Page 15 of Mated To The King's Gamma
“He can read, Tyson; you know I can’t,” she tells us just as Abbie returns, walking into a wall almost as she tries to cross the threshold. Azalea stares at Tyson brushing her fingers through his hair; meanwhile, Abbie mouths something to me wanting her son back.
“Can he stay for a bit?” I ask.
Abbie glances at Azalea who is brushing Tyson’s hair, she nods before walking off. It’s more than she had done before so I don’t want her slipping back into herself. I open the book and start to read; eventually both Tyson falls asleep followed by Azzy.
Trey comes in a few hours later to collect Tyson for Abbie, and I expect her to roll away from me when I shift back now that the kid is gone. Instead, she moves closer and places her head on my chest. I kiss her forehead, tucking her closer.
Maybe tomorrow will be better, I think to myself. Either way, tomorrow, I have no choice but to deal with Peter. He has been in the cells for over a week, nearly two, and I want him gone for what he has done.
7
The last few days have been chaotic. The entire castle is tense, and I can’t imagine what Azalea is going through as I peer down at Tyson playing with his blocks. For days I tried to wake her or get any reaction out of her. Kyson would bring her to me since she still hasn’t been able to remove the command. Half the time when I see her, I don’t even think she is aware of me being near. Though the command over me is to not follow her, we have found loopholes after Clarice and Gannon have been teaching me ways to approach her. I find it quite confusing. Nevertheless, it seems to work.
With Azalea’s command, I learned that as long as I don’t think of the intention to go to her, only the action, I can sometimes bypass it, but it is extremely difficult to do. Kyson told me she is barely functioning, and I am his last resort to pull her out of it. He seems so sure it will work, but the disappointment on his face when I can’t, speaks volumes about how much he wants and needs her back.
I knew as soon as I saw her that she was catatonic. As if she is trapped within the confines of her own mind. I know that feeling, and until she wants to come back to us, I know she won’t. I learned over the years that slipping away is all too easy.
Switching it off and not feeling is sometimes the only way to survive, and I know that is what she is doing. Azalea won’t come back to us until she is ready, until her walls come down and let her feel again, but I worry about that moment, the moment reality crashes her back to her surroundings and forces her to live with the agony of her loss.
It isn’t until the last visit that I manage, after hours of navigating the stairs and walking around the castle that I am able to get to her room without her command forcing me back. Only all that time and effort is wasted when I suddenly have to help Clarice, which forces me to leave Tyson in the hands of Trey only to return and find Tyson on the bed with Azalea and she is awake. I didn’t realize the weight I was carrying without her by my side until it lifts and I see her sitting up. She is okay, or as okay as she could be given the circumstances.
Maybe it’s the familiarity of Tyson or longing for the child she lost that has her react to his presence. Kyson then asks me to leave Tyson with her a little longer because it is the most reaction we have had out of her in days.
During the time Azalea was lost to us, we had learned so much. We learned who is behind poisoning her, and I’m shocked to learn it was Peter. He was the last person we would have suspected. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact he was capable of such a thing. Gannon and all the royal guards want to kill him. But I want to know the reasoning behind it. No one is born a monster, and I struggle to see him as one. I know Peter as a funny, energetic boy, and It’s a battle to differentiate between his two sides.
Peter’s hate stems from Ester being kicked out of the castle. He had some twisted plan that if he got Azalea out of the picture, his estranged mother would be allowed back. I found Peter‘s story quite sad, longing for a mother who never wanted him. So Azalea was not the only victim, so was Peter. He was just a boy, lost, craving for the affection his mother never granted him. I just hope Azalea will recognize that within him because I know the king wants to kill him.
I’m not sure what is more shocking; Peter being responsible for Azalea losing her baby or that Ester is his mother. It seems, in some way, that everything and everyone are linked. And just to make things more I learn that Peter is also Azalea’s half-brother, and Ester is a half-sister of Trey.
I knew that with the King’s anger, it would be any day now that he delivered the punishments bestowed on Peter. It sickens me, knowing what he will have to endure, something Azalea and I are all too familiar with, and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
Gannon and I fought over different opinions on what should become of Peter. Gannon is loyal to the king and is oathed to Azalea, which clouds his judgment; nothing I say or do in defense of Peter gets me anywhere with him. It saddens me because he had no one on his side besides me, Clarice, and the gardener.
Though it puts me in a terrible spot, Azalea is my sister, and I know I will never be able to forgive Peter for the heartache he caused her and caused all of us when he did what he did. But at the same time, I can’t wish ill will on him anyway, not after the childhood Azalea and I were forced to live, not after seeing firsthand what pain and suffering it causes.
I peer up as Gannon walks into the room. He leans against the door. “Why aren’t you ready? Azalea is down there, Abbie,”
“And she won’t expect me down there. What am I supposed to do, Gannon, take Tyson down with me just so I can watch you force Peter to whip his own mother from an inch of her life?” Gannon growls, not seeing reason. Only seeing his need to break the boy who broke his queen.
I know deep down Azalea doesn’t want this and has only agreed to save her half-brother from imminent death had she not suggested a different punishment.
After a while, Gannon realizes I’m not going anywhere and sighs, moves toward the bed, and lays down. Glancing, I watch as he mind links someone before looking at me.
“Liam said he will take my place. Ester has been taken to the courtyard along with Peter already,” I swallow, knowing that while I sit here, someone else is suffering, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
8
We step into a courtyard I have never been in before. My heart nearly stops when I saw Ester tied with her hands chained above her head to the wall. Her clothes are torn at the back from where the whip has slashed her flesh. However, the wounds were healed, and she panted. Kyson growls, and anger courses through the bond. Peter stands with a whip in his hands that he swiftly drops, shaking his head and looking at Kyson pleadingly. Clarice stands off to the side, nibbling her fingernails. The skin on her face had tears trekking down it and dripping off her chin.
Though Trey’s face sneering at Peter shocks me the most. This is his sister, and he shows no care for her at all. It’s shocking.
“Again! You have twenty more, Peter,” he snarls, stalking over to him and snatching the whip from the ground. He thrusts it at Peter, who flinches away from him. Bile rises up my throat, and I stare at Kyson, squeezing his hand, and he turns his head, peering at me.
“It’s only twenty,” I tell him, and Ester glances over her shoulder at me. Her face flushed red, and she pants before looking at Kyson.
“Hurry up, Peter. Finish it!” Kyson snaps.
“Prick,” I hiss under my breath, and Kyson growls, leaning down to whisper in my ear.
