-Aria-I opened my eyes slowly. They felt heavy and I closed them back again. The fresh scent of hot tea hit my nose and I opened my eyes again. I looked around, trying to think of where I was. The surroundings looked familiar but this was not my room. How did I even get in here in the first place? Why am I not in my room? I tried to recollect the events of the previous events and I winced from the sharp pain I felt in my head.I heard a door creak and, the owner of the room I was in, walked in. I sat up on the bed as he approached me.“I bet you slept well but did not wake up well,” he said with a grin while I tried to remember how I had ended up in his room and on his bed. But my brain was busy accessing the handsome face of the man who stood before me instead of doing the normal task of thinking.I would have hit my head in a bit to get my brain to think well, but it was banging heavily and I had to rest it back on the pillow.“What am I doing here?” I muttered more to myself but h
-Aria-“Who is Aria?” I repeated, too shocked and short of words to think of any other thing to say.“I don’t know, you should tell me,” he said with a shrug and I felt my body go numb. How and where did Adonai know that I was Aria? Oh my goodness…Does it mean my secret had been blown out?I am so done for. I quickly looked up to see him watching me intently. I needed to see the accusation on his face, just to be sure, but I was not sure what that expression was on his face.Okay, Aria, calm down, I told myself. It is not that easy for him to know that I am not Jasmine so I need to stay calm and know how he had known my name and why he had asked.I ceased my brow in a puzzled expression to look like I had no idea what he was talking about.“I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head. “Why are you asking me who Aria is?”“Well you told me yesterday that your name was Aria,” he said and I almost popped my eyes out.“I told you that?”“Yes, you did, and told me something about having a
-Prisca-The morning was almost over and Jasmine was still nowhere to be found. Adonai had taken her to his room yesterday instead of bringing her here but I was in no position to question that. After all, she was his mistress.But I was her best friend and he deprived me of her. I had to sleep all by myself in her room. I was sure she felt much better this morning so why had she decided to remain in his room? I crossed my legs comfortably on the large bed and had a large bite of the bread I was eating. I had the room all to myself so I could do whatever I wanted.The dinner last night might have ended uneventfully but I had observed certain things I had to myself to ponder on.Dante and Jasmine had acted as if they were total strangers. I had not thought of how serious Jasmine was when she said she was ending the relationship, well not until at the dinner. However, Dante had addressed his glares to me and they had not come unnoticed by Ariel. Jasmine might not have noticed, but I wou
-Crystal-I sat on my bed, playing with my fingers but was too restless to remain seated. I stood up and began pacing around.Damn it! I hit my fist on my palm lightly. How did Asher get to find out about the fake pregnancy? But I knew how. Asher was a stubborn man who did not mind finding his ways even to the extent of going to the seer.I thought he had gone to find out the course of the misfortune befallen the pack, I had no idea it was going to get me exposed. If only I had known, I would have found the seer beforehand and paid him a huge amount to keep his mouth shut.I hissed and sat down back on the bed. It was too late to cry now that he had found out about it. I looked towards the door.I had sent for one of my closest friends, Monalisa and I did not know what was taking her so long to get here. I needed to talk to her. She knew how to make me better at situations like this and she was the person I needed to hear from.Just then while I thought of her, the door opened and she
-Dante-I had not noticed Jasmine walking towards me until I saw a shadow standing beside me and turned round. She was looking at me with a smile on her face, a very pretentious one.“Hi brother-in-law,” she greeted pleasantly and I scoffed.“You must be mistaken,” I shook my head at her. “I am no brother-in-law of yours.”“Oh, but you are,” she maintained, the smile not leaving her face.“I am forced to believe that it is because you are having a good time with my brother now that you are so pathetic to think yourself in such a position. Well, I am not sorry to break it to you that you will be so disappointed.”“On the contrary my darling, I do not think because I am having a good time with your brother that I call you my brother-in-law. That is a possibility I can tell you both of us do not know about, but while we are at it, you are my sister’s fiancé and for that reason, is my brother-in-law. Either way, you are related to me in one way or the other.”I chortled lowly.“What do yo
-Dante-I dragged her arms and pulled her close.“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked fiercely.“Let go of me Dante,” she said with a hard look on her face too. “I said let go, you would have to explain to anyone watching us right now, why you are holding me like this, and believe me I would not hesitate to say what I know.”I let go of her, but not because of the threat. I would never allow a woman like her to think she could scare me with her threats.“You do not know anything Jasmine,” I said. “So you had better get that off your little brain.”“Oh really?” she replied sarcastically. “If you are so sure, why are you looking scared?”I took a deep breath to steady myself.“Listen,” I pointed a finger to her face. “It is bad already that you have decided to put everything we had together in the trash. I am trying to move on and live my life, I do not want you all over me.”“Oh please,” she was not shaken. “Do not try to change the topic. I have always known you to have a d
