Chapter 123: I Cannot Marry The Rogue King

Molly

"Father, please!" Molly cried, dropping straight onto her knees on the cold marble floor, her tears falling fast.

King Lucien sat on his throne, his hand buried in his face as he let out a heavy sigh. The throne room was quiet, dark, and suffocating. He looked down at his daughter, his eyes rimmed with red and heavy with exhaustion.

"Molly, there is nothing I can do," King Lucien said, his voice low and tired. "We have no choice here."

"I don’t understand!" Molly yelled, her chest heaving as she sobbed. "Why are you forcing me to marry that monster?! He put Malric in a coma! He tried to kill my brother!"

King Lucien got up from his throne, stepping down the stone stairs. "We have no choice."

Molly stood up from her kneeling position, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, but more tears just kept falling. "I don’t understand. Did... did Father Alaric and Father Theron not win the war? Did something happen?"

King Lucien reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. He held her close, his chin resting on her head as he whispered the truth. "I have not told anyone yet... but we lost the war."

Molly’s eyes opened wide. She froze in his arms, her breath catching in her throat. "What?"

"We lost the war," King Lucien repeated, his voice breaking slightly. "Your father... no, your fathers have been killed."

Molly gasped, pulling back from him to look at his face.

"The rogue that pretends to be a king and his witch of a sister are asking for your hand in marriage," King Lucien said, holding her shoulders. "Well, specifically, the rogue is asking for your hand. They are saying if you marry him, they will stop at the southern packs. They will not take the northern packs."

Molly shook her head violently, completely distraught. "I don’t... I don’t understand!"

"It’s not going to be forever, Molly," her father pleaded, his hands gripping her tightly. "I promise you. You’re just going to marry him now and provide information that we could use against him. I promise you, you will be sent with the best of guards who will be there to protect you. If anything goes south, we will pull you out immediately. But we need you to marry him so you can buy us time. This is not forever!"

"You can’t send me there!" Molly screamed, trying to pull away from his grip. "You can’t send me to marry a rogue! You cannot! You can’t! He will kill me! I do not even know him!"

"Please, Molly, understand!" King Lucien begged, his eyes desperate. "It is for the good of all packs! If we do not do this, you doom the northern packs, and thus you doom the entire world!"

"To heck with the world!" Molly shouted back, her voice echoing off the tall walls. "I don’t care about the world!"

King Lucien’s face hardened. "Molly, you will marry the Rogue King."

"I will not!" Molly snapped, stepping back out of his reach. " I am going back to Moonside!"

"You cannot do that," King Lucien said firmly. "You are leaving soon. Please do not make this more difficult than it already is."

"No!" Molly pointed a shaking finger right at his chest. "No! You cannot make me do this!"

She turned around and ran toward the massive doors of the throne room.

"Molly! Molly!" King Lucien screamed after her, his boots heavy on the stone, but she didn’t stop.

She slammed the heavy doors open to leave, and right outside stood her mother, Queen Posy. Queen Posy looked at her with wide, worried eyes, but Molly didn’t say a word. She just pushed right past her mother and kept running down the grand hallway.

No, I can’t, Molly thought, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs as her boots clicked against the floorboards. I can’t marry him. He will kill me! Am I being selfish? But I can’t marry him!

She kept walking down the long, quiet path through the palace, her mind spinning out of control. She was going through so many emotions all at once. She had just found out her fathers were dead. And now she was being forced to marry their murderer, the exact same man who had put her brother in a coma and ruined her family. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t accept it.

Molly was shaking all over, her vision blurred by fresh tears. No, I cannot let this happen. I can’t!

She turned the corner toward the residential wing, about to open the door to her private room, when she froze.

"I can’t marry that man," she whispered to the empty air.

"Oh, my princess!" a voice called out behind her.

Molly looked back quickly. Standing a few feet away was her lady-in-waiting, Trina. Trina was a beta lycan who came from a major, wealthy pack in the northern territories, Pack Ice. She walked up to Molly with a look of pure concern on her face. "Are you all right?"

"No, I am not all right!" Molly cried out, breaking down completely and falling into Trina’s arms.

Trina caught her, wrapping her arms around the trembling princess as Molly sobbed into her shoulder. "My parents... they want me to marry... in the condition that our family is in today, they want me to marry the man that killed my fathers!"

Trina pulled back slightly, her face turning pale. "Your fathers are dead?"

"Yes!" Molly sobbed, clutching Trina’s sleeves. "They lost the war!"

Trina’s eyes went wide. "We lost the war?!"

"Yes! Now they are forcing me to marry the rogue king" Molly cried, having a complete meltdown right there in the corridor.

Trina looked up and down the empty hallway, worried that passing guards or servants would hear them. "Princess, let’s get inside your room. Come on."

Trina quickly opened the heavy wooden door and pulled Molly inside, locking it behind them. She turned to the weeping princess. "You don’t want to marry the Rogue King?"

"No, I don’t!" Molly wiped her face, her shoulders shaking with gasps. "I would rather die!"

Trina narrowed her eyes, thinking fast. "You need to run. You... you said you had a boyfriend, right?"

Molly blinked through her tears, confused. "Yeah... his name is Travis. He’s at the academy. But how is that important right now?"

"How much does he love you?" Trina asked, stepping closer and grabbing Molly’s hands.

Molly swallowed hard. "Well... a lot, I think."

"Okay," Trina said quickly. "Get married to Travis."

Molly stared at her in utter shock. "You want us to elope?!"

"Yes!" Trina urged, her voice low and sharp. "If you marry Travis, you will not have to marry the Rogue King! I highly doubt the Rogue King will want to marry you if someone else has already claimed you in marriage. He doesn’t strike me as a male who is into sharing a bride with another alpha!"

"How am I supposed to marry Travis?!" Molly panicked, shaking her head. "He’s not even here! He’s at Moonside!"

"Then you need to leave," Trina said firmly. "You need to go to the school right now. Do you have Travis’s phone number?"

"Yeah," Molly said, grabbing her pocket. "On my phone."

"Send him a message right now!" Trina instructed, pulling Molly toward her walk-in closet. "Tell him he must be waiting for you outside the school. I will arrange everything at the local temple. We just need to pick up Travis, drive straight to the temple, and you two will marry there. We need to do this now before the king officially announces the death of the other kings!"

Molly’s eyes widened as she realized what Trina meant. "Because then... the temple will be put into official mourning, and no weddings will be allowed to happen for months!"

"Yes!" Trina shouted quietly, opening the closet doors. "So hurry! We need to go now!"

Trina pulled a small, simple backpack off a high shelf in the closet and began stuffing a few basic clothes into it. "You need to leave right now. Use the back servant roads and ask your personal driver, Robin, to take you to the academy immediately. Make sure no one sees you, Molly. This has to happen fast!"

Molly took the backpack from Trina’s hands, her heart pounding violently against her ribs. She looked at her lady-in-waiting, wiped the remaining tears from her face, and nodded.

"Okay," Molly whispered, clutching the bag tight as she turned for the hidden exit.