-Adonai-I was in the courtroom with one of the commandants of my army troop, discussing the recent matters on ground concerning our alliances and the security of the pack in general when one of the guards walked in and bowed.“Greetings, alpha,” he said and I did not reply. I hate to be disturbed when I am busy with something like this. However, I waited to hear what he wanted to say.“Speak,” I ordered when he did not say anything further, looking skeptical.“Ms. Ellen, Princess Jasmine’s mother, seeks your presence,” he told me and I glared at him. Was that the reason he had disrupted my meeting? Surprisingly, I was not as angry as I would have been.“What did she say she want?” I asked, looking away from him to the large map on the table which the commandant was giving explanations.“I do not know,” he replied.“Did you not tell her I was busy?” I asked him and he nodded.“Yes, I did. But she insisted she wanted to see you,” he said and I grunted.“I will not see her now. I am bus
-Adonai-The curse.It was a glaring myth I always preferred to tug in so I did not have to worry about it. It lingered in the air and I was conscious of it. But I would rather think of other things than dwell on it and give it a form in my thoughts.It was the same thing Jasmine’s mother brought up, thinking she would get me caged with it. Yes, it worried me. It was a reality I could not do any with, but I refused to have it as a weakness. When a man is laced with a situation like this, it becomes a burden and what people would term it as a weakness.It would be what his enemies would use against him to get him so I refuse to let anyone see that I cared, less they use it against me.“What are you trying to say, Ellen,” I frowned at her. “Go straight to the point. I do not have any time to waste.”“Of course Adonai,” she adjusted on the seat. “What I am trying to say is not farfetched from the reason I had offered you my daughter to be your wife. Because just like I have said earlier,
-Prisca-Something is not right somewhere. Jasmine is acting weird and I must get to the bottom of it. There was just something off about her and the way she acted since she had recovered from the last incident that almost claimed her life and she did not want to open up to me.I arranged my clothes carefully into the dresser. This was my favorite thing about the dry season. My clothes would always dry when I air them. I had better enjoy it now before the rain comes because it always does in great torrents and the sun barely has the chance to shine.I did not like the way Jasmine had withdrawn. We were not like this. How did our relationship go down in a space of less than two weeks? If it continues this way I might lose grip on our friendship. There was nothing wrong with her except she had been acting off.Was she suspecting anything? And why would she not tell me then? Well, since she kept insisting she was fine I had better let her be for now.My thoughts were interrupted by a sud
-Aria-I did not know for how long but I had slept off while laying lazily on my bed. I yawned and stretched on the bed. Hell no, is this how my life is going to be? Sleeping every day and doing nothing productive? I was not used to it.Back there in Moonbeam, I was a maid and I worked my hands out from childhood and it became a part of me. Here I woke up to being served, my clothes washed and meals prepared by the maids. It was a boring life to live especially not that I had decided to slow down my relationship with the only person that had kept me company all this while.No, Prisca had done nothing but it was the sudden awareness that I was not safe even with her that gnawed me. I would not be spared if Prisca should have a hint that I might not be her friend. Just like I had thought it would be easy for Ms. Ellen to find out, perhaps it would be easier for Prisca to since she spends more time with Jasmine than anyone else.How would I have been able to explain how I did not know m
-Aria-I swallowed hard and began to think of a way I could quickly cover up the mistake I had made. How could I have forgotten and told them my real name? Now the two were looking at me questioningly wondering who Aria was. Why had I even offered to introduce myself in the first place? I almost hit myself. I am sure they knew who I was without any introductions.“Oh, can you just imagine myself?” I laughed nervously. “Did I say I was Aria? Please disregard that. That is a name I had given myself which my friends call me with. I am Jasmine.”That was lame but I smiled and hoped they would buy it. They seemed to and the tense atmosphere became light again.“Yes I know my lady,” Maria said and I wanted to hit myself again. Of course, she knew.“Well what do you want to make?” she asked me while the other lady I had walked in with left to join the others as Maria led me to a space I could use.“Mmm,” I hummed thoughtfully. “I had not thought what I wanted to make though.”“Are you cookin
-Ariel-Jasmine cooked? Do miracles happen overnight? Jasmine does not even know how to light a fire to boil water.We were not allowed to do any of those while growing up. Though Jasmine had always been the rebellious child who would sneak out to join local children in their chores of fetching water and firewood, I was still better than her when it came to work.“I did, with the help of the maids,” she said and I nodded. Thought as much.“Well, you don’t have to cook, do you? You have maids who do everything for you,” I stated.“Well yeah, I just wanted to,” she said. A question popped into my mind and I did not think it was necessary to ask but curiosity got the best of me.“Who did you make it for?” I asked.“Uhm, actually I…,” she stuttered and coughed. “It’s not like I made it, especially for someone you see, but I just thought to share it with Adonai.”I cocked my head in a direction with an amused smile on my face.“Wow tell me about it,” I said and she shook her head, waving h
-Aria-While the guard was explaining to him I could not get my eyes off him. They had said he was meditating but he looked like someone who had just come out of the bathroom with a towel around his neck and water dripping from his hair.“What is this Jasmine?” he asked me and I had to struggle to maintain my composure so I could reply to him.“My lord, good morning,” I greeted warmly. “I am so sorry to have disturbed your morning but the guards would not let me see my Lord. I tried explaining to them it was important I see you but they would not let me.”He held my eyes for some seconds with no expression in them and I fidgeted a little. It was all I could do not to look away and be intimidated. His eyes moved to the tray the maids were holding and it lingered there. I hoped he would not do something crazy like ask me to leave or even go back to the room and close the door in my face.“Let them in,” he finally said and I silently let out a breath I had not realized I was holding, bar
-Prisca-I paced around the room restlessly thinking about what Dante had told me and trying to figure out what he had meant by all those things he had said. Was he trying to blackmail me? And on what grounds? It seems he does not know who I am and he thinks he can threaten me because I am a scarred cat.Well, he must be mistaken and making a very big mistake because he was messing with the wrong person. Of course, I had no intentions of doing what he wanted me to because I would not be forced to do anything with force.And I know he does not love Jasmine as much as she loves him. Whatever his intentions are, he is not going to get it from me. I must not let him think he has a hold on me.I sat on my bed. Just who the hell does he think he is anyway? Coming to my house to tell me all that rubbish.I had stayed away from the empire for some days now because I wanted to give her some space but I had hoped she would come looking for me just the last time and as always. This was the thir