It's ten in the middle of the night, and Valerie couldn't fall asleep. Her mother's warning is making her feel uneasy. She is not understanding why everyone is so against the Ravens. She personally like queen Irina and Prince Raphael. But her parents claim that they are bad. 'What happened in the past? Why does everyone in my family think that the Ravens kidnapped me when it's not true. They are not ready to believe even when I told them that the Ravens are innocent. How can I make my family understand that queen Irina and Prince Raphael are really good people ' she thought feeling disturbed. She didn't notice Raphael, who is hovering just outside her window. He perked his ears and sniffed the air. He could only catch Valerie's scent, along with two other scents. But the other scents are fading, indicating that Valerie is alone. Carefully he stood on the ledge before withdrawing his wings back inside his body. As the window is already open, he jumped inside her room noiselessly. He
The next morning, Valerie woke up in the arms of Raphael. She felt warm and cosy, untill the reality of her situation set in and she sat up with a start.The morning light is peeking from the window, but it's not bright yet. The sun is just rising in the east."Raphael" she whispered with urgency. If someone finds him in her room, then there will be hell to pay.He didn't wake up. She began to panic. Liliana has a habbit of checking on her every morning as soon as she wakes up. And she is an early riser. She will be here soon."Raphael" she shook him not so gently.Raphael is already awake. He woke up before she did. But he is pretending to be asleep. It is amusing to see her talk to him like this with her guard down.He yawned and stretched his body. She sighed with relief that he is finally awake. "Raphael, you need to go before someone sees you here" she urged him with urgency.But he is not in a hurry to leave her bed so soon. It's not enough. It will never be enough. He pulled h
Valerie showered and dressed up in a pair of white Jeans and a black printed wrap top. She left hair wet hair loose. She applied some mascara and some lipstick. And she is ready to go. Just like her mother instructed, Valerie went to the royal dining area, where a long rectangular table which is made of expensive wood is sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by chairs. The Nester king and queen are sitting on the head of the table, while her parents are sitting on their right while the Agnes king and queen are sitting on the left. On the other end of the table Raphael is sitting while chatting with Prince Hector. Liliana is sitting beside her parents while Tasha is sitting beside her father. The other royal guests of other clans are seated on the remaining chairs. The chair beside Raphael is the only one which is empty. It's Raphael who noticed her first. He gave her a heated look, which made her stomach flutter. He is still talking to Hector, but she knows that he is watchi
"Is it? Then what you said about Valerie is insulting too" he pointed out.Balthasar is getting agitated. Royal prince or not, Raphael should not point his finger at a king. Balthasar's ego is hit hard, especially when Raphael made it look like his daughter is a whore."But my daughter is a princess. She is born and raised in a palace. Unlike her. She was your slave before she was identified as the missing princess of the Ernest clan. We all have slaves here. It's not a secret about what we do with them behind closed doors" he said angrily.In a instance Raphael is holding Balthasar's neck in a death grip. His eyes turned pitch black and he growled loudly. That growl made even the kings and queens of all the clans stand up and bend their heads in submission. The Raven's are really powerful. No one has a chance to survive if you anger a Raven. Just like now.Tasha and Claudia are crying silently while Balthasar is fighting for his life.Raphael is beyond angry. A good for nothing Purpl
"Well, that was unexpected" Euridice commented.Arthur is shocked too. He was not expecting the Raven prince to propose a marriage with his younger daughter."It was indeed" he replied.Arthur's memories from the past flashed in the forefront of his mind.'I will destroy you brother ' his sister's words rang loudly, which made his spine stiffen with discomfort."I think this is her plan. She sent her son who pretended as if he genuinely cares about my daughter. Now he is proposing marriage out of the blue. Euridice, she was after my daughter from the moment Valerie was born. After nineteen long years i finally got my daughter back. I know she was not expecting that i could find Valerie again and i will give up on her search sooner or later. But i didn't. She is unable to accept her defeat. Now she made a fool proof plan to take my daughter back to the Raven Kingdom. Irina can never be trusted Euridice. You know that. You were there that night. I don't want to send my daughter back the
In an area which stands between the Ernest clan and the Nester clan, Raphael and Valerie are sitting on the bank of a river. The soft glow of the sun light is playing tricks on the flowing water surface. The area around the river is filled with wild flowers of different colours and filled the surroundings with their enchanting fragrance. "You don't have to marry me because of something someone said. People try to hurt others when they feel threatened. I heard from my sister that Princess Tasha wanted to marry you for a long time now. I think she became jealous and did what she did. You can marry her if you like her" Valerie said softly. After the initial shock of Raphael's proposal wore off, she began to think why he did what he did. He is quite fond of her and she knows that too. After thinking for a while, she came to the conclusion that his protective nature is what prompted him to ask her father for her hand in marriage. So she decided to assure him that he doesn't have to marr
