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Caelan POV

"She shows no sign of changing" I say stressed as I run my fingers through my hair.

My father hums. "Could be stress." He simply says, glancing up from his work as he sits behind his large desk in his office.

I sigh. "It's been 3 days, she's starting to get back to her normal self, but she still has nightmares of Ben Braum."

My father found out every single bit of detail of what happened that night, Olivia approached these men before they were called to escort the Braum wife and children out of The Vale, for their safety, if anyone got word that they were in The Vale, no doubt someone would try and assassinate them for the horrors her husband and mate had caused.

It only took my father five minutes to get everything out of the four men. Nobody has seen my father until today, he was in the room with the men for three days without coming out. I already know what he did, they disobeyed an order, it's an Alpha's and King's duty to see fit to the punishment.

Somehow those men are alive after spending all that time in the same room as my father, I know him enough to know he did not go easy on them, I bet they wished for death a couple of times during the time Kane was in there, they have their trial today before Ron and Mason Aldin's trial.

"I failed that family, Elizabeth Braum had cut her bond willingly just to escape and protect her children." He grits out angrily. "Those fucking pieces of shit, they don't deserve a trial." He says deadly silent, his eyes blazing with hatred as he clenches his hand into a fist.

I stand up from the sofa and look over the folder that is placed in front of my father. The four men and their entire life are in this folder. They left the legion army and settled down, kids, wives, they lived the good life.

But then the next page is very good detail of their confession, they were not the good wolves their mates and children thought they were. Rape, murder, torture, extortion... the list is never-ending, they confessed every single thing they had done since and after the war, in the time of five minutes with my father.

"Where is your mate?" My father asks, pulling me from the horrors inside this folder. I close the folder and throw it back on the desk and walk to the stained glass window behind my father's desk, I look outside the unit l can see her.

"With mother, I thought it might be good for her to get some fresh air." I say as I gaze into the garden and watch my beautiful mate walk beside my mother.

They are both walking in and around the royal palace gardens, something my father and mother do often to get a release from the burden of their title, no one bothers you in the garden and if they do, it's important. Nature is a safe haven for my kind, everyone knows that when we are in it you do not disturb us.

I feel my father stand behind me as my eyes never leave my mate. How far we have come, the two years I did not see my mate were the worst of my life, the stares of disgust and embarrassment from my father had affected me more than others, it was no secret in the palace that day Acela left me that she was my mate and she had rejected me.

A part of me during those two years without her was contemplating accepting her rejection, resulting in my immediate death. I was at an all-time low, knowing that my mate was somewhere happy without me and she didn't need me, the thought consumed me, until that day I found out she was still in The Vale, she had made a life for herself, she worked hard and opened her own business, she did something she enjoyed.

I didn't want to leave this world without anything to show for it, I wanted to show her that me she met the first time was not the real me, I was living on borrowed time from The Tears of Tris, I was hateful, often wondering without a purpose, I was losing my mind.

I feel a hand tap me on my back. "Acela will be fine if one thing your mother is good at is taking your mind off things." He says with a lazy grin and I grimace.

I roll my eyes and walk away from the window, tearing my eyes from my mate and mother. "When is the trial?"

"Two hours, is she going?" He asks and I feel myself grow tense.

The trial, mine, and Acela's first argument in our relationship, and it all happened this morning and it was all about the fucking Aldines.

°• ♔ •°

"No fucking way you're going." I say glaring at her.

She stares hard at me, not backing down. "You can't force me to stay away Caelan, they had nothing to do with Olivia, I am going." She says as she drops the robe onto the floor and walks into the bathroom to start the shower.

I feel myself get angrier. "Your friend Mason gave the men who kidnapped you the map of the palace! It's because of him that you almost died." I breathe out, feeling my wolf Rion get angry with me.

I start to pace as I hear the shower turn on. I walk into the bathroom and see her getting inside the shower, I grab hold of her hand stopping her, she turns around and her eyes are hard. "I'm going, I deserve to know everything Caelan, you are not being fair right now, please leave so I can shower." she says coldly and I let go of her arm, she closes the shower door and I can't see her anymore from the steam of the shower.

I see black, I storm out of the bathroom in frustration and rip the bathroom door from the wall and throw it across the room, it breaks in two when it hits the wall. I am so angry right now I can't be in the same room as her, fear that me and my wolf may actually keep her here by force, that is how much this pisses me off.

No, I could never do that, I refuse to keep her here as a prisoner, I just don't want her to cry anymore from that disgusting Aldine family. From the moment I met them I got bad vibes from all of them, Ron was the only one with a clear head, but he knew what his fucking witch of a wife was up to and did not inform me or anyone for that matter.

They deserve this trial, I have on good authority that they will get sentenced to The Shadow Lands pit, or at least Mason will, Ron has ties in The Vale meaning that he will most likely get a slap on the wrist with a fine.

Such a fucking joke.

I leave the bedroom and slam the door on my way out, hearing the door break as I walk away.

°• ♔ •°

Since then I haven't spoken to her since this morning. I know she won't change her mind, I can't force her, some part of me wants her to go, to get rid of that toxic family once and for all from The Vale and Acela, she deserves to be happy and after she learns of their treachery she can move on.

I just want to fucking get her away from all of it.

*****

I stand beside my mate outside of the hearing room where the trial will take place in fifteen minutes. This is where Aldine's fate will be decided and Acela will learn everything once and for all.

I feel Acela look at me so I turn my gaze and see she is staring at me with a sad frown on her face. I sigh out and lace our hands together which she accepts without any argument. "I'm sorry." She whispers out and I feel like an asshole.

I smile at my beautiful girl, leaning down I peck her on the lips and her cheeks blush slightly as we are not standing alone. "Me too." I say back and she leans her head against my arm as we stand and wait to be called in.