**Talon’s POV
I took a deep breath.
My Alpha owed big, again!
Then I stepped up in front of everyone at Ethan and Madalynn’s sham wedding and commanded that they regain their seats so that I could explain the situation.
“Ladies and gentlen,” I began, as they all quieted down and reclaid their chairs. A silence finally fell over the crowd of curious guests as the eyes of over three hundred of the most prestigious visitors in the capital were all on , including Madalynn, who was still outraged, and her father, as well as the king and queen, who were perplexed at Ethan’s behavior, to say the least.
“As most of you know, many months ago, my Alpha Ethan took a breeder, an Alpha’s daughter, nad Rosalie, to ensure that he had an heir.”
Most of the people in the crowd nodded along with , though so looked surprised.
“I don’t see what she has to do with anything!” Madalynn began.
I bowed to the King, and requested politely, “Please allow to finish, my King.”
The king raised a hand to stop her and nodded to to gestered that I continue. Madalynn’s eyes bulged from her head, but she closed her mouth.
I nodded in appreciation and continued, “Tragically, we all thought that Miss Rosalie took her own life a couple of months ago, for reasons we were not sure of. However, recently Alpha Ethan beca aware that Rosalie didn’t take her own life at all.”
Murmurs went up all over the crowd, and I let them linger for a few monts for dramatic effect. I also watched Madalynn’s reaction out of the corner of my eye, but once I was certain the crowd was ready for to move on, I did so.
“It wasn’t Miss Rosalie who ca up with this sche. Her death was planned, and the person who planned it was–” I turned to point at the bride, “unfortunately, Miss Madalynn.”
“Lies! Those are all lies!” Madalynn shouted, her face a garish horror as she twisted her mouth to make her point heard.
The king bellowed, “Silence!”
This ti, one of the royal guards stepped forward and warned Madalynn, “Please be quiet, or I’ll have to force you to.”
Madalynn bit her lower lips hard, and her whole body started to tremble, but she didn’t fight any further.
I then took the ti to explain, “Miss Madalynn not only arranged to have Miss Rosalie killed, but also went about fooling Alpha Ethan and everyone else, including the king, by having an innocent woman, a poor maid, murdered on the cliffs one rainy evening so that she would be the only one left for Ethan to turn to!”
The crowd gasped, and it was so quiet.
Madalynn jumped up again and scread, “Liar! How dare you ruin my reputation, I–” This ti, she couldn’t finish because the royal guard covered her mouth with his hand after forcing her to sit back down.
King Jas demanded stermly, “Beta Talon, you are accusing a young lady of a serious cri, and I do not wish to hear more unless you have evidence.”
I acknowledged his request, and nodded, “Of course, my King! My first witness is a young soldier.”
I waved my hand, and a few of my guards brought out the young man in question. He was only a boy, really, only eighteen. He was so nervous that he couldn’t even stand up straight.
I softened my tone when speaking to him, “Just tell the truth, you’ll be fine.”
“Yes... yes! Beta Talon!”
“Were you the one who told everyone to go to the cliff and led us to believe that the person standing next to the cliff was Miss Rosalie?”
“I... I didn’t know... soone told to tell Alpha Ethan that, so... so I did.”
I asked, “Who was that person?”
He pointed to Madalyn, “It was Miss Madalynn.”
Madalynn was able to break free and raised her voice so everyone could hear, “How ridiculous! Was that the evidence?! That night was so chaotic, and that was just what I saw. Was there anything wrong with it?”
The crowd seed to agree with her, however, I smiled and nodded, “I understand. That’s why, please allow to present to you the second witness, also a soldier. Private Sutton.”
Private Sutton’s head was downcast, and he was brought out by two guards with his arms chained. Exactly how she convinced him to do her bidding, I wasn’t sure, but he had confessed to everything.
Madalynn’s eyes widened when she saw him.
“Ladies and gentlen, Private Sutton swore under oath that he was ordered by soone to fire a single arrow into a woman wearing a blue dress on the cliffs that rainy night, and when he did so, hitting his mark, the woman fell over the edge to her death.”
I looked up at the king whose face was nearly purple with rage.
“I’ve never seen him before in my life!” Madalynn shouted.
“Private Sutton, can you identify the person who asked you to fire the arrow at the innocent lady on the cliffs, please?” I asked, glancing at him over my shoulder.
“Your Majesty, Beta Talon!!” he explained. “By no ans would I deny that I shot the arrow. However, I did so because I was given the order that the woman was a spy and needed to be killed... I didn’t know...”
The crowd started to get noisy.
I cleared my throat, “A lot of you were here on the night of my Alpha’s engagent dinner, and were you aware of any spy or security concerns that night?”
A lot of the people in the crowd shook their heads.
I nodded, and turned to the private, “Now you see, soone fed you the wrong information. Now, could you please tell us whether this young lady here, Miss Madalynn, was the person that told you there was a spy?”
