XAVIER'S POV"I need to go," I said out loud. I purposely ignored her question while looking around trying to find somewhere suitable I could hide her."Who do you need to warn?!" I heard her ask me in my head once again. She was adamant about getting her answer and as much as I missed this part of her, I couldn't deal with it at that moment.So once again, I did not give her an answer.She pushed away from my body and I actually let her as I had been preoccupied with much bigger problems in my head that I could not be bothered with putting up a struggle with her."What's going on Xavier?" She asked me her voice sounding more like a growl than her usual voice in my head.It was as if this new mode of communication of ours had become her favorite as she had not spoken to me with her mouth ever since the discovery.I looked down at her and saw her looking at me with cloudy eyes that were filled with suspicion."Do you know something about what is going on?" She asked me as she looked
XAVIER'S POVIt was not an easy feat trying to cuff her to the bed. Anna put up a great fight. It was so great that one wouldn't believe that such strength came from her frail bodyI needed the help of the guard to successfully cuff her to the bed. I held her down while he fixed the cuffs amidst her threats and screams."You are going to regret this Xavier! I promise you!" She threatened with tears of frustration flowing down her eyes."I know and I would await them but one thing you should know is that I don't regret what I have just done," I said to her.She was breathing so hard from anger and It did not please me to see her in this way but I had to do it. She had given me no other choice with her defiance."Make sure you have some rest. You really need it," I said stroking her head until I felt the warm wetness on the skin beneath my shirt.I did not see the projectile of saliva coming till it landed on my shirt."I hate you!" She snarled to me.I did not say anything to her. I j
XAVIER'S POVMy whole body went cold as I heard what the soldier had said.My instincts had been right. I should have never trusted Nico. I was a fool to have thought I would get loyalty from a mercenary whose only loyalty lay in how much money he was paid.A blast of a cannon shook the whole place making the ground shake like the tremors of an earthquake.The blast was followed by the guttural screams of the men who had been wounded —making the place sound so eerie."We need to do something! We can't just stand here! They would breach these gates if we do not act fast!" I said more to myself than to the soldier.Now that I knew that Nico was not acting based on my orders and rather was acting against me, it was time for me to take things seriously and not only protect myself but protect my legacy. I looked at the soldiers, most of whom had faces that looked like they were ready to kill. Very few of them looked shaken by what was going on out there and those were the young ones who h
XAVIER'S POVI clenched my teeth so hard I thought they would shatter.It was no wonder Nico had garnered fame as the King of crime. The man was not only ruthless but he knew his onions. He was good at the game.I kept an eye open for him ever since I had come out but not for once had my eyes fallen on him and here he was, pouncing up on me unexpectedly."But I must say, showing your face here was a very wrong decision, your highness," Nico said dragging his words for emphasis.I tried to move and pull up a maneuver on him and release myself from his bondage but it was useless."Tsk tsk tsk," He said. "That will be a very terrible idea, Your Highness, trust me," Nico warned me in a very casual tone.I stopped moving and kept still taking his warning strongly. His warning did not make me take that decision as much as the tone in which he had spoken.His voice had sounded so casual for a threat yet I felt just how deadly the threat was. If someone could say something so heavy as death i
XAVIER'S POV"Why did you stop us? We would have killed them all! Why did you do that?" Jehu questioned me aggressively.I did not have an explanation to give him and so I brought out my perfect defence from my artillery."And who are you to question my authority?" I asked Jehu. My voice was just as stern as my face and I dared him to give me a reply.He was breathing hard with anger and from the look on his face I knew he was trying his best to keep from replying to me.I looked at what was left of the palace guards –men who looked so angry one would think they would explode. The adrenaline that was pumping in their blood could be seen in the tremors coursing through their bodies. They wanted blood and I had denied them of it. But it was for the greater good.My greater good.I was in a fix. I knew that I needed to give them an explanation as to why I had stopped them but I could not think of any at that moment.Nico may not have killed me but he had set a trap for me that was defin
