Chapter 11: Call Me By My Name (Part One)

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Erica held her basket, wedging it under her left armpit. She was waiting for Freya, her best friend to get hers so that they both can go to the market together.

Diana was becoming bored and she searched around for Erica. When she learnt that Erica was in the kitchen, she went there.

Erica and Freya just walked out of the kitchen when Diana showed up. “Erica.” She called.

Erica turned her gaze to her, surprised to see her. “Your highness?” She looked at both sides, dragging Diana out so no one can see her. “ For goodness sake you shouldn’t be here.”

“Why? I searched everywhere for you, and luckily one of the maids told me you are here.”

“ Thank goodness for that. But please, do me a favour and go to your room or his. . .”

“ Why do you always have to mention his majesty anytime I try to do something on my own?” She snapped angrily, taking off her hands from Erica’s.

“ I’m trying to protect you and myself. If his majesty finds out that you aren’t in the fortress, he’s gonna have me punished and after that I’ll be banned from serving the royal family forever.”

“ I already told you, no one is getting banned or hurt. I’ll be fine, okay. And just in case he tries to ban you,” she grinned, “ I’ll cover you up.”

“ How? Tell him that leaving the fortress was your great idea?”

She shrugged. “ Maybe.”

“ Great.” She sighed, holding her waist.

“ I wanna go out with you. I can even ask your friend to escort us if you still feel unease with the idea. As far as it’s the three of us, no one is getting hurt and his majesty will definitely have nothing to say about.”

“ I’m not much worried about what his majesty will say or do, my fear is more on our safety. I’ve heard and seen a lot of cases in the past few years, this town isn’t as calm as you think, there are more to it.”

“ More? As in?”

“ Not everyone are saints as they call it. Even in here, there are people who aren’t supposed to be here and you can’t identify them because it’s not written on their faces. You may think people don’t know you exist, but trust me, there are lots of people out there who knows you more than you know yourself.”

“ So, what are you trying to say?”

“ I’m saying, outside the fortress is dangerous for anyone, especially you. There are people out there who wants to hurt you. Once they learn you are the alpha’s mate, they will do whatever it takes to get you.”

“ But why?”

“ Because they believe once they have you, his majesty will do everything it takes to have you back, even if it involves his life. So please, if not for anyone, for my sake and yours too, stay back.” She pleaded.

“ Fine, I’ll stay.”

“ Maybe some other time, then I believe everything will be alright, we can go far away, just you and I. “

Diana nodded, but wondered why someone would be after her life. Erica noticed how troubled she had become, “Hey, I didn’t say that to scare you, I was only trying to protect you.”

“I was just wondering why someone I don’t even know would be after my life.” She said, looking away.

“ You aren’t the first.” Diana turned her gaze back to her. “History once told us of how several Luna’s each of their time who ruled this land were kidnapped. And for two months no one heard of them. When they returned, they couldn’t remember anything that happened within those two months. Ever since the incidents, every alpha tries to protect their mates from being taken.”

“ Who are these people?”

“ No one knows who or what they are. They believe it’s the wolf hunters, but I believe this has to do with something more bigger and dangerous.”

Erica left with Freya while Diana returned back to her room. She walked slowly and reluctantly and one can tell something was really troubling her. She mistakenly hit a maid who had a jar of wine in her hand, causing it to fall and the wine spilled on the both of them.

Diana realized herself, she saw how bad she was stained and likewise the maid who had bent to pick the wine jar.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She apologized.

“It’s okay. I think we both need to get changed.” Said the maid with a smile.

“ I’m sorry.” She said again.

The maid smiled again, then she left.

The sound of the jar caused a loud noise, catching everyone’s attention. Alpha Derek who stood by a corner talking to one of his beta; Edward, also his best friend. On hearing the sound he stopped talking, turning towards the direction of the sound.

He saw how Diana apologized to the maid and how messed up the both of them were. 

“Isn’t that Diana?” Edward pointed.

Alpha Derek studied Diana, he discovered the incident wasn’t an intentional one but had happened due to how troubled she was. Even as she return to her room, she wasn’t so worried about her ruined dress than she was about what Erica told her.

Alpha Derek excused himself, he followed her to her room. Diana immediately took off her ruined gown, and before she could make it to the wardrobe, there came a knock on the door.

She didn’t mind asking who it was, she thought it was one of the maids Erica had told to serve her in her place. She opened the door, on seeing alpha Derek, she quickly shuts the door.

She rushed to her wardrobe, picking the first dress she sighted. She quickly pulled herself into the gown, she sighed when she saw the gown had robes at the back. She took it off, picking a knee level fley skirt and an elbow level shirt which made her look like those ancient ladies from the Victorian era.

She glanced at herself at the mirror, before making it to the door. She opened it wide enough for him to enter, with her head bowed.

“Forgive me for earlier.” She apologized.

“No. It is I who should ask for your forgiveness. Forgive me for intruding in your privacy.” He apologizes.

She nodded.

“ What brings his majesty into my room?” She asked, a bit frightened at his presence.

“I saw what happened back there, so I thought I should check on you.”

“ His majesty shouldn’t be worried about me. It was my fault we got stained. I wasn’t focusing so, I didn’t notice she was coming from the other direction. But we’re fine. . . I’m fine.” She forced a smile on her face.

He was quiet, and she knew he was studying her. She wasn’t good at the act, and it was obviously clear that she was lying. Whenever she commits a crime and she  would have one thing or the other to say, at the end, she is caught. Back then her mother always call her a blunt liar because she wasn’t good at lying.

“You look troubled. Is something bothering you? “ He asked.

Diana chuckled. “ Of course not. I’m cool.”

“Are you sure you don’t wanna talk about it?”

“His majesty need not to worry about me, I am perfectly fine.” She grinned. “ Oh, do you mind for a cup of tea? I can order the maids to make tea for us, what do you think?”

“ I think that would be nice.” He agrees.

“ You stay here while I get our tea ready.” She grinned, leaving the room.

She shuts the door after her, breathing in heavily like she had just run round the world. She left to the kitchen to order for a kettle of tea.

Alpha Derek stood from the couch, walking towards her drawing board. Beside the board were drawing papers which she had painted on. She had them packed together.

He bends, taking each used paper in his hands, admiring them one after the other. He paused when he saw a picture of him, like she had drawn him unawares. He instantly picked interest on the picture, then he realized they weren’t just a single picture of him, but many of them.

He could hear the approaching footsteps getting closer to the door. He kept the papers back in position, walking back to the couch. Before she got to the door, he was back on the chair, and he sat in the same position before she left.

“I brought us tea.” She announced, dropping the tray on the table. She took the tea kettle on the table, along with the tea cups. One at his side and the other to her side. She pours the tea into the both cups, dropping the kettle back in the tray.

She took the tea cup in her hands, sipping a little amount of the tea, dropping it back on the table. She tried not to have a direct eye contact with him. The way he was staring at her could tell that he knows she was hiding something from him. Despite how much effort she put in acting normal, she just wasn’t perfect.

“I can see you are getting used to the environment. How has it been this few days since our first meeting?” He started.