Just then, Valerie walked inside the dining area, escorted by Angoori and three other men whom Raphael trusts. "Her Highness, the future queen of the Raven clan, Princess Valerie Raven graced us with her presence" the guard announced to inform others of the arrival of the princess.Every Royal who was seated at the table stood up to show their respect for the future queen and the true mate of their prince. When Valerie hears Raven's name behind her name, she is overwhelmed with joy. She never thought that one day she would become a Raven. She remembers the first day she met Raphael. It feels like a long time ago. Then, he used to hate her a lot. She used to find only hatred in those eyes. But now, his eyes are locked with hers and she can only see love and possessiveness in them. 'How things changed in one and half years' she thought. If it means that she could have Raphael all to herself, then she is ready to become a slave all over again. She knows she would do anything for him,
"Are you done, Irina?" Raphael asked Irina coldly.Irina is stunned like everyone else at the table. He always used to address her as a mother or mom. He never used her name to address her. That came out as a huge shock to the people around them, and to Irina. Cadmus is tensed and Hector is worried about Raphael's safety. They both know how dangerous Irina is. This face-off is not expected. Even if Irina lost her cool, Cadmus thought that Raphael would subtly deal with her. But his cold attitude towards Irina is equally exciting to see and scares them.Irina stood up to her feet and glared at Valerie before directing her attention towards Raphael. "What? You are calling me Irina? You are using my given name? Did you forget that I am still your mother and the queen of this clan? She became more important to you that you are disrespecting your mother and your queen?" Irina demanded angrily. She is more angry than sad that her son is not calling her as a mother, which Raphael noticed.
In the Raven Palace, Irina is fuming. She is pacing the length of her room with long angry strides. Her eyes had this strange kind of gleam which she always hid from everyone else. Her anger is pushing her negative side to the forefront. Just then, Cadmus walked inside the room carefully. When she saw him, she glared at him angrily."You, why did you come here? Get out" she snapped furiously. Her tone is not soft like usual. It has a crazed edge to it, that would scare anyone. It scared Cadmus as well. He never saw this side of her, and he has known her for a long time now."Irina? You look angry" he said cautiously. He stood just right inside the door so that he could run if she tried to kill him.Irina stopped her pacing and turned completely towards Cadmus. When she saw fear in his eyes, she relished in the feel of it. It satisfied her ego a little bit. But not completely. "You think I am angry? No, I am furious. Didn't you see how Raphael is speaking with me? I am not you who wou
"Are you ignoring me now?" Hector asked with exaggerated hand movements.Raphael did not respond. Instead, he is busily typing something on his laptop. He typed a response for the mail which needed his immediate attention. Hector looked at Raphael with a huff. "People these days are ignoring their best friends. I wonder what I might have to see in the future" he muttered with a pout.Raphael pressed sent into the last mail he had to answer, before lifting his head and looking at Hector. "I usually ignore idiots" he muttered and turned off his laptop. Hector gasped with mock outrage."What do you mean by that? Do you mean to say that I am an idiot?" he asked pretending to be offended.Raphael snorted sarcastically. "Do you want me to spell it out for you?" he asked calmly.Hector gave his best friend a squint eye. "Ok, Prince Raphael, I need an explanation for your unreasonable words" he demanded.Raphael stood up from his chair and rounded his desk."You still need an explanatio
The next morning in the Raven Palace, everyone is busy with their respective work. The Palace is being decorated like a new bride for the Coronation of a new king that evening. Guests from all over started coming in. The Agnes king and his family reached the palace while Irina greeted them warmly, like her usual self. Both the Anges king and queen are not happy. Princess Tasha is scanning her surroundings for the Raven Prince.Irina personally led them to their respective rooms. "You promised me that my daughter will be the queen of this clan. But I heard that your son is after that Ernest princess. Are you going back on your words Queen Irina?" The Agnes king asked with displeasure once they are safely locked behind closed doors. He wanted to demand this of Irina, so he came before the sunrise. It's still a little dark outside.Tasha looked unhappy.Irina gave Balthasar a look."Balthasar, you know me better than the other kings. You know I will stand by my word no matter what. Your
"Prince Raphael, I came to congratulate you on your Coronation" Tasha greeted Raphael when he walked inside his office. She has been waiting for him for the last half an hour. The anticipation of seeing him again is heady. So finally when he walked inside, she greeted him with a big smile. But her smile dropped like a bomb when she picked up Valerie's scent. For a moment she is confused. She didn't see Valerie anywhere. But soon realization sank in and she became angry. 'He is bathed in her scent. Does that mean he was with her just now? Did he spend the night with her? He is a prince, how can he allow everyone to know that he was with her when they are not married? 'That thought made her angry. "Well, thank you, Princess Tasha. If that's all you came here for, then you can leave now. I have important things to do" he dismissed her not so gently.Tasha is shocked by his rudeness. She is also scared by his aura. He usually carries a very powerful and intimidating aura around him. Tha
"Fine, now explain why you decided to take Princess Valerie out and ignored to share the same with your future father-in-law?" Eugene demands with authority.Raphael is standing outside the guest quarters when he hears the Nester king questioning his son, Prince Hector. He stopped in his tracks to see what Hector would tell them. Hector is a very loyal friend and Raphael can bet on his life that the Nester prince would not tell anything to anyone about anything that he thinks would harm Raphael. So he is curious to hear what Hector would do to get out of this situation."I...ah...i...forgot?" Hector replied as if he is asking them instead of telling them.Raphael is amused."Hector, you forgot? How can you forget such a huge thing?" King Eugene fumed at his son.Raphael decided to rescue his best friend who is stuck in this situation because of him."I told him to bring Valerie here and keep it a secret from everyone. I should have informed King Arthur. Apologies for the same" he said
In the Raven Palace, on the day of the coronation, Valerie is startled awake when she hears someone banging on her door. After Raphael left a couple of hours ago, she fell back asleep as she was too tired to get up so soon. But now she is fully awake, thanks to the insistent knocking. She is naked under the sheets. She quickly pulled on a t-shirt and shorts before rushing to open the door before they broke it open."Valerie " As soon as she opened the door, she was engulfed in a tight hug. When she registered who it was, her lips stretched into a big grin."Liliana" she hugged her sister. It's only been a couple of days, but she already missed her parents and sister. Liliana pulled back and walked inside the room and nodded with approval."Hmm, looks like your prince is taking care of you well. This room is double the size of your room back in the Ernest palace" Liliana admired the luxurious room of the Raven Prince.Valerie closed the door before joining her sister on the couch."He
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