~Cassandra~ While I headed to Zoe’s chamber, thinking of so many things I wanted to talk to her, I met Irene. Staring at her as we moved closer and closer, I raised my eyebrows as I realized it’s been quite sometime we both had a chat. “So you still live in this palace?” She asked teasingly as I stood right in front of her. I widened my arms and embraced her tightly. “It’s been a while.” I uttered, and she nodded. “Yes, it has been quite some time. But I understand. Your lover is back and you don’t give a damn about the rest of us.” She uttered as she moved away from me. “C’mon, Irene, please don’t say it like that. We just brought him back and since then, a lot has been happening. The arrival of another family relative of Lucian, and also the unstoppable change in Lucian’s character.” I retorted, shaking my head in disgust as I thought of it again. “King Lucian? What’s up with him again? Is he still bothering you and Damian? The Priest warned him already, right?” She asked, an
~Lucian~ Returning from the Empire, I felt so tired and all I wanted was to get a good night's sleep. I had missed so many meetings due to the recent drama in my life and the palace, and now, my Saturdays are going to pay for it. I’d have to spend the whole day going over what I had missed. Getting to the palace, it was late, and everything seemed pretty quiet, like everyone had gone to bed. I dismissed the guards that were with me as I walked up to my chamber. One of the maids saw me and called on the others, so that they could serve me my dinner. Opening my door and walking into my chamber, I switched on the light and to my greatest surprise, I saw Cassandra laying on my bed. “You’re late.” She uttered, and I furrowed my brows, walking closer to the bed. “What are you doing in my chamber?” I asked, looking around to see if anything was out of the ordinary. “I'm still your wife, Lucian. I have every right to be in your chamber, don’t I?” She asked, sitting up. Scoffing audibl
~Cassandra~“What… what are you talking about?” I stuttered, cleaning my eyes as I moved out of Lucian’s chamber to hear Robert say whatever he said one more time. “Priest Elsen was found in his room dead. His throat was slit open.” He further explained, and my eyes slowly widened in terror. “He was murdered,” I uttered in shock. I could hear my heart thumping against my chest. “Yes, he was. And no one in the temple knows how it happened.” Robert added. Lucian hurried into his chamber, and while we waited for him to step out, the door to Damian’s chamber opened. He looked at our direction with confusion as he approached us.“What is going on?” He asked. “Priest Elsen was murdered,” I uttered, still trying to apprehend how it happened. “What? How… How did it happen?” He asked, shifting his gaze to Robert. “No one knows how, but he was found in his room with his neck slit open,” Robert stated again. Lucian walked out of his chamber again, and this time, he had put on a shirt. “
~Damian~ In the morning, we gathered in front of the temple, where Priest Elsen was to be buried. Only a few people from the palace attended, because we felt such news shouldn’t be spread. Lucian, Cassie, Sara, Uncle Bernard and his wife, Robert, Zoe, Irene, the messengers from the temple and I were the only ones present. As the burial ceremony went on, I patted and consoled Sara, who couldn’t stop crying. I never thought she was the very emotional type. The ceremony ended in no time, and we all returned to the palace, walking in twos. Sara and I, Lucian and Cassandra, though they were not saying a word to each other, Robert and Zoe, Uncle Bernard and his wife. Only Irene had to walk alone. We all had things going on in our minds. “Are you okay?” I asked Sara, and she raised her head to look at me. She nodded slowly and lowered her head again. “I hate that I’m so emotional.” She mumbled, cleaning her tears off with the back of her hand. “Why would you hate it? It was a burial
~Sara~ “What are we going to do now? Lucian is going to start investigating.” Mother uttered in worry as she began to pace in front of us. “Can you stop doing that? I can’t think straight if you keep walking in front of me.” Father answered in frustration. “What is your plan? They cannot know you are behind this.” I uttered, and he shook his head. “It’s never going to happen. I’m going to make sure Lucian starts to suspect one of the messengers, and then, we are going to get eyes off our backs.” He answered. “And how do you plan on doing this? Are you going to frame one of them?” Mother asked, and he nodded. “All I need to hear is that Lucian is going to interrogate the messengers and it’s going to be done. We have come this far. We can’t afford to make any mistakes now.” He added, and we bobbed. “And you Sara, what have you been doing?” Mother asked, and I creased my brows. “What do you mean? I just saved us from the Priest revealing our secrets to the king.” I responded, fe
~Lucian~ Holding Sara’s hands, we walked down the stairs, smiling at each other. I was happy there was someone that didn’t hate me, and saw me for who I truly was. “To begin with, I’m not a perfect man. But, I can boldly say I did nothing but cared for Damian when he first came into this palace. And for Cassandra, it’s the same. I loved her so much, though I found it hard to stay truthful. “Trust me, I tried, but I kept going back to her…” “To her? Who is she?” She asked, cutting my short. I gulped hard and let out a deep breath. I thought of hiding it from her, but what was the point? It wasn’t a secret anymore. “Irene.” I retorted, and she nodded, keeping her normal facial expressions. I furrowed my brows, staring at her. “Aren’t you surprised?” I asked, and she shook her head, letting out a smile. “No, I’m not. Irene is a very beautiful woman. If I was a man, I’d flirt with her. It’s understandable.” She answered, and I burst into laughter. “You’re something else, Sara. If
