“You should really be careful about what you eat. I never thought a wolf could become fat.” Darla Fealome, Ariana’s cousin, mentions when they meet in the school cafeteria. Ariana herself noticed the clothes slowly becoming tighter with each passing day of her pregnancy. Mother told her she should have at least two to three months before her pregnancy would be visible. Yet her belly had its own agenda and slowly grew over the past days. “Maybe you should shut up and take care of yourself. Just be careful you won’t get rash from all the dirtiness you are spitting around yourself.” Tarja, Ariana’s best friend, rushes to her friend’s rescue. From the day these two cousins attended school, Tarja did nothing else but threw back every insult they spit on Ariana. It made no sense to her. These two are supposed to be Ariana’s family, yet they do nothing else but insult her. The younger one remains silent most of the time. Tarja doesn’t even remember her name but Darla, the older twin, always
“This came today.” Daria stands in the kitchen, pointing at the paper on the table. Ariana stared at the paper, fearing the words written on a small piece of expensive parchment. This could only be from a castle. “What is it?” Ariana asked her mother. She picks up the paper, unfolds it and reads. Her inner fear becomes a reality in a matter of seconds. “How the heck did he find out? I thought the doctor would remain silent.” She smashes the paper back on the table. Anger radiates from every pore of her body. He shouldn’t have been able to find out about her pregnancy. Ariana was extremely careful about everything. Not even a single word left her lips. Her best friend didn’t know about Ariana’s condition either, yet the person who cared little about her feelings suddenly seemed to be interested in her well-being. “The question should be, what are we going to do?” Ariana’s mother corrected her. She doesn’t care about how he finds out. Daria knew the doctor didn’t say a word about Aria
“Are you both ready?” Peter asks, but before they can answer him, he sees three bags on the ground, just beside the two most important women in his life. Daria picks up her luggage, urging Ariana to do the same. Peter grabs his, which he knows his wife prepared with their best interest in her mind. She had a talent for predicting almost everything. This allowed her to pack the bags according to what they might need. Ariana carries the clothes which they will need during their traveling. Although it’s winter, they shouldn’t feel cold, but that doesn’t mean they can travel in one set of clothes the entire time. Daria’s bag contains what they could use as a kitchen in the wild. Some spices, hard to find ingredients and utensils. Their country isn’t huge, but it will take up to three weeks to reach the neighboring country. Especially since they can’t use the main road and can’t allow anyone to see them. Once Marcus finds Ariana is gone with his child, he will send warriors to find them.
“What do you mean GONE?” Marcus shouts at Tarek, who brought him news about Ariana’s disappearance. They delivered the letter they prepared yesterday. According to it, Ariana should have arrived at the castle almost two hours ago, but she never showed up. Without hesitation, Tarek sent guards to her home to pick her up and accompany her on the way to the castle. His men came back empty-handed. Right after, the chef reported an absence in the kitchen. Ariana’s mother didn’t show up for work, either. In the last twenty years, Daria has never been absent from work except for the time she delivered the baby. She took several weeks off from work at that time. With no one telling him, Tarek sent one of his men into the barracks. Like his entire family, Peter Thomas wasn’t at work either. Her whole family was gone. “Daria Thomas, Ariana’s mother, is absent from the kitchen. Peter Thomas, Ariana’s father, is missing from his post too. The entire family is gone, Your Highness. If I may be so
“Are they following us?” Daria asked her husband, who had just caught up with them. Peter leaves them every morning to create several blind leads to cover their tracks while getting back on route. Peter agreed with his wife to travel this way to avoid being caught by their pursuers. Although until now they didn’t see anyone, they are cautious. “No one is after us. Maybe it’s exactly as you said. He will try to predict where we are going and wait for us there.” Peter informed his wife. “Maybe we should find another path to cross the borders. In particular, Edeirland doesn’t have that many places suitable for crossing. The mountains between those two countries are deadly.” Peter’s words bring nothing new. Daria already knew about the decision her husband had made. Whether the peaks are deadly or not, they have no other choice but to cross the border this way. “Mount Reichard has a secret passage. Only a few people know about it. Maybe we could cross there.” Daria quickly replies to he
“Are we on the correct trail?” Marcus asked the tallest guy in the group. He isn’t just the tallest, but also the slimmest. His entire features look strange, unnatural, but Marcus can’t complain about him. His skills are the best he can find in the entire country. For the past several days, Marcus’s senses betrayed him. His Lycan abilities are stronger and sharper than those of werewolves, yet he can’t track Ariana. Her scent disappeared several days ago and since then he hasn’t caught a hint of her vanilla scent. “Yes, we are.” The tracker says nothing else. He doesn’t even call Marcus by his title. Marcus decided a long time ago that if this guy wouldn’t be able to get close to Ariana, he would simply execute him just for his rude behavior and lack of respect towards his king. His abilities are the only thing keeping him alive, but for the past few days, Marcus isn’t so sure they are still following the right path. They turned briefly to the south-west. There isn’t any crossing
