The Alpha's Temptation

When the king ordered with a growl, there was no way that Nora could go against it. She picked up the cup and drank half of it when Tania said, "Stop!"

Nora was already breathing hard. The bitterness of the poison had already burned the taste buds on the tongue. Her throat felt constricted and her heartbeat was slowing down at an abnormal level. Her lips started trembling and they turned blue. She couldn't hold the cup any longer. Her hands shook violently and the cup fell down on the carpet. Nora lowered her head. She closed her eyes. Her insides were feeling like they were on fire. Every little part of her body was burning and numb at the same time.

Not able to sit any longer, her body swayed like a dry leaf in a summer storm. She lost her balance and fell back on the ground. Her vision turned blurry. She mumbled with her swollen tongue, "I am being killed…"

Tania picked up the cup of tea and knelt down beside Nora. She brought the cup to her eye level. Bending down a little over her, she said, "You are not being killed, but you got yourself killed. Did you think that we wouldn't know about the wolfsbane that you added in this cup?"

Even in her state, Nora denied, "No, I didn't. It is a false charge." She hoped to put a rift between the king and queen. "The queen is lying. She is saving… Flora…"

Tania chuckled. "We had already detected that you had poisoned my last cup of tea. Had it not been for Flora, I would have drunk that."

"No…" Nora was beginning to feel like her guts would come out of her body. She wanted to vomit, but felt froth around her mouth.

"This tea was also poisoned by you. We had interrogated the head cook already and the young girl."

"No…" she said in a barely audible voice.

"You got wolfsbane from Morgan!" Tania growled.

At Morgan's name, Nora stilled.

Tania continued, "Who sold it to Platt, with whom you are living these days!"

Nora's eyelids were closing. She was becoming number with each passing second.

"You left your husband ten years back and joined Platt because you are addicted to weeds!" Tania lashed at her.

Tears flowed out of her eyes and before closing them, Nora said, "S—save me…" After that, she lost consciousness.

Eltanin came to Tania's side and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Tania," he called her, who was still staring at the traitor. She didn't know why she wasn't feeling remorseful about making her drink the poisoned tea.

"Get up, love," he said softly, coaxing her out of her reverie.

Slowly, she rose to her feet and said, "I— I—" Tears slid from her eyes. "What has become of me?"

"You did right, Tania," he said and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and cried silently. She didn't want it to end like this, but she was getting fed up with people who wanted to kill her at every step of her life. And she wanted to live. Live freely.

"Guards!" Eltanin shouted.

Gordon came inside immediately when the guards opened the door.

"Take her to dungeons and send a healer to wash her stomach. I want her alive but barely."

Gordon nodded and lifted Nora. He carried the listless woman out of the room.

---

Nora hadn't come till so far. Platt was getting worried. Usually her duties got over at this hour and she would come back. Together they would smoke weed and sleep together. "I am going to the market," he said to Kypho who was thinking about what to do next.

Kypho nodded and Platt went out. Rather than going to the market, he took his horse from the corral and rode to the palace. He wanted to get in the palace but he decided to stay in the shadows a little far off from the main gates. It was already night and the servants were lighting the torches of the palace. Slowly, as the torches lit, the walls of the palace were covered in the buttery glow of the fire. His eyes were fixed on the gates, hoping to see Nora. For the past ten years they were together. She had left her husband for him. He never offered to marry her and she never asked him to marry her. Their relationship was fine. Moreover, he was not only on the payrolls of the Draka Kingdom, he also got money from Kypho.

He got restless and his jaws clenched when the gates opened. A few servants and guards came out, but Nora wasn't there. Some went in at the same time. It was time for the change of duties. He took advantage of it and took his horse to the gates, hoping to enter with the crowd. However, the moment he came near the gate, the guards stopped him.

"Your name isn't there, Platt!" said one of them. "Have you forgotten your duties?" All others laughed.

"He must have smoked a lot today!" Someone called.

There was more laughter.

Platt laughed with them. But he turned back, not wanting to raise suspicions. He rode to the group of four servants who were talking loudly as they were going down the cobbled path towards their homes. He dismounted his horse and started walking behind.

"I saw Gordon today," said one of the young girls.

"Where?" asked another one.

"He was going to the queen's room along with Nora!"

Platt froze. Why would Gordon go with Nora?

"Don't gossip!" The man with the girls chided them. "Nora is the head maid and I heard that the queen was extremely tired. She didn't even come out for dinner today. Maybe Nora is attending her for the night."

A girl scoffed. "That old bitch can't stay without her weeds! She will find an excuse to go."

"She will be removed soon," said the man. "The queen has got her personal fae maid from Vilinski."

Platt rubbed his chest, feeling anxious. He mounted his horse and rode back to his house. He needed to give this information to Kypho.