Inside the meeting room, they were sitting around the round table, facing everyone with clear air. The space of the room was massive with the table situated in the middle to not intimidate each other. This room was called the Equal Room where no one was above anyone. Hence, the name. The room was Shadow’s idea and to be fair, Ibrahim loved it so much. Queen Liliana seemed to be pleased as well. They were exchanging a few greetings between them, talking about their interest for a couple of minutes. But his eye twitched because Liliana’s attention was riveted to her surroundings.“Queen Liliana, what are you searching for?” Ibrahim said politely.“Where is our beloved princess, King Ibrahim?”Ibrahim cracked his knuckles, his lips curved inwardly. “As you can see, she is not here.”“She is supposed to be our main character. Where does the character go without being inside the meeting room? I don’t have any desire to face you guys without her.” Queen Liliana unintentionally spoke arro
“Albert.” Albert looked across the room, where Lily was. “You can tell us if you’re ready. But if you don’t, we will wait for the day to come. We need to understand your point of view. We need to know why you betray your own kind. We need to make sure that we will not regret anything. Our decision or whatever.” Albert sniffled. He couldn’t refute her. Hell! She was right. If they want to have an equal footing, they need to strip their bodies naked. Lily had told him about her past, about why the wolf tribe was aiming for the hyena tribe. It was his turn now. Hell! He wanted to. He really wanted to. Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy to come undone. His secret was prone to receive the biggest reaction from everyone. And yes, including the king and his family. Luckily, Shadow didn't do as much as twitch her mouth and moved on past that. But he couldn’t. It’s hard to do that. Dhia placed her arm on Albert’s shoulder and pulled her into a hug. Albert was younger than Aidan and Dhia. Bo
The massive body was still showing its strength and putting air to dominate the atmosphere. And, as soon as there was a clash on the ground, the sky fell down and the ground split yet again. As soon as the wind howled, it made that massive punch wind and blew off a few trees around. She and her two lions took a couple of hot minutes engaging with a familiar yet alarming scent. To be frank, she didn’t remember what had happened but when she opened her eyes, she was already on the forest floor and was blown by the unpredictable sharp wind. Her shirt had already tatted and her bloodshot eyes were still searching around. Not to say anything about her brain, but it totally pending and stopped working for the first time in her life. She tasted the blood at the corner of her mouth and heck! Her lips were already cracked. She looked to her side, her bare feet missing their shoes. GRRRRRRR~ A few drakes snarled and bared their poisonous fangs at Shadow and whimpered King and Double. The
“Hah! It’s not enough that you took me from my father without his consent.”“Are you mad, doll?” Ajiad grinned and folded his arms across his chest.“Am not.” Shadow’s blank expression proved her answer.“Apart from being my daughter–”“I was coerced to be your daughter, papa.”GROOOWL!BOM!The environment became so chaotic.“Do you hate it? Becoming my daughter?” Ajiad unsheathed his dagger as well.“I don’t know,” shrugged. “You forced me and Albert to be your children.”Taking Shadow and Albert as his adopted children against their will and creating such behind the king’s back could be considered treason. His action was a red flag because he was acting according to his desire.Ajiad barked a burst of gleeful laughter. “Spare this old man. I have been married for more than decades. My brother had his own children, so I want to have mine as well. However, we are incapable of having a child.”“So, you resorted to kidnapping both of us and forced us to be yours instead? Interesting ta
The two of them hugged each other with their eyes planted on the breeze under Shadow’s feet. The ground had disappeared. Ajiad gasped loudly, breaking his character as soon as it involved Shadow’s safety.“What are you doing, doll?” He snarled.Instead of asking him, Shadow took his agitation to her advantage and swung her fist under his chin.“Ugh!” Ajiad nearly stumbled backward.Shadow felt the grip around her loosened up and she swiftly shifted her body and fled.She landed behind Ajiad while snatching the dagger on the floor before kicking the abandoned dagger toward her uncle. “Our training is not ending anytime soon, papa.” She announced proudly.“You fool.” Ajiad reset his jaw with a crack sound. “That hurts, yeah.” But his eyes flashed with anticipation.Of course, Ajiad was a warrior and a teacher before her father. He was hella proud of her development.“You took my weakness to your advantage, doll. Marvelous.” He clapped but didn’t pick up the dagger, nonetheless.“Well t
“No, NO!!!!” He plopped on the ground with an unbelievable expression on his face. His arm was extended toward the empty cliff, feeling so empty about it. His heart was torn and beating irregularly. He saw her. She was grunting, she was huffing, she was… in pain. He felt like his world was rotating and his vision narrowed. His breath clumped inside his chest, choking his throat. He dropped to the floor as his legs jerked angrily to the side. Eh? Jerking? His narrow vision fell on his empty feet. The purple blood that pinned his feet was now nowhere to be seen. As if it was his fragment of hallucination. He choked in tears, sobbing before scrambling toward the edge of the cliff. He craned his head and gazed down. His body flinched. The shallow steam was deeper than he originally thought. “Doll! Doll! Shadow! Princess!” He called his beloved daughter by various names, hoping she would answer in any given name. The sound of the calm water flow answered him instead. His eyes alread
“Excuse me?” “She is what?” “What are you talking about?” “Tell me you are lying.” “DUKE AJIAD!!!” The family didn’t take the news kindly. The king even roared and pinned his back against the wall with his deep growl vibrating inside his body. Liliana’s smile disappeared, Lily was frozen and Albert sighed lethargically. Somehow, Albert had foreseen every play. She might not deliberately invite trouble in her way, but those troubles, without a fail, came knocking on Shadow’s door and pounced at Shadow without mercy. That girl was a walking catastrophe for both her and everything around her. And the way she operated, so dangerously close to the edge, he had foreseen it. It’s bound to happen. It was meant to be. Inevitable. Everyone was devastated by the news, except him. His face was normal compared to the rest. Some might see him as heartless or just lacking emotion. But, he wasn’t that kind of man. Everyone seemed to be aware of that fact, nonetheless. He was okay because h
Shuffled faster, while looking nearly suspicious, his face crumbled, and his jaw tightened. He fled straight into the forest and went toward his small cabin, where Shadow was supposed to be.A few knights greeted him as he passed by with his stoic expression, none ever questioned his motive to be near the crime scene. With a glum nod, they let him pass by them.Some offered to escort him, which he politely declined while the others silently watched him with emotional gazes. Everyone acknowledged him as part of the lion tribe, and for that, he was always grateful to them.Despite being favored by the king, he was still hellbent to be independent, therefore, purchasing the most desolate place at the peak of the mountain, away from civilization. Which gave the king and the queen a fright.Well, his process of thought constantly gave his adoptive parents a scare. Occasionally, the parents urged him to attend therapy sessions with them – which he had to comply with because he loved them an