AroraIt was a little overwhelming to realize, and I had trouble focusing on dinner. By the time we were all making our way to the dining room, I was so nervous that I felt nauseous. I was fidgeting and I never fidgeted.“Are you okay?” Bernard frowned when he handed me my drink and my hand shook.“I’m fine.” I tried to smile, but he frowned, and I had to laugh. “I’m fine. I promise.” This time my voice sounded sincere, and he let it go. “Can we go into town tomorrow? I want to see what happened?” I didn’t intend for everyone to hear me, but they did, and all eyes turned to me.“Would it be okay if we did?” Bernard looked excited, and I could see his excitement reflecting in the eyes of his entire family when I nodded.“The people need to know that you noticed their suffering. I think if we went it would be a good thing. Just … Leave all the pomp and parade at home. Take a walk through the streets the way we did a couple of days ago. Speak to the people and get to know them again. Ask
AroraI purposefully avoided the tavern on our last trip to town because I was afraid of the reaction the royals would have. The one place that was the center of the pack’s joy for so long had become the place where they came when there was nothing else left.It was an awful sight and I could see the pure disgust on their faces as soon as they walked in. I needed them to see what their actions or lack of actions had done to their people, and it had the effect I had hoped at the right time.Noah was the first to order a beer, which drew the attention of all the people. He ordered a round for everyone, which had them all in high spirits in the blink of an eye and once everyone had a beer in hand, he announced the first barbecue. Sadly, he didn’t get the exciting response I had been hoping for.We spent some time talking to some of the patrons and I could see by the time we left that the royal family’s mood was kind of dark. Some of the stories were pretty depressing.“How were we so bli
BernardShe was perfect. She was beautiful, and she didn’t even realize it, and she was kind even after everyone seemed to have turned on her. She was the entire package and from what I had found out about her, she didn’t even realize it.The moon goddess had sent me the most precious mate that ever existed and I would never say it out loud, but she would have been an incredible queen. Emily was the warrior but Arora just understood the people.I was head over heels in love with her and I could see that my family had completely been won over. Even my mother was skeptical in the beginning. Arora’s pure heart was shining through our kingdom, healing it wherever the rays of light touched.“What?” She scrunched up her nose while smiling, and I just melted.“What? What?” I grinned, making her laugh.“Why are you looking at me like that?” She handed out hot chocolate to some of the kids while I helped and I sighed deeply.“I know this is going to sound really corny, but I’ve just been think
AroraIt was going to take some time to get used to having people there to do things for me. I thought I would be used to it because that was how it worked in the castle, but being in our home and not having anything to do was just too weird.I kept wanting to make our own tea and meals and my mother kept reminding me that the omegas would be offended if I just took over. I was the future Dutchess. If I mated Bernard, I would be a princess and my mother believed I had to get used to the way things were done the same way the royals had to get used to the hard facts I gave them.“Okay, so what do nobles do then?” I sighed deeply, throwing my hands in the air when my mother finally convinced me to join her and Bernard in the library before dinner.“We have hobbies.” Bernard grinned, and I gaped at the sight in front of me. Bernard had disappeared at one point in the afternoon, but I was so busy trying to figure out where I fit into our new household that I didn’t pay much attention.In f
AroraOur first morning in our new home together couldn’t have been more interesting. I could see that neither mom nor Bernard knew who should sit at the head of the table. Since this was our home, it meant mom would be the head of the house, but Bernard was a prince and that took precedent over her rank in the house.To solve the problem, I sat down at the head of the table. I knew it was incredibly presumptuous, but I couldn’t deal with the way the two of them completely avoided the subject and neither sat down. The servant served breakfast while we all went through the niceties of how everyone slept.“What do we have planned for today?” I smiled, hoping we had something. I spent all my life dealing with the house repairs as well as making sure mom and I had our meals. Now I have nothing to do. I knew I shouldn’t complain about it, but it was incredibly difficult to sit around when you were used to working.“Noah and Emily have asked to see us this morning, so I guess we will be at
BernardI felt it the moment it happened. Something was wrong. Noah was mid-sentence when I got up and rushed out of the castle to look for Arora. I found her growling at a warrior just outside the castle grounds and her mother was trying her best to explain what happened, but as soon as I heard that the warrior had struck Arora, my temper flared.AroraBernard arrived and if I wasn’t so focused on the warrior, I would have rolled my eyes. The warrior instantly recognized Bernard and I could see his mind figuring out who I was and who he had hurt. Mom was rambling behind me and in the blink of an eye, the warrior started to apologize, but it was too late.Bernard closed the gap between them and had the man pushed up against the wall with his fingers tightly wound around the warrior’s throat. I could see the guy wasn’t going to be breathing for long, but I couldn’t be the reason why someone was killed.“Bernard! Stop!” I had no idea why I stopped him. That warrior deserved everything h
