Ariana’s parents worry sick of their daughter. Since she has returned from the castle, Ariana refuses to eat. For the past few days, she has stayed in her room, locked, refusing to even meet with her best friend. Her father came to ask her to let him in several times, yet he heard nothing but silence coming from his daughter’s room. When he listened carefully, he could hear silent sobs, assuring him of his daughter’s presence. Her tears and silent sobs break his heart, but there is nothing he can do to help her. Ariana must go through this alone, but once the pain from the rejection passes, she will feel better. Peter was sure about it. “How is she?” Daria asks her husband as he joins her in the kitchen after another unsuccessful attempt to speak to his daughter. Peter shrugs, desperate to help his only child. “As long as she is alive, it will pass,” Daria assures him upon seeing his long face. Peter was always worried about his daughter. It was one of his best qualities as a father
The change in her image allowed Ariana to start anew after she learned the lesson of her life. She not only cut her hair short, changed her wardrobe, but she also worked on her personality. The way the Lycan king treated her opened her eyes to the vast world of rudeness and trickery which she hadn’t seen before. Several weeks had passed and Ariana forgot about her broken heart, immersing herself in the activities of her daily life. “How was your day?” Daria asks the moment her daughter joins her in the kitchen. Daria came from the castle earlier today. The family from her husband’s side should arrive later in the evening. Daria wants to make sure they feel welcome and warm after a long journey. Peter’s family lived far away on the northern border of their country. “Good. There wasn’t much work, so my boss let me go home earlier. Do you need my help with anything?” Ariana offers to assist her mother, although her mother handles everything perfectly. Years of experience of working in a
As Ariana and her mother worked in the kitchen, preparing the pastries, meals and sweets, the time flew faster than they would have expected. It took little time before Ariana’s father arrived home with the guests behind him. “Welcome.” Daria greeted them, seeing their long faces. Gregor was the only one keeping a neutral expression on his face, while Jeff apparently didn’t swallow the fact that he lost this house and, with it, his footing in the capital. He would gain an immense advantage in business by having a base right in the capital. The size of the house seemed to greatly disappoint Julie, her husband, and even her two daughters. Daria sees the disapproval of the home in their eyes as they are scanning the place from ceiling to floor. The thought Julia gave to the house told Daria everything she needed to know about her coming. “Those are my cousins?” Ariana asked. She can recognize the girls even after not seeing them for ten years, but she hopes to start a conversation and e
“Is everything as you wanted?” Daria faces Julia, asking her before she leaves the apartment. During the past few days, they had made arrangements together to furnish the apartment to Julia’s satisfaction. Of course, Daria let Julia pay extra for everything she wanted. Peter’s brothers keep bothering them regarding the house, but as long as the house is under Ariana’s name, neither of them can do anything about it. “It’s good enough.” Julia replies to her. She would expect a better home for her and her family, but this is all they could get in the capital. They lack the footing in a city they have never visited before. Julia is painfully aware of it. That was also the reason she came nearly a year before the ball. She has a lot of things to prepare before she can present her daughters to the king. Daria grabs the last of her belongings which were still in the adjacent apartment and leaves Julia alone in her new home. Having her around is not something Daria would wish for, but it’s n
“You are graduating soon. Did you think about what to do next?” The whole family sits around the table to eat breakfast as every Sunday, the only day they can eat together. During the weekdays, Daria works at the castle, leaving home before sunrise. Peter works all day as well. “I think you should try college. Art would be the best.” Peter spoke out loud the thoughts of his wife. She wanted to suggest exactly the same. They were both on the same page whenever they were talking about the future of their daughter or their family. Just as they were talking, Ariana suddenly stands up and runs to the bathroom. Before she left, Daria and her husband saw their daughter gauging. “I am sorry. I feel a little under the weather,” Ariana apologizes upon her return. Her father looks at her, worries all over his face. Sickness wasn’t something werewolves enjoyed, especially since it wasn’t usual for them. Daria looked skeptical, lost in her thoughts for a moment, as she considered various possibil
“Long time no see Daria. Someone is sick?” Therin greeted her with a bright smile on his lips. Several decades ago, these two were classmates at high school. At that time, Therin loved Daria and wished to marry her, but luck wasn’t on his side. He celebrated his eighteenth birthday a few weeks earlier than Daria, which let him understand they didn’t share a bond. It’s not like he couldn’t marry her just because they weren’t mates, but almost no one would marry right away without at least waiting a few years for their destined one. “Good morning, Therin. Can you please check up on my daughter? Her stomach is acting up.” Therin scans Ariana from head to toe. The shade of green on her face couldn’t be missed. Within a second, Therin's eyes return to Daria. Her face is like an open book. Therin recognizes what worried her immediately. “When was your period last time?” He asks directly, without hesitation. Although this wasn’t directly his specialization, most of the werewolf doctors coul
For the entire time on their way back home, Daria remains silent. Her mind works at full speed to figure out the way out of this situation. The Lycan king can’t ever know about Ariana’s pregnancy. In the best scenario, they would force her to stay in the castle. In the worst case, she will lose her child. That’s not something Daria would wish for her daughter to go through. “Mom. Can we please talk?” They were close to home when Ariana finally mustered the courage to speak to her mother. Daria unintentionally ignores her, lost in her own thoughts, reliving her fears. Ariana’s school suddenly became an issue. Of course, teachers and students would notice the growing bump, but Ariana can’t just stop attending school in the middle of her last year. That would be entirely nonsensical. Daria can’t see the light at the end of this misery. It wasn’t Ariana’s fault, but she got them into a difficult situation. Ariana enters the home right after her mother, ready to go upstairs, to her room,
The reason behind the Lycan king’s womanizing behavior might be the lack of Lycan blood in most of the prominent bloodlines in the capital. Lycan can produce an offspring only with another Lycan or with someone carrying Lycan’s gene. It’s fruitless to mate with a person who can’t conceive an offspring. Daria always thought the Lycan king never chose his queen for this simple reason. “I am not Lycan, but I carry a gene. That itself is enough for me to transfer this gene onto my children. The same as I, you carry the same bloodline.” Daria spoke directly to her daughter. She is the most affected one currently and the one who needs to understand the situation to decide how they should proceed. Daria takes her time to fully explain what kind of role the Lycan blood plays in Ariana’s pregnancy. “Werewolves' pregnancies take six months for the fetus to fully develop. Lycans need double time. In your case, if you find a werewolf as your mate, you will simply produce a werewolf's offspring a
“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