Chapter 104
Selene POV
As soon as Noah left the room followed by Reid, I quickly crossed the room to where Conrad was standing trying to look as distressed as I could while giving off the aura that I was scared.
“I…I didn’t know you were going to come here,” I said with a stutter giving him a small smile “Would you mind if I ask why you’re here? You know, the conversation you had with Noah… not that I am demanding you tell me but I want to know, so I trailed off.
Conrad’s eyes flashed with amusement as he came up close to me “Nothing important… I mean I could have told him a lot of things because you’d agree with me that there was so much to talk about especially after I realized that your visit to my hotel room last night was done without your mate’s permission. I thought marriage was all about communication or did someone suddenly change the rules,”.
I turned towards the door of the room with apprehension and then turned to him, trying to control the way my voice was already shaking. I could see he was deriving pleasure from what he thought I was scared of… The fool!
“It’s not like I was there to do something evil. I was only looking for King Tanner, Princess Jade’s father. I wanted to have a discussion with him and try to settle out a few things. I didn’t know he was dead already. There was no reason for me to be there anyway,”.
“Right!” he nodded, and smiled at me leeringly as he jerked my jaw to him so our eyes met “But who will believe you? You’re not supposed to be there in the first place but you did. A married woman, mate to King Noah and Luna to the Great Moon Whispers. I wonder what the people will say when they hear that you visited the hotel room of a man unaccompanied. From what I heard, they really do not like you, no?”
I forced myself not to spit at his face at that moment. I didn’t even try to fight his hand under my jaw as I met his cold, calculating gaze. At this point, I knew he was already buying into the whole story, so it was my duty to sell it out. I had to play the role of a troubled mate who loved her marriage so much and wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.
“Please,” I willed my expression into one of pleading desperation “I beg you, don’t tell, Noah that I was at the hotel. I swear to the moon goddess, I only came there to look for your brother and nothing more. Everything that happened was done out of the purest of intentions. I wasn’t even thinking… I only wanted to save my marriage. I wanted King Tanner to call off the wedding proposal between Princess Jade and Noah. I was only trying to protect that. Please
He arched an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. So, I knew it was to allow me to continue to keep speaking. My mind was turning blank. I didn’t know what to say, especially in such a position I was with him. I needed to think.
Deliberately, I allowed my eyes to fill up with tears – tears unnerved a lot of men and I was hoping it would work on Conrad. It did! As soon as he saw my tears, for a moment, I saw an uninterpretable emotion pass through his eyes before he let me go, giving me a small push as if he didn’t want me to come within an inch of him.
“Dry your crocodile tears, it doesn’t move me and you have a few minutes to convince me enough not to report you to your husband. By the way,” he paused and reached for the inner part of his coat and from then, fished out my purse from yesterday “You left this,” the smirk returned. “I could say you felt guilt all of a sudden and rushed out of the room or something along those lines but I just want to let you know that I am not bluffing. So, try to convince me really well!”
So, I had left the purse at the hotel?
When I returned home last night, I had been frantically searching for the purse. I was worried that if I left it back at the hotel, they might discover that the items inside it weren’t what they appeared to be. But from the confident grin on Conrad’s face, I could tell that they had just assumed it was just a woman’s purse.
Resuming my desperate look, I turned to him “You see, I and Noah… our marriage hasn’t been the smoothest recently. A lot has been happening and I noticed he was getting close to Princess Jade so I dropped my eyes, feigning embarrassment and shame “I was worried that he would eventually give in to the proposal and marry her. As you know, Princess Jade is more valuable than me. Her marriage can cement an everlasting partnership with the West and I was scared of that. I know it’ll be beneficial… but I trailed off, sniffing back tears.
“If Noah should find out that I was at the hotel last night when I had lied that I wanted to take a walk to clear my head If he knew that I was standing in the way of the pack’s progress,” I shook my head, fighting to hold back tears “I cannot begin to imagine how to hurt and betrayed he’d feel towards me. Our marriage…everything could be ruined!”
Lifting my gaze once more, while making sure that my eyes were brimming with unshed tears and pain, I sought Conrad’s blank gaze.
“So, I’m begging you, as a wife who loves her husband more than anything and as a woman whose dignity should be preserved. Please, if word gets out, it’ll destroy our already fragile marriage and even though I could explain myself and tell everyone that it was a harmless visit, who would believe me? If you can just keep it to yourself this once… I will forever be in your debts
I wanted to sputter with tears at the lies I could easily spin and I was enjoying myself thoroughly, so I was determined not to break character even for a moment. Conrad on the other hand, continued studying me with his piercing amber eyes that stared soullessly at me. He was probably trying to analyze everything I was saying so far to check if I was lying.
A moment later, he scratched his jaw as his lips twisted into a wry smile.
“Well… You’ll make a good lawyer—such a detailed description. I must admit you make a compelling case,” he stroked his jaw “But, I am a little confused… is it that you do not want your pack to prosper? A marriage between them would foster abundance and if you had these concerns, why didn’t you reach out to him and voice your concerns and fear?”
My heart sank at his trickery question. But I quickly lowered my face, pretending to be sobbing while trying to hide my emotions.
“Have you met Noah?” I said with a sad smile allowing a hint of bitterness to sharpen my tone “He’s stubborn especially in matters he has already decided upon. I was worried that I might look like a nagging wife and he may not listen to me… in fact, he doesn’t listen to me and although he says he won’t accept the proposal not with everything I’ve seen. It seemed to me he was getting swayed,”.
Conrad made a soft tutting sound he was deriving pleasure from my makeup story. The truth is, I cannot allow any form of marriage to happen at this moment. So, that was one of the reasons I had agreed to stick out my neck and not because of Kurtis.
My plans were underway and a tiny slip would spoil a lot of things for me. So, I couldn’t allow Moon Whisper to go to war at this point nor anything that would require spending a lot of resources for nothing.
“Please,” I whispered as I placed my hand on his arm looking up at him with begging eyes “You’re the only one I’ve told this thing to and it’s because somehow, I feel like I can trust you. However, if you should tell Noah about his… he will never trust me again and I I sniffed back tears “Cannot lose… please,”.
After an excruciating eternity, he finally spoke up.
“Fine!” he nodded “You have my word and I will keep your secret however since I’d practically be saving your marriage and saving you from not being asked to leave the pack… I need more than just mere non-moving words to prove that you’re willing to keep your marriage,”.
I made a big production of being distressed further by his words. When I regained myself, I turned to him, voice trembling… Read complete version only at
“W-What do you want?”