A Tainted Claim (Beholden Duet Book 2)

by Zoey Ellis

  Ana stared at her, wondering why she didn’t feel any anger toward her now, but it had been so intense then. Maddoc never confirmed or denied if anything happen between them. It was something she should have asked.

  As they veered around the gardens, a magnificent building came into view. Ana abruptly stopped.

  “Who lives there?” she asked, astonished. She’d never seen any building styled in such a way. Cream and gold made up the whole multistory building, and shimmery gold paneling decorated some of the walls around enormous arched windows, and thick towers reached to the sky topped with round spheres and spires. It was expansive, but beautifully balanced with balconies, shrubs, and large trees with wide flat leaves. Ana couldn’t help but gape. She couldn’t still be in Allandis; she would have known if this building existed within her kingdom. They had to have traveled to a different kingdom.

  “We need to keep going, Your Majesty,” Griff said. “We must reach the palace before dusk.”

  Ana’s brows lifted. Palace? Yes, that suited it.

  They kept walking until they reached the building, and although there were guards standing around the building, the highcloaks led her straight in through the front. It was even more impressive than the outside. Simple furniture, simple colors, and without the clutter and heavy ornamentation of the palace that she called home. It was beautiful.

  “Ana!”

  The familiar voice that rang out in the entrance hall made her freeze. “Milly?”

  Milly ran to her, throwing her arms around her and hugging her tight.

  “Milly! What are you doing here?” Milly’s familiar smell drew on all the memories she had of her home, her bedchamber, her library, her studies, her life at the palace. Milly signified everyday life, and the familiarity of it made Ana tearful yet again.

  “We’ve been waiting for you,” Milly said pulling back to her arm’s length, tears in her own eyes.

  “What do you mean?” Ana looked around the palace. “Who is we? And how long have you been here?”

  “Not that long, but you were supposed to be here already, from what I was told.” She scowled. “It’s so difficult to get anything from any of these guards.”

  Ana blinked slowly, nothing made sense. “I don’t understand.”

  “Let’s get you settled and then we can talk.”

  Milly led her through a number of corridors to an elegant living space with a light airy feel to it, even as the skies were darkening outside. Ana stared out the window and saw the skies had a tinge of pink to them that she hadn’t seen before. When they’d left Maddoc in the Oakenshire, dusk had already arrived. “Where are we, Milly?”

  Milly grinned. “In Allandis. Can you believe it?”

  “No. I don’t understand how.”

  Milly patted the sofa next to her. “I have only been here a few days myself,” she admitted. “But from what I understand, all this belongs to Maddoc.”

  Ana made a face, holding up her hand in confusion. “Wait, tell me how you got here first.”

  “After I spoke to you when my husband died—” She swallowed a sip of wine. “—I was approached by one of the courtiers in the palace. He said he had a job for me doing something similar to what I did now, but that it would take me away from the palace and my life, and everything that I’d known.”

  “And you just believed it?” Ana asked in disbelief.

  “No, no of course not. But then,” Milly’s voice lowered, and her shoulders dropped. “My son recovered from the attack, but he was very bitter and angry about everything. He refused to get a job or even think about a trade, and I could tell he didn’t want me around while he tried to correct his own life. I really had no reason to stay in Allandis. I wouldn’t have been able to keep my job with you without some kind of status from my son in his work. And someone was offering me similar work, better pay, living accommodation… It was very tempting,” she said lifting her shoulders. “And then, with the attack of the king at your wedding, I just didn’t want to be in the palace anymore. The kingdom was going to suffer, and I didn’t want to live a life with no status.” She leaned forward. “I know it sounds bad, but when you have no status, things can be very bad for you.”

  Ana wondered if she knew. “Did you know about the corruption of the royal houses?”

  ““No,” Milly said sharply. “I never knew until I accepted this job. I was given a study with books and reports to create my lessons on, and some of those books had information in them that shocked me. Names, dates, places, written accounts…” Her mouth became a thin line and her chin trembled as she stared at Ana. “I never would have stayed there if I had known. I even found out that my husband had been involved in…” She lowered her head and swallowed. “I cannot bear to think about their actions.”

  She looked down at her hand for a long moment, to the place her wedding ring used to be. “I’m not saying I don’t miss him dearly, but I won’t excuse him. Edward knew right from wrong. I cannot understand what compelled him. Now that I lost my status, something like that could have happened to me. And you know I did not tolerate those gossips in the Royal Court, so they could have targeted me very easily.”

  Ana nodded thoughtfully. Milly did not make excuses for her husband’s behavior the way Maddoc said she made excuses for her father. “But…” Ana stared at Milly. “How are you all right with this? How are you comfortable with Maddoc? After everything that has been said about him.”

  “Well, I haven’t met him yet,” Milly said. “I’m sure I will not be comfortable, in fact, I’ll be terrified. But once I knew about the royal houses, I had to decide which was worse. And if what they said about him wasn’t true, then I don’t really know him at all. Also, after what happened at your wedding, I suspected that you would be here. And I was willing to risk it to see you again.” She smiled.

  Ana exhaled a breath and thought about what she said. “So you’re giving him a clean slate?”

