Chapter 170: Behind closed doors

The moment Augustus stepped into the room, Jaime’s heart dropped. He was still standing beside the table, the original agreement spread open in front of him.

Three hundred.

The number was still there.

He had stared at it so many times that his eyes were beginning to hurt.

"What happened?" Augustus asked again.

"I..." Jaime’s voice caught. He really wished he could disappear right now, "The agreement with Stormvale..."

Augustus waited.

"They terminated it." He finished.

Augustus looked confused, like he was waiting for Jaime to say something else. To say that his tongue had slipped and he didn’t mean what he just said.

But the anxious look on his son’s face made Augustus’s eyes darken, "Why?" There was still disbelief in his voice.

Jaime’s fingers curled against his palm. "They said the amount of iron we promised them had been reduced."

"Reduced?"

"Yes."

"By how much?"

Jaime closed his eyes briefly, "From five hundred crates to three hundred."

Augustus slowly walked toward the table, and every second of the silence that followed made Jaime feel like his shoes were melting.

"And you didn’t notice?"

"No," Jaime cracked.

Augustus picked up the agreement, and his eyes moved over the page.

Three hundred.

His gaze remained there for several seconds before he looked back at Jaime. "You wrote this." It wasn’t a question.

Of course he did. Augustus himself had trusted him with everything. Rewriting the agreement again. Changing absolutely nothing.

"I swear it was five hundred when I left." Jaime defended, his voice trembling.

Augustus said nothing.

"I checked it before leaving," Jaime hurried on, "Several times. I even went through the smaller clauses because you told me to make sure I understood everything."

"And yet you arrived at Stormvale with an agreement promising them three hundred."

"I didn’t change it."

"Then who did?"

"I...don’t know."

Augustus stared at him. That answer sounded terrible, and Jaime knew it. He knew exactly how ridiculous he sounded.

Someone had changed the agreement.

Even the one that had gotten to Stormvale beforehand.

Someone had somehow changed the shipments.

Someone had managed to use IronRidge’s seal.

Someone had also somehow written the three hundred in his own handwriting.

And Jaime had absolutely no idea who that someone was.

"The agreement carries your handwriting," Augustus said.

Jaime’s throat went dry again. Anything he would say to defend himself sounded stupid even in his head.

"It carries the seal and emblem of his pack. And worse, it carries my signature,"

Jaime lowered his head.

"Nothing here looks forged, Jaime. YOU made this mistake!!" Augustus sounded angry, very angry, "And three shipments of inferior iron were sent under your authority."

Augustus placed the document back on the table, and asked, "Then explain to me why I shouldn’t blame you."

He couldn’t say a word.

He could defend himself if there was something to point at.

A broken seal.

A strange scent.

A witness.

Anything.

But there was nothing.

Only him.

"I don’t know, Father", He whispered.

Augustus stared at his son for a long moment. "I sent you there because I believed you were ready. You’ve accompanied me to negotiations for years, and you watched how these agreements were handled."

A pause. A heartbeat. A pounding heartbeat.

"And when I finally trusted you enough to handle one yourself..." Augustus stopped again.

Jaime couldn’t even look at him anymore.

"...you lost it."

"Father, I—"

"I don’t want your apology!!" Augustus roared.

The guards that were standing outside straightened immediately, and Jaime’s eyes burned.

"You are my heir, Jaime. One day, every agreement I make will be yours to handle. Every trade route. Every alliance. Every decision. Every single thing that concerns this pack!"

Jaime’s chest felt heavier with every word.

"And you couldn’t keep track of one agreement."

"Father..."

"We need Stormvale."

"I know."

"No." Augustus’s voice became sharper. "You don’t." He pointed toward the agreement, "Do you know what happens if the war begins and Stormvale refuses to trade with us?"

Jaime said nothing.

"The word would spread to other Packs, and once they hear that Stormvale no longer trusts IronRidge..."

Augustus didn’t finish.

He didn’t have to. Jaime understood.

Other Packs could start questioning IronRidge’s reliability. And all of it had started with him.

"I’m going to fix it." Jaime said.

"How?" Augustus glared at him.

"I’ll find another Pack willing to trade."

"And if you can’t?"

"I will."

"Jaime."

He stopped.

Augustus took a step closer to his son, and gripped the front of his shirt hard, pulling him closer till their faces were almost touching, then he whispered, "Your confidence isn’t what I need right now. I want fucking results!"

