The Rise of the Wereheretic

CHAPTER 3.2

I was still wallowing in self-doubt when a sweet voice sounded, “Are you Justin, Alpha Hades's son?”

I raised my head slightly and nodded curtly. She held my hand and quietly led me out of the meeting hall. Her face remained expressionless while we wove our way through the hall. But, once we were outside, she smiled at me, “I am Ana, The Lycan King’s daughter. I will take you to the back courtyard.”

I stopped walking and looked at her with a bewildered expression, “I am not sure I follow you.”

Her eyebrows twitched and her eyes widened, “Don’t tell me your father forgot to give you 101 on what you are supposed to do.”

My lips pressed in a thin line and I shook my head, “I think he was too stressed to talk to me about it.”

She burst into a peal of a musical giggle, “Never mind, I will help you out.”

“Thank you, Miss.” My reply came out a little stiff as I didn’t know how to address her properly.

“Hey, don’t be so nervous. My father forgets to tell me stuff all the time.” Her carefree reply put me at ease and I walked along with her through the long corridors.

“These leaders, they are all dimwits. They didn’t agree on a single plan,” She spoke in a condescending voice, shaking her head in resignation as if she were talking about some children.

The lingering doubt that I was being fooled faded. Nobody else could talk about such powerful men like this.

“My father had expected something like this to happen….”

“If the meeting wasn’t going to give concrete results, why call it all?” I shrugged, “Why expend so much effort?”

Her face lit up and her eyes brimmed with admiration, “It is all a part of my father’s plan. All these stupid leaders have been giving my father a migraine; they are busy fighting with each other and quite often end up hindering my father’s plan. As a result, nothing ever gets done. We don’t even know her weakness till now."

My jaws hung open as the realization dawned on me. My steps came to an abrupt halt, “So, your father came up with this plan to buy some time. Everyone will be busy creating the perfect plan and your father can utilize this time to find her weakness secretly.”

Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of a servant walking through the corridor. She grabbed my hand and dragged me along, “It isn’t safe to talk like this. Uncle Moreto will give you the rest of the details.”

She led me to the lush garden behind the palace. The soft water gushed from the makeshift fountain creating an umbrella of rain. A man clad in a black suit was standing right under it; his body rigid and his arms crossed. Pointing to him, the Lycan princess said, “Go, talk to him.”

Then, without another word, she left. My eyebrows set together and my lips pressed together. Was I really supposed to go into the water to talk to him?

I waved at the man but got no response. When I say I got no response, it means no response at all. He didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I had no choice but to walk over.

I was drenched by the time I reached him. I winced and patted my clothes trying to shake off the water. He still didn’t react. His face was set in a calm expression; his gaze straight ahead. When he didn’t blink for a long time, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was a statue or something. Was this all a part of some prank?

The torrential stream of water kept beating on me and I was now soaked to the core. I couldn’t just continue to stand like this. I had to talk to him even if that meant I would make a fool of myself. I cleared my throat and stated, “I am Justin; the son of the Alpha of the Moon mist pack. I was asked by the Lycan Princess to come and talk to you.”

His posture eased and he turned to face me. However, his expression didn’t change, “I am Moreto; my king has asked me to brief you on the part you will be playing in ‘The Triple Concord.’

“The Triple Concord? What is…”

“You don’t need to know that,” he cut me off before I could complete my question. “You just need to understand your role.” His expression turned serious and his eyes bore into mine, “Our King has zero tolerance for mistakes. Make sure you don’t screw this up.”

I placed my right hand on my chest and gave him a curt bow, “I will try my best, Sir.”

He merely nodded, “You will be our Trojan Horse. Your job is to get close to the wereheretic; win her heart so that she shows you her weakness.”

“How in the world am I supposed to do that?” My eyes widened at the absurdity of the idea and I gasped, “She is the Wereheretic. What makes you think that I have any chance to get close to her?”

“We have already set everything up. Details will be given to you on ‘need to know’ basis.”

Before I could ask him any more questions, he just stepped out of the fake rainfall and walked away. I tore my hair as I walked out too. None of this made any sense to me.

I bumped into my father who was waiting for me just beyond the bend, “Tell me what happened.”

“This guy Montero, he is so weird and his way of conversing is even more cryptic.”

“Did he talk to you?”

“He did but I didn’t understand a thing.”

My father’s face lit up and his eyes twinkled. He patted my back as he stated, “That is good…. Really Good.”

I shook my head incredulously, “What is so good about playing a part that I don’t even understand?”

“Don’t worry about that Justin. They will give us more details later…. This is just; let us say a trial phase for us.”

“Trial Phase? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Montero will be monitoring our movements over the next few days; You know just to make sure that we don’t have ulterior motives.”

A sigh of relief escaped my lips, “It is like that…”

“Hmm, once they are sure you are suitable for this task, they will get in touch with you.” My father’s gaze shifted to my right and suddenly his face turned pale. I followed his line of sight reflexively but there was nobody.

“We should leave now.” He said abruptly and started walking. I followed him out of the palace quietly. I was still flabbergasted. But, the thought that I would get to play a part in killing my mother’s murderer was reassuring….