Forged in the Flames by Karima Sa'ad Usman

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I stood still at the door, and Qusack looked at me. He had a knowing look in his eyes, and I did not know how I would play it off.
“Good morning, Beta,” I said quickly and moved away from the door so he could enter. “Alpha asked me to come and check on
your father,” he said and moved to where my father was.
“Please have a seat,” I offered, and he reluctantly sat.
“Should I make you a cup of tea, Beta?” I asked him, and he shook his head, accessing my father with his eyes.
“How are you feeling, Gabriel?” Qusack asked, and my father nodded.
“Better than I was yesterday.” He said, and Qusack nodded.
“Alpha wants me to thank you for defending the border yesterday. He is looking into the health care facility to improve it to
standard. We had no idea of the state of the werewolf health care system, but we will ensure it is improved,” Qusack said, and
my father thanked him with a smile. He looked at both of us and relaxed in the chair. I wondered what else he wanted to discuss.
I wanted to continue to pretend he hadn’t heard what my father and I discussed. I hoped I was imagining it.
“Would you like coffee?” I asked, wondering why he was lingering, and he shook his head. He looked at me and accessed me.
“You do not seem well, Aliana. You look pale. Won’t you go for a check-up? Maybe you didn’t heal well.” He said, and I felt a bit
embarrassed and shook my head.
“Thank you, Beta, but I feel fine,” I lied, and he smiled and nodded, dropping the matter. I wondered why he wouldn’t just leave.
“Keeping secrets from Nikolas is unwise, Aliana. Do not give him a reason not to trust you. He is already moving mountains for
your sake,” He said, and I was stunned by his words.
I wasn’t keeping secrets from the Alpha.
“I am not, beta,” I said, worried about why he would put his words in that form.
“But you are,” he said and looked at my father. “I want you to tell me precisely what happened between King Mathias and you. I
have heard your conversation with your daughter, but I need you to explain it. Anything that will affect Nikolas is my business,”
he said sternly, and I knew he wasn’t playing.
We weren’t enemies, but he exuded dominance that made me uncomfortable.

My father told him all he had told me. He did not miss a word. Qusack was shocked at the magnitude of information my father
had unfolded.
“Are you sure this Leon planned an uprising?” Qusack asked him, and my father nodded.
“We tried to tell the King about his half- brother, but he won’t listen. We did not mean to kill anyone, but it all got out of hand that
night, and Giles paid the ultimate price,” My father said, and Qusack nodded.
“Where was Olive and her child buried? Who attended the burial, and who saw the corpses?” Qusack asked. It was a weird
question, but he must have had reasons.

“Leon did it all. The King was too distraught.” M y father said, and Qusack nodded.
“Was Leon friends with Fredrick?” Qusack asked, and I wondered how Fredrick tied into this matter.
“With all due respect, Beta. I am uncomfortable answering this question. I mean no harm or malice towards the Alpha and his
mother. Please, it will help if I know why you are asking. I do not want to get into more trouble, and I do not want anything that
would harm my child,” my father said, genuinely concerned for my safety.
“I do not mean any harm, Gabriel. I am investigating the queen, Fredrick and the past. There are some irregularities, and I am
trying to piece them together. Nikolas has no clue, of course. It is a personal project between Gamma Abraham and me.
Knowing what you know would help us better because what we have is extremely one-sided.” He said, and I wondered why
Qusack would want to investigate the past.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked him, and he nodded.
“If Fedrick is Nikolas’ uncle, he should not be against his coronation. Moreover, Fredrik is trying to claim that Nikolas isn’t the
heir.” He said, and I was surprised.
“That’s absurd. Isabelle was pregnant when I sent her to Snow,” My father said, sounding a bit offended.
“But was she having an affair?” Qusack said, and my father could not answer because she was. 2
“It was rumoured that she was close to Leon,” My father said, and even I could tell he was hiding something.
He was a bad liar.