In the Raven palace, Irina is sitting beside Cadmus while leasurely sipping red wine. On the other hand, the so called unwell Cadmus is gulping down whiskey."Raphael must be thinking that i am after Valerie's life. But it's you who is the real threat to that girl's life" Cadmus said while looking at Irina. Irina smirked. There is an evil glint in her eyes which she hides from everyone around the palace. Cadmus is healthy. But he is pretending to be unwell to fool Raphael. Irina and Cadmus tried to kill Valerie, but failed when Raphael rescued her from that room in the tunnels. In order to avoid from being suspected from Raphael, he began to pretend as if his condition is serious and he might die soon. "You let her escape from that house that night. If not she wouldn't have been a problem now" Irina said casually, as if kidnapping and keeping an infant imprisoned for eighteen years is not a crime.Cadmus gave her an offended look."It's not my mistake that she has grown out to be a
In the Nester palace, by the time Raphael came back with Valarie, Arthur and Euridice were waiting for him. "Prince Raven, can we have a word with you in private?" Euridice asked when Arthur seems to be still struggling to implement his good friends idea.Raphael observed the kings of the two clans keenly. Arthur is tensed while Euridice looks uncomfortable.'What is this about? This is definitely not about my marriage with Valerie. This is about something else' he guessed.Usually he will not get tangled with the clan politics. But he doesn't want to ignore his future father in law and hurt Valerie. So he agreed.He turned to face Valerie who is standing stiffly beside him. He just hope that she understood how much he likes her."You go and rest. I will come and see you once I am done here" he suggested.She gave a stiff nod before leaving the three men alone.Raphael turned his attention towards the kings."Please follow me" Euridice led the young prince in to his office before loc
After one year....Raphael wanted to hide everything Irina did, because she was once a queen of the Raven clan. Her black deeds will forever become a black mark on the Raven clan. The hard earned reputation of his ancestors would be ruined, which he doesn't want to happen. So he hid her death when it happened. As everything happened in the middle of the night and as the Raven palace is sitting at a fair distance away from the town, no one knew what happened or suspected anything. By morning, only ashes were left behind. The dead army and even irina who brought them to life are all gone. Cadmus lied to everyone that irina went on a spiritual journey to find peace. Everyone believed that lie as Irina made sure to keep her reputation spotless when she was alive. Only peace was left behind after she passed away. "Raphael? What are you doing here?" Valerie asked from behind him. He is standing in the palace court yard while looking in the exact place where his mother died. Valerie noticed
Raphael and his men together surrounded the dead army from all four directions. They start to burn the dead army with their dragon fire. As Irina is momentarily disoriented, the dead army stands still like statues, while their bodies are burned down to ashes. When Irina realized what was happening, she gained back the control she has on the dead people again. "You dumb idiots, attack" she screeched loudly. At once the dead army started charging toward the Raven palace again. As their bodies already started burning, they are now walking fireballs charging towards the Palace gates. At once the palace gates shook with the force of the dead army. It creaked loudly, protesting from the force with which the dead army was pushing at it and trying to breach the palace walls."Guards, shift and stop them from entering the palace. The gate will not hold that much force for longer. Barricade the gates with sandbags. Quick" Raphael instructed his men while he resumed burning their decayed bodie
"Your Highness, dead bodies are walking," he said in a rush. The guard is pale and looked scared. Raphael and Angoori ran outside and were shocked to see an army of dead and decaying people walking towards the Raven palace. Their bodies are muddy as if they just came from inside a grave. Bones can be seen in their half-decayed bodies. Most of them are just walking skeletons, and the rest are in the process of decaying. Irina is leading them in the front. She looked happy at herself. Raphael thought he was prepared to deal with anything Irina threw at them this time. But no amount of mental pep talk would have prepared him for this. 'How does anyone fight with already dead people?' he thought while taking in the walking dead steadily approaching the palace. The Raven guards look scared out of their minds. But the guards are trying to look brave and do their part by locking the tall wrought iron palace gates and positioning themselves to shield the entrance with weapons. That dead ar