AroraMom was smiling and looking excited, and I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I looked at Bernard, who also seemed excited, and I sighed deeply before a huge smile formed on my face.“I, Arora, accept you, Bernard, as my mate.” As soon as I said the words it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my chest and I could breathe for the first time since I met Bernard.“I, Bernard, accept you, Arora, as my mate.” He beamed, closing the gap between us and kissing me. Applause erupted out of the blue and when we pulled apart, I noted that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were very happy for us.“Please tell me we don’t have to move to the castle now.” I giggled and Bernard shook his head.“This is our home. I told you I would move here. We just have to make sure that the security is taken care of and that what happened today never happens again.” Bernard kissed my forehead and I felt as if I was going to float into the air. It felt incredible. Scary, but incredible. I w
BernardMy uncle and Arora came around the corner, and she was an absolute vision. The past two weeks have been the toughest of my entire life. Each time I touched her or held her I wanted more, and I had to remind myself I needed to wait.Now that the time was coming closer, it was getting even more difficult! They joined us at the end of the aisle, and she smiled at me so beautifully my heart melted. If I wasn’t careful my knees would buckle!Arora“You look beautiful.” He grinned.“You look handsome.” I winked.“Are you happy?” We took a quick look around and I nodded.“It’s perfect.” I beamed before we turned to look at Noah who was presiding over the ceremony.“We are gathered here today because two people want to spend the rest of their lives together. When Arora first came into our life, she was like a breath of fresh air. She showed us that the way we had been doing things was not enough. She showed us we needed to be more compassionate. She showed us we needed to be more.” La
EmilyI pushed to break through a mind link and I finally felt it releasing. He was one of us.“My apologies, your majesty. I have been gone for so long, it is difficult to open my pack link.” He finally answered through the link and I studied him carefully before ordering the guards to stand down.“Who are you and why have you been gone for so long?” I frowned. I couldn’t remember any of our spies being out in the world. Everyone had returned home for the celebration.“I’m Ares, your majesty. I was sent out by your father three years ago to try and find you a mate.” His cheeks turned red and I rolled my eyes. “I guess I know now why I couldn’t find one.”AroraThe news about Emily’s mate spread like wildfire through the kingdom, and before she even walked through the doors with Ares, we knew she had met him. Ares was one of Bernard’s young recruits that should have formed part of the queen’s guard, but Bernard sent him out to try and find a mate for our daughter.We hadn’t heard from
AroraI kept my promise. The day that Bernard and I retired from royal life and handed over the reigns to our daughter Emily was the proudest day of our lives. She had grown into one of the kindest people I had ever known, while at the same time standing her ground when it was needed.She was strong and brave even though she had not faced a war. She was ready to rule, and the people were ready for her to take over. Emily was much loved by our people as she had grown up in the streets of the city and knew most of them by name.She took all the lessons I taught her over the years to heart and made sure that the people were taken care of long before she became queen. I could hear the rumours again of how much she reminded the people of the old rogue queen, and it made me feel proud that the pack loved her that much.Sadly, new rumours were starting to flare up all over the city, and they unsettled us a little. Emily was old enough now to mate, but unlike most of the royals, she didn’t fi
AroraForgiving the royal family a second time was probably one of the toughest things I ever had to do, but I knew that if I didn’t, there would be no end to the cruelty that would definitely follow. I had preached forgiveness before everything happened, and this gave me the opportunity to again remind people how to forgive.I made sure they saw me happily interacting with the royal family at each event and I made sure the royals that remained spent time with the people. The kingdom grew prosperous again under Bernard’s rule, and with my help, the people became happy again. We announced my pregnancy soon after I passed the second month mark, and very soon after that, I began to show.The royal baby grew fast in my belly as time slowly ticked by. I spent my days in the old queen’s vegetable gardens and tending to the flower gardens as much as my body would allow. I joined the omegas to do the shopping for the castle and made sure I knew what every one of our supplier’s problems were,
