Page 97 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“I saw the mark on your ankle the night we were together. I recognized what it was, but it didn’t really register on me at the time. Then, I discussed it with Jimmy. I was trying to come up with a way we could hide it, Alice. I knew you weren’t a dark witch. And it wouldn’t have mattered to me if you were. Carrying the bloodline of a dark witch doesn’t mean anything to me, but Willow was outside my room. She heard everything.”

I can feel Alice shaking, but she doesn’t stop me this time. She’s listening, and that gives me a tiny bit of hope.

“She’d already told them by the time she confronted me. If I hadn’t married Willow, the white witches would have executed you, and it would not have been a painless death. I had heard about how the dark witches were executed. I wasn’t going to put you through that.”

Alice sinks her teeth into her lower lip, and when I see her hesitating, I continue, desperate to get my point across.

“I thought I was protecting you, Alice. What I didn’t know at the time was that Willow was making her own deal with the white witches behind my back. They were never supposed to come to the ballroom. The sealing spell was supposed to take place in a private setting, with healers present to keep you safe and to numb the pain. But Willow had staged everything, and by the time I found out, it was too late. You’ve held me responsible for what happened to you, and in a way, I am. But what was done to you was through Willow’s manipulations, and if I had stepped in, Alice, the coven would have taken you away and done God knows what to you. It would have been a fate worse than death.”

Chapter 19

Alice

This is the one scenario that I wanted to avoid at all costs. This is why I brought Mira to a park farther away from our apartment. To see Darian holding our daughter fills me with a strange emotion. Fear is followed by something unknown, a tense feeling that causes the pit of my stomach to twist.

But he lets her walk away.

He doesn’t scream at me, he doesn’t blame me. After all the reactions I once imagined, I saw none of them. Instead, he’s angry that I endured the pregnancy alone?

I have never wanted to hear his explanation for what happened that night. I always knew it would be filled with lies to paint him in a better light. Perhaps it is the shock of seeing him with Mira that has me struggling to speak, giving him the opportunity to talk.

And when he does talk, I have no choice but to listen.

I want to blame Mary for the thoughts she has put in my head. I need to blame somebody because I’m beginning to believe what Darian is saying. I want to cover my ears and drown out hisvoice. I don’t want to hear his explanation, but the more he talks, the more my body quivers.

At the same time, though, I can see Willow manipulating the situation. Her hatred for me has always been endless. I never understood what fueled it since she always had everything and I had nothing. But if I ever did get something that gave me the slightest bit of happiness, she wanted to take it from me. She was in constant competition with me, watching me for any sign of joy and then ruining it. It was like she needed me to be unhappy.

If someone goes out of their way to cause you misery, it’s their problem. That is what I always told myself, but it never made me feel better. Willow was always in a position of power because of her father’s status in the pack, and she used it to hurt me over and over again. It didn’t matter where I went; she would find a way to get to me.

“Let go of me,” I finally say, hoarsely.

Darian releases me, but he doesn’t move away. “I can prove it, Alice. My conversation with Willow, my conversation with the witches, everything is recorded. I knew how much you and Willow hated each other. That day, she told me the white witches were coming and I had to denounce you publicly. I knew you would never believe me, so I kept recordings of every interaction I had with her in those days.”

He runs his fingers through his hair, and I notice the bags under his eyes. He looks tired, as if he hasn’t slept in days. Even at the business dinner the other night, his appearance was unkempt. He looks like a man struggling with his life.

“Once it was all was over, I thought I would get to talk to you,” Darian tries to explain, speaking fast as if worried that I’m going to break into a run to avoid this conversation.

He’s not completely wrong; I’m certainly tempted. But my feet remain rooted to the ground.

“I knew you weren’t going to trust me, but if faced with the evidence… I was going to send you somewhere safe, Alice. That was the plan. I was going to hide you till I dealt with the witches and Willow. I don’t know how things got so out of hand. After what happened in the ballroom, my father pulled me, Willow, and the witches into his study to figure out what was happening. Even then, Willow tried to go renege on the deal we made. She wanted the witches to drag you back and brand you in front of everyone. She was almost desperate to see it happen. My father put an end to that idea, but by the time everything was over and I tried to find you, you were already gone.”

When I don’t say anything, he reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone. “If you don’t believe me, I have it all on here. Give me an hour, Alice. Just one hour. I’ll show you what really happened. I didn’t betray you—”

“I don’t need to see it.” The words are torn from me. “It won’t change anything, Darian.” Despair fills his face, followed by a hopelessness that makes me look away. I don’t want to see that miserable look in his eyes. Not when I’ve been the one suffering all this time.

“You still think I chose Willow because I wanted to hurt you?” His voice sounds wretched and pulls my gaze back to him. His expression makes my eyes burn with tears, but I hold them back.I won’t feel sorry for him. I don’t want to feel anything for him aside from hatred. But I’m also not going to lie to him.

“No. Mary has been advocating for you over the past couple of days, so maybe she’s gotten through to me. Even if I were to believe you, Darian… Let’s say I do. There’s no place in my life for you. I don’t want you in that way anymore.”

“But we’re fated mates.” He grips my arms. “We can get past this.”

“Get past it?” I ask dully, a humorless laugh bubbling out of me. “I can understand your version of what happened, but I can’t forgive you for it. I can’t forgive you for all those nights when I worked myself ragged to put food on the table for our daughter. I can’t forgive you for those nights I broke down in the toilets I was scrubbing, eight months pregnant, hungry and exhausted. I would go two or three days without eating, Darian. Because I didn’t have the money and because I didn’t have the strength to work as much as I needed to cover rent, school fees, and food.”

I’m trying to control my emotions, but I can’t. Even though I am a successful lawyer now, I will never forget the years of torment I endured.

“I can’t forgive you for when Mira got sick and I had nobody to turn to. What happened that night changed me. I’ve learned not to rely on anyone. It was a harsh lesson, but one I needed to learn. I don’t have it in me to love you or forgive you, but I can understand what happened.”

“Alice—” he begins, but I shake my head, taking a step back.

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