~Damian~ Stepping out of the bathroom, I met Cassie, still lying on the bed. We had just finished making love, but I noticed she wasn’t really in the mood, though she asked me to keep going. “Cassie, are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” I asked, cleaning my face with my towel, but I got no response from her. “Cassie?” I called again, yanking the towel off my face and running to the bed. I could feel my heart violently thumping in my chest as I saw her face turn pale. Sweat oozed out of her pores and she let out low groans and moans. “Cassie?!” I called in terror. My hands trembled as I placed one of them on her forehead to check her temperature, and her skin almost burnt the back of my hand. My eyes popped wide open, and I sprang up, running out of my chamber. “Get me the doctor, right now!” I yelled to no one in particular, but two of the guards nodded and ran down the stairs to fetch her. “Damian, is everything alright?” I heard Sara ask before I could enter my cham
~Damian ~ Walking to the temple, Cassie was on my mind, but I couldn’t help but notice how close Uncle Bernard and Lucian had gotten. They kept chatting and chatting, but I had no idea what they were talking about, because I didn’t care. I just wanted to finish whatever we were supposed to do and return to my baby. She needs me. Getting to the temple, the guards that followed behind us took over, and they began to chase out all the messengers from their rooms. “Are we not supposed to explain what is happening?” I asked Lucian, and he shook his head. “They don’t have to understand. We don’t have time.” He answered coldly, and I furrowed my brows, nodding slowly as I retreated from him. He had changed so much that I could hardly recognize him. Chasing the Messengers out didn’t seem like the correct thing to do it, and if at all they wanted to search their room, they could have used a nicer approach, but what could I do? I am not the king. The messengers grew confused and angry
~Cassandra~ ~After A Year~ “Good morning!” I heard Zoe’s loud voice from my slumber, causing me to tighten my eyes in discomfort.“Wake up! I have good news!” She continued talking in a loud voice and even jumped on my bed, forcing my eyes open. “Shhh! You’ll wake Darian up!” I mumbled, hastily throwing a glance at the baby bed that was placed not so far from my bed. He was the first person I was concerned about. “Relax, Cassie. Damian and Lucian are playing with him already. He woke up and began to cry so they took him away before he could wake you up.” Zoe further explained, and I raised my eyebrows. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he wasn’t here. I was up all through the night because he kept wanting to eat.” I grumbled, lifting my body off the bed and sitting up. “Well, for the tenth time in three months, welcome to motherhood,” Zoe answered, causing me to smile. Three months ago, I conceived and gave birth to Darian. Everyone in the kingdom was happy. We finally have such
~ Lucian ~ When we got closer to the palace, I realized that the people who had left before had arrived again. Bernard must have sent some of his people to summon them. Deep down, I wanted to break free and teach him a lesson, but somehow, I felt extremely weak. I was a Lycan, why wouldn’t I summon the wolf in me? While tied to the church, I tried too hard to reach that locked-up power inside of me, but it was so hard, I couldn’t even brush the surface. It wasn’t really surprising because I never really used that part of me. I never found any reason to, and now it seemed like it was gone. Like my Lycan power was dead completely. I also couldn’t believe I chose to trade my throne for Cassandra’s life. At the point of death, I realized I still loved her and saw her as my wife, regardless of everything that had happened between us. The soldiers that went with us were armed and more in number compared to the guards at the palace. I knew they had no chance right from when I set my ey
~Sara~ “I hired Sara and Agatha to act like my family so that we could execute our plans better. The fact is, I am single, but I won’t mind having your wife as my queen when I inherit the throne.” Bernard uttered with a smirk. “Go f**k yourself.” Lucian spat angrily. I couldn’t look them in the eyes because I knew they were disappointed, and they hated me already. I kept my head lowered as I let my guilt taunt me. “I think I’ve done enough talking. We need to get down to business.” Bernard uttered. “Now to you…” He added, making his way back to the bed where Cassandra lay. “Your life is tied to whatever Lucian wants.” He uttered, raising his hand to touch her hair. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Lucian growled, causing Bernard’s hand to hang in the air. “I hate you,” Cassandra mumbled, staring at him in a disgusted manner. “Well, I never liked you. So here is what we are going to do. We are going to match down to the kingdom right now, call everyone together, and then you’ll anno