-Aria-I glanced at Dante and saw that he was looking at me and I wanted to believe that I had mistaken the look on his face to be a grin filled with mockery.He shouldn’t be looking that way in this situation right? But there was something about his confidence that worried me. He had responded to the elders as if he did not have any idea what they were talking about and he had not done anything wrong.“I cannot believe this council had called me to query me about how I walked out of a building that belonged to me,” he shook his head. “Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds? You all are gathered here. You want to question me on why I had left the empire because someone said she saw me leave suspiciously. Shouldn’t you have asked the young lady further questions before calling for this meeting because I don’t want to believe this is all you are based on?”There was silence for a while and it seemed the elders were pondering on the point Dante just made. I did not want to think it, b
-Aria-At that point, I knew had gotten myself into some serious mess but I was more worried and concerned about what Adonai would think of me now. The disappointment on his face was enough punishment to break me.“We all make mistakes and assumptions,” his first statement was surprisingly calm and I could I was not the only one it had taken aback. The entire room was looking in his direction with surprise. “And that is why we all must always be certain of whatever information we bring to the council.”He paused, and the silence was such that a pin could be heard if dropped. Maybe they heard my chest thumping because I could hear it playing loudly like a drum. Adonai adjusted on the chair and continued.“I would sadly agree that I was hasty with the decision of allowing her in the council which you all can testify that she did a great job before I had that consideration, but Jasmine,” he turned to address me and my heart stopped beating for a second or two. “I do not appreciate that y
- Zafa -I could not take it anymore, waiting for Loveth to finish whatever game it was she was playing, hide and seek or whatever. Ever since the day I had her, she kept running away. I did not know for how long she was going to keep doing that, so I approached her, bruising my ego in the process, but I did not mind.I waited for her in the lobby, and not long after, she came passing. Immediately she saw me, she turned around and went the other way."Loveth," I called, running after her. "Loveth please wait."I caught up with her and held her hand but she brushed me away."For how long are you going to keep running away from me?" I asked."For as long as I must remain alive," She said coldly."Why are you sounding this way? Even after what we had?""After what?" She feigned ignorance. "We never had anything. There's never been anything between us and even if there has been and you cared, you wouldn't have acted like a bitch to me.""But that was before now, Loveth. I thought that by
- Aria -Someone walked into my room and I thought it was Loveth."You should knock on doors before walking into a room so you wouldn't see what the mouth will not be able to speak," I said playfully without looking up from the clothes I was knitting."I'm so sorry about that, Luna," Diane answered, and I shot my head up to look at her."What are you doing here?" I scowled at her and she moved back as if she was scared though I could see from her eyes that she was not shaken a bit by me"I am sorry, I just wanted to see you," she said with the innocence that she was devious of."And what for? How can you not knock before coming in?"Didn't your mother teach you any manners? I was at the brim of asking that but thankfully held it back."I'm so sorry, Luna; I did not mean to upset you."The incessant apologies were getting on my nerves already. Worse because I knew she did not mean any one of it.I took in a deep breath to steady myself."What do you want?" I spoke the words slowly as i
- Adonai -Aria stopped dead at the door and I quickly pushed Diane off me. She looked surprised for a while that I did then followed my eyes and turned round to the door.She had no expression on her face when she saw Aria. Aria walked away quietly and I ran after her."Aria wait..."But she was too fast and I did not want to create a scene outside where the maids and guards were parading."Shit, shit, shit," I muttered under my breath as I returned to the room. "Why did you do that?"I turned to Diane and she looked confused."Do what?" She asked."Hug me!" I half yelled. "Why did you do it?""Why? I thought you said we were family?" She looked at me and her eyes were getting teary."Yes I did, but..." I did not know what to say anymore. How the hell do I convince Aria that what she saw was not what it looked like?"It's just a hug, right?" Diane said but I was not listening to her. I was thinking of Aria.- Aria -I closed the door behind me and breathed out heavily. It can't be wh
