Page 94 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

When Jimmy falls silent, I look at the children playing near us, and for a moment, I can imagine my own child running among them, with Alice’s hair, her wistful smile, her pretty, blue eyes. My heart yearns for that child.

“I thought staying away from her was the right thing,” I begin in a low voice, “but I can’t do that. I’m going to divorce Willow.”

Jimmy hisses. “Are you sure? You know what will happen if you do.”

“The only reason I remained married to her all this time was because I wasn’t completely sure whether Alice was alive or not,” I say darkly. “The white witches are still hunting her, though. The agreement was that they would leave Alice alone if I chose Willow. So, there’s no point in staying married to her.”

“Yes,” Jimmy says, sounding tense. “But at least Alice is still alive. If you leave Willow and bring Alice home, the white witches are going to go after her.”

“There was another reason I came to Arizona, Jimmy. I’m looking for the archive keeper.”

Jimmy gives me a confused look. “Who?”

“The archive keeper for the royal family.” I glance at him. “Does it surprise you that the royal family has its own private archives?Only upon becoming king is the location of the archive room revealed to you. And nobody aside from the king even has knowledge of it. You’re the first non-royal individual to find out about it.”

“So, who is the archive keeper?”

“Nara,” I tell him. “She’s a witch.”

“A white witch?” Jimmy asks cautiously.

I shake my head. “One of the oldest surviving dark witches. My father told me about her. During the war between the white witches and the dark witches, she was rescued, an infant, and the queen at the time raised her.” When I see the shock in Jimmy’s eyes, I chuckle. “I had the same reaction. My father told me to go to the archive room and meet her, but I never did. I never cared enough, and I thought he was losing his mind. He always acted so paranoid after Willow entered the royal family, like he was sure she was listening in to everything he was saying.”

“Maybe he had a reason to believe that.”

It could be, I muse to myself. Or maybe his health issues had begun to affect his brain. I suppose we’ll never know. “I’m wondering if he told me that because he thought there was something about the white witches that I could use against them. Pinning them with financial fraud isn’t going to be enough. I need something stronger. They have become far too powerful. I cannot bring Alice back till I can destroy them.”

“You can’t destroy them!” Jimmy looks horrified. “They are the backbones of the healers.”

“That’s true,” I agree reluctantly. “But their numbers need to be thinned out. They are witches, not shifters. They have no business in our kingdom and in such positions of authority.”

My friend watches me in disbelief. “You’re certain that this archive keeper will have something you can use against the white witches?”

I raise a brow at him. “Have you forgotten that they removed certain books from the palace? They know the royal family has something on them. That is why they were so desperate to enter the royal palace to begin with. When my father was alive, the witches didn’t have such control. But the moment he passed and Willow became the queen, they started invading. The royal family has something on them, and I plan to find it. They made the mistake of going after the woman I love. They’re going to regret it.”

“What about Alice? You have to tell her the white witches are looking for her. What if she decides to leave? You may never see her again.”

This thought had occurred to me, but I’m still looking for a solution. I need Alice to trust me, but that’s not going to happen. She has closed her heart to me. I’m a reminder to her of every horrible thing that ever happened to her. She will never forgive me, and I know that.

Jimmy sits down beside me. “It’s not like you to give up.”

“I’m not giving up, but I don’t know how to look her in the eye, Jimmy.”

“You couldn’t have imagined what Willow and the white witches were planning to do to her. She needs to know that.”

“I tried to tell her, but she doesn’t want to listen to me. She needs to hate me.”

“Needs to?”

I’m silent at his question. Behind the tears and despair when she looked at me, there was something else, something that had been tormenting her.

She still loves me. That’s why she has to hate me. Because she will never forgive herself if she allows herself to love me.

If I were to say that to Jimmy, he wouldn’t believe me, but I saw that passion in her eyes, mixed with anger and hurt. Maybe it’s our fated bond.

I rejected her verbally, but I never tore out the bond. I couldn’t.

My wolf and I were in agreement about that. I could lose her, but I couldn’t lose the existence of our bond. It was all I had left of her.

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