“Eventually,” her mother agreed, with a sad smile. “When it was too late to do anything about it.” She wiped her tears. “The fake pairing, the lack of books, limited contact with others, especially Omegas, encouraging you to feel duty-bound to the crown… all of these things would have ensured success, Ana.”
Ana exhaled heavily, unable to believe the lengths her parents went to deceive everyone and maintain power for at least another generation. “I cannot believe you would do all this! And to your own child!”
“I would rather do this than have you and your father dead,” her mother said, sharply. “Or savagely tortured for years on end, paying for others’ crimes. We had to do what we needed to so we didn’t suffer at the hands of others, Ana. But I admit, it all came from my failing. Omegas are supposed to be the most fertile of dynamics, and I couldn’t give your father more children. The weight of that failure presses heavier each day.”
Ana glanced at her father. “He knew about it all, and agreed to it?”
Her mother nodded. “Recently, he wanted to tell you.”
“Why?”
“He… had doubts about you spending your life with Ryden. He wanted you to have what we have, if it was a possibility.”
Ana swallowed. “So he knew what Maddoc was to me?”
“Not as first. We just thought your mate was somewhere out in the kingdom. Neither of us had any idea that he was the man who’d been ejected. We only realized it after you left, and Maddoc wanted to chase after you and keep you. He didn’t behave like the sordid opportunist he did in court.”
“Did Father really make a deal with him?”
The queen nodded.
Ana leaned back in her chair thinking over what her mother had said, hardly able to believe that almost all of her life had been constructed to protect a lie. Lies upon lies. She felt hallowed out, empty from all the shameful and vile actions taken by the people who were in control of the kingdom. “When will it end?” she murmured.
Her mother's gaze returned her father, lying on the bed with sallow, sweaty skin. Her voice almost a whisper. "The houses have ruined this kingdom. They used to stand for so much, they used to mean something, and now they have ruined it."
"Do not blame the houses," Ana snapped. "You are the queen, you are the crown, you had control over what they do. You could have taken steps to stop them."
"The houses are supposed to work with the crown," the queen said, a bitterness in her tone. "The crown cannot function if every single house is corrupt and working against it. That is not its purpose. It is supposed to be the conduit for the work of the houses, otherwise you will have one couple who controls everybody instead of channeling the needs of the many into one focused aim to help everyone. It is the houses who are out there among the people. We rely on them for guidance about what the people need. We cannot be everywhere to know what is happening all over the kingdom," she exclaimed. "It’s enormous." She shook her head. "There is only so much anyone can do."
Ana nodded, tears coming to her eyes at the realization that she had been lied to about everything her whole life, more deeply then she even thought. The crown was not powerful; it was weak to the houses, and as long as the houses were corrupt, there was nothing the crown could do. She realized why Maddoc didn't have a problem with an invasion. It was the only thing that might interrupt the abuse of the houses. And that was the only thing that would give her hope.
Ana rose from her seat. "Mother, I am going away. I've left someone in the new guard who can communicate with me, but I'm leaving Allandis to be with Maddoc."
The queen smiled up at her. “I know, Ana. And I’m happy for you. Your father will be ecstatic. When he recovers, he will want to see you.”
Ana stepped closer to the bed and leaned down to kiss her father’s cheek. "I'm sure he would," she said, as she rose. "But I'm not sure if I will have anything to say."
The queen grabbed her arm. “Everything we did was for our preservation, Ana. I’m sorry that you had to go through all those falsehoods, but it was necessary.”
“No, Mother, it wasn’t.” Ana patted her arm, and turned to the door. “Maybe if you had put more value and faith in me, I could have helped. After all the studying I did, I probably know more about Allandis law and history than most.”
Her mother squinted at her. “What do you mean?”
Ana turned back to her. “All you had to do was disown the crown and the Redcrest name, and no danger would have followed us. But you didn’t think about that, did you? Nothing was more important to you than the crown. Even me.”
The sight of Maddoc waiting for her in the corridor saved Ana from descending into the heavy depressive mood that infected her from the conversation with her mother.
He immediately pulled her into his arms, as if he could feel her distress, and she couldn't help the sobs that overcame her. He pulled her close, comforting her from the disheartening, brutal, and bloody truth behind the royal assembly. Her life had never been her own—it had never been real, not until Maddoc entered it. He’d been a destructive force that she’d hated at the time, but he was the only honest and authentic element.
She cried for the life she had and for the loss of who she thought her parents were. She cried for the omegas who would be manipulated in the same way, and for the children who would take on the burden of their parents’ actions. But most of all, she cried out of relief that she was free of it. She had Maddoc, and she finally understood that he was her Alpha. He had already shown her the life he was prepared to provide for her, the life he had planned for them, and nothing could be more comforting than that.
"I do not like to see you cry," Maddoc rumbled, dissatisfaction in his gritty tone.
Ana wiped her tears. "I’ll be all right. I just can't believe how terrible people can be; the people I love, the people who are supposed to stand for something."
"I learned that early," Maddoc remarked. "But we don’t have to be concerned with them anymore, Ana. We are starting something new. That is not our reality anymore."
Ana nodded, smiling. "I know. And I'm glad for that."
Raine approached them in the corridor. “I arranged for a carriage to take you to the nearest body of water,” she said. “I suggest you leave soon. I don’t want anyone causing trouble for you.” She shot Maddoc a disapproving look. “Do not do anything but rest when you get home.”
Maddoc glared back at her, as though affronted she would tell him what to do.
Ana looked between them and laughed.
“Don’t give me that look,” Raine said warningly to Maddoc. She turned to Ana. “Agnes said the poison in his shoulder could have been fatal if she hadn’t treated him today. He needs to look after himself.”
Ana sobered, looking at Maddoc. “Why didn’t you see her to heal you?”
“I didn’t want to take her from your father. I know he is important to you.” He held her gaze. “And I was not lying in court when I said I don’t want him dead, Analisa. I want him alive for what is to come. He shouldn’t escape it.”