Chapter 90: Royal Mark

Lucian’s POV

No. No. No.

This couldn’t be happening. Annabel couldn’t be the one. She couldn’t be the woman Lucas had been searching for all these years. Anyone but her. Anyone in the entire kingdom, but not the woman standing in front of me.

I stared at the mark on the back of her neck, my heart pounding so violently that I could barely think straight.

A royal claiming mark.

There was no mistaking it. I had seen that mark before, and I knew exactly what it meant. As a member of the royal bloodline, I understood the significance of a royal wolf claiming someone. And that was precisely why I was terrified.

Because if Annabel really was the woman Lucas had claimed four years ago, then I had already lost her.

The thought made my chest tighten painfully. No. I couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not after everything that had happened between us. Not after I had finally admitted how much she meant to me.

I had only just begun to believe that things could finally work out between us. And now, just when I thought I had a chance to make her happy, I was discovering that the woman I loved was the very woman my older brother had spent four years searching for.

"Lucian?"

Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I slowly raised my eyes to meet hers. She was staring at me with a confused expression, her hand still resting against the side of her neck.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. What was I supposed to tell her? That the mark on her neck could change everything? That my brother had claimed her long before I ever met her? That I was terrified of what would happen now that Lucas had finally found her?

"Lucian, you’re scaring me," she whispered.

I swallowed hard. I wanted to reach for her. I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her that everything was going to be fine. But how could I make such a promise when I wasn’t even sure I could keep it?

Instead, I slowly turned toward Lucas. He was standing a few feet away, watching us quietly. His eyes moved briefly toward Olivia’s neck before returning to mine.

Then he spoke.

"Lucian, she really is the one."

I stared at him.

Lucas took a small step forward. "I know this is difficult for you to believe, but I’ve confirmed it. The mark belongs to my wolf. Olivia is the woman I’ve been searching for."

I said nothing. I couldn’t. Because deep down, I already knew he was telling the truth, and that was what frightened me the most.

Lucas turned toward Annabel, his expression softening as he looked at her.

"Olivia, I know this is a lot for you to understand, but that mark makes you officially mine. My wolf claimed you four years ago, and whether you knew about it or not, you’ve been carrying my royal mark ever since."

Annabel stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean, officially yours? Lucas, I don’t understand what’s happening."

I didn’t want to hear another word about it. But something suddenly caught my attention.

"Wait a minute," I interrupted, looking between them. "Why do you keep calling her Olivia?"

Lucas turned toward me.

"What?" I demanded. "Her name is Annabel. Why have you been calling my wife Olivia since you started talking?"

Annabel immediately went still. I noticed the way her expression changed, and my stomach tightened.

"Annabel?" I called, looking at her. "What’s going on?"

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Lucas stepped forward.

"Lucian, there’s something else you need to know."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Something else? What else could you possibly have to tell me?"

"Lucas, please," Annabel suddenly interrupted, her voice trembling. "You don’t have to tell him now."

Lucas shook his head. "No, Olivia. He has to know. There’s no point in hiding it anymore. Everything is already coming out, and he deserves to know the truth."

I looked between them, completely confused. "What the hell is going on here?" I demanded. "What are you two hiding from me?"

Annabel lowered her head, and for several seconds, she didn’t say anything. Then she slowly looked up at me.

"Lucian, I’m sorry," she whispered.

I frowned. "Sorry for what?"

She swallowed nervously, and I could see tears gathering in her eyes.

"I’m not Princess Annabel."

For a moment, I thought I had misheard her.

"What?"

"I’m not Annabel," she repeated, her voice breaking. "My real name is Olivia. I was a maid who worked at the palace."

I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing.

A maid? What was she talking about?

"Olivia?" I repeated slowly. "What do you mean you’re a maid? Where is Princess Annabel?"

Her eyes filled with tears.

"She’s dead, Lucian. The real Princess Annabel died before the wedding. The king made me take her place because he didn’t want the marriage treaty to fall apart."

I took a step backward. For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.

The woman standing before me wasn’t Princess Annabel? She was a maid who had been forced to take the princess’s place?

Goodness! How many more secrets was I going to discover tonight?

"Lucian, I’m so sorry," she continued, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I wanted to tell you. I really did, but I was scared. I didn’t know what you would do if you discovered the truth."

I stared at her, struggling to process everything she had just told me. I had married her believing she was Princess Annabel. Every single day we had spent together, I had called her by a name that wasn’t even hers.

And yet, as I looked at her standing before me, crying and apologizing, I realized something.

It didn’t change how I felt about her.

Princess or maid, Annabel or Olivia, she was still the woman I had fallen in love with. The woman who had somehow found her way into my heart despite everything that had happened between us.

