Mated To The Cruel Prince-Chapter 681: Doomed

Maxi poked her head out, since Kalamazoo stood before her, looming and intimidating with his much taller height and solid frame. A smile curled her lips, and she waved at Islinda with childlike excitement. "Hello, Islinda, you always do have the best timing!"

"Hello, Maxi. Isaac. It’s nice to know that you diligently answered my distress call, unlike a certain Fae," Islinda said, pointedly glaring at Kalamazoo.

It hadn’t been difficult for her to sneak out with Kalamazoo out of the picture. All she had to do was pretend to be pressed and then have Ginger escort her to the latrine.

When the guards attempted to follow her, she had glared and demanded they not embarrass her by following her into the female’s lavatory. Of course, they insisted it was for her protection and that they were merely doing their job. So Islinda let them be, having already formed a plan.

Once inside the toilet, she explained to Ginger her need to escape the restaurant undetected. The Fae was up to the task and began her legendary acting, which distracted both guards until Islinda had successfully escaped.

The most difficult part was tracking down Kalamazoo, and she missed her mark twice. However, the gods were on her side because she finally spotted him, and here they were.

She turned to Kalamazoo, commanding him, "You will assist them into the palace."

Kalamazoo scowled at her. "Prince Aldric’s orders—"

"I know about Prince Aldric’s order," she cut him off.

"Then you should know that it is suicide going against it," he reminded her, his gaze fierce and unwavering.

However, Islinda was undeterred and stepped towards Kalamazoo until they were standing face to face. She then told him, "It is suicide for others to go against Aldric, but not me. I’ll handle Aldric; you just help Maxi and Isaac."

"But, my lady—"

Islinda snapped at him, "Your prince is under witchcraft manipulation. It’s clear to me that you need all the help you can get. Hence, protest again, and I’ll really think that you are in cahoots with Elena and intend to bring him down!" freewёbnoνel.com

For over a minute, there was nothing but silence as the weight of Islinda’s words rendered everyone speechless.

"So what do you say, Kalam?" Isaac spoke up this time. "Are you ready to Fae up and take the risk, or would you remain in your comfort zone like a coward, unwilling to take the risk in case the plan backfires?"

Kalamazoo’s jaw clenched hard, and it was easy to tell the conflict in his eyes. He finally spoke up, "This is your idea. Pray it works." He then looked at Maxi and Isaac. "I have two guards with me; you’ll take their places. Now let’s go. The princess has had enough fun, it seems. We return to the palace immediately."

Meanwhile, while Islinda was busy gathering her forces, a certain summer Fae was not idle either.

"You invited Islinda to the meeting today?" Elena asked, waiting expectantly for Aldric’s answer. She had visited him in his office just mere hours before the event.

"Yes, I did. Any problem with that?" He asked, raising his head from the paperwork he was buried in and sparing her a look.

Elena walked over to Aldric’s side with a sashay of her hips and stood behind him, placing both hands on his shoulders.

Although Eli did not react to that, inside his muscles were taut, and he was eager to react to any form of witchcraft manipulation she might have come with this time. Unlike Aldric, who had underestimated her, he wouldn’t be repeating the same mistake.

"I told you..." Elena said, her hands digging into Eli’s shoulders and beginning to massage his muscles, "Islinda is not to be trusted."

"I know," Eli said, acting the role of a bewitched Aldric, susceptible to Elena’s request. "I’ve often invited her to formal proceedings; it would seem strange that I stopped already. Moreover, there are already rumors circulating that she has lost favor with me and you are her replacement. You wouldn’t want such rumors circulating about you, would you? After all, you’re my brother’s fiancé, aren’t you?"

At once, Elena’s movements halted, and a frown made its way across her expression.

Although Eli could not see her face, he could already sense her disappointment

. Elena had probably charmed Aldric into believing Islinda had ulterior motives towards him and that she couldn’t be trusted.

However, Aldric still had his quick thinking. If Elena had turned him into her puppet entirely, the Faeries would have quickly noticed something was wrong with him, hindering her plans.

"Fine," she said, stepping away to stand in front of him, leaning forward. "But you will have to do something about Islinda soon. We can’t have her poisoning your mind. The faster we get rid of her, the better for you. And this time, there will be no hesitation or excuses. Trust me, it’s for your own good."

"Fine," Eli told her, "whatever you say."

Elena smiled, seemingly satisfied with his response. She straightened up and said, "Then I’ll go prepare for the meeting. Something tells me it’s going to be a blast. By the way, what’s the meeting about?"

"Nothing much," Eli answered. "I’ll be leaving the Winter Court soon, and I wouldn’t want my efforts to go to waste. It would piss me off to return later and find it in worse shape than when I left. I want to get the message across to my uncle Karle and the other high Faeries working for him. But mostly, it will be a feast. Nothing much. Just drinking, eating, dancing, and merriment. Better be prepared for that."

"Trust me, I will be," Elena said.

Unknown to Elena, a certain Autumn Fae broke into her room while she was engaged with Aldric. It was child’s play getting into her room and picking the lock without anyone noticing.

Andre had no idea what to expect when he broke into Elena’s room, but it was meticulously clean and arranged. It seemed too clean for his liking, almost as if she had hidden away evidence of her dabbling in witchcraft.

Yet, Andre did not give up and began to carefully search the room. He had been stalking Elena throughout the day, and depending on whatever she and Aldric were doing in his room, his time was ticking.

Andre was careful to keep her things the way they were, not wanting her to notice anything out of place and hide the evidence further.

There was nothing incriminating in Elena’s room, nearly discouraging Andre. Unfortunately, he trusted Islinda’s words to a degree and judging from what he had seen so far, something was off about his brother Aldric.

Andre was about to give up when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something ripple. Intrigued, he moved to the section of the wall that he swore had shifted in just a split second.

When he got closer, Andre peered intently at the spot and realized that this was an illusion. The wall wasn’t really a wall.

He tentatively pushed his hand through it, and it passed through effortlessly. With determination, he pushed his entire body through and emerged into another section of the room that had been hidden from view.

However, what stunned Andre wasn’t just the illusion, but the fact that the room was filled with mirrors.

"What the hell..." he muttered, wide-eyed.

Mirrors of the same shape and size lined the wall, reflecting each other and creating a cascade of Andre’s own bewildered face.

Andre took a cautious step forward, his eyes darting from one mirror to the next. The silence in the room was almost deafening, broken only by the sound of his own breathing.

Something was not right here, Andre could feel it. What was Elena doing with so many mirrors? If he remembered correctly, mirrors were instruments of witches, not Faeries. Just how deeply had Elena tangled in the dark arts?

He reached for one of the mirrors, and his hand met cool glass unlike the illusionary wall. Now that he thought about it, witches used mirrors to spy on...

"Oh fuck..." It suddenly clicked for Andre. Elena had been spying on them. Just how much did she know? He had to warn Islinda. They had underestimated Elena.

Andre turned to leave, only to discover that he couldn’t. What the fuck! He pushed against the illusionary wall, but it had become solid. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem for a Fae like Andre. He pushed with all his strength, yet the wall didn’t budge an inch. Panic creeping in, he summoned his wind power and blasted it into the wall. Still nothing. Then it dawned on him—this was a trap.

Elena had put a security measure in place to ensure that anyone who discovered her secret couldn’t escape. Now he was caught in her web. How long would this hold? He asked, even though he knew there was no getting out from this at least until after tonight. There would be no warning Islinda.

Andre knew he was doomed.

They were doomed.