Defy The Alpha(s) novel Chapter 843

Chapter 843: Royally Fucked

While Violet was being taken care of inside, Alaric and Asher had no choice but to wait for her outside.

"What were you up to last night? Did you finish building the device?" Asher asked, and Alaric tensed at once.

He slowly turned to face Asher, his brows narrowing with sudden suspicion.

"Why are you so interested in that?"

Asher’s eyes narrowed at once, his lips pressing into a grim line. "Because you were occupied with Zuru and they wouldn’t let me in yesterday when I came to check up on you." His gaze sharpened. "Or is it the fact that you’re suddenly staring at me as if I’m the one who stole the device?"

There was solid tension between the boys now as Alaric slowly, cautiously straightened, a darkness suddenly entering his eyes.

He lifted a brow. "Did you?"

Alaric didn’t want to believe it, but after the Queen’s words yesterday, his mind had been anything but quiet. And now that he thought about it, the device had gone missing right after Asher and Violet’s visit to him.

Asher flinched as if the accusation had physically struck him across the face. Then he straightened too, the seriousness of the situation dawning on him.

He asked in a gravelly tone, "Why would I do that?"

Alaric, who had been carefully listening for any change in his heartbeat, frowned. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

That was not the answer he had expected.

But it was the question that had plagued him all night. Why would Asher do that?

It didn’t make sense.

Out of all of them, if there had been anyone obsessed with Violet’s happiness, it was him. Hurting the Queen was equal to hurting Violet, and Asher, in his right mind, would not...

Alaric trailed off. That was it. Asher in his right mind.

What if Asher wasn’t in his right mind?

Alaric began to replay every interaction they’d had over the past few days, searching for something—anything—that might hint that something had been off about Asher.

But no matter how hard he thought, nothing clicked except that day at breakfast.

His face changed.

Alaric recalled the casual comment Roman had once made about Asher contracting some kind of parasite that seemed to devour everything in his stomach.

The shock of stumbling onto that memory unfortunately showed on Alaric’s face, and Asher noticed.

He asked carefully, "Are you alright?"

"Of course," Alaric answered a little too quickly.

He cleared his throat, then coughed before saying, "I’m just stressed out with the whole thing, and now I’m even suspecting those around me for the missing device. It’s driving me crazy." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Two things became painfully clear to Alaric in that moment.

One, he was not a good actor and it was taking everything in him not to get caught.

Secondly, Asher was too smart and observant. All it would take was one wrong move. One slip in body language. One show of fear and his cardinal brother would know exactly what was going through his mind.

At the same time, Alaric subtly tightened the mental walls around his thoughts as he recalled Asher’s unique power of manipulation.

It had been easy to forget around Violet, especially since using their powers on one another had long been forbidden.

"I understand," Asher said. "In times like this, suspicion is natural. I did warn Queen Seraphira, though, that her plan was weak. It isn’t my fault she underestimated just how far Baron’s influence reaches."

He clicked his tongue almost pitifully, yet there was something so strangely lackadaisical about him, as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

And just like that, things became even clearer to Alaric. He remembered Annequin warning them about how openly they moved through the Fae Realm with their minds unguarded.

As strong as Asher was mentally, what if he had encountered someone stronger?

Someone like Baron, who could dreamwalk.

Oh fuck.

Alaric cursed internally, swallowing hard.

They were royally fucked.

"Are you sure you’re alright?" Asher asked again, pulling Alaric from his spiraling thoughts.

"W-what?" Alaric tried to steady his racing heart. "I already told you. I’m nervous about the whole thing, that’s all."

Asher nodded as if he believed him. Instead he pointed downward.

"Then you should get those sparks under control. We wouldn’t want to get kicked out of the palace at a critical time as this."

Alaric looked down and saw tendrils of electricity crackling between his fingertips.

That only happened when his emotions became unstable. He quickly closed his fist, forcing the sparks to die.

When he looked back up, Asher was already moving toward him. Alaric jerked away before he could stop himself.

Asher lifted a brow.

"Did I do something wrong, Alaric?" he asked in a low tone. "Why do you suddenly seem scared of me?"

"I’m jumpy, not scared," Alaric retorted, hoping the hardness in his voice would be enough to kill whatever suspicion Asher might be forming. "You know how I get when I’m like this. I don’t want to hurt anyone."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify