The Truth

“We’re not sitting,” I snapped. “Answer the question!”

Father looked at Silas, then back at us, his expression tight. “We paid Silas to forge the letters. That part is true. But we didn’t put any magic in them. We don’t know who did.”

I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. I turned to Silas and growled, “You better not be fucking lying to me.” I spat, and in that moment, the door to the throne room pushed open, and Dustin escorted my parents in.

Mother raised her hand gently. “But we had a good reason for it–“

Her eyes widened. “Spell? No–no, Lennox, we didn’t cast any spell. That’s not us. We would never do something like that.”

“She’s… what?”

Then Father nodded. “Yes. We did it.”

“What?” Louis asked, blinking.

My head was pounding. My heart was racing. And I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Lennox’s POV

Dustin nodded before walking out.

“No,” Father replied gently. “I’m not. I have all the evidence. The bloodlines, the history, the dates. Olivia is family. She shares the same great-grandmother as you. You three are her distant cousins.”

“But it’s true,” Father said gently. “Olivia is a descendant of Hailee… just like you.” “I didn’t know Olivia wasn’t Parker’s real daughter until three weeks before her fourteenth birthday,” he began. “That day, Parker came to me in confidence. He told me Olivia wasn’t his biological child. That she had come to him under… unusual circumstances.”

After he left, a tense silence hung in the air. How could this be true? My own parents forging the letters? Why? For what possible reason? And the spell–the damn spell that twisted our minds, that poisoned our hearts, that nearly drove us to kill Olivia. Why would they do that? What did they gain?

“You’re lying,” Levi said hoarsely, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

The second my mother’s eyes fell on Silas, her breath caught sharp in her throat. My father inhaled like he’d just been punched in the gut.

Silas scoffed, the corner of his mouth twitching into a mocking smile. “Why should I lie? If you think I’m spinning stories, then call your parents and ask them yourself. Four years ago, they came to me–handed me a hefty sum to forge those three letters. They told me exactly what to write, word for word, and when I was done, they took the letters away,” he said, sounding so sure of his words.

“Related to us?” I repeated, frowning hard. “What the hell are you talking about?”

My heart thundered in my chest as I turned to my brothers, catching the shadow of horror etched into their faces. None of us wanted to believe this–could believe this–but deep down we all knew there was only one way to find out.

My legs felt weak.

There was a pause–too long of a pause–before they exchanged glances, like they were silently agreeing on something.

That was enough. That was all we needed.

“Because… Olivia is related to us.”

“What!” Levi blurted out in utter shock, his voice echoing through the throne room. I exchanged a tense glance with him, his eyes wide with disbelief, then turned my gaze back to Silas as my frown deepened, my hand tightening around the iron in my grip.

“And don’t even think of lying,” Louis added darkly.

“One more lie to me,” I snarled, my voice low but trembling with rage, “and I swear I’ll pierce this iron straight through your throat!” I spat the words out, refusing to believe the filth that had just fallen from Silas’s mouth.

“Dustin…” I called out to Dustin, who stood at a corner. “Go get my parents… now.”

Father met my eyes calmly. “Because… your great-grandmother Hailee had other children with other men who aren’t your great-grandfather.”

I felt my knees buckle slightly. I stumbled back and collapsed into one of the thrones behind me, my mind screaming in denial.

Levi stepped forward. “Mother. Father. Silas says you paid him to forge those letters. Is that true?”

Everything was spinning.

My wolf roared inside me.

“No…” I whispered, shaking my head. “That’s not possible. That doesn’t make sense.”

Then Father sighed and said, “Everyone, please, take your seats.”

Father continued, “He told me everything. Where she came from. Who brought her. The vague clues her real parents left behind. Something about her bloodline didn’t sit right with me, so I decided to dig. I started tracing her origin–quietly. And eventually… I found the link.”

We didn’t move. None of us breathed.

Another heavy silence.

“A good reason?!” I cut her off, nearly shaking from the force of my anger. “You forged a letter that made us hate her. You cast a spell to twist our minds so badly we almost killed Olivia!”

“What are you saying?” I asked again, stepping forward, my voice barely holding steady. “How can she be related to us? What kind of twisted game is this?”

I swallowed hard.

He looked at us with tired eyes. “Through Parker’s story and my own research, I discovered that Olivia is connected to us. Her bloodline ties back to my grandmother… your great-grandmother Hailee.”

Father lifted a hand. “Calm down. Allow me to explain. Just… listen.”

“Then why?” I demanded, stepping forward. “Why forge the letters? Why lie? Why manipulate us into hating Olivia?”

Father continued, his voice hollow. “Your great-grandmother Hailee didn’t have an easy life. Her relationships were… complicated. I don’t want to drag that pain back up, but you need to know–her love life was not simple. She was married twice. She had relationships with other men. She bore other children. It was hidden. Buried. But one of those children… was Olivia’s grandfather.”

My heart dropped.

Father swallowed hard. Then he looked us in the eyes and said something we never expected.

Everything in me froze.

My brothers and I exchanged confused looks. I shook my head, still breathing heavily. “Whether you cast it or not, there was a spell on those letters. We confirmed it. So explain that!”

My brothers were silent.

I froze.

Louis’s brows furrowed. “What?”