“I can see the town.” Peter stood on top of the hill they were about to cross, waiting for his wife and daughter to climb to him. They have been on the way for nearly two weeks now. Tiredness and worries are visible on their faces. Daria reaches the top of the hill briefly before Ariana, offering her help with the last steps. The last days were emotionally exhausting for her. Peter worried their pursuers were getting closer, so they were waking up before sunrise and rushing through the wilderness until the sunset. Not even once had they started the fire. They eat only what they can find on the way from the random sellers marching from one homestead to another or the leftovers they had dried in the bag. Dreams also haunted her every night. She saw Marcus holding her not yet born child while staring at her with a cold dead gaze. She wanted to scream at him to give her the child, but no voice came out of her throat. When she stretched her hand towards him, the bars blocked her from comi
“We should wait for night.” Peter stopped his family several miles away from the town. Daria looks at him with confusion all over her face, but once she sees the town’s wall behind him, she understands instantly what he means. “Entering town at night is impossible. They close the gates.” Daria tells him, but Peter shakes his head. The capital itself is closing its gates for security. Too many people are entering and leaving the capital every day, not to mention the city is the center of the entire country. The most prosperous city in the entire nation. But this town is different. Nobody rarely targets small towns like this one. The country itself doesn’t have a problem with robbers and the strategic position of the town offers this place absolute security. Their gates will remain open even after sunset. But the main reason for Peter stopping his family lies elsewhere. The sudden scent of blockers hit his nose as they were passing near the edge of the forest. Whoever went through this
“Repeat that to me?” Daniel rose from his chair with such agility that the chair fell to the ground, leaving an echo throughout the room. “Marcus has crossed our borders with about ten thousand of his men. He’s heading straight for the capital. Apparently, they’ve passed all the other cities by now as if they didn’t care about anything else,” Trenton reported to his king once more. It made no sense. According to Atalante, Marcus should not be able to return for several months, or at least several weeks. Still, less than two weeks had passed, and he was back in Edeirland, and what’s more, he had his army with him. Daniel knew this won’t end well. Marcus had quite half of the army with him. Although that number was only about half of their army, it was still enough. Daniel was not ready for open war. He did not expect Marcus to go to open war. Either he had to go against his advisers, or the ministers believed in their victory enough to want to heal themselves in Edeirland. “How many
“Where is the king?” Carlos Sellim, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, asked when he came to Marcus’ office and found only his chief advisor sitting behind a desk and signing papers. “I don’t know.” Alli Wael, the king’s chief adviser, lied. He knew exactly where the king was, but there was no point in telling anyone. Marcus left about a week ago. After his rift with his father, he came straight into his study, turned it upside down, broke half the furniture, and left again. He wreaked havoc all over the castle before heading out of town. He only told Alli if he needed anything, he should kindly turn to his father, to whom he had just given back his cursed kingdom. “How do you not know? After all, you are his chief adviser.” Carlos was getting angry. About a week ago, Marcus was supposed to go through the documents regarding the opening of a new trade route that Allus Sierra needed. Their economy was dying, and without a new trade route to bring income to the country, bankruptcy was i
“Aren’t you hungry? Or thirsty? How are you? Do you feel any pain?” Daniel asked as soon as Ariana opened her eyes. She didn’t remember when she went to sleep. They spent the whole day and night in bed. She couldn’t even remember how many times he took her yesterday. They only had one slight break during the whole day when Daniel ordered the maid to bring some food and drinks in the evening. Ariana gobbled it up as she was famished after the day’s exertions. “I’m fine.” Ariana answered but when she wanted to move, she felt her whole body betraying her. She felt sore all over her body. Her muscles refused to move. Ariana needed to function. Yesterday she did not see her daughter all day. Daniel wouldn’t let her leave the room. He kept her for himself. Ariana missed her daughter and Daniel knew a child could not stay away from its mother for so long. Especially if Ariana was still breastfeeding. “Are you sure? I’m sorry about yesterday. I know I probably overdid it a bit.” Daniel fe
Daniel carried Ariana straight to their shared bedroom. He had no responsibilities to attend to today. His adviser or his ministers could do everything that needed to be done. Ariana was blushing all over. She was sure of what would follow. The time had finally come when they could truly just be together. No guests, no relatives, no one to constantly disturb them. “Are you feeling hot?” Daniel asked, seeing how red she was. “I feel great,” Ariana answered him, though her voice was shaking. She wanted to remember this moment until she died. Their first intimate moment together. “Can you wait just a little while?” Ariana asked him with uncertainty in her voice. She wasn’t quite sure about what she wanted to do, but since she and Maria had already bought it, she wanted to take advantage of it. “Of course.” Daniel answered her before placing her back on her feet in the bedroom. Ariana immediately ran to the closet from where she took a small cloth bag and ran to the bathroom with it.
