The Wizard's Queen

Chapter 43

Luke could barely keep track of all the chaos that had occurred in between the interrupted dress fitting and news of his sister and Kas crashing the press conference daddy dearest conducted. Shortly after half the wedding party left to take care of things, the King of the Fairies came knocking with the request to take that demon kid away.

Bitchton hadn't wanted to relinquish the child, but nobody said no to the Fairy King. Declan hadn't wanted to go either, but Riles had suggested it was in his best interest to leave. She didn't trust the king either, but she knew Declan couldn't be a part of this war or in the house much longer for that matter.

Shortly after the kid left, the Arctic team relayed information that the corpse capture had failed and Rachel Domingo was in their custody while the others had escaped to safety. The base had been completely destroyed by a demon controlling the giants. Now, some of the best Wardsmen in the Taskforce had been sent to Luke's home to ward against high-level demons.

Luke finally had a chance to slip away from the others and found himself down in the dungeon. He had planned to tamper with the golems, but those plans were cut off at the sight of Bitchton in the lab. Luke paused, studying the tired brunette who struggled to move.

He knew she had been hiding a secret for a while now. It was obvious by the way she had suddenly become more clingy towards his father back in August. Luke hadn't said anything, interested to see how things played out. His father was still clueless. He never was keen on illusions anyway.

"You know, this would be the perfect chance to kill you with no one else around," Luke said.

Bethany jumped at the sound of his voice, frowning at the sight of him nonchalantly leaning in the doorway to the lab. She pushed a stray strand of caramel colored hair behind her ear. "You'd be a fool to lay a hand on me. I am your stepmother now."

Luke chuckled as he took a seat across from her on the lab bench. She quickly slammed the book shut that she had been reading. Luke raised an eyebrow, smirking at the potions she had been studying.

"Yes, you are carrying my little brother, after all."

It was satisfying to see Bethany's face drain with color the moment Luke opened his mouth. She gulped, her eyes widening as they locked with his sky blue ones. Luke's eyes trailed down to her stomach, straining to see past the illusions. Eight months. She had successfully hidden the truth from his father a full eight months.

"You're not going to tell him," Bethany threatened.

"What do you think he's going to do when you suddenly go into labor? He'll see the kid as nothing but weak! He'll probably kill it on the spot to prevent it being an embarrassment to our namesake. Over the years, we Noble's have only married within the original family namesakes. Keaton is only a subclass!"

Bethany slammed her fists on the table, jumping with a start as she glared at Luke. "Its a boy, he has a decent heir now, unlike you!"

"You're delusional," Luke spat.

Bethany was about to respond but was interrupted by the sound of a pair of footsteps entering the room. She whirled around with a glare, her gaze softening at the sight of Leona standing there with Wren at her side. Luke raised an eyebrow towards Wren and Leona studying between the two.

"Leila Noble is dead," Leona gulped.

Leona gulped. Luke smirked at the vulnerability showing through. Who knew she could show remorse?

"What's going on down here?" Wren questioned.

"Oh, just a little chat about illusions," Luke yawned. His eyes darted between Bethany and Leona as he exited the room. He purposely brushed against Leona as he walked past, feeling her tense as he walked.