Page 94 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince
Dad left for hisbusinesstrip, so when Flora and I return, it’s almost to a relaxed atmosphere. The pack is always seemingly relieved when he isn’t around, not that I can blame them.
Flora and I decide to split our strengths with her going to research the mysterious woman named Ersa, and me facing Emilia. Looking for her makes me realize that she doesn’t even have an office here. I never interacted much with her, so I didn’t notice before, but this is insane. She is a capable co-leader. In her old pack they basically kissed the floor she was walking on, and she successfully led the pack until someone else was able to take over.
There is a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that makes me wonder if the pack here always treated her right. She is not at fault for Dad being an absolute failure as a mate, husband or alpha, or for Mom dying. She could have helped Dad with the pack, but he apparently didn’t want her to.
“Emilia?” I knock at the door to the Alpha Suite, where she is currently doing some paperwork in the living room. “I am sorry if I am interrupting something.”
“You aren’t,” she says with a smile before grabbing a stash of letters. “It’s good that you are coming. I wanted to look for you too. Here.”
She hands me the letters. Just one glance makes me realize it’s some of the ones Flora wrote to me.
“How come they are here?” I ask.
“I am not sure. They were on my desk today. Maybe the maid misplaced them.” She tilts her head. “I promise I didn’t read anything. I opened the first one and saw that it’s addressed to you.”
I can’t fucking believe it. I just can’t! Is Dad trying to frame her for going through my stuff!? I bet the warrior he sent to snoop around told him about the maid who’d asked him weird questions. The fucking coward is just blaming his wife!
“Thank you for handing them back to me,” I say, deciding to be honest. She deserves the truth. “It wasn’t a mistake, though. My father took them.”
Emilia looks at me for a while. “Do you want coffee?”
“Please.”
I watch her shuffling around. For a moment I contemplate offering my help, but I realize I have no longer have any idea about where to find anything in this suite. I have only ever been in my own room, which I moved to Mom’s old refugium a while ago. It’s a floor above this suite. Additional to it, she also had a small house right behind the pack house. From Tobias, I now know this was the place she liked to retreat to when she still could, to read or to paint.
But here, in this suite? I don’t even feel at home here anymore.
“I had a feeling,” she admits when she returns with the coffee.
“Emilia,” I mutter, stirring my coffee and unsure how to ask what I want to know so badly. “Are you my father’s true mate?”
“No,” she says promptly.
“Why are you not asking me why I want to know that?”
“Because I know that she exists,” she says quietly. “I realized he wasn’t faithful and wondered who he bedded. The mate-pull is strong.”
“What!?” I exclaim. “He is cheating on you too?”
“So, he was unfaithful to your mother?” she asks in return. “I had a feeling, and then when I felt the pain, I knew it.”
“Why did you marry my father? He is such an asshole.”
“He wasn’t like that when I met him,” she admits. “He even reminded me a bit of my late husband, and I… I fell in love withhim. Part of me still loves him, but I can’t just look past his mistakes.”
I am stunned, to say the least. “Why are you still here then? If you know what kind of man he is, why didn’t you leave? Unlike my mother, you have friends in high places. I am sure they would help you get away and to get rid of his mark.”
“I made a commitment,” she mutters. “Not to Caelum, but to the pack and to you. It was my fault for not checking on his background properly. Now, I need to make sure to keep him in check.”
“You deserve better,” I exclaim. “Like Mom deserved better.”
“You are very kind,” Emilia says. “You deserved better too. You should hate me for the role I am playing in your father’s life. Yet you were always respectful to me. When your father brought me here and introduced me, that’s when I realized how off everything was.”
Goddess, that’s been a long time already. “Emilia, do you know where his mate lives?”
“I have a vague idea,” she says. “Your father can’t know that I know, though. I don’t know who this woman is, and what she truly is to him. I don’t want to endanger her.”
“I have no intention of telling him,” I assure her.
