- Marcus -I took a deep breath and closed the door after Christine walked in. I turned to look at her, waiting for her to say something but she remained quiet."Well?" I had to push."Well uh..." She started, entwining her fingers together like a teenager. "It's been a long while, Marcus.""It is," I agreed while I watched to explain why she came here."I know it's been years but I didn't realize a day like this would come where we would be together again. I've missed you greatly and I am very glad to have you and Kira together as a family.""Yeah," I nodded uncertainly. "It is great to be reunited with my daughter.'"I mean, who would have thought you'd want her?""What are you saying?" I frowned with disapproval. "Why wouldn't I want my child? You were the one who insisted you couldn't stay with Meredith and left with my child. You went to the point of getting her out of my reach. I have always wanted my child.""You are making it look like my fault," she said tearfully. "I was jus
- Marcus -Giselle walked in, her eyes square with suspicion as she looked from me to Christine."Hi Dad," she greeted, her eyes still full with query."Hi sweetheart," I smiled at her. "You are not asleep yet?""Not yet but in a few minutes. I wanted to see you briefly before going to bed, but I see," she turned to look at Christine, then continued. "I see that you have company.""Actually I was just about to leave," Christine said with an awkward smile on her face. "I will see you tomorrow. Have a lovely night's rest.She waved at me shortly and walked out."Okay?" Giselle raised a brow at me."What?""I see you were having a good time with the mother of your child," she said with a grin."Mother of my child yes," I agreed. "That is a good way to put it.""Uh-Hun," she smiled teasingly, and I shook my head at her."Don't even start with me now," I said lightly. "We were just talking, nothing more.""Alright, I believe you," she raised her hands in mid-air and dropped them back. Deep
- Giselle -I could not take in the excruciating pain I felt despite that I tried to stay strong. I clutched on the side of the bed but it was not helping."I can't..." I shook my head. "I can't do it," I cried."You can, my lady," the midwife said. "Just take a deep breath. Take long deep breaths. It's going to be fine."They have been telling me to take deep breaths but that too was not helping. Right now I am too weak to even lift a limp."Get my husband," I murmured. "Please."My body was drenched in sweat, and there seemed to be an external factor making my condition worse, but I could not tell what it was."You don't need the Alpha," the midwife said. "You are a strong woman and you can do this all by yourself. Come on, this is you giving life to your child. If you don't push, we might lose the baby. Give it all you have. It is worth it. You will make the Alpha and the pack proud by giving us an heir. This is the moment we all have been waiting for."But all of that motivational
- Giselle -"Giselle?" Franklin shook me gently out of my thoughts and I looked at him. "Are you okay? What are you thinking?""Odessa," I muttered under my breath."What?" He looked a bit confused."Odessa, what happened to her?"He was taken aback by the question but braced himself for it."She died in the labor room," he told me sadly. "She lost her life while trying to give life to our child. Sometimes, I feel I was the cause of everything. She did all she could to give me a child because of the pressure of the throne despite the complications. I knew about it, but did not try to prevent her from carrying the pregnancy.""What complications?" I asked him."She was not entirely fit to have a baby. The doctors warned us that there was a fifty-fifty chance of survival if she was going to be put to bed. She did not mind and wanted to have the child which caused her life."No, according to what I just saw now, Odessa did not die naturally during the delivery. She was killed. But I did
- Xavier -I was restless. Restless because things were not going the way I wanted them to go or they were just so slow and worse? Mother was not doing anything about it!"You will have to calm down," she said to me and I glared at her."How can I calm down?" I retorted. "How can I calm down when everything is just moving in some opposite and unpleasant direction? Mother, I want Franklin and Giselle down. And I want it to happen now. I cannot wait any longer. And this was the reason I brought you here so you can help me but it seems you are better off in your husband's house.""Watch your mouth, you ingrate," she shot at me angrily. "It did not pass you that you could not do it all by yourself and had to get me here. Only for you to have the effrontery to say this to my face? Who the hell do you think you are?"I took a deep breath in a bit to calm myself. There was no point getting angry with her too."Mother I am sorry," I had to apologise. "I did not mean to cuss at you.""You bett
- Xavier -She squinted her eyes at me."What do you mean by huh?" She said. "You were not planning to get married to her, were you?""Well..." I dragged."She's not the kind of woman for you, you should know. I have been telling you this and it seems not to get into your head.""Mum, Kira is now a princess," I reminded her."But was once a slave almost all the days of her life. That is already a disqualifier. It would be said of the greatest Alpha that his Luna was once a palace maid. We are not working hard for that kind of report are we?""Anyway," I sighed. "You don't have to beat yourself over it. "I wasn't planning to marry her in the first place. I only needed a woman I would while away time with and she came in handy so...""Good. And very useful now for our plans. I am already making arrangements for the kind of woman I want for you. As for now, you can keep having fun with her. But you will go it differently now and more deliberately because of her status. If she feels she's
