Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 60: Killing is Thrilling

*Tristan*

“Idiot! You poisoned the wrong person,” Emily says.

“I didn’t know it was poison. You said they were vitamins. I didn’t mean to poison the Breeder or anyone,” her maid replies.

I look down at my clenched fists and see how white my knuckles have gotten. My breath is coming in quick succession as I fight to control my anger.

I had known that Emily hated Rose, but had never thought she would go as far as trying to kill her or four innocent children, for that matter. I turn around, and on skilled hunter feet tread silently toward Eli’s room where I know I will find the other Alphas sitting.

“Do you think Kane planted someone to do this?” Mark is asking as I walk in. He is holding a glass of whiskey in his hand; we could all do with a little liquid pick-me-up after what happened today.

“Why would Kane poison a mere chef?” Reece asks.

“Just to show us how easy it is for him to get into the palace. It could be a warning message showing how easy it would be to kill anyone within these walls,” Mark answers.

The other Alphas seem to be considering this as a possibility.

“If he has planted some assassins within these walls, we have to fish them out,” Eli says.

“How will we do that? It could be anyone,” Mark answers.

“It’s Emily,” I say plainly as I walk toward them and slump into a nearby chair.

“Emily is working with Kane?” Mark asks.

I try to slow down my breathing and calm my racing heart before narrating what I had overheard.

“How do you know this?” Reece inquires before I get the chance to answer the first question.

“As I was making my way here, I overheard Emily and her maid talking. Emily told her maid to put the poison into the peanut butter.”

I can see the three Alphas exchanging confused looks.

“Why would she want to kill the chef?” Eli asks.

“That was the wrong target. It appears her target was Rose,” I clarify.

The sound of a glass shattering causes me to turn and look at Mark. Had he just smashed the whiskey glass with his bare hands?

I can see blood gushing from his palm.

“I think we need the doctor again,” I point out.

“I’ll go see her later. For now, talk. What did you hear exactly? And please don’t sugar coat anything,” Mark says as he reaches over for a napkin in a plastic tray on the table and wraps it around his hand.

“Are you badly hurt? We need to assess those cuts!” I ask him.

“I will heal! Forget about me and talk,” he growls.

“Emily was shouting at her maid for poisoning the wrong person. Not that the chef’s accidental death hurt her in the least, she was just upset that Rose didn’t join her on the journey to the afterlife. She spoke as if she had just killed a rat or a cockroach. The woman is pure evil,” I explain.

“Continue,” Reece urges as he starts pacing the room.

“The poison was meant to get rid of Rose and the unborn children. If what I heard was any inclination, her maid had no idea that she was putting poison into Rose’s food. It seems her mistress conveniently hid that bit by telling her they were vitamins.”

“What the fuck? Has her jealousy gotten so bad that she is willing to snuff out lives to appease her selfish needs?” Mark looks like someone has just twisted his guts into a wad. I wondered if the pain from his hand is contributing to his anguished appearance.

“She has killed one person and isn’t deterred from trying again. Emily is planning on trying to murder Rose again. I’m just not sure how she plans to do that,” I admit.

“We have to tell the king. This behavior is barbaric. An innocent woman is dead because Emily is a heartless bitch,” Eli exclaims.

“Yes, we have to tell the king. She can’t go unpunished; I don’t give a hoot if she’s his cousin. She is a killer, and we must demand a life for a life,” Mark declares.

“Do you think the king will punish her?” I ask.

I know he has done nothing to nip her past antics in the bud, and I am certain he will find yet another way to let her get away with this.

“We will make sure she is punished or banished. Either way, this time, he will have no choice but to make a move. A woman is dead, and if he doesn’t act, the whole kingdom will be against him.”

“If Emily is busy plotting to kill Rose again, that means Rose is in great danger. We need to have someone guard her at all times. I will have two of my most loyal guards at her door twenty-four seven. They will make sure to guard her everywhere she goes. Eli, could you have two of your best men keep watch outside her bedroom window as well?” Reece adds.

“That’s a great idea, Reece. How will they protect her from poison though?” Mark asks.

I nod in agreement. Guards could protect Rose from physical attacks, but not from poison that has been slipped into her food.

“Eli, you ask Kelly or Shelby to have someone see Rose's food made personally. They should never leave her food unattended and nothing that isn’t cleared and marked as safe should ever be served to her, not even a glass of water. We also need to plant someone who will keep a close eye on Emily and report all her moves to us. We need to know everything including her bathroom schedule,” Reece instructs.

We all agree to this plan and proceed to go see the king.

The king listens to me as I repeat what I heard. He seems a bit unbothered by what I am saying, however. “I don’t believe Emily would do that. She might be spoiled and a bit much, but she is not a murderer,” he defends.

“I heard her with my own ears. She gave her maid the pills to put in Rose’s food. Chef Olga mistakenly consumed the peanut butter while tasting the peanut butter to make sure it was good enough to serve to Rose for her pickles. Emily plotted Rose’s death and killed an innocent woman in the process. She will not stop trying to kill her, and I am afraid of how many more innocent people will die while she tries,” I argue.

The king looks me over and mutters something inaudibly. He then whispers something to the guard next to him who bows and retreats.

“Your Majesty, when the whole kingdom finds out that a plot to kill the Breeder was carried out in this palace, and you did nothing about it, there might be retaliation. If we think Alpha Kane is all we will have to worry about, we have another thing coming,” Mark says.

The blood on the napkin that is wrapped around his hand has dried, but I find myself still hoping we can get this sorted so that he can have his wounds properly treated.

Just then, Emily’s maid is escorted into the room by the guard who had left earlier.

She curtsies, never raising her head.

“Did you poison the peanut butter that killed the chef?”

The maid shifts her weight from one leg to the other and laces her fingers behind her.

“No…I mean, I didn’t know those pills were poison.”

“So you did put poison in the peanut butter?” the king barks.

“Miss Emily told me they were vitamins. If I had known they were poison, I wouldn’t have put them in there,” the maid says in a trembling voice.

“If they were vitamins, why would they have to be snuck into the food? Why not give them directly to the Breeder?” the king asked.

“To be fair, I don’t think she should be standing here alone. Emily is the manipulator and instigator of all this,” Eli argues.

“First of all, I think you need to stay out of this,” he begins. Then he adds, “The one who put the poison in the food is the guilty one. She has a voice to object to doing something that doesn’t make sense, doesn’t she? Why would she sneak around the kitchen putting things in people’s food if she believed it was an innocent move? Maybe she exchanged the pills for poison,” the king tosses out the idea.

I want to tell the king he is just being an ass. He knows his cousin did all of this. The maid would have not acted if she had not been commanded to do so by her mistress. I bite my tongue before I tell the king exactly what I think of him and the way he rules this kingdom.

“I am not a killer. This was all a mistake. Please do not banish me from the kingdom,” the maid weeps.

“Oh, I would never banish a murderer. That would be a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime,” the king says, and I can hear the maid sigh in relief.

“So you will banish Emily? Although we would all vote for a life for a life,” Mark adds.

“Yes, that is a befitting punishment. A life for a life. You, young lady,” he says to the maid, “will be put to death for the murder of Chef Olga.”