Betrayal At The Hall

Chapter Three

Sabrina's Point of View 

***

I took a walk in the garden alone, trying to think about the results of what the day might bring. It occurred to me that I was doing the right thing. Taking my love for Kelvin to the next level. I knew he should be the one doing that, but in such a case, he wasn't the one who was entitled.

So, I would make him.

I stopped at the statue of my father, prayed to him, and told him to be with me. Then, I felt someone walking towards me. When I turned, it was Kelvin, in his new kingly robes. I got to my feet and flashed him a smile and he came to meet me.

"You came to see your father, huh?" Kelvin said. "And you didn't even bring me with you." 

"Didn't want to bother you," I said. 

"Well, what did he say?" 

That got me laughing. 

He looked up at my father's face for some time then said, "This should be a perfect spot." 

"What?" I asked. 

He looked at me, and his eyes seemed to have been elsewhere. "No, nothing. Just talking to myself." 

I wondered if he was talking about the place he wanted to propose to me or something. But I didn't ask further. If he wanted it to be a surprise, fine.

Kelvin took my hand and we walked back into the house. The guests were all waiting. Most of them I knew, while the others have been invited. Out in the courtyard, there were people of the Tweed pack and they had come to witness something that had never happened before. I wondered how that made me feel. After we entered the hall, we moved towards the balcony, where a red ribbon had been tied like an arch over our heads. Kelvin still held my hand as we moved into view of the people below. 

They shouted and hollered at us, in a good way at least. Two royal chairs were brought to the balcony. One was the one I used to sit on, and the other was new. I guess that was supposed to be mine. 

Derek stepped forward and held out his hands for silence. "This is a new day for the Tweed pack. We take a new path, different from the one we were used to. But it doesn't mean that we are straying. We are just doing it better."

More hollering. 

He continued, "Sabrina Brooke our Alpha Queen has agreed to offer Kelvin Oates, her fiancée the position of Alpha King, in expression of her love for him."

I heard choruses of 'aww' down in the courtyard and I smiled. 

Derek went on, "We shall serve Alpha Kelvin just as we have served Alpha Sabrina, who will no doubt become our Luna. And with this, I crown Kelvin Oates as our new Alpha King."

The crown came off the pillow and sat on Kevin's head. He sat on the throne and I looked at him, waiting for the moment he would announce me as his Luna.

But that didn't happen.

Kelvin suddenly turned over and began to cough. It got so long that I herded him inside the hall and called for the doctor.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine now," Kelvin said, and he was right. The cough had stopped.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

Kelvin nodded. "Yes, I am fine."

I was so concerned about him that I didn't even notice the lady who walked into the hall at that moment. She was wearing a long black dress with a hood. And she was already close by the time I noticed her.

"Who are you?" I demanded, more surprised that no one stopped her than the fact that a stranger was standing right in front of us.

She pulled down her hood and went to stand beside Kelvin.

I could not say anything, just watched what was happening.

It was Vanessa who held my hand and asked me, "What the heck is happening here?" 

Derek asked me, "Who is this woman, your majesty? Do you know her?" 

Before I could say anything, Kelvin spoke, "Her name is Lara. And she is going to be my Luna." 

***

I could not believe what I had heard. My own Kelvin with another woman. Telling me that she was the one he wanted to make his Luna. 

What the heck was going on? 

I looked into his face. "Kelvin?" 

"I'm sorry, Bri. I know that we have come a long way, but I can tell that it can't work for both of us."

"So you waited until I made you king for you to dump me?" I almost screamed that out. 

Derek came to whisper into my ear. "The people outside are wondering what is going on, Sabrina." 

I noticed that he didn't refer to me as 'your majesty' but my first name. It made me angry. 

"Tell me that this is a joke, Kelvin, please," I went to put one palm over his cheek. There was something in his eyes that I didn't notice. Something new. It was as if Kelvin had snapped. 

He took my hand away. "This is real, and it is happening."

"What happens to me now?" 

Kelvin shrugged, that gesture he was used to. "Eff off." 

That was what he told me. To 'eff off'. 

***

I left the hall and three of my council people followed me. It was Derek's voice that got to me and made me stop. 

The balcony on the other side of the building was much longer. 

"See what I told you! You didn't listen to us."

I said nothing. 

"Easy, Derek," Vanessa said. "Can't you see that she is affected as well?" 

Yeah, the tears rolling down my cheek were visible. 

"Giving a commoner power is the worst thing that can happen to a dynasty," Ana said. "It hardly ever goes well."

"What can I do?" I asked. 

"What can you do?" Derek said, sarcasm in his tone. "Is that a rhetorical question or what? There is nothing you can do about this situation. He is Alpha King now. And whoever he makes his Luna stays Luna. The only way is to talk with him, maybe he can reconsider. Then we pray to keep our jobs at the council table."

"Can bet my next pay that he'll dissolve us at the next meeting," Vanessa said. 

***

I could not see Kelvin. 

Tried to, but he told the guards to keep me waiting while he spent time with that lady in the same room that we shared. They didn't even recognize me as Alpha Queen anymore. 

I was losing my mind already. 

I had to scream my head off until he opened the door. He was in a bathrobe. The door was open some inches, and I could see the naked figure of the lady on my bed.

"Why are you shouting?" Kelvin demanded. 

"At least, tell me what I did wrong, please," I begged him. "Why would you choose to repay me like this?" 

He looked at me for a moment. I remembered it was the same way he looked at my father's statue. Then he took hold of my arm and herded me down the hall. 

"Come alone to the woods tonight by eleven to where the tweeds are, and you'll get your answer."

Then he left me and was gone. 

***

We called the place the Tweeds because of the way weeds grew on the trees in that part of the forest. It was strange so the founding fathers decided to call it the Tweeds pack, just a combination of trees and weeds. 

En route, I wondered why he had chosen such a spot for us to meet. The only reason that occurred to me was the one; that he could not meet me in public anymore. I was now someone that he could meet in the dark. I was wearing the same clothes I had on me since the crowning ceremony. Couldn't get myself to take them off. 

As soon as I stepped through the brush and onto the clearing that surrounded the tweeds, my eyes caught the statue of my father standing right there. 

I was shocked. 

"What the heck.." 

"Surprised to find it sitting here?" said a voice. I looked in that direction and saw a tall man leaning against a tweed. 

"Who the heck are you?" 

"Kelvin's beta," he said.

"And where is he?" 

"Soon be here. Just making sure you're alone." 

"Why won't I be alone?" I asked. 

He said nothing. Just stared at me with dark eyes under the moonlight. It made me uncomfortable. And why the heck would Kelvin want to make sure that I was all alone?

I found out my answer soon enough when something sharp plunged into my side. I looked and it was a silver knife. And the hand that did it was Kelvin's.