Forest of Lies

Chapter 23-Conspiratorial Conversation

🥺Sorry for the wait ya'll I've been busy with schoolwork work, friends, family, and graduation planning. I should have another chapter out soon.

But anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the possible theories that it will most definitely send your minds into a tizzy over. ✨
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I relax my shoulders, brushing away a stray lock behind my ear. Returning Helena's piercing pale gaze with my own, and something twists my stomach the moment our eyes meet. A strange thing, an unexpected sensation.

"What an imagination, surely you don't think that of me," I answer, forcing my feet to move my body forward. Toward the Scythe. Toward the loyal killer of her brother's enemies. Toward the wolf with too keen a mind.
"That would be very unfortunate."

Helena pushes off the wall the moment I stop in front of her. She pulls in close. So very close. Close enough that if she truly wished, Helena could open her mouth and use her wolfen canines to rip out my throat.

"I have no room to imagine things," she whispers into my ear. One firm hand taking hold of my left arm, before leading me down the deserted haul with a not so gentle tug.

"Come along my Luna," her voice reverting back to its cold tone and normal volume. "The seamstresses have arrived for your dress fitting."

The Scythe takes me through the halls. The farther we get from the King's office, the more I wonder where all the guards have gone. I chance a look at the former wolf princess at my side. The stone cold veneer that seems sharper on her, making her brother's icy exterior somewhat dull in comparison.

The stories of Helena Petrosus were not exaggerated in the slightest. She has the beauty of a rare cultivated flower. A flower that thrives despite nature's wrath. A flower surrounded by thorns. It makes me wonder as I look over her black leathers, her daggers, her sword belted at her side, what else there is to the only female to ever win in the Arena four years prior. The youngest contestant as well at a mere sixteen years. There must be, or else how could she be so close to the truth?

"You may not be aware Nyx," Helena drawls, slowing her steps down to a languid stroll. "It is easy enough for those who are not lack witted fools to not sense the disdain you have for their king. Many are fooled by your little act, but not me. I know there are others such as I, and they will use it against you, I am sure of that. It be best for you to work on that, or else the Iron Court will eat you alive."

"Wouldn't it be the wise choice?" I utter. "Let the one who shows no loyalty to one's king to be given a most suitable punishment."

Helena stops, her hold growing tighter on my arm. Nails all but digging through the sleeves of my gown. She looks down at me from the corner of her eye. Her height a match for many werewolf males I have seen. Towering at a solid six feet and yet she moves with a solemn, silent grace.

"You are not just a target for hate. You are a cause for relief. Do you know where your ladies-in-waiting were before you came here?"

"It is obvious I do not, Your Highness."

A dry laugh leaves her lips. The same pale mouth twisting into a venomous grin as she resumes in dragging me back to the Luna Quarters.

"Oh please, such malicious respect will not get you far. The only reason I don't bother to give you a well deserved wallop, is that your little friend Orlan would be very upset with me."

Another dry chuckle leaves her. The grin she once had melting into a frown, her eyes turning vacant and cold. "Don't think me fooled by him either. I know he would love to slit my throat if you so ordered him to. I only have him around to quell the basest despicable urges of my wolf."