Perry’s POV
"Cause trouble under my care?" I tilted my head lazily. I wanted to hear what this man could tell . "What trouble do you think she will cause ?"
Caron looked composed in his seat as he faced , though he avoided direct eye contact—the intensity of my gaze was sothing he couldn’t bear. "My king, I can’t say it, because if I do, I will portray a bad image of her, and no matter what, she is still my daughter."
"Then I don’t think you need to see her. She’s fine. Alive and unhard, if that’s what you care about. You can leave now." I felt a wave of disappointnt wash over —I’d expected more from this fool sitting before .
I didn’t like the beta for countless reasons. He was a scheming old bastard. This wasn’t our first encounter either. I rembered him from long before I claid the throne.
"My king, I’m glad she’s fine under your care, but I miss my daughter." Caron drew a deep breath, as if carrying the weight of the world. "I’m grateful you haven’t acted harshly despite the rumors spreading about her, but she’s still my daughter, and I didn’t get to see her when you took her away."
"So you bla ?"
"No, of course not!" Panic crept into Caron’s voice as he waved his hands dismissively, then sighed again. "I only want to give her advice. She tarnished her own reputation back in the Obsidian Claw pack, and now she’s your mate and will be queen of this kingdom—I want her to behave."
"Who told you she’ll be queen of this kingdom?"
Shock spread across Caron’s face, but I ignored it and continued. "If you couldn’t give her advice when she was still in the Obsidian Claw pack, what makes you think it’ll work now?"
Caron had no answer, but he wouldn’t be a beta if he couldn’t wriggle out of this.
"My king, everything that happened was punishnt for her, and I think she’s learned her lesson. I believe she’ll listen to now. Whether you make her queen or not, she still needs to behave so she won’t sully your na."
"Sully my na?" I laughed—that was the funniest thing I’d heard all day. My nickna was the Mad King, after all. "What else could she possibly do to sully my na?"
Only then did Caron realize his mistake. This ti, he didn’t try to be clever and shut his mouth, waiting for to stop laughing at his blunder.
"If there’s nothing else you want to say, you can leave."
Caron lowered his head. He had two choices: leave and forget why he ca, or give what I wanted.
Kevin had told him to expect this.
"My king, what do you want to know about my daughter?" Caron finally asked, his expression emotionless as I matched his seriousness.
This was when the real conversation began.
"What kind of mistake did she make to be punished and demoted to oga?" I interlaced my fingers and propped my chin on them. My gaze was sharp enough to make Caron restless, though he hid it well.
"That..." He acted troubled discussing his daughter’s mistakes, but then the story flowed smoothly. He didn’t hold back in revealing Phoebe’s offenses.
Phoebe’s mother had abandoned the pack after finding her destined mate. She left Phoebe and Caron without a word to be with that man.
"I think she got that from her mother." Anger and resentnt still lingered in Caron’s voice when he spoke of Phoebe’s mother.
Around fourteen, she’d seduced her stepbrother. Reginald resisted because they were practically family—he felt it was completely wrong to have that kind of relationship with his stepsister.
After that rejection, Phoebe went wild, trying to be with any man she could get. Her actions tarnished the family na, and no matter what Caron did, Phoebe wouldn’t tone down her promiscuous behavior.
This led to the day she tried to run away from the pack house because the pack mbers hated her for seducing almost all their n.
They caught her and brought her back, where she was demoted to oga. Because of this, Alpha Kevin rejected her as his mate.
"But even after that, she still chased the alpha because the mate bond was apparently still there, and Alpha Kevin couldn’t resist when she kept throwing herself at him."
Caron lifted his head, giving an apologetic look that made want to gouge his eyes out.
"The alpha is a man, after all, and he wasn’t with anyone else. The temptation made him weak. It was a lapse in judgnt to get tangled with Phoebe, and he admitted that." Caron shook his head. "That’s why I don’t want her making the sa mistake here."
The story was believable, and I listened attentively. It was hard to tell whether the forr beta was telling the truth or rehashing lies.
"I hope you understand, my king. No matter how flawed my daughter is, she’s still my blood. Family doesn’t hurt each other."
I scoffed. "Mine did." I leaned back, looking lazy. "So did you."
I invited Caron to lunch with Phoebe—I wanted to see how they interacted.
"I don’t think this is a good idea," Flynn said when he heard my plan.
"Nothing’s ever a good idea in your eyes," I said irritably. We walked toward the dining hall where Caron waited alone.
I’d just sent an oga to inform Phoebe that I’d et her in the dining hall with her father. She must be on her way too.
"Perry, what’s your point in proving this?" Flynn asked skeptically about Phoebe. "You need to cut her off from those pack people if you want to keep her. We can silence them so they won’t spread rumors about her beyond their pack."
"You worry too much about the kingdom’s image." I didn’t seem to care. A good image didn’t guarantee good fortune. "Stay back, Flynn. I don’t want to hear your opinion."
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