Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Jasmine’s pov:

The Queen went completely still. For a moment, she simply stared at me, as though she couldn’t quite believe what she’d heard. Then I realized it wasn’t my threat that had shocked her. It was the fact that I had called her by her name.

I had known this woman almost my entire life, and never once had I addressed her without a title. Judging by the disbelief spreading across her face, she couldn’t remember the last time anyone else had dared to do so.

My fingers loosened around her throat.

"Jasmine..." A warning entered her voice, but it disappeared almost immediately. Her features softened, and she attempted the same soothing smile she had probably used on her kids a thousand times. "Sweetheart, you’re upset. I understand. What Lucien did was wrong, and I won’t defend him. But you know how stubborn he can be. Give me some time. I’ll... I’ll speak to him."

"Stop."

She either didn’t hear the warning in my voice or chose to ignore it. "We’ll fix this. Your mother and I have already—"

"I said stop!" My shout echoed through the room. I could feel my pulse pounding against my temples. She was talking about fixing things as though Lucien had missed a family dinner.

"I don’t know what kind of game you and my mother are playing," I forced each word through my teeth, "but I won’t let either of you destroy my life."

The Queen sucked in a breath when my grip tightened. "Ja... Jasmine, y... you’re hurting me."

I looked down at my hand, my knuckles almost white from the force of my grip. I knew I should release her. She was my Queen, Lucien’s mother. But all I could hear were those whispers from the hall.

My eyes burned all over again. "Good," I whispered, looking back at her. "Because I’m fucking hurting too."

"Jasmine! What are you doing?" I whipped my head around and found my mother standing in the doorway. I hadn’t even heard the door open. Her gaze traveled from the Queen’s face to my hand grabbing her throat, and alarm flashed across her features.

"Theodora just wanted to talk to you, Jasmine. Leave her!"

A bitter laugh escaped me; I could feel my wolf coming forward. Of course that was what my mother cared about. Her first instinct was to defend her precious friend.

"That’s all you two ever seem to do, isn’t it?" I asked, looking between them. "Talk. Plan. Make decisions about other people’s lives and then tell yourselves you know what’s best for everyone. You two assured me that he would come around this engagement."

"Jasmine. Sweetheart... please leave her. Let her go..." Mom pleaded.

"I trusted you two!" My voice cracked, and I hated myself for it. The anger was becoming harder to hold on to, and I could already feel tears threatening again.

"Hurting Theodora isn’t going to undo any of it. Let her go, sweetheart. Please." She approached slowly and wrapped her fingers around my wrist. I resisted instinctively, but then my fingers loosened.

Mother gently pulled my hand away and immediately stepped between us, bowing her head before looking at the queen apologetically. "Theodora, please go. Let me talk to her." The queen, who was coughing, shook her head.

"Both of you get out," I sneered, but my Mom didn’t move.

The Queen’s expression, however, changed completely. Whatever sympathy she had shown me earlier had vanished. She straightened her gown and fixed me with an icy stare; one hand was rubbing her throat. For once, I didn’t lower my eyes. Theodora finally turned on her heel and stormed out, shutting the door hard behind her.

Mother remained where she was for a few seconds before turning toward me. "Sit down, Jasmine. You’re shaking. Whatever you want to say to me, say it, but at least sit before you fall."

I looked down at my shaking hands and then curled them into fists before glaring at her.

"Now you’re pretending that you care?"

Her brows drew together. "I have never stopped caring about you, Jasmine."

"Really?" I laughed, but there was no humor left in it. "Then tell me something, Mom. Did you care about what happened when I turned sixteen?" The color slowly drained from her face.

For the first time since she’d walked into my room, her composure slipped. "You remember it, don’t you?" I asked.

"Of course I remember it. But bringing that up tonight isn’t going to help you."

"When I turned sixteen, you didn’t let me go after the love of my life, Mom. I lost a gem..."

Mother glanced toward the door in panic. "Lower your voice, Jasmine," but that only fed the fury burning inside me.

"Why should I?" I shouted. "Are you afraid someone might finally hear what you did? Are you afraid they’ll find out that the potion you gave your daughter three years ago wasn’t something to make a man sleep? It was poison!"

"Shut up!" she snapped, finally losing some of her patience. "Sixteen years back, you were very young, Jasmine. You were in love, and you weren’t thinking about what that relationship would cost you."

For a second, I could only stare at her in disbelief.

"You loved Lucien too. I gave that potion to pass it to that bitch Arabella. Stop pinning it on me," she snarled. "I’m not a fool. Three years back, you came to me crying. Because he couldn’t see anything except her. I was your only hope. I tried helping you, and now you are blaming me? Don’t forget he chose you because he thinks she tried to murder him!"

Her words struck harder than I had thought because she was fucking right.

"You could lead armies. You could influence this entire kingdom. And yes, I believed you could become Queen one day. I still believe it. You were born for a life where people would listen when you spoke, where you could make decisions that mattered, where you could rule beside the most powerful man in our world. How could I watch my daughter give all of that up?" She tried to reach for my face to cup it, but I turned my face away.

"You may never forgive me," she whispered, slowly letting her hand fall. "But I am your mother, Jasmine. Call that cruelty. Maybe you’ll hate me for the rest of my life because of it. But I believed you were meant for more than becoming some nobody’s wife."

I stared at her through my tears, my heart aching so badly that breathing hurt. Lucien! Where was he? I saw his eyes turning crimson after such a long time.

My mom suddenly caught my chin and forced me to meet her gaze. Her expression had hardened. "Stop crying, Jasmine. You are my daughter— the royal head warrior. You’ve come too far to fall apart when the destination is this close. We don’t know why Lucien walked away, and I promise you, we will deal with it. But right now, get a grip and stand up." Her fingers tightened slightly beneath my chin. "If you want something that belongs to you, then be prepared to fight the whole damn world for it."

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and drew in a shaky breath. Maybe Mom was right. I had come too far to give up now.

It wasn’t about the crown anymore. Somewhere, along the way, I had fallen for Lucien, and if I were going to fight, I would fight for him.