- Kira -When King Marcus sent for me, it was almost like I was standing before him as the maid I used to be, waiting for orders until he told me to sit on one of the golden chairs in his room.I sat down nervously, gathering my knees together."How are you doing?" He asked me calmly and I nodded."Fine," I said shortly, scared to speak more than necessary."I just want to ask for your consent," he said. "A party has been thrown for your sake but if you ask me, I wanted something just between us. You know, as family. I wouldn't want the other people away but I guess now that the feast is over, we can go ahead with what I wanted. What do you think?""Uh..." My voice came out low and I had to clear my throat to be clear. "I don't think there is a need for that. The first is fine with me. You don't have to bother yourself with another. Besides, I am not all about celebrations. I am good.""Just this once?" He pushed. "All I am asking for is some time with my family and it is going to mea
- Marcus -There was a hesitant knock on the door which I did not hear at first and had to strain to hear because it was faint.I narrowed my eyes as I wondered who it could be."Who's there?" I asked. "Giselle?"There was silence and that was unusual. I walked to the door and yanked it open. There was Kira, standing there uncertainly.My face softened but with confusion, as I wondered what was the matter with her."You were the one that knocked?" I had to ask to confirm. She nodded her head. "Okay? Come in."I opened the door wider for her. It's not been long since we talked, and she is back here again."Is everything okay, Kira? Please feel free to talk to me. You can tell me anything," I encouraged when I noticed her hesitancy."Well," she cleared her throat. "It's about what we just discussed. I want to confirm something.""Sure go ahead.'"You said you wanted a family time so I..." She paused, took in a deep breath and continued. "I want to know if my mother can come for the dinn
- Franklin -"Where is my wife?" I asked the question I dreaded."Oh, she is fine," the doctor said. "She and the babies are fine.""Thank goodne..." I let out a deep breath and sucked it back in almost immediately as his words registered in my head. "What did you just say?"He smiled."She had twins," he told me. "A boy and a girl."I couldn't believe my ears and did not know how to react to the news either."You mean, I'm having two babies at once?" I asked, holding out two fingers.I don't know why that sounded funny to the doctor but he chuckled and nodded."In fact, you already have them," he said. I brushed him out of the way into the room and found them. My two gems and lovely wife are on the bed.Words failed me. And for the first time in a very long while, tears gathered in my eyes."Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," I muttered as I moved slowly towards them. Giselle was awake but looked weak. In spite of that, she managed a small smile.I held her hand hands gently and kissed
- Cleopatra -I turned round abruptly, surprised to see him."Franklin?" I called as if I was not sure of his existence in flesh and blood. "What are you doing here? I thought we agreed you were going to wait in your chambers so the doctors can work this out?""I changed my mind," he said. "I will stay here till the end of it.""No you will not," I said hastily before I could stop myself then sighed. "I mean, you shouldn't. We've discussed this already. It's not nice for you to go through this. I will stand in for you. You will only be agitated waiting here.""Don't worry about that, sister," he said with a straight face. "I am strong enough to wait. It is cowardice to leave my wife in this condition and stay in my room. Let me worry about her. That might not even be the problem. I am staying strong where her strength fails her.""But it's not even the issue of staying strong or not," I chuckled. "It's making an environment where these guys can work freely and save her. If you stand o
- Franklin -There was a strange look on the doctor's face, not exactly strange because I could already tell what he was going to tell me was not a good news."Her pregnancy was induced," he told me. "We'd have to take out the baby to save her life.""Her life?" I was able to pick. "And what of the child?"The doctor went mute and looked away. I held his shoulder and shook him."Tell me," I half yelled."I'm afraid we might lose it," he said slowly. I let him go, my heart shredding to pieces. I cannot lose my child. No. Not after all these years. Not again."And my wife? What is the probability of her being saved?" I asked, and again, I feared his response."If I'm to be sincere with you, it's a fifty," he said. "But, I will assure you that we will do our best."I ran my hand through my hair and took deep breaths in a bit to calm myself. I was not thinking straight and I felt extremely cold.King Markus was there with me, looking and watching. There wasn't one amongst us who could com