I didn’t care what her real name was. I didn’t care whether she had royal blood running through her veins. All I knew was that I loved her.

"Lucian..." she whispered, looking at me nervously.

Before I could respond, Lucas stepped forward.

"Lucian, I know this is difficult for you to accept, but you need to understand what this means."

I slowly turned toward him. "What?"

"Olivia carries my royal claiming mark," he said firmly. "That means she belongs to me. My wolf claimed her long before she ever became your wife."

My jaw tightened. "Lucas, don’t."

He ignored my warning and continued. "And now that we know she isn’t even Princess Annabel, your marriage isn’t valid. You were supposed to marry the princess, not Olivia. The woman standing before you was never the bride named in your marriage agreement."

I stared at him in disbelief. Was he seriously saying this to me? After everything I had just discovered, he was standing there telling me that my marriage was invalid and that the woman I loved belonged to him?

"You must be joking," I spat.

"Lucian, whether you like it or not, you know exactly what a royal claiming mark means," Lucas snapped, his eyes flashing gold. "You know the laws just as well as I do, so stop acting like you don’t understand! My wolf claimed Olivia four years ago, long before you ever laid eyes on her. She’s mine, Lucian, and no marriage ceremony or contract is going to change that!"

"Enough!" I roared.

Olivia flinched, and Lucas immediately stopped talking. I marched toward Olivia, grabbed her hand, and pulled her behind me, putting myself between her and my brother.

"Never," I growled, staring directly into Lucas’s eyes.

"Lucian—"

"I said never!" I interrupted, my eyes flashing gold. "I don’t give a damn about your royal claiming mark, Lucas. I don’t care what your wolf did four years ago, and I certainly don’t care what you think the law says about my marriage!"

Lucas’s expression hardened. "Lucian, you’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment."

"Of course I am!" I snapped. "Because you’re standing in front of me, telling me that the woman I love belongs to you!"

I tightened my hold on Olivia’s hand before continuing.

"Listen to me carefully, Lucas. Annabel or Olivia, princess or maid, I don’t care who she was before she came into my life. She’s my wife!"

Lucas growled, his eyes flashing with anger. "Lucian, the mark—"

"Mark or no mark, Olivia is my wife!" I roared. "And I will be damned if I stand here and let you take her away from me!"

Lucas’s expression darkened, and a furious growl escaped his throat as he took a threatening step toward me.

"Have you completely lost your mind, Lucian?" he thundered. "How many times do I have to explain this to you? That is a royal claiming mark, not some ordinary mark you can simply ignore because it doesn’t suit you! My wolf claimed her four years ago, and you know damn well what that means! You can scream that she’s your wife until your throat bleeds, but it won’t change the fact that she was mine long before she ever became yours!"

"I don’t care!" I snapped.

"Well, you should!" Lucas growled. "Because whether you accept it or not, Olivia has belonged to my wolf since the night I marked her. It’s a supernatural claim, Lucian. It doesn’t disappear simply because she marries someone else."

I clenched my fists, struggling to control the anger building inside me.

"Even if Olivia had married ten different men after that night, the mark would still recognize me as the one who claimed her," Lucas continued. "No marriage ceremony, contract, or title can override a royal claiming mark. As long as that mark remains on her body, my wolf’s claim remains."

I swallowed hard.

Damn it! I knew he was telling the truth. That was exactly why I had been terrified the moment I saw the mark on Olivia’s neck. But knowing the truth didn’t mean I was willing to accept it.

"So what?" I demanded. "You expect me to hand my wife over to you because your wolf marked her four years ago?"

Lucas’s expression hardened. "She is not your fucking wife! There was no valid marriage!"

I ignored him and pulled Olivia closer to me, refusing to release her hand.

"I don’t care how powerful that mark is, Lucas. I don’t care what the royal laws say. Olivia is my wife, and I love her. If you think I’m going to give her up simply because your wolf claimed her four years ago, then you don’t know me at all!"

Lucas’s expression tightened.

"And what about me, Lucian?" he asked. "Do you expect me to pretend I never found her?"

I stared directly into his eyes.

"I expect you to stay away from my wife."

Lucas shook his head slowly.

"I’m sorry, brother. But that’s one thing I can’t promise you."

I stared directly into his eyes, my jaw clenched as anger burned through my chest. There was no way I was going to stand aside and watch my own brother take away the woman I loved. Not after everything we had been through. Not when I had only just found the courage to tell her how much she meant to me.

I bared my teeth, my jaw clenched as my wolf clawed at the surface.

"Then you’ll have to kill me first," I growled. "Because only when I’m dead will you ever have her."