Chapter 112: Ally ’The Traitor’

Aina

When they stepped out into the cold air, they saw a bunch of guards shoving past students, looking closely at everyone’s faces. Suddenly, one of the guards spotted Ally. "Found her!" he yelled, pointing a finger at her and signaling the other guards.

The other guards ran over and grabbed Ally by the hand. Ally stared at them, completely confused by the whole situation. One second she was walking out of a temple, and the next she was being arrested by two guards.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled, trying to pull her hand from their grip.

Aina stepped forward, her heart hammering against her ribs. "What are you doing? Let her go!" she said, trying to push one of the guards away.

The lead guard answered with a smug look on his face that made Aina want to punch it for some reason. "By order of the king, you are required to be in his presence." Ally tried to yank her wrist away from the guard’s tight grip, screaming continuously, "Let me go!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as they dragged her across the dirt. Aina followed right behind them, watching the guards drag away her friend. As they walked through the camp, students whispered to each other, pointing fingers at Ally.

"You know, they’re saying she did it," a student muttered. "They’re saying this whole incident was her fault."

Aina clenched her fists, fury burning in her chest. This is ridiculous, she thought, glaring at the crowd. Of course they would blame the only rogue here for the whole incident that happened during the tournament. The guards dragged Ally all the way to Team Fang’s cabin. Aina rushed behind them to get inside, but a guard stepped in front of the door, blocking her way.

As she tried to go after Ally and the guards, she crossed her arms. "This is royal presence only," the guard said sternly. Aina snapped, her voice trembling with anger. "Get out of my way! This is my cabin! I am part of Team Fang!"

The guard laughed. "Oh, please. You, a part of Team Fang? Please."

Okay, calm down. Don’t hit the man. It will just be embarrassing.

Aina had just enough of the guard’s nonsense. In a swift motion, she saw a little gap between his hand and his thigh, and she slipped past him. The guard reached out and grabbed her by the back of her collar, holding her back, but she yanked herself free and ran inside.

The atmosphere was suffocating in the sitting room. King Alaric, Queen Posy, and the rest of the kings stood in a tight circle with Roiner and the three princes. Ally was on her knees in the middle of the room, trembling as these powerful people cornered her.

"Your Grace," Ally whispered, her voice shaking. King Alaric got straight to the point, his eyes cold as he stared down at her. "Did you let the witch in, or link any information to outside forces regarding this tournament?"

Ally looked at him with wide eyes, fear coursing through her. She cleared her throat. "What outside forces? What are you talking about, Your Grace? I do not understand." Queen Posy scoffed, not believing a word coming out of Ally’s mouth. Her face twisted with disgust. "Of course you don’t understand."

King Theron turned to look at Omen, who stood near the corner. He wanted to know the truth from her. Omen was capable of telling lies from truth, one of her many gifts. The way it worked was she could tell if your wolf was lying.

"Is she lying?" King Theron asked.

Omen closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them slightly with a frown. "I can’t feel anything."

King Theron narrowed his eyes. For the first time ever, Omen was not able to tell him whether someone was lying. "How is that possible? You always know when people are lying."

Omen fidgeted nervously with her fingers. "I really can’t feel it with her."

King Alaric turned his head to Ally, his voice rising. "For goodness’ sake, I asked you a question! Did you or did you not link information about the tournament?"

"I did not!" Ally cried out.

"Where were you on the first day of the tournament?" King Alaric asked.

Ally swallowed hard, her body shivering. "The first day of the tournament, I was hunting alone."

King Alaric let out a dry, disbelieving laugh. "Conveniently, you have no one to vouch for you right now because no one saw you. Why were you hunting alone? Isn’t everyone supposed to be hunting in teams? How come you were the only one?"

"Because no one wanted to team with a rogue," Ally said quietly, tears stinging her eyes. King Alaric nodded slightly in agreement, but Queen Posy stepped forward, unwilling to back down.

"Tell me where the witch is!" Queen Posy demanded.

"I don’t know where the witch is!" Ally sobbed.

King Alaric held a hand up, telling Queen Posy to calm down, but the queen whipped her head toward her husband, seething in anger. "Don’t tell me to calm down! She clearly knows and she’s not saying anything, right Omen?"

Omen shook her head. "I cannot be certain, my queen. I cannot tell."

