The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 114: His Caged Calmness

Chapter 114: His Caged Calmness

When the king goes wayward, the people suffer.

ZINA

"So you were saying?"

The word rolled off like Daemon found them utterly boring and disturbing. He said them like he was just entering the room and witnessing the commotion whereas in reality, he had been there from the beginning, choosing to read a book over addressing the very people that he had personally summoned.

Brestom muttered ’the son of a bitch’ under his breath, and almost at the same time, Daemon’s bland stare cut at them causing Zina to wonder just how powerful his hearing was. Could he have heard their conversation before then?

Zina shivered at the thought of it. The man already thought too lowly about her, if he thought Zina was indulging in underhanded politics, then his opinion of her wouldn’t be improving anytime soon.

Daemon stood, swaggering to them with a careless gait. The gods, Daemon had to be the first man Zina ever saw carry his stature with so much rugged dignity his presence alone threatened to swallow everyone whole.

He stopped when he reached Moorim’s crouched figure.

"It seemed to me you all had questions so I am asking you to repeat them?" He interpreted his earlier questions slowly like they were dim witted and incapable of understanding common words.

It was the Alpha of the IceSavage Pack that spoke first in a gruff, daring tone. "You’ve summoned us so rudely even before your coronation. We demand to know why you all but sent a message to all of us stating that if we didn’t make it to the Great Hall in three hours, there would be hell to pay in our families."

Wait, Daemon had said that? Zina searched for Falcon shooting the man a stare. He shrugged as if to say he didn’t find the need to tell her about the threat. After all, Zina didn’t exactly have a family, she thought bitterly.

"The message said three hours, Alpha IceSavage," Daemon drawled darkly, "and yet you were already here in one. Surely you do not mean to say that we should have started when there was at least two hours of time left."

Alpha IceSavage turned red, his cheeks puffed from barely contained anger as if he swallowed a toad. Otherwise, he said nothing else as he turned his face to the other side angrily with a less than comely huff.

The Alpha of the Howling Pack, more civil than other Alphas, asked in a placating tone. "So why have you summoned us?"

"Well now that you’ve asked, I have no choice but to answer you." Daemon said, his eyes darting from one person to another. "It so happens that I am looking for my money."

His money?

Whispers broke out at the confusing answer.

"Your money?" Someone screamed from the back.

"Well not exactly my money." Daemon answered with a frown marring his beautiful face. "You could call it the money of the Arctic North but you get the point."

"How is this money connected to us?" The Alpha of the BloodMoon Pack roared. Zina noticed the man was particularly saucy that morning. Which could only mean one thing; Daemon refused to marry Bella NorthSteed and keep her position as Queen. "If you’re looking for your money then take it up with your Epsilons and find the thief!"

Daemon smd darkly, unfazed by the man’s outrage. He spread his hands out, "well I’ve done that and there’s good news to be told. The thieves are actually here."

Thieves?

Commotion broke out anew as everyone looked over at their neighbours twice as if assessing if they were one of the thieves. Zina shifted uncomfortably, unaware of where the whole fiasco was going. Daemon seemed well prepared for whatever that was going to go down, whereas the thought of it only filled Zina with a headache.

"This kind Red Sister here was able to get the names from Lykom Lupus, the former Alpha King’s aide as you all know it."

Everyone’s eyes shifted to the Red Sister who obviously was of the high rank of a Red Hand. There was a fear that nudged at them like the drama of that day was only beginning.

"How much are we looking at?" A second rank very young Alpha of some pack asked in a small, but clear, voice.

"We are looking at ten million grams of gold." Daemon answered carelessly while Zina gasped alongside many others at the outrageous sum.

Ten million grams of gold? That was an outrageous sum. Had Eldric really been hoarding all the tax money he had outrageously collected from the people for three years? That was the only logical answer that came to Zina.

Ten Million was simply way too outrageous a sum that one could raise in a day. Zina felt dizziness wash over her as her fingers became clammy with sweat and cold. She was feeling feverish, and somehow she suspected it had less to do with Daemon’s words and more to do with her own body.

Was she falling sick at that moment? Talk about wrong timing.

Zina braced herself, standing tall despite the illness that threatened to submerge her. It was hard to hear what Daemon was saying next because it sounded as if he was speaking over a gushing stream, but Zina still tried her best to hear him.

"I shall now leave you to return when your brains must have recollected your crimes. Eldric taxed the colonies, the packs, and the regions that you all are in charge of in one way or the other so pleading ignorance will not help your matter. Every penny in your hands must be accounted for, and no one shall be leaving this Great Hall until we come up with the sum of Ten Million Grams of Gold coins."

Zina watched Daemon retreat to his chair impassively, reopening his book like he hadn’t just opened a can full of worms.

A Strange sense of foreboding filled the room and that told Zina that the officials weren’t totally ignorant of what Daemom had just said. Everyone just stared at Moorim’s limp body thinking of what fate would lie ahead of them. But more scarier than looking at Moorim was Daemon’s strange calmness as he spoke of the grave matter.

Had they really been in league with Eldric? Just how much did she not know? How much she was unaware of as she prided herself at night as the Theta who at least cared for the people and their needs.

Dizziness washed over her again causing her to stagger. Falcon caught her before she could fall to the ground. She blinked back the darkness that was encroaching her sight.

"Are you okay?" He asked with eyes filled with concern. Zina kept her blurry eyes on Daemon, trying to read the man, but she could hardly peel off the mask of nonchalance that he had donned. But she could well see the tension that thrummed beneath it.

"I think the wound on my back is flaring. I will be fine."

Zina didn’t think it was just the wound that was causing her world to spin out of its axis, but she would not act the role of the sick one at such an important occasion.

She knew it in her that that day was moulding to becoming her longest one yet.