Jaime swallowed.

"For your sake, I hope you find out what happened." Augustus whispered again, "Because if you truly made this mistake yourself...then you have a lot to learn before you become Alpha."

And then he left.

Jaime stood completely still in the room, trembling from a barricade of emotions that were threatening to spill out.

He wanted to punch something.

To growl. To howl. To let it out.

But most importantly, he had wanted his father’s trust.

He had wanted to prove that he could handle something important. He wanted his father to see him worthy of being Alpha so he could pass out the title to him soon. Instead, he had just watched that belief disappear.

Jaime slowly turned back toward the agreement again.

Three hundred.

His own handwriting.

His father’s signature and the pack seal.

"How?" He whispered, "How the hell did you become three hundred?"

Behind him, Evangeline’s soft voice asked, "Son, are you ok?!"

He’d heard her coming minutes after Augustus had left. They’d probably run into each other. Maybe she heard Augustus’s roar and that was maybe what brought her here.

"What happened? You look troubled," She added as she walked further into the room.

"It’s nothing, mother," He groaned, eyes glued to the paper.

She walked up behind him and stared at the crumpled paper, "Oh, no," She murmured, "Why does it say three hundred?!"

"I don’t fucking know, okay?!!" He suddenly snapped, his voice loud and edged with confusion, "I don’t know. I checked it like a thousand times before I left and all of a sudden, I don’t even..." He trailed off.

"It’s fine, son. It’s fine," She said softly, worried about him.

"It’s not fine, Mother. I feel like something is wrong with me. It’s pretty clear that I wrote it myself, so why have I been seeing five hundred all this time? Was I hallucinating?!"

"You’re not sick, Jaime," She cupped his troubled face again and caressed his face with his thumb, "And it doesn’t matter if Stormvale has cut us off. We still have trade alliances with many other packs that trust us. You also have other responsibilities where you can shine. Plus, you cannot be replaced. You’re the only son of your father. You are bound to become Alpha, sooner or later!"

Her words carried a lot of weight off his chest, and suddenly he felt like he had nothing else to worry about, and his breath came out a little better.

This was just a one-time fuck up.

It won’t happen again. Stormvale is just one pack out of hundreds. They still had the trust of the others.

And even if something had did happen again, Augustus won’t be able to take away his title as heir to this pack. It’s not like he has a secret son elsewhere. Even if he did, bastards don’t make the cut.

"You look better now," Evangeline said, smiling at him.

He simply shrugged, "Thanks mother,"

"Good. I need your opinion on something."

"What is it?!"

"The council has asked me to choose a new commander for the twelfth division. I was thinking I should go with Kent. What do you think?!"

Kent had served in the castle and the guard wolves for over ten years now. He was even the man who had assisted them in carrying the Moonfire and hiding it under the Altar that night. His arm was burnt. Still very functional. And he’d fallen severely ill after carrying Moonfire

"He is very loyal. Great pick," Jaime said, "I shall extend my congratulations to him even before you make it known at the next council meeting,"

Evangeline smiled again.

"I haven’t seen Beatrice for a few days now. Heard she isn’t coming out much from her chambers. She’s not taking the marriage alliance well?!" Jaime inquired.

"She wouldn’t dare say no to her own father. You know how she’s always been when it comes to Augustus,"

"So, she’s good with marrying Emmett...and being under Conan?!"

"We have a plan," Evangeline lowered her voice this time, "I’m not letting that male bitch put his hands on her. She already endured Leopold’s obsessive nonsense for months,"

Jaime’s eyes narrowed.

He walked up to the door and closed it first, then he faced his mother and the hushed whisper continued, "Are you both being serious?! Please don’t tell me this plan involves killing someone,"

"It does," Eva replied flatly.

"You know this isn’t Della anymore, right? This is an Alpha you’re talking about!"

"Which is exactly why we made a well-structured plan. We’ve figured that since we are dealing with one Alpha...we should involve another who would not say NO to Beatrice,"

Jaime’s eyes widened. Evangeline saw the absurdity in his eyes.

"He knows she doesn’t love him. We made that pretty clear to him in the dungeons,"

"It doesn’t make him any less obsessed with her. Do you know how many letters he’s written to her ever since we left?!"

"Fine!" Jaime raised a hand in surrender, "Let me in on the plan, too."