The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Calhoun walked towards the walls, pulling the chains to ensure they were still intact in good condition. "A woman named Lora, she wasn't happy about something I did and thought I should be taught a lesson. Of course, I didn't steal any valuable jewels."

"What did she want?" asked Madeline, walking towards him and looking at the old rusty chains. This place was much better than the dungeons, thought Madeline to herself.

"She wanted sexual favours from me."

Madeline's eyes snapped at Calhoun, "What?" she asked as if she had caught it wrong the first time he said it.

Calhoun chuckled at Madeline's response, and he stood up to face her while dropping the chain he held in his hand.

"You don't think it was just my mother who earned bread for us, did you?" Hearing this, her eyebrows drew close to each other. "It was the time when my father was still the King, and I had not stepped into the castle and knew nothing about this side of life. The villages and towns were left in nothing less than in tattered condition. It was called the Era of dire poverty. If people think the taxes right now are heavy, they should have lived in the time when my father and grandfather were Kings," said Calhoun.

Madeline, who hadn't heard about this before, continued to listen to Calhoun speak, "The time and place of when I lived with my mother was the worst, and getting food or work with a decent pay of money was tough. Especially a person who belongs to the village, no matter how much the person works, all the money goes to make ends meet. Times now are much better. Back then only some places in Devon were decent enough to live in, but people were not allowed to cross over to live in another place that easily. The little coins my mother earned went back to the royal family, and it is ironic to think that the woman who they kicked out of the castle, they took her money as their own."

Calhoun took her hand, leading her to the better side of the room, and sat down on the ground. Madeline followed him quietly, listening to him speak. He interlinked his fingers with hers, meshing it before he held them in his hand.

"It was around the same time when I met Theodore. I learned his trade, and started to earn money by being one of the most sought out men by women."

Madeline felt her heart stop for a moment, and she looked straight into his red eyes that looked hollow before the light appeared back in his eyes. Though Calhoun didn't tell it out in actual words, she understood what he said.

"I-I don't know what to say," Madeline was speechless. "Did your mother know about it?"

"I wonder about it. Maybe somewhere in the back of her mind, she did, or maybe she didn't. The matter never came up between us," said Calhoun, breaking his gaze from her and letting his head lean back against the cold wall of the room. He stared at the grills of the window that were built in the room. "It would have been rude to let only your mother to work and bring money while you bring meagre wager that is not enough even for one proper meal."

"I am sorry about that," whispered Madeline, bringing his hand on to her lap and placing her other hand on his.

"You don't have to be. They say what we do and experience is what we become. I do not regret my actions," stated Calhoun. He did what he had to do.

This was something that made him different from others, thought Madeline to herself. He owned the person who he was, something a lot of people struggled to accept. She believed it was the hardest thing to do. To put oneself out there in front of people by baring the flaws and scars one had, something which people often hid because they were ashamed of it. Many people often wore a mask that didn't belong to them—hiding their true intentions behind their facade.

What Calhoun just said to her, it was something he didn't share with others. She wished she could have helped him and his mother in some way. But she didn't exist at that time.

"You did what you had to do at that time," said Madeline, turning her head to look at Calhoun's sculpted features. "What happened to that woman? Lora," she asked, knowing Calhoun wouldn't have let the woman off the hook without any payback.

"She died of course," came the reply from Calhoun and if it was in the past, she would have looked at him in shock, but now instead, she gave him a nod.

"Of course." It was Calhoun's way of clean revenge. She didn't go to ask in detail of how the woman died.

With silence filling the room around them, where no one was there to disturb them, Madeline leaned on Calhoun's shoulder, breathing softly as they shared this moment. She wondered what more he had gone through before he had turned into King. With the guests who were yet to leave and were in the castle and with her sister's condition, coming here felt like a little escapade where the worries stood at the entrance and not hovering around them.

They sat there for an hour in each other's company. With Calhoun's hand around her shoulder, keeping her close, Madeline wondered how such a simple gesture was enough to provide her a comfort and sense of assurance without any words. A few more minutes passed before she felt Calhoun shift his body, and she lifted her head.

"What is it?" she asked.

Calhoun's eyebrows furrowed, looking into her eyes he said, "It's your sister. She's changing again."

They both quickly left the tower, making their way to Beth's room and found her growling, but she hadn't morphed into a werewolf yet.

"She's going to turn to a werewolf again," whispered Madeline. The moonlight was not even here, and Beth was changing quickly. As the growls continued, Calhoun ordered the servants to carry Beth to the tower so that she could be chained there.

"The werewolves are evolving similar to how the vampires have. Their bodies are adapting quicker than before," replied Calhoun. While Beth's legs were being chained in shackles, Madeline saw a bed had been placed in here. "We at least know she's not going to die, and she will continue to exist."

The sky had started to change its colour, and Madeline wondered if the time of evening had already appeared. At the same time, Beth transformed into a werewolf, and this time she seemed bigger than the last time.

"This is not good," whispered Madeline.

"If this continues, she will no longer be human anymore and will slowly switch to a werewolf's nature," informed Raphael with a glum expression on his face. "Some of the guests have been curious to know about the growling sound that has been coming."

Calhoun gave it some thought, and then said, "If I fly to Belmont quickly, it shouldn't take much time."