“Where have you been?” Daria interviewed her daughter, almost as if she was being interrogated. It was late in the afternoon when Daria looked for her daughter all over the castle, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. She even went to the garden, but because of its size, she couldn’t find her daughter anywhere. The gazebo where Ariana met Daniel remained well-hidden and out of sight from others.
“Outdoors.” Ariana answered her curtly. Ariana’s mother didn’t like the tone she used. Although she said nothing bad, the tone of her voice made it clear Ariana wasn’t going to talk to her mother.
“You will not speak to me in that tone, young lady.” Daria strongly objected to her daughter. The stance Ariana took and the expression on her face exuded defiance. A defiance that Ariana’s moth
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Daria welcomed her husband with open arms. Just as Trenton had informed them, his men had escorted Peter all the way to the capital, and they had finally arrived today. Exactly two days later than Daria and her daughter.“You almost look like there’s a chance I won’t come back.” Petr picked her up in his arms and gave her a long kiss. It had been over a week since he had seen his wife disappear beyond the gates of Salstar City, while he remained standing far outside the gates, facing Marcus. Although he knew his king would not risk open combat, he was not entirely sure whether he would avoid a skirmish. The strategy they agreed on with Trenton paid off and he managed to buy time for his beloved daughter and wife to get to safety.“Where is our little girl?” Peter
“Good evening.” Peter spoke up sharply, trying to get the attention of his daughter and King Daniel. Peter took in the features on his daughter’s suitor’s face with a glance and had to admit that Daniel didn’t look bad at all.“Good evening. I’m glad you’ve arrived as well. I hope the journey wasn’t too long. I’d also like to thank you for your help in Salstar. Without your tactics, my men might not have been able to face Marcus.” Daniel welcomed Peter to the table and offered him a seat right next to him. He had a lot in his mind he wanted to discuss with Peter. He had witnessed his brilliant tactics years ago, which he would like to talk about, and the future as well.“Dad. Welcome back.” Ariana greeted her father with a smile, who meanwhile declined the offered seat and
“How was it at Salstar?” Ariana stayed in the lounge after dinner and waited for her father. There were some unresolved issues that she would like to know more about. She knew that Daniel also wanted to talk to her father, so she didn’t plan to keep him long.“What exactly do you mean?” Her father answered her in a slightly stern tone. How Ariana had talked to him before dinner was still going through his mind, and his wife’s words were ringing in his ears. As a mother, Daria quickly coped with the change in her daughter’s behavior, but Peter couldn’t do it. He still saw his little girl, whom he wanted to protect at all costs.“What about Marcus? Did you fight him? Did he follow you to the capital? I want to know what he did.” Ariana quickly laid out her cards on the table. The information
“We’d like to see the city to find a home of our own,” Daria brought up during their dinner together. The mention of the guards during the visit to the city was about Ariana, so Daria hoped if it was just the two of them, without their daughter, Daniel would let them go in peace.“You are more than welcome in my house. Is there something that doesn’t suit you?” Daniel immediately asked. He thought the servants did not treat them with respect, which would amaze him. He also thought that they didn’t feel comfortable here, which also made him sad.“It is not like that. The castle is amazing. The rooms are big and spacious, but it’s not our home. We would like to find something for us. Besides, sitting at home and doing nothing is not for either of us. We would like to find some useful work in the ci
“Take care of yourself. I don’t know when we’ll be back. I guess your father and I will stay in town for a few days. We will sleep in a boarding house.” Her parents had planned to leave without her from the beginning. Ariana didn’t understand what was happening for a moment. Yesterday during dinner, she prepared a long speech about how she didn’t want to go to town with them. Even before going to sleep, she discussed the arguments with which she would support her position, and to her surprise, her parents only came to say goodbye.“What do you mean, you stay in town? After all, you don’t have any money to pay for the boarding house, so where do you want to sleep? Besides, you don’t even have the money to buy a house?” Ariana asked the questions that had occurred to her yesterday in the evening, but she did not want to discuss their financial
“They are gone.” Ariana almost cried just remembering today’s morning. Although her parents originally came to say goodbye to her, the farewell didn’t even happen. The entire conversation took a bad turn and Ariana didn’t even know if they broke up on good or bad terms.“I know. Trenton wants to show them the town and the houses he knew were vacant. When they are with him, you don’t have to worry about them.” Daniel tried to calm her down. It hurt his heart to see her so sad.“I’m not worried about them. I’m rather sad about how they left. It looked like we had a fight instead of saying goodbye. What if they don’t want me as their daughter anymore? What if they have had enough of my uselessness?” Ariana suddenly couldn’t think of anything but these black thoughts. Da
“Don’t you know how it turned out for my parents?” Ariana brought it up the next day at dinner with Daniel. She hadn’t seen her parents since yesterday morning and was sorry she hadn’t heard from them. Perhaps Daniel could help her with this.“Trenton showed them about three houses yesterday. Two were bigger. He guessed they might like to use the space later, you know, when there are more grandchildren...” Daniel paused, waiting for her reaction. To his surprise, Ariana blushed almost immediately. He knew that she would have her hands already full with her first child, but he hoped that his own children could follow soon.“However, in the end, they took the smaller one. There is still one extra spacious bedroom where you or their grandchildren can sleep.” Daniel finished, eyes still on his partne
Ariana put on a casual outfit before heading out for breakfast. Last night she pulled off a pathetic scene at dinner that she was honestly ashamed of this morning. Daniel must have thought she was childish and did nothing but cry. She spent most of the night honestly thinking about everything Daniel had told her yesterday. He was right about one thing. It wasn’t her parents that Ariana didn’t trust. She didn’t believe in herself.“Are you going somewhere?” Daniel asked her the first thing as soon as he saw her in the door. She hadn’t worn this kind of clothing since the day they arrived in town.“I’m going to visit my parents.” Ariana simply announced her plans for today. Daniel smiled gently at her. There was determination in her voice and there were no traces of yesterday’s insecurities.
“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