Well, kidnapping and the cause of the queen’s death”, he took slow, deliberate steps as he circled the men, looking at every one of them. Sooner or later they would have to crack.

“One of you decided it was to set my queen up and bring her to her doom, one of you here betrayed my trust”, he stood in front of the men and looked them in the eye.
“I know who the person is that betrayed me”, he said truthfully, he had sniffed the person out immediately he passed the person. This person had the fear and anxiety of the other men, but he also had one thing the others did not have, worry.
The men looked among themselves. “Does he know who the person is? Who could it be?” The guards were eager to know who the person facing a death sentence was, well,
all except the culprit who was looking directly at the alpha king, hoping what he had said was false. The murmuring of the crowd became noisy and chaotic once again as the men accused one another of being capable of betraying the alpha king’s trust.
They pointed fingers at each other, but they never once pointed their finger at the person who had done it. They respected the person too much as he was a leader among them. “Silence!”, Luke had yelled loudly, getting the attention of the rowdy men,
he hated seeing the men who were to be disciplined in such a disorganized state, The alpha king nodded at his second in command and carried on with his disrupted speech.

“Now, if that person should show himself, I shall reduce the torture they go through before I eventually end them”, he had lied, he knew it in his heart that he had not been truthful.
He was going to torture the person till they begged for death, he would make sure the person never saw daylight again. Now knowing who betrayed him made him furious, for he had trusted the man with his life for years,
and he also trusted the man with his chosen life. He had brought the man for nothing, and this is how he was willing to repay him for everything he had done? Every rule he had bent, all his
morals he had to discard just for the sake of this man. His eyes turned to black, he was done playing these childish mind games; he was out for blood and he was going to get some blood, the blood of the man he thought he could trust.
With the speed of lighting, he was in front of the treacherous man. He grabbed him by the neck, took him to the higher pavilion, and knelt him down in front of the rest of the men. The men were completely and utterly shocked at the sight of one of their well-known leader and cowered down in fear.