-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
-Aria- I walked into my room and Prisca was there waiting for me. She could not follow me to the council meeting because she was a commoner. “What happened?” she asked with concern on her face. I walked to the bed and sat down heavily. “Why are you looking this way? What happened at the meeting?” I had not told her about my suspicions about Dante and that I was going to report him to the council. She knew that I had gone to the council, but did not know the reason why. Since I had been allowed to sit with them, she must have thought it was just a normal meeting. I looked at her face which was a mixture of worry and concern and wondered if I should tell her what had happened or not. I decided to tell her, there was no point keeping it from her anyway, rumors flew more than witches here and she would eventually find out and be mad at me for not telling her. So I narrated all that happened and by the time I was done there was a look of horror on her face which I was very sure wa
- Dante -I looked around at the faces of everyone present and all I could see was pity. Yet no one could stop Adonai, not even Damon.I did not hold it against my brother as I understood his feelings. He has been pushed to the wall and forced to retaliate.I take this as a punishment for all I have done to him and every other person. My only pain is that Sierra would have to die along with me for my crimes."You don't have to do this," She said, looking me straight in the eyes. "You don't have to die with me. I will face it alone.""You don't understand Sierra," I shook my head at her. "You did nothing wrong but loved. I have committed so many atrocities, and I believe I am paying for them. I thought it had all passed, but I was wrong. Just like I feared, I couldn't run away forever. So I should be the one, apologising for putting you in this.""Before we die, I want you to know that I love you," she smiled sadly. "I have never experienced this kind of love before. I grew up with a m
- Aria -"Are you sure about what you just said?" I asked her and she nodded."I did not see her face, but I am very sure she was the one dressed like that," before the maid could finish the statement, Adonai had bolted out of the room.Good thing Damon and his men had not set out. Adonai went straight to the guest building and almost broke the doors open."What's happened?" Damon asked."Where is your sister?" Adonai asked him icily."Is anything the matter?" Damon inquired."I have no time and patience, just answer the damn question. Where the hell is your sister?" Adonai shouted and by now, the entire royal house was awakened.Sierra appeared behind her brother and Adonai dragged her fully out."Where is my child?" He asked her and she looked puzzled."I don't know what you are talking about," she said with what seemed to be a feigned ignorance."Are you insane?" Adonai growled violently. "You came to my wife's room when she was not there, attacked the maid and took my baby away an
- Damon -Damn it! Damn it!!I hit my fist on the wall severally until blood gushed out of it."Brother!" Sierra called in alarm and tried to move towards me but I held out my hands to stop her."This is fucked. Fucked!" I half yelled. "I was humiliated and almost killed and those bloody warriors did not fucking show up.""Something must have happened, brother," Sierra said in a bit to calm me down but that angered me the more."What could happen on a day like this? "And you," I walked to her menacingly and she moved back. "I asked you to drug Adonai, didn't I?"I grabbed her by the neck with the last sentence and she choked."I did," she coughed, trying to get out of my grip. "That was the reason he was weak from the beginning of the fight.""Then what happened at the end, huh? Where'd he got that sudden burst of energy from?" I shook her violently."I don't know," she said. "But I did according to what you said. Madin was with me you can ask him."I loosened my grip on her and turne
- Aria -The entire pack was gathered outside for the fight, and my heart beat along with the drums that played. Damon walked to me just before the fight began."So you choose to do this the hard way," He said into my ears."You will not have the better of me," I replied. "I believe in my husband."He smirked and walked away."Did you keep the warriors at hand?" I turned to Zafa and Loveth who stood behind me."All set and ready," they affirmed. I had asked them to prepare the army in case something went wrong. I cannot risk it. They had advised me against it as that would be cheating, but if Damon wanted Adonai dead, then I would bypass every traditional rule to save him.I did not sleep all through the night and I was sure Adonai didn't either. In the early hours of the morning, he had crept up behind me and spoken into my ears."I hate to admit that I fear as much as you do. But I wouldn't hide my face from this. Even if I die, I would die trying to preserve our love. I need you to
