Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King Chapter 56

Emilia's POV

I froze.

The door stood open, and in its frame was him.

The King's beta.

My stomach dropped like a stone in water, dread crashing through me so violently I nearly choked on it. His eyes—sharp, stormy, unflinching—locked onto me where I sat with the King's head still resting in my lap. His gaze flicked from me to Maximus, back to me again, disbelief flaring like lightning in a storm.

I scrambled for words, for air, for sense.

"I—I can explain!" My voice cracked, too high, too desperate. The words stumbled out before I could catch them, tripping over each other like frightened children. "I didn't mean—I wasn't trying to—I just wandered, and then—then somehow I ended up here and we—well, we decided to talk and—"

I stopped.

Because even to my own ears, I sounded like an idiot.

The Beta's brows drew together, his mouth a firm line. He didn't speak right away, didn't yell like I expected. He just stared at me, long and unblinking, his shock gradually folding into something heavier.

I swallowed hard, my throat tight. I shouldn't have been here. I wasn't supposed to see this. I wasn't supposed to know.

The Beta shook his head once, a slow, deliberate motion, like he couldn't quite believe the sight before him. Then, finally, he spoke. His voice wasn't loud, wasn't harsh—but it carried weight, the kind that pressed down on me like an iron collar.

"Tell me everything," he said.

I blinked, stunned. I had expected rage. Threats. Maybe even my immediate execution for daring to trespass into this room. But instead—calm. Controlled. His tone was sharp steel sheathed in velvet, dangerous precisely because it wasn't raised.

"What?" I whispered.

"Tell me," he repeated, his eyes narrowing slightly, "how you're still alive."

Alive.

The word hit me like a slap.

I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing soundlessly. "I—what?"

"You heard me," he said, voice steady but laced with something I couldn't name. Suspicion? Curiosity? Fear? "Tell me how you're alive when you should not be."

My lips parted, but no words came. My brain scrambled for something—anything—that wouldn't sound insane.

He moved then, stepping further inside the room, and my heart hammered against my ribs so violently I thought it would crack me open. His gaze dropped to the king—still unconscious, his breath steady but ragged, his body swathed in the sheet I had pulled around him. The Beta's eyes flickered with confusion, with calculation.

Without another word, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a key, and crossed to us.

I froze as he crouched beside the King's heavy frame, slipping the key into the cuffs still biting into his wrists. With a soft clink, the iron restraints fell free. He moved to the ankles next, repeating the same action until the King was fully unbound. Then, with surprising gentleness for a man built like carved stone, he lifted him and settled him onto the bed, arranging him so he lay properly instead of slumped half-dead in my lap.

The sheet slid further over him, hiding the sharp planes of his chest, the marks of strain etched into his skin.

I sat frozen, watching, my pulse a frantic storm in my ears.

When the Beta finally straightened, his gaze returned to me. His eyes were harder now, sharper, like blades honed for battle.

"Now," he said quietly, "tell me exactly what happened."

I gave a nervous laugh, brittle and awkward, the sound scraping at my throat. "I told you—I didn't mean to come here. Really, I didn't. I was just—curious. Wandering. I didn't—"

His stare didn't waver.

The laugh died in my throat.

He stepped closer, his shadow falling over me, his presence suffocating in its sheer weight. "I'm being serious," he said, low and firm. "Do not waste my time with lies or nervous excuses. I need the truth, girl. Now."

I nodded quickly, fear clawing up my spine. "O-okay. Okay."

My mind scrambled, replaying everything in a blur—the lake, the change in Maximus's demeanor, the way he had ordered his Beta to chain him, the beast tearing itself apart inside him.

"Yesterday," I started, my voice shaky but growing steadier with each word, "at the lake—he suddenly... acted strange. He left. I followed him. I—I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't stop myself. I saw him come here. I heard him... tell you to chain him."

The Beta's eyes flickered, but he said nothing.

"I didn't understand," I went on, my words tumbling faster now, desperate to fill the silence. "Why would the King—why would he want that? I—I needed to know. So I came in. I stayed." My breath hitched, my voice dropping to a whisper. "And then I found him in that state and he...he almost killed me."

I swallowed, forcing the lump in my throat down. "But he didn't."

Silence.

The Beta studied me, his expression unreadable. His eyes felt like knives, stripping me bare, searching for cracks in my words.

I shrugged helplessly, intimidated under the weight of his stare. "I don't know why. He just... didn't. I should be dead, but I'm not."

His jaw tightened. Something flickered across his face—confusion, suspicion, maybe even fear—but it vanished before I could pin it down.

He looked back at Maximus, then at me again.

"Nobody," he said at last, his voice like a blade dragged across stone, "is supposed to see the King in this state."

Panic surged through me. "I—I didn't mean to—"

His head shook, sharp, cutting off my defense. "This is the second time."

My heart skipped.

He knew.

He knew I had seen the beast before. I didn't know it was the King then—but now I do.

Cold dread raced down my spine.

"I swear," I rushed out, my words tripping over each other, "I won't tell anyone. I won't say a word about this. Not to anyone, ever. You have my word."

His gaze bore into me, unrelenting. Then, slowly, he nodded once. "You'd better not. Because if you do—"

"I won't!" I cut in, almost too quickly. My lips pressed together, then I mimed zipping them shut, forcing a nervous smile I didn't feel. "See? Mouth closed. Forever."

He didn't smile back. His eyes, dark and piercing, stayed locked on me.

Finally, he said, "You need to cooperate. You need to understand exactly what you're tangled in, Emilia."

Before I could answer, a sound tore through the silence.

A groan.

Low, guttural, raw.

The King.

My head snapped toward the bed. His body shifted, muscles straining under the sheet as he stirred. His face twisted, breath ragged, eyes fluttering open.

And then—

Those piercing blue eyes locked straight onto me.

My stomach dropped, my throat clamping shut.

The look in them—sharp, cold, furious—made the air vanish from my lungs. It wasn't confusion. It wasn't weakness. It was rage.

I couldn't move. I could think, as his eyes pinned me in place.

"Emilia," he growled, his voice cold and lethal, dripping with fury.

"Why the fuck are you so stubborn?"