~Damian~ Getting to the house where Sara told me to hide in the meantime, I wasn’t at rest. Something felt so wrong, but I found it so hard to figure it out. I couldn’t stop thinking about Cassie and the palace as a whole. What was going on? Was it a good idea to run off in such a heated moment? Shouldn’t I have taken Cassie along with me? That guilty thought and part of me kept resurfacing. And I couldn’t help but feel bad. It was like I ran away from the problem that was looming around those I love. I felt like a coward. Heaving out a deep sigh, I raised my head and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what I was going to do next. ‘If Cassie doesn’t get here in the next forty-eight hours, then I have to return to the palace. Hopefully, Lucian won’t ask for my head on a platter of gold.’ While I was lost in thoughts, trying to cook up my next big plan, a knock came on the door. Surprised and excited, I sprang to my feet and ran to the door. “Cassie?” I called, opening the d
~Cassandra~ I felt disgusted as Bernard exposed his tobacco-damaged teeth when he smiled. I should have always suspected him. I should have always known that something was so fishy about them. How they came into our lives was pretty suspicious. But who could have imagined it would turn out like this? Damian came into our lives the same way, and he’s one of the reasons I’m still fighting to stay alive. “What do you mean by that? What games are you trying to play, Uncle…” “I told you I’m not your uncle! Call me Bernard! And I’m playing no games. This is reality. The earlier you realize that the better for you.” He disrespectfully cut Lucian’s short, letting him choke on his own words. In awe, Lucian turned to look at me, and I shook my head, feeling so bad for us. “Fine. If you’re not my uncle, then can you please tell me who you are?” Lucian retorted, trying to keep on that bold, masculine look, but I could perceive that this layer was pretty thin. He was going to lose it any m
~Bernard~ I headed back to the palace after Cassandra opened her eyes. Before I fetch Lucian, I need to do one more thing. I needed to convince the people that I was the right king for them. After that, I need him to come in front of the people and renounce his throne to the people. Hopefully, he was going to cherish his life and that of his wife so that that would happen. Getting back to the palace, I saw the people were beginning to exit the building. They still murmured things to each other nonstop. When some of them saw me, they diverted their attention to me. “Where were you, Mr. Bernard? We expected you to be in the hall too so that you can support our claims. You were the one that told us everything that has been happening. Why didn’t you show up?” One of the elderly men spoke up. “Yes, that is true. You should have been there to call him a liar to his face. How do you prove to me that you’re the one we want when you were absent?” Another woman added. “Relax, everyone. I
~Sara~ After making sure we were very far from the kingdom, I stopped running. Damian also stopped and turned to look at me. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” He asked, our chests rising and falling due to our intense breathing. “I need to go back. No one can know I snuck out with you. But I need you to keep going. Don’t look back.” I warned him, and he nodded. “Remember your promise, Sara. You promised me you’d help Cassie too.” He retorted, and I gulped hard and nodded slowly. “Yes, I will.” I lied. How was I supposed to help her? My father got her already and there was no going back this time. Only the gods could shift the death lurking around her. “Okay. Thank you, Sara. I’ll be in the house you prepared. Bye.” He uttered as he took to his heels again. Watching him leave, a relieved sigh escaped my lips. I was so glad I could save him from my parents. He had been so nice to me and I wasn’t going to take it for granted. I had described the path to our former kingdom to him,
~Lucian~ “We want another king! Give us another king!” The persistent voices of the people pierced the door of the hall where they were, hitting my earbuds mercilessly. Shaking off the fear that began to rise in me, I occupied my mind with the words that I had planned to say to them. I kept repeating the words in my head as I walked into the hall. The voices of the people multiplied greatly when they saw me, and it seemed like if I wasn’t very careful, they were going to pounce on me. Even though guards surrounded me, it didn’t seem like enough protection. I raised my hand, hoping to see if they still had little regard for me, and I wasn’t disappointed. The roaring and murmurings stopped instantly. “Thank you,” I uttered in a loud voice before I proceeded to what exactly I wanted to say. “Good evening, people of this kingdom! Your complaints have reached my ears, and I think it’s only fair that you let me share my own side of the story too, don’t you think?” I asked, and I got a
~Cassandra~ I headed to Lucian’s chamber with so many thoughts running through my head. How were we supposed to handle the situation on ground? I knew Lucian wasn’t his best self, but I still needed to talk to him about Damian too. I hated that Damian was locked up in a cell for no reason. Getting to his chamber, I walked in and met him pacing at the cover of his study. “Lucian,” I called, but he ignored me and kept pacing. I heaved a sigh and moved closer to him. “Can you stop pacing? You’re making me dizzy.” I retorted, causing him to abruptly stop. “What do you want?” He asked in a cold manner, keeping his gaze off me. “What are we going to do now? I don’t understand what has come over these people anymore. Are we not going to do something?” I asked worriedly, and he scoffed, finally looking at me. “What do you want me to do, huh? I know you all are happy with how everything is going. You don’t have to pretend like you are worried.” He responded and continued his pacing aga