- Jason -I instinctively placed a hand on my stomach, waiting to feel any slight pain."Did you poison me?" I asked him. The seriousness dropped off his face, and he laughed. Morgan laughed long and hard, doubling over. He hit his fist on the table while he laughed, and I watched him, dumbfounded.He finally struggled to control the laughter with a wheezing sound, tears in his eyes."Gosh, you need to see the look on your face," he said. "I did not poison you, silly."I let out a deep breath I had not realized that I was holding."Now, why will I want to kill you and choose to do it by poisoning your food?" He asked, taking a cup of water from the table. He gulped it down and shook his head at me. "You looked so shaken. Are you that scared of death? For someone like you, poisoning is a disgraceful way to die, for even if I wanted to kill you, not that way."He laughed again."Morgan, that was not funny," I had to say."You think? You looked like a wrung chicken. You looked like your
- Jason -I had just finished speaking with Alpha Sheka about very important matters of the pack and was about to leave when he called me back."That reminds me," he said. "I need to invite you to a banquet tonight. I was going to tell you earlier but I skipped. Also because of the matters at hand you know.""I understand alpha," I replied empathetically. "Where'd we get the invitation from now?""Oh it's not far," he said with a suspicious movement of his lips that could pass for a smile. "It's from my son.""Oh, that's interest...what!?" I was saying before my brain registered what I heard."Yes, my son, Morgan. He arranged the banquet specially made for me and you," he repeated and I still could not believe my ears."Did he say he wanted me at the banquet?" I still asked because I could not make sense out of it yet."He made a special request for you to be there. You are surprised, aren't you? Well, I am too. I hope you don't mind the banquet. I've always thought you two were...uh,
- Jason -It took me a few seconds after I returned to my room, to notice someone was there. I turned around with a displeased frown on my face."What are you doing here, Morgan?" I asked him."It's Prince Morgan but yeah, I think I can let that slide since it's you and also seeing that you'd always stress me with having to correct you all the time," he said with a grimace."What are you doing in my room?" I sighed."I'm here to talk," he replied with a shrug. "Can't I talk to you?""What are we talking about and why in my room? Official meetings are not held in the bedroom.""That's it," he snapped his fingers. "Because this is not an official business.""I cannot tell when we began to have an unofficial relationship," I stated and he laughed."Maybe if you were paying attention more, you'd remember that I did mention it.""I don't want to be acquainted with you, Morgan," I said to his face. "I am fine the way we are.""Come on Jason, don't make this hard," he said, relaxing his back
- Cleopatra -I eyed the greedy man and scoffed."What do you mean by this is not enough? Do you want four generations' wealth before you're okay?" I scowled at him."My lady, you know what it caused us to be able to cover up for you. And I have other people to settle and keep their mouths shut. You will have to remit more."I sighed tiredly."Okay fine. I am going to give you some more but that will be it. You must not complain nor ask me for anything after that. And you must not try to contact me because we can never be seen together. Do you understand?""Clearly," he replied."Good."I was able to handle him without anyone finding out about it, and I hoped it remained that way. Anna has promised to keep her mouth shut and only say what was agreed on if Giselle finds her, but I couldn't trust her.How could I hold her to her words? I looked into her eyes and saw the fear. Such a person can be easily l
- Giselle -I was very eager for the reports, but I was disappointed."There were no prints," the experts told me. "The old lady poisoned herself to death.""You're trying to tell me she took her own life?" I asked for clarity even though I heard them. I felt like asking them why, but knew they wouldn't have an answer to that.The midwife was well, according to the reports given to me hours before I went to see her, and then she poisoned herself?This doesn't make any sense to me."There has to be a reason why this happened," I said thoughtfully as I paced around the room. "Why did she take her life? What made her do it?"I lifted my head, and Franklin was barely paying any attention to me."What do you think about this?" I asked, and he looked at me."I don't know," he said with a shrug."You don't think she'd take her life for no reason, right? What must have made her do it? Did someone threa
- Giselle -"What?" I asked, my eyes following the direction of his hand. There was something at the edge of the bed, and I walked towards it.An old woman, obviously the midwife, was lying dead on the ground in the corner."Oh gracious heavens," I muttered, placing a hand on my chest. One of the guards moved close and picked up a bottle lying beside her."Looks like a poison," he said, lifting the bottle to his face and observing it. She had foam all over her mouth, and her body looked fresh like she could have died just a few minutes before we arrived.How did we not even notice all this while? And I looked all over the room. There were no signs of death anywhere.Gosh, I was this close to getting her, I lamented."Looks like murder," Another commented, what was going through my mind."What do we do now?" They asked me after moments of staring at the cold body beneath.