Madalynn shouted, “What the h*ck are you talking about?! I don’t know you...!!”
He looked at Madalynn for a mont, and to everyone’s surprise, he shook his head slowly.
Murmuring could be heard from the crowd. The case was way more complicated than they expected.
Madalynn let out a sigh and the smirk on her face was back, “I told you I have nothing to do with...”
“No... it wasn’t her, however, that person is here!” His words grabbed everyone’s attention.
He lifted his chained hands and pointed at soone not too far from where Madalynn was standing.
“It was her!”
He pointed at a maid, I knew that maid. She was the one who asked Madalynn whether Rosalie was dead for certain.
The maid let out a shriek, and fainted. However, with the royal doctor’s help, she was soon pulled back to consciousness.
Her face was pale, and her eyes filled with tears and fear. She ran over to Madalynn as soon as she was awake, and pleaded, “Miss Madalynn, please, tell them...! You were the one...”
Madalynn kicked her away and scread, “Who are you? Get the h*ll away from !”
But once again, the king commanded that Madalynn and the maid both needed to be quiet.
At this point, most of the guests were quite convinced of what they’d seen and heard. However, I was not done yet. Feeling like a lawyer in a criminal trial, I said, “Moving along...
“On the sa night in question, a housemaid, Jessica Scaleni, went missing. Her roommate, Trina Henry, notified the head of staff that she was missing, but no one knew where she was at. It was assud that perhaps she had just quit and gone ho, but Trina didn’t think that she would do that. When I heard about this, I contacted Jessica’s family.”
I looked at Madalynn, and she was staring down at the ground between her shoes as if she knew what I was about to say.
“Here to tell you what I discovered is her sister, Fiona.”
Fiona Scaleni walked out under the protection of two guards, and imdiately there was a murmur amongst the crowd because the girl looked so much like Rosalie. She was taller and not as pretty, but her hair was the sa color and length, and it was clear that, in a thunderstorm, from a distance, this girl could be mistaken for Rosalie.
So... her sister could be, too.
“Your Majesties,” Fiona said, bowing to the king and queen. She lifted her head and said, “My family received a letter stating that my twin sister had been released from her job at the castle for unscrupulous behavior and that she was being sent on the next boat. My parents were so very upset. It wasn’t like Jessica to behave in such a way.”
I scanned the audience to see everyone looking at the poor girl with tears in their eyes.
“They went to the docks to wait for her... but she never ca. For days, they waited, but never did Jessica appear. We contacted the capital, but we were told that Jessica wasn’t here anymore, and since my parents thought that she was dismissed because she had done a bad job, they did not push the subject. They thought, perhaps she had run away in disgrace.”
Now, of course, Fiona knew the truth about her sister. “And who was that letter from, Fiona?” I asked her. “Who was it that had sent that letter to your parents telling them that your sister had been fired for bad behavior?”
Fiona needed a mont as she was beginning to cry. I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to her, listening to the audience react with heartbroken sobs.
Once she was able to speak again, Fiona said, “It was her,” and pointed at Madalynn. “She’s the one that sent it.”
“She can’t prove that!” Madalynn shouted. “She could be lying!”
I turned toward Madalynn and used my best accusatory voice. “Miss Madalynn, you don’t have to believe her, just like everyone here. However, we all have our own judgnts based on the evidence .”
“I can prove it,” Fiona said. “I have the letter right here.” She pulled it from her pocket, and the people watching gasped with shock.
Madalynn’s face went white as she recognized the letter she had sent. Fiona offered it to the king, and one of the guards took it and handed it to him as I allowed Fiona to have a seat in one of the few empty chairs.
Madalynn didn’t bother to accuse of lying this ti.
The king looked at then and asked, “Is that all, Talon?”
I couldn’t read his tone, but I responded imdiately. “Yes, Your Majesty. ”
He raised an eyebrow. “I will be the judge of that.”
I glanced at Madalynn and saw new hope in her eyes as she had raised her head and had a bit of a smirk on her face.
King Jas rose then and walked over to the soldier, Private Sutton. “Is what we’ve heard the truth, young man?” he demanded. “Is it true that you fired an arrow at an innocent woman, killing her? And do you understand that the consequence for such a cri is execution?”
“Y-yes, sir,” he stamred before breaking into tears. “But please, have rcy on , Your Majesty! I thought it was an order! I didn’t know what I was doing!”
King Jas closed his eyes for a mont, as if he was exasperated. “Take him away,” he stated. “I’ll deal with him later.”
As awful as the private’s actions were, I did hope he was shown so rcy. Madalynn could obviously be very manipulative.
Jas turned toward Madalynn then.
“Madalynn,” King Jas said, “the way you’ve acted in this situation, and in others, is appalling.”
“King Jas, may I interject?” Alpha Roro asked, standing.
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