  “No, not exactly,” Milly said. “But I could no longer trust what we’ve been told about him, and I was desperate to leave. It is a risk.”

  “Milly,” Ana said, carefully “Do you think Father was involved? I find it difficult to believe he was. You spoke to my parents regularly and you saw them together…. Do you think they were allowing these atrocities to happen?”

  Milly leaned back in the chair. “I don’t know. Everything in me tells me that they did not, and I cannot believe that I would be that wrong about them.”

  Ana held her breath, knowing more was coming.

  “But if that is the case, I cannot see how it could have gotten so bad with the houses.” She shook her head. “That they were doing things out in the open, where anyone could have seen them. They were so bold in their abuse, and that usually comes from having some kind of power that is impossible to overcome.” She snorted. “If your father had been healed enough before I left, I would have questioned him within an inch of his life.”

  Ana sat up straight, her stomach twisting. “What did you say?”

  “I would have interrogated your father thoroughly before I left, if he had been up to it.” Milly looked furious. “Even if he had nothing to do with what the royal houses were doing, it still happened during his reign. He is supposed to protect the commoners! There’s no excuse for being unaware of what is happening to his people.”

  “He’s alive?” Ana slowly rose from her seat, amazement threading through her and fogging up her throat. “Father is alive?”

  Milly’s eyes widened. “You were not told? Yes! Your father is alive, Ana!”

  “How could I be told?” Ana cried. “I’ve been with Maddoc since the wedding, I’ve had no news.”

  Milly frowned. “But he is alive because of Maddoc, from what I have heard.” She looked around the room, as if searching for something or someone to clarify, but there was no one else in the room but them.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well… that’s what I was told.”

  Ana sat next to
her. “How is he? Can you tell me how he’s doing?”

  Milly patted the back of her hand. “That is all I know,” she said apologetically.

  Ana exhaled, a bubble of relief and astonishment buoyant in her chest. If Father was alive, that put so much hope back into her heart about the possibilities for the kingdom. “Do you know how the royals are taking it?”

  “From what I hear, there has already been three assassination attempts,” Milly said gravely. “I anticipate that they will eventually succeed, if he doesn’t recover quickly enough to do something about it. Ryden is currently acting king, regent king, while your father is sick, but only until they find you.”

  Ana breathed hard, her mind trying to process all of the information at once. Ryden was alive too. And he was currently king, just like he always wanted! All it would take would be for her to go back to the kingdom and enforce her right as heir, and they would rule while Father recovered.

  Everything would be how it was, and between them they could correct the corruption the houses were causing. But if that was a worthwhile plan, why didn’t she feel more excited about the idea.

  “I can see you have plenty of things to think about,” Milly said, quietly.

  Ana nodded. She didn’t have to ask Milly if she would ever go back, she knew she wouldn’t. Milly was much firmer than Ana, and her assessment of the courts, and of Maddoc, was more logical than Ana’s. And it made her feel like an ignorant child, once again.

  “In the meantime,” Milly said, a smile spreading on her face as she lifted her arms and spread them around the room. “You should explore.”

  It was strange walking around the palace. Although everything about it screamed wealth, it didn’t look the way she knew wealth looked. There were definite similarities, but this one had an exotic feel to it, as though created by a long-forgotten culture. It’s beauty was in its simplicity and fine details, and that was what made Ana begin to fall in love with it. If Maddoc wanted this to be her home, he’d certainly made a good effort.

  On the ground floor, she opened a set of double doors with distinctive engravings over the panels to find an enormous library.

  She rushed inside and spun in a circle, squealing, looking at everything, but heading over to examine the shelves. It was the biggest collection of books and parchment she’d ever seen, and excitement rose in her at the idea that new books were waiting for her to explore.

  Upstairs in the bedroom, there was an enormous wardrobe tucked into the wall with extravagant dresses, including the two he had ripped off her those two nights. They’d both been repaired so well, it was as though they had never been torn.

  When she turned to the bed, a familiar book lay on it, and Ana laughed as she picked it up. It was her favorite book, the one she brought to the room the first night she saw Maddoc. She never thought she would see it again.

  She entered each of her private rooms, filled with excitement about the beauty of what she was seeing and enjoying the reminders of her Alpha. The enormous washroom had a bath so big, it favored a small lake. Handmaids drew her a bath and scented her water with oils, and she took her time washing, savoring the feel of the comfort she had once been so used to.

  When she headed to bed, Milly popped in, and they sat talking about everything that happened since they’d been apart. Ana told her about the agreement she’d almost made with some of the houses, much to Milly’s horror, and Milly explained to her that beyond the palace there was a city that was just as beautiful and as strange as the palace. Ana wondered about where the families from Moonvale had gone, and she hoped they were enjoying wherever they were. She made a note to ask the highcloaks.

  Climbing into bed, Ana realized there was no Alpha to hold her and no scent to comfort her in her sleep. Luckily, she was exhausted by the time her head hit the pillow and she fell asleep straightaway.

  The next day she spent hours in the library looking over all the shelves and getting familiar with as many books as she could so she could try to find the next great read. Amazingly, there was an entire wall dedicated to Alpha and Omega stories, copies of all the stories and retelling she’d seen in her library and many more.