AroraMy omegas helped me to get dressed early the next morning. Having a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in and proper food to fill my belly, helped me to at least get some sleep. I was sure that the news about my release had already spread through the kingdom and was surprised when I walked into the dining room and saw the faces of the royals.Most of them were covered in shame as they should be, but I held my head high and took my seat beside Bernard. After the omega left the night before, Bernard told me everything that happened. He told me how he tried to find evidence against Irina and that he only believed her for a short while. It hurt to think that he had so little trust in me, but I pushed it to the back of my mind.None of them were to blame for any of this. Irina was the one who was to blame. She was the one who was going to face trial now and, thanks to Bernard’s genius plan, they had more than enough evidence to sentence Irina without spending much time on a trial.“Ar
AroraBernard took his time. He even postponed the trial for two days so they could find a witch to explain what each item in their mound of evidence was used for. My only glimmer of light was seeing Irina losing her patience the longer Bernard postponed the inevitable. It was clear as day from the looks I was getting in court. All the nobles believed that I was guilty.Bernard was digging deeper into the hole with each move. I didn’t have any hope that they were going to save me. Even with the visits from Bernard and his mother. I don’t trust them anymore. My fate was sealed. Now he just had to make the final decision. He had to judge me. He had to decide how and when I would be killed.IrinaThe glass flew through the air and shattered against the wall as I screamed out in frustration. My cousin was just postponing the inevitable in the hopes that I would slip up. I noticed he now had four guards following my every move. I couldn’t even use the secret passages without having them po
AroraPrincess Helena snuck into the dungeons to see me, and she brought me some food, but I was still so cold that I was having trouble moving. I also wasn’t sure if I could trust the food they were giving me. If they saw me as a traitor, they could very well try to poison me. My trust in all of them had been shattered, and I wasn’t sure if it would ever be possible to repair it.I had been waiting for this shoe to drop since the very moment I found out Bernard was my mate. Almost as though I knew they would just turn around and betray me, but I started to trust them and believe that they would trust me. I couldn’t help the way I was feeling. They all turned on me so fast after seeing all those things in Irina’s little secret room.Nobody believed me. It was as though none of them really knew me at all. Why would I ever trust any of them again? Bernard’s face came to mind and I felt my heartache. He should have believed me right from the start. He should have trusted me. He should ha
AroraIt wasn’t as cold on the cot as it was on the floor, but the night was long, and it still felt like the cold had found its way into my bones. I had no idea what was going on upstairs and, if I was honest, I didn’t care. They were so eager to believe Irina that they didn’t see how cruel she was.They all deserved whatever she had planned for them. I knew she made sure the proof pointed to me, but I couldn’t help myself. They should all have known by now that I wouldn’t have done that. Yet, even Bernard believed I was the traitor. I wasn’t sure if we would ever be able to find our way back to each other after all of this.The memory of Bernard visiting me and whispering came to mind and I pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn’t dare hope that things would work out in the end. Irina had been far too clever so far. She was going to make sure Bernard wouldn’t be able to prove my innocence. She was going to make sure the entire family believed her lies.The cold pushed through my t
BernardNone of this made any sense. Unless I didn’t know Arora as well as I thought I did, but I couldn’t imagine her doing the kinds of things Irina had accused her of. We found notes in the room that referred to even worse actions and I didn’t want to even think about it.I was torn between what I thought I knew and what possibilities there were. Was Arora a cruel and evil person who took revenge on our family or was she the kind heart that helped us to save our family from total ruin? Not that I thought the pack would ever revolt against us.I sat back in my office chair, not wanting to go to our room and not wanting to face my family. There were still far too many unanswered questions and I wanted to be able to answer at least some of them when I faced them again. The most prominent would probably be if I was going to put Arora on trial.“What are you doing here alone, cousin?” Irina wondered in my office and I sighed deeply. She was the last person I wanted to deal with right no
Arora“She planned this.” My voice was soft, but one of two of them heard me. “Irina planned this!” I shouted. “My omega followed her today and found the room. Irina wants all of you to think that I’m the traitor so she can get rid of me. Bernard, you have to believe me.”“His Majesty, don’t have to believe one word that comes out of your traitorous mouth!” Irina shouted from the back. “Your father was a traitor, and so are you!” She hissed and I could feel the atmosphere turning.“We need to hear from the omega, Bernard.” Princess Helena spoke up, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The omega was dragged up the stairs and I could see in her eyes that this wasn’t going to go my way. She kept looking at Irina and I wondered what happened in the short time we were apart. What could Irina have done? She was right there with me the entire time.“Please tell us what happened this morning.” Princess Helena took the lead.“I … Please, don’t make me do this.” The omegas eyes filled with tears as