“Whatever you tell me will remain between us. I want to know the truth so I can help Nikolas. He is my best friend, and I want him
to succeed. He really loves your daughter, and because of that alone, he would need all the help he can get to succeed and
abolish the Unity law in Forest.” Qusack said, and my father was in shock.
I was shocked that Qusack knew what Nikolas was planning. They must be really close.
“He wants to do that?” My father asked quietly, and Qusack nodded.
“That is the only reason he is trying to be King,” he said, and my father could not believe it.
If it had come from me, he would have said Nikolas was deceiving me but coming from Qusack, the second in command, was
something else.
“Queen Isabelle had a lot of flings, and Leon was one of them. Everyone knew how unhappy she was because Mathias could not
get over Olive, but Nikolas belonged to Mathias. She deliberately got pregnant. The midwife who attended to her was
Gwendolyn, who became m y wife. When Isabelle got pregnant, she had no flings,” my father said, and Qusack nodded.
“In your own words, tell me what you think happened between you and King Mathias,” Qusack said, and my father sighed.
“I believe there was a miss communication between us. I believe someone intercepted our communication, and Mathias was
misled to believe we meant to harm him. His final words to me when he took his life in the woods rang and stayed with me,” He
said, and Qusack nodded.
“Would it be far-fetched to believe Isabelle did i t?” He asked, and my father shook his head.
“It could not be her. She had nothing to gain,” M y father said, and Qusack nodded.

“But her brother did. The same brother that refused to take her in when you set her free. The same brother that has been trying
to take Forest for a while now. The same brother that does not want Nikolas to ascend. The same brother that we are fighting,”
Qusack said, and none of us could speak.
“What are you saying?” I asked Qusack, and he smiled.
“Like I said, I am investigating something. I will like to know where Olive and her child were buried and the people that attended
this burial. I will also like to know where your correspondence with King Mathias was kept. If you remember anything about the
incident of the past, please inform me,” Qusack said, and m y father sighed.Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm

“I had suspected Isabelle, too, but it never added up. Leon wasn’t a problem until she came, and he was the one that brought
her.
Could it be possible that she was the one that advised him to rise against his brother?” My father asked, realising where Qusack
was heading too.
Qusack shook his head and smiled.
“All insinuations Gabriel. I am conversing with you because I know I can trust you. Contrary to all that has been said about you, I
have watched you and Aliana for a while now, and I know you aren’t the enemy. I hope Nikolas will see it too
I plan to investigate this matter thoroughly and clear your name. It is essential for the sake of Nikolas and Aliana’s relationship.
“In the meantime, I will advise you to keep your head down. I have seen how Isabelle has reacted to Aliana, which made me
realise she has a personal issue with you. Do not get in her way, and do not get involved in anything that concerns her. I will
protect you to the best of my ability,” Qusack said, and my father nodded.
“She hates me because I caught her with Leon and turned her down when she tried to get with me. Like I said. She was a very
disturbed lady, always in Olive’s shadow, so she lashed out by trying to get the people closest to the King. I was his Beta, so I
was high on the list. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t tempted back then. I was single, and she was gorgeous, but she was Mathias’ mate.
That held me back. She hated me for turning her down, but I doubt if she ever acted on her hatred,” my father said, and I did not
want to laugh. The high and mighty Isabelle threw herself at a werewolf. It would have been epic to see.
Qusack laughed.
“I had figured that part out with how she treated Aliana, but good to hear it directly from you,” he said and stood up.
“Are you going to tell Nikolas?” I asked him, and he shook his head.
I know he had said he won’t before, but I just wanted to be precise.
Qusack finally left us, and everything felt unreal. I could not believe his mindset.
“He is a true beta,” my father said after Qusack had left.
“Nikolas is lucky to have him. With someone like that, it would be hard to destroy him,” my father said, but he still sounded
worried..

He said he could not understand why Isabelle did not return after Fredrick denied her entrance to Snow.
I planned to ask Nikolas that question when the opportunity presented itself.
One visible thing by the time I was leaving my father in the evening was that he looked like a lot of weight had been lifted from
his chest.
He thought he had failed Mathia’s heir by handing Forest to Nikolas. He was happy that he had returned it to the rightful owner.
I hoped Nikolas would succeed and the hostility against my people would stop. I also could not wait for us to be together.