  She began reading some of the Alpha and Omega stories that she hadn’t seen before, some of them dating back before Allandis existed. One of them even chronicled the story of King Allandis, the Alpha who founded the kingdom, and his haphazard, misfit Omega, Elyana.

  Ana spent nearly three days buried in books covering the Alpha and Omega couples of Allandis, and the more she read, the more she understood her attraction to Maddoc. Much of the feelings described—intoxicating, addictive, a satisfying sense of completion—were how she would describe the many times she’d been with him. And it was through those emotions that she could understand the choices the couples made for the kingdom and why they made them. That must be how an Alpha and Omega rule—how her parents made their decisions. But that thought raised more questions.

  Ana lay in bed thinking about how similar the connection between an Alpha and an Omega was across all the stories; it was almost identical in each one. Something nudged at her to make another connection, but her mind was too sleepy, and when she woke the next morning, it was gone.

  On the fourth night, Ana paced the bedroom in agitation. She wanted to see Maddoc. In her rational mind, she had questions to ask him that he should have answered before he sent her here, but in her irrational mind, she just wanted to be near him, in his arms again. Not seeing him or talking to him for four days was torturous and she didn’t like that she’d heard nothing about him.

  Sighing, she tried to calm herself and sat on the bed cross-legged. Clearly Maddoc had a plan that included them both being here. He never mentioned it to her, but it was vastly different than what she thought he expected from her.

  A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. “Come in.”

  The door inched open, and Raine slipped through, pressing herself against the wall.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you, Your Majesty,” she said hurriedly. “I just wanted to… welcome you.”

  Ana smiled, trying to put her at ease. “Thank you, Raine.”

  Raine relaxed a tiny amount. “I just wanted to welcome you and say that…” She fidgeted. “I hope we can, at some point, be friends.”

  Ana suddenly noticed Raine was not dressed as a highcloak. She wore a tunic with pants and a belt around her waist. Ana examined her, trying to figure out why she’d had hostile feelings toward her. Raine had never been aggressive or unfriendly toward Ana. In fact, she had been always polite and cordial. Her disheveled auburn hair that was usually tied back into one plait, fell to her shoulders and she was very pretty, just very different from Ana. Ana hadn’t noticed any attraction or a suggestion of such between Raine and Maddoc in all the time they were traveling into Allandis.

  “I don’t know what I may have done to upset you.” She looked crestfallen. “But we… I’ve looked forward to you being with us for a long time. I hope that someday you will come to trust me as a highcloak or at least as a guard. Maddoc will never let me near you if he thinks you’ll be upset. He wouldn’t let me treat him after… what happened.”

  Ana scowled. Maddoc wouldn’t let her treat him? He had not made that clear. “You didn’t do anything to upset me, Raine,” she said, eager to put her at ease. “I don’t know why I reacted that way.”

  Raine smiled. “I think it’s because you have great instincts.”

  “Do I?” Ana tilted her head. “Are you sexually involved with him?”

  Raine’s face distorted into an expression of absolute horror. “No! That’s disgusting!” She quickly held a hand out. “Not meaning to offend, Your Majesty. It’s just… no. He is like a big brother to me.”

  “Then my instincts are not that great at all.” Ana laughed. “I’ve been reading some of the Alpha and Omega books and I don’t know how mine could be so… wrong.”

  “Wrong? They’re not wrong, Your Majesty. The two of you…” Raine s
ighed, a smile on her face. “The two of you are what gives the rest of us hope. That maybe one day we will find that.”

  Ana’s smile faded as she recalled how often she’d nursed that hope when looking at her parents. The way her mother melted so contently into her father’s lap, the way they soothed each other with their touch, the undeniable attraction—the most powerful thing in every room. She and Maddoc had that. Sometimes it was hot and tense, sometimes it was explosive and violent. But it was always there, from that very first night. She glanced up at Raine, suddenly feeling exposed. “I… I’m sorry, I just….”

  Raine shrugged. “That’s all right. You love him and you miss him. I understand.”

  Ana blinked. Did she love him?

  “I’ve been dealing with it for five years already with him, so I’m used to it.”

  Ana leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

  “Him pining for you.” Raine grinned, jokingly rolling her eyes. “It was a hard five years. Honestly, we really are glad you’re here.”

  “Five years?” Ana stared at her. “Maddoc has felt that way for me for five years?”

  Raine froze. “I’m not sure if he would want me to tell you that.” She pursed her lips and shrugged. “But it’s true. Everything changed five years ago, in terms of the focus of our missions, preparing this place, and dealing with the crown. Everything became streamlined and more urgent. We didn’t all know why at first, but it eventually became clear.”

  Ana wracked her brain trying to think what happened five years ago that Maddoc would have suddenly focused on her.

  “I suggest you talk to him about it,” Raine said. “I’m sure he is trying to manage the information he gives you, and I’m sure he hasn’t explained himself well at all, as usual. But you should know how crazy he is about you. He talks about you all the time.”

  Ana recalled how friendly everyone was at Moonvale when she arrived, and Trea’s insistence that she wasn’t mean like other members of the court.