In the dark forest, Irina is pacing the uneven land with fury. She is furious with Raphael who destroyed her lab and then ruined the souls for the dark powers. Out of all her enemies, she never imagined that it would be her own son who would destroy everything. The years of planning, pretending and after a million cunning ideas, everything was burned down to ashes because of Raphael."No one, I mean not a single soul dared stand against me. But now, after twenty-five years of unhindered rein of only victories, my own flesh and blood is standing in my way" she screeched with anger and frustration.The dark forest shook with the intensity of her anger. "After everything I gave you, you decided to take up my enemy's side and betray me. Now, after I learned that you stole my dark powers, there is no going back for you from this betrayal. You have to join your dear Father in heaven. You never really saw my true nature, Raphael. I only ever pampered you and hid my true self from you. I onl
Cadmus understood what Raphael meant by 'Our plan ' after half an hour. They are standing in the palace Courtyard and all the Raven guards are standing in front of them. Confusion is seen on their faces. It's almost midnight and a meeting with their king at this hour is not common. But Cadmus understood why Raphael is doing this now. Because they cannot afford to waste any time, especially when they don't know where Irina is and what she is planning. "You must be confused and thinking about why your new king wants to speak with you all at this hour. But I understood that this is the best time to speak about things that all of us want to hide from others" Raphael spoke.His words left everyone confused in the beginning, but then the men who are loyal to him understood where this was going. So they looked at each other and nodded their heads in understanding. Stealthily they changed their positions in such a way that they are now surrounding Irina's loyal men whom they are sure would g
After her failed attempt to threaten her enemies, Irina left the Coronation party in a fit of murderous rage. "No, if they think that they can intimidate me, then they are dead wrong. Raphael might not know about me, but Arthur, how did you think that I would let you go so easily? We grew up together. You know how stubborn I am. If I set my eyes on something, then that should either belong to me, or it should be destroyed. Just like you. I wanted you, but you rejected me and married anesthesia. I thought of killing you, but that would be an easy punishment for you. I want you to suffer. And your suffering would only end on the day you die. Now, your daughter made a huge mistake by taking over my position as the Raven Queen. You made my son go against me. That is a sin deemed to be punished by death. Now she will die, and so will you. None of you know what I did for two years after I left the Ernest palace. I practiced dark magic. All these years I was trying to amplify my dark powers
Irina has a malicious smile on her face. She is hiding how angry she is. She never thought that there would come a day when she might have to see her son laughing and chatting with the people she hates the most. What's worse is, he made her the worst enemy and made Arthur's daughter his Queen. "Hello Eugene" Irina greeted the Nester king. She intentionally skipped his title. This is the same way she used to address him when she used to stay in the Ernest clan. But after things turned bad between her and Arthur, she distanced herself from Eugene as well. Because she knows that he is loyal to Arthur.Eugene became stiff and so did the others. Raphael tightened his fists. Valerie's eyes flashed with anger. Anesthesia, Arthur, and Liliana have matching frowns of disgust. Hector and Cadmus look uncomfortable."Hello, Irina" he replied with a blank face. Irina turned her gaze towards Arthur. She wanted to disturb their happiness. "You look happy Arthur. I saw this kind of smile on you on
After the coronation of Raphael and Valerie as the new king and Queen of the Raven Kingdom, Cadmus is given the respectable position of the Royal advisor and the Royal godfather of the Raven clan. He is given the power that he can involve in every matter that concerns the Raven clan. His position is equal to Raphael and Valerie's. He is overwhelmed with joy and his happiness has no bounds. But the same cannot be said about Irina. She is not at all happy. Raphael gave her no position to hold in the Royal court. He decided that it was time for her to rest. He made it look like he is doing her a favor and all of this is for his good..'The previous queen of this clan has given her everything for the well-being of this clan. After my father's unfortunate demise, she took it upon herself to take this clan under her care. She worked restlessly toward her goal. I think it's time for her to leave these heavy responsibilities to us and rest. She deserves this more than anyone ' he announced.
The entire Agnes clan bowed their heads when Valerie approached them. They don't have a choice. Going against a gold dragon is like going against a mountain that is taller and stronger. It's useless to fight with a mountain when you clearly know that you cannot win that battle. A gold dragon's wrath can destroy an entire clan. Her blessing would help any clan flourish and grow. The land that she touches will be greener than any other land."I am not killing you merely because I don't want my mate's coronation to be remembered with a blood bath. Ravens are known for their hospitality. You came here as a guest. I don't want to hurt a guest. But be aware, Princess Tasha. I will not tolerate disrespect either. If you open your nasty mouth to pass cruel comments, then I would not hesitate to kill you in the future. Keep your judgments to yourself. Me, Valerie Ernest, daughter of King Arthur, princess of the Ernest clan, and the mate of the Raven King here by declare you, Princess Tasha as