- Adonai - Damon took his time before answering that, and I knew his every move was intentional and to get me upset as well. "It means that she would have been my wife," he finally said and I charged at him. His men were immediately alert and stood before him to counter my attack. My men also stood ready, but Dante and Zafa held me back. "You watch your mouth you demon," I warned angrily. "Don't you dare sit to my face and tell me shit! You don't speak about my wife in that manner while I am here." Damon did not even move a limb, and his eyes remained on me steadily. "I'm not going to forcefully take your wife," he said, raising his hands in mid-air and throwing them back. But she is going to have to choose between me or you. And the prophecy speaks of us ruling together. I don't see how that is going to be possible if she doesn't get married to me." I was fuming with anger but had to remain calm. I sat back on my chair. I was pissed more at Aria, who just sat there and li
Aria -I sucked in a deep breath after Damon was done talking."I cannot leave my husband for you," I told him."And you cannot bear to have him dead. Look, either way, I would still have you. That is the only reason I am killing Adonai, to be with you. You will be a widow after his death and you cannot be alone. You see, I'm a very open person. I would have harboured this in mind and done it, but I am telling you now so you can have a choice of saving him or not."He waited for an answer, which I did not have."I think your husband is coming," he said, his voice low. "You have the whole of this night to decide that. Goodnight pretty."He walked away and Adonai appeared behind my back. He held my waist."What was he telling you?" He spoke into my ears gently."He wants to convince me to willingly give in to him so he doesn't have to fight and kill you. He intends to kill you if we insist you fight with him.""And what did you tell him?""I did not give him a reply...yet," I told him.
Zafa -I lurked around the guest's building, hiding in the dark corners and looking for someone I would like to have a conversation with.Luckily, not long after, I saw him and approached him just before he made a turn into the open."We meet again," I said and his eyes widened."Zafa," he called my name."Madin," I called back with an unsmiling face. "Beats me what you are doing here.""The same goes for you," he threw back and I scoffed."You cannot say that because you are the traitor," I told him. "So this is where you have been all this while. You ran away to be with them.""No I did not run away," he corrected with some traits of pride in his voice. "They came for me.""So you knew about them all these while and did not say anything to anyone," I was boiling with anger."Now why would I tell you when you kept associating yourself with the other packs and not sticking to your assignment? You know more than everyone else what the other werewolves did to us. Their bitter hearts di
- Adonai -"And then what would happen to me?" I asked as I walked in on the conversation and they all turned to look at me. I knew there was more to this visit than what they had spoken out there in the courtroom and this just confirmed it. "So you knew more than you were saying in the courtroom?""Alpha please don't get this wrong," Zafa said pleadingly. "We never planned for all of this to happen. "Just like I told the Luna, this came as a surprise to me.""Adonai, we'll handle it," Aria said."So what do you expect me to do? We are still in the dark about everything that's to happen. I need you all to come out clean about these people and what they are doing here," I said impatiently."Please be calm," Aria placed her hand on my shoulders. There was always a way her touches had effects on me. "We'll find out everything but we need to take things slow to be able to do that.""Now you tell me what we are to do," I demanded, but my voice was softer than it was before."They are our v
- Aria -I had just put the baby to sleep with the help of Diane when Loveth walked in with a long face. I sighed wearily because I thought this was a usual bicker with Diane. Ever since I had my baby, the two had been acting like cat and rat."Something's wrong," she said before I asked."What may it be this time around?" I asked."You have visitors," she told me and I stopped what I was doing."What visitors," I wondered aloud."Visitors from Moonfill," she said and I raised my brow questioningly."Never heard that name before," I said with a frown, but Loveth did not look like she was going to give me more information, so I assumed that was all she knew about them."So where are they now?" I wanted to know."Adonai was attending to them, I came here to tell you," she said. "But they are here specifically for you.""Oh," I mouthed and turned to Diane. "Please watch over the baby. I will be right back.""Sure Luna," she said hurriedly. She was listening to the conversation between me