The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 651

Chapter 651: THE CRUEL TRUTH

Cherry did not walk up the dungeon stairs.

She stormed.

Her footsteps echoed like thunder, her fury sharp and consuming. The guards scrambled out of her way, terrified. Servants pressed themselves flat against the walls.

The guards ran in chaos as the bells rang.

Everyone knew better than to stop Princess Cherry when her wolf was this close to breaking through her skin.

By the time she reached the throne room, she didn’t bother knocking.

She kicked the doors open so hard they slammed against the stone walls.

King Roland and Queen Rose both jerked up from their heated argument, their voices dying instantly.

"CHERRY!" Roland barked. "What insolence? You have no right to

"JASMINE IS GONE!" Cherry screamed.

Silence.

Rose’s face paled instantly.

Roland blinked, stunned. "What did you just say?"

"I said..."

Cherry snarled as she marched forward, hair wild, eyes glowing, "That Jasmine is GONE!"

Rose stood abruptly from her seat. "What happened? Cherry, what are you talking about?!"

Cherry didn’t answer.

Not with words.

She marched back to the entrance and snapped her fingers at the guards waiting outside.

"Bring her," she hissed.

Two guards dragged Hildegard into the throne room, wrists bound, ankles chained, head held high despite the bruises blooming along her neck.

She heard Rose gasp, but why give a fuck?

They shoved her forward.

She didn’t stumble.

She didn’t bow.

She didn’t even look at Cherry.

She just stood there... in Jasmine’s stolen prison clothes... silent.

Cherry jabbed a finger at her. "ASK. HER."

Rose turned to Hildegard, confusion flooding her expression. "Hildegard... what is going on?"

Hildegard said nothing.

She stared straight ahead, jaw set, eyes cold as winter stone.

"Hildegard?" Rose tried again, voice cracking. "Please say something."

Hildegard didn’t blink.

Didn’t breathe.

Didn’t acknowledge her.

Cherry matched up to her, jacked up her hair, and squeezed most cruelly. "Your Queen is speaking to you, so better answer!"

"Cherry, don’t you dare do that!" Rose said, rising to her feet in rage. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Cherry pushed her head away.

"Hildegard, talk to me." Rose pleased.

Hildegard still said nothing.

This game they were playing only further irritated her.

Why the bloody hell was she still coddling Hildegard?

Cherry rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, PLEASE. Won’t she talk? Fine. Then I will."

Rose tore her gaze from Hildegard.

"I had a feeling something was wrong," Cherry spat, pacing in front of them. "So I went down to the cell to check on the little thief."

She glared at Hildegard.

"And instead of finding Jasmine where she BELONGED, I found her pretending to be the prisoner."

"Queen," she repeated with a snort. "Queen indeed."

Her tone dripped with contempt as she paced the room.

"Excuse me?" Rose demanded.

Cherry rolled her eyes at the subtle warning in her sister’s voice.

Rose scoffed, her face fallen.

"Sister or not." Rose sneered with a pointed finger at Cherry. "If I were you, I would be careful not to test me. I’m your Queen before anything, and I expect that you-

"Expect that I what?" Cherry hissed at Rose, shutting her up. "Kiss your ass? Kiss your royal, cleaned feet because oh Hail the Queen of all wolves?"

Rose was fuming and breathing so hard.

"You’re crossing lines that you should never think of crossing." Rose warned.

"You’re one to talk." Cherry said. "You’re warning and using the crown to the threaten me? The exact same crown that was meant for me."

Rose blinked.

"That very same crown that you sit on that belonged to me is what you’re using against me?"

"Cherry I have done any and everything for you. Made excuses for the stupid things you did in the past." Rose spat in burning rage. "For you to stand and say these words to me and-

"I would have been a better Queen than you ever would have been." Cherry spat.

Rose just paused, her fingers wringing as she stared at her sister.

Cherry realized she had misspoken but then she didn’t care anymore.

She had already done it.

"The crown rejected you." Rose said as she descended the steps of the throne. "Your hair was turned to the very black that lays on your head. Your evaluation that you would have ever been a better Queen is false because the crown itself rejected you."

Cherry was breathing so hard as she tried to contain her emotion.

She rarely ever got affected emotionally, but now Rose’s words hit like a dagger.

She shook as she blinked the tears away.

She turned her face away arrogantly.

"You don’t need to gaslight yourself." She said to her. "Your hair tells you the truth already."