"Exactly, you see?" Queen Posy turned back to the room. "She can’t tell! Since when can Omen not tell if someone is lying? There’s clearly something on this little rogue. I’m sure that witch put a spell on her so we can’t tell if she’s lying or not, and there’s no one to vouch for her. I say we torture her to get more information!"

Aina stood watching the scene, the guard’s hand still lingering near her wrist as she tried to process what she was seeing. What? Ally a traitor? she thought. No way.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in her mind. Get out of here, please.

Aina immediately recognized Roiner’s voice. She looked toward him, only to find him standing at the back of the room, staring straight ahead and deliberately avoiding her eyes.

Aina shook her head slightly. I can’t get out of here, she thought. She wrenched her hand away from the guard’s grip, quickly ran to the center of the room, and went down onto her knees beside Ally.

"That won’t be necessary!" Aina said.

Everyone looked at her. King Alaric frowned. "Who are you?"Aina kept her stance on the ground, though her heart was pounding and she was regretting every single decision that led her here.

"I’m Travis. Travis Whitelock. And I was with her during the entire first hunt. I can guarantee you that she was not with anyone and she didn’t see anyone."

Queen Posy sneered. "Who even let you in?"

Vance stepped forward, glaring at Aina. "Travis, stay out of this. No one is talking to you."

Aina ignored Vance completely, keeping her eyes straight on the king and queen. "Ally was with me. Please, believe me. She hunted for like two seconds before she came back and had a long chat with me. That’s all that happened."

King Alaric stared at her, his brows deepening. "How am I supposed to trust you? For all we know, you could be a snitch too."

Queen Posy scoffed. "Exactly. I mean, who even are you? Travis Whitelock... I have never heard of a name like that."

Before Aina could answer, a voice rang out from the doorway. "He is my boyfriend."

Everyone’s gaze snapped toward the end of the sitting room. Princess Molly walked in, her face red and puffy like she had been crying, which she obviously had been because her brother was in life-threatening condition. She walked right up to her parents, standing beside the kneeling Aina.

"He’s my boyfriend," Molly repeated, holding her head high. "And Ally is innocent. I was with them also that day. Ally finished her hunt, Travis didn’t go because he was sick, and I finished mine early. We met near the riverbank and tried to catch fish so we could cook them. It was a bit of a secret, but we wanted food other than the camp food, which is disgusting."

Queen Posy turned to face Omen. "Is that really true?"

Omen paused, her bright eyes scanning the room. She was quiet for a second, clenching her hands together and taking a deep breath before she pointed to Aina. "I cannot tell if that one is telling the truth," Omen explained. "She has no wolf, and I can only tell if your wolf is lying. But the princess... I can tell she was telling the truth. She was with Travis."

Queen Posy let out a harsh huff, crossing her arms in anger.

King Alaric looked down at Ally. "You may go."

Ally quickly rose to her feet. Aina stood, turning to leave away with her, but Alaric’s voice boomed across the space.~"I never said you could go, Travis White-whatever your surname is."

Aina paused in her tracks. She looked back at the king, hoping he wasn’t going to punish her for what she did. "Is there anything else, Your Majesty?"

King Alaric looked her up and down with a sneer on his face. "You are dating my daughter. I believe she could do better, and I believe there is a lot more to talk about, but now is not the time. Rest assured, there will be a time soon. I want to know everything about you, your family, and your background."

Aina nodded slowly. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Although she appeared obedient, she had absolutely no intention of telling the king anything about herself. He would know as much as everyone else did, and that was that. She turned toward the door. As she passed Molly, she saw the princess give her a look. Molly winked as Aina passed her, and Aina gave her a small smile before quickly stepping into the cool night air.

She let out a massive sigh of relief, her heart still hammering in her chest. I got away by a tiny thread, she thought, running her hand through her hair. I’ve low-key made an enemy out of the crown. Whatever, I always make bad impressions when it comes to meeting the royals for the first time.

She stopped a few paces away from Team Fang’s cabin. Hold up, she thought to herself. This is sort of my cabin, so I should stay.

She quickly went back and peeked through the door. Inside, everyone wore dark, gloomy expressions. The situation was bad, and the tension in the room was almost suffocating.

Aina shook her head. Nah, I’ll just stay at Roiner’s cabin. It’s not like I need my clothes or my phone.

She turned on her heel and quickly got out of there while she could.