Dante -How can I escape this? The guilt came washing down on me all over again and now Adonai wants that lady to remain in the palace. It was her knowing eyes and strong resolve about her mother's death that gnawed me the most. She seems to know more than we think she does.I couldn't even sleep well, filled with the fear that she might creep in on me. Those ceaseless dreams I had sponsored my worry. There has to be a connection but only I knew and felt it.I strolled out of the palace to clear my head but even while I walked, the same thoughts clouded my mind. I did not know how long I had walked till I began to see trees and realised I was approaching the border.I stopped and sat on a big stone to rest. Not long after, an arrow flew past me, missing my skin with just an inch. I jumped up, and a werewolf pinned me down, scratching my face. I winced and struggled to get it off me but it was quite strong.It stopped fighting and transformed into a beautiful young lady. We remained s
- Adonai -"I don't think this is a good idea, Adonai," Aria said. "I understand you want to console Diane as much as you can but having her in the palace is not a good idea.""And why is that?" I wanted to know."I just don't feel comfortable with it," she crossed her arms over her chest"You were the one who accepted her as a cook here in the first place. You did not see that as a problem until now that we know she is the daughter of a woman who was like family to me. Come on Aria.""You don't understand. It's not about her being Maria's daughter. It's her sneaky behaviour I am concerned about," she stated."She must have acted that way because of the intentions she came with, to find out about her mother's death," I explained, and when I did, I realised that it was no solid reason."She believed we killed her mother!" Aria stressed. " I wonder what gave her the belief but her resolve seems strong. All the words in that meeting did not make any sense to her. I am worried that she st
- Dante -I took two steps backwards instinctively when Diane revealed who she was."I need an explanation as to how my mother died," she said amidst tears, and I looked at Adonai."I have no explanation for that, Diane. I am so sorry for the death of your mother but you must know that we all felt the same," he consoled."You leave me with no choice than to think you killed her then," she said."Why would I kill your mother? She was like a mother to me too. Hell, she took care of me from childhood. She has served this household since my parents were alive. You think I would want to eliminate her?""Everyone knows you, alpha Adonai. You don't have feelings and you don't care about my mother. Stop acting like you do. Because if you did, you would have tried finding those that killed her. But ever since I stepped into the palace, I never heard of you trying to. The only thing you've got are stories. I demand to know how my mother died and why she had to die."My heart ached within me. I
- Zafa -It was such a dramatic evening. I couldn't help admiring Adonai for how well he solved everything. Ken walked away shamefully with the family he almost lost from the fire he created. Those innocent kids would have died because of his foolishness. I hope this teaches him the lesson he has refused to learn all these years.Everyone began to disperse, and I lost track of Loveth in the crowd. My eyes had been on her until she suddenly disappeared. I had wanted to have a word with her after everything had quieted down, but she was just out of my sight the moment I blinked my eyes.Was she avoiding me? Not after the hot night we had, right? Perhaps, she was just shy, or was it the moral guilt? I could not tell which it was. You can never tell with women.I might have to wait till she was done with the running and hiding games. One thing was certain, she wouldn't run forever.- Dianne -I dismissed the rest of the maids after dinner and finished the rest of the clean-up, humming a s
- Zafa -I woke up with a hangover and rolled off the bed. I walked straight to the bathroom to have a bath and felt much better afterward.I returned to find only a heap on the bed. Loveth was nowhere to be found. Now I couldn't remember if she was here when I had gotten off the bed or if she had left earlier.The memories from the previous night came rushing in and I felt a wave of excitement run through my veins. She had come to me.I knew she wouldn't be able to stay away for so long. That's my girl. Which makes things easier for me. I had thought it would take more to get her back but apparently, she was not as hard as she imagined herself to be. Leaving the army to stress me when all she wanted was a good fuck.I would have to let her know though, that doing what we did doesn't mean I had feelings for her. Sex wasn't love. After all, she was the one who came to me. Secondly, I was drunk so it wasn't me taking advantage of her.I knew how women can get when it comes to having sex
- Zafa -What the hell is wrong with me? Why have I allowed my emotions to get to me and make me treat Loveth the way I did?I did not mean to hurt her, even though I was upset with the way she was always with Dante. Now she has withdrawn from the army, and not only do I need her there, but that would mean she would be away from me.I can't have Loveth out. She is one of the best warriors I have."You can't resign...please," I instinctively added the last part. This is not the time to let my ego control my decisions, so I dropped it off and pleaded. But not even that could persuade her. She was rigid, so I decided to meet Aria instead. Perhaps she would listen to me.Aria had a blank look on her face when I spoke to her."Well, what do you want me to do?" She finally said when I was done."You could help me talk to her," I told her."I'm sorry but I can't. Loveth has made her choice and I respect her decision," she said."Luna please," I pleaded. "You know Loveth is one of the best w