The Broken Crown

Pretty Little Things

"I swore to your mother I do whatever I could to keep you safe. I swore I would do whatever I thought to be in your best interest," Oliver pleads, grasping the at the chains holding him down, calling out for me to set him free. "Trisst was only a pawn to bring the storm-"

"You killed members of your own pack just to see me alpha. You committed treason." Oliver looks to me with wide eyes begging for me to forgive him, to hear him out. "You were never acting on the promise you made my mother."

I can still remember the feeling of Trisst fidgeting beneath my body as I slid that blade into his throat, cutting through his flesh and arteries as he took his last breath from under me, those lavender eyes staring up at me. Every night for the last three days I have woken up screaming, dreaming that I was not the one on top, but the one on bottom with a  knife pressed into my throat. Oliver hired an elven assassin, Trisst, to do his dirty work, but I know there is much more at play here.

"Start from the beginning, Oliver," I growl, stepping back from my once trusted advisor as he stands in the center of a room, his hands shackled as a chain linked to the floor limits his range. I stand just out of reach from the disgraced advisor, his body just a meter from my own, those bloodshot eyes staring at me with a lost sense of hope.

"You already know how this all started."

"There is more you are not telling me. Bryson is dead because of you. Alpha Vaughn is dead, Alpha Ryker's own head was severed from his body, both of those alpha's men were found slaughtered...Cedric nearly lost his life and yet you told me Asger did this. Do something right for one, Oliver, and tell me what all of this is about."

The silence which runs between us tells me Oliver is pondering just if he can tell me what he knows. He fears someone – and if that someone is Asger, then I need to find out. "Pack members needed to see Crimson Lock struggled under Steward Cade's rule...his daughter's death would only act as a catalyst. Crimson Lock needed you. Everything I did was because I believed in you."

I scoff, crossing my arms as I cannot believe what Oliver has just said. "You did none of this just because of me. Why Asger? How is he tied up in this? If you hired Trisst then why did he attack?"

"I did all of this for you. Leala, for you to become the strong and beautiful woman you are," Oliver cries out, reaching out for me as the chains only hold him back sharply, reminding him of his recent limitations. "I did what any advisor does...I offered you my council." 

"And what did Asger want? Or are you so afraid of Asger even with death looming around your corner that you dare not speak of him?" I snap, walking up to Oliver as I grab the chains holding his hands, tugging at them as Oliver is pulled down to his knees sharply, still weakened from the attack. "Why did Trisst come after you..." I stop in my sentence, looking away from Oliver as I briefly laugh. "I cannot believe how dumb I have been. Cedric was right that someone had to let Trisst in. You allowed Trisst to slip past warriors guarding pack territory and you let him attack the guests of Crimson Lock and you fought with him. You kill Bryson, didn't you?"

"I swear-"

"You killed Bryson, did you not?"

My growl swallows the room whole, Oliver's eyes widening as his skin turns pale as snow. Cowering at my feet, Oliver begs me to not take his life, begging for me to have mercy, telling me he was foolish. To think my own advisor and the very man I thought I could trust all along was the very one who killed my Beta and almost died in the process.

"What the fuck did you want out of all of this? What did you want, Oliver?!"

Grabbing a handful of his graying hair, I sharply pull his head back so his eyes meet mine as I repeat my statement. Oliver's eyes begin to water his bloodstained face from the attack becomes so tense I could swear he had turned to stone. "I wanted to see my alpha sitting on the throne. I wanted to be your royal advisor and-"