“Are you leaving already?” Atalante stayed in Edeirland for two more days before finally coming to say goodbye. She had been away from her country longer than necessary and it was time to return to her duties. Ariana could no longer find out exactly how old Atalante was. Atalante kept the exact number a secret and always nonchalantly avoided the question of her age. “Yes, it’s time to go home.” Atalante replied. They all sat at breakfast as Atalante announced her departure for the day. She wanted to leave immediately after breakfast to get as far as possible during the day. The borders of her country were about a week’s journey on horseback. Even if she transformed and ran in her animal form, she wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace all day. The journey would take her perhaps even longer. She could at least switch to a rested horse that was prepared in the taverns along the way. “Of course I understand that. We are very honored to have you stay with us and I think I speak to both o
“Can I?” Atalante leaned closer to Ariana, stretching her arms as she wanted to carry little Aaliyah. Ariana looked at her cooing baby before she lifted her eyes and gently handed her daughter to the Lycan Queen. In the morning, she sent Daniel to take care of the guests but currently she would be grateful to have him here. She felt vulnerable against Atalante for some unknown reason. “She’s beautiful and I can tell she’s going to be strong. I’m glad she inherited more from you than the Allus Sierra bloodline.” Atalante looked meaningfully at Ariana. She compared the baby girl to her mother, but mainly she tried to recall the features of her long-lost friend and her teacher and searched for those features in these two. “Why are you so set on Marcus and his family?” Ariana asked boldly. Atalante didn’t want to talk about them too much before, but Ariana wanted to know the truth. “Because of their guilt they bear and for which they were banished from my kingdom.” Atalante cradled
Marcus arrived back at his castle. Although he rarely visited the North Wing since taking the throne, he headed straight there today. He looked for his father in the library, but to his surprise; he did not find him there. Marcus’s father sat in the garden attached to their very north wing. It was a private part of the castle belonging to Marcus’ parents only. The servants serving his parents did not go to his part of the castle, and likewise, Marcus’s servants did not interfere with the goings-on in the northern part. It’s almost like two separate houses. “What are you doing here?” Marcus’ father pointed at him. Ever since Marcus forcibly took over the throne from his father, his father had not spoken to him. They did not interfere in his government, although they knew about the situation in the country. Marcus’ father had his loyal servants in the castle and in the capital. “I came for answers. My mate and my child are in the hands of Daniel Colton of Edeirland. I wanted to take h
“Is everything okay?” Daniel asked the next morning when Ariana got out of bed. She couldn’t sleep yesterday. The celebrations lasted well into the night and Ariana didn’t feel like going back to the hall. She had a lot to think about. Most of all, she wanted to be with her daughter, whom she had not seen for more than half a day. Daniel didn’t join her until around 2am yesterday when he found her sitting in a chair with a sleeping baby in her arms. Ariana looked out the window at the full moon and pondered everything Atalante had told her. There was really a lot. “Not really. I don’t even know. Everything seems so surreal. A few months ago, I was slowly being chased. Marcus chased me around like a game, and now I’m the most wanted person in the world.” Ariana complained quietly to herself. Daniel got off the bed and walked a few steps toward Ariana. He wrapped her against his chest and gently stroked her hair. “Well, it’s a good thing I took you for myself. I don’t know what I’d d
“I deeply apologize for the disturbance caused by our uninvited guest. Please keep celebrating. He won’t bother us again.” Daniel apologized to the guests present in the hall. Some were looking at him with concern written on their faces, while others seemed to be rather apologetic themselves. Each guest reacted differently to the situation but almost all of them had the same question in their eyes. ‘Is he not going to come back?’ Daniel saw the question in the gaze they gave him. He couldn’t properly answer the question since he didn’t know what exactly Atalante did. For the first time in his life, he saw Lycan obey an order. They do not obey even their own parents, not to mention a stranger. Atalante was a stranger to Marcus. Daniel was curious about what Atalante wanted to talk about with Ariana, but one of them had to remain present in the hall. Daniel had an excuse for Ariana. He could easily tell the people that the attack on Atalante shook her by her former king. Not everyon