XAVIER'S POV"I don't know what you are talking about," I replied to him before starting to walk out on him.The longer I stayed with him, the more loopholes he would find in my demeanour."You know you can confide in me right?" Jehu said as he ran after me.I said nothing to him. Ignoring him was the best I could do."Xavier!" He called taking hold of my arm as he closed in on me.I stopped walking and turned to look at him with a stern look on my face."What is happening?" He asked again.The frown on my face grew stronger and my eyes turned into it as I retorted;"I advise that you mind your business..."My words left him shocked. He did not believe that I would say such a thing to him. I didn't want to cut him off like that either but I was left with no choice the instance he threw the question at me.Jehu and I met when I joined the army for the mandatory military training I needed as the heir to the throne.We had hit it off so fast and I had been happy he had been posted to the
XAVIER'S POVI swallowed hard as my brain tried to think of the perfect lie to give while I calculated when he saw me. Did he see me step out of the secret door? Did he suspect something?"I am sure that wherever you are coming from isn't so hard to remember is it?" His voice growled behind me, causing my eyes to squeeze tight as frustration started getting into me.I tightened my hands into fists and turned to face him."It's nothing like that Uncle... I am just stressed out from the battle." My fingers went to my forehead for good measure. "I have a terrible migraine...""Shouldn't your pain come from your neck?" He growled with eyes that told me one thing.He knew more than he was letting out.My fingers instinctively left my head and went to my neck as if I had just suddenly remembered that I had been attacked there."Yeah... I mean, not exactly. It was just a minor scratch. What is important is that he didn't get to you..." I said as my lies finally started coming together.My e
ANNA’S POVThe moment I told Xavier what was happening he looked like he would pass out. He turned pale and though he tried to appear as if he could handle it, I saw it in his eyes. He was loosening control.He couldn’t handle it. The poor thing.At this point, I knew I would have to do something, or he would be in great trouble with his uncle. He needed me but his ego wouldn’t let him say it.I couldn’t have folded my arms and just ignored his predicament, but my people’s lives depended on this. My father needed me. if I let Xavier go down, then my plan was going to go down with him.I released a sigh dropped the ball of cotton wool I was holding and grabbed his arm.“What are you doing?” he asked and the panic in his voice caused my eyes to roll in irritation.Men. They would always be arrogant even when they were about to pass out from fear.“Anna, where the hell are you—” he started to say but I cut him off at once.“Shut up and just come with me!” I hissed firmly. My hand tighte
XAVIER’S POVAs the vessels landed on the shores of the island, a war cry was let out and everyone took position.At first, everything seemed perfect. The people in the town were packed away from the scenes. They were led to a safe location. Our aim wasn’t to kill them but to liberate them from the monster who was growing under their noses.As the people got cleared, we proceeded straight to the palace entrance with full attack, but it wasn’t met with force as the few guards present in the town were not even expecting what awaited them nor were they prepared for war.They were easily whisked away, leaving the gates bare. But as soon as we got to this point, that was when I realized that Kelvin knew we were coming. This wasn’t a surprise attack; it was a well-precedented attack.His men appeared from all sides of town as if they had been waiting for us to finish clearing the people away so that they would attack. They were more than we had anticipated and to top that up, their arrival
XAVIER’S POVLeaving Anna behind made me stronger. The further I got from the room, the more determined I became to end this war and curse once and for all.“Xavier, the men are ready,” Edna said as she joined me on the corridor as we headed out of the palace through the warehouse, which led us straight to the vessels.“The men are yet to be addressed and they are all waiting at the beach,” Charles said, and I nodded at him.“But there is one problem,” Nico’s voice filled the space and all three of us stopped to stare at him.There was a frown on his face as he joined us. “What is the problem?” I asked as he got closer.“We will have to do your coronation before you leave. It needs to be official before the realm’s flag can be raised.” Nico explained and I could already feel Edna’s hesitation beside me, but I had the perfect solution to this.“Call the elders, they shall be going with us,” I said and started walking away but Nico ran after me, stopping right in front of me.“But Xavi
ANNA’S POVAs I got to Xavier’s chambers, I went straight to the bed, hoping I could get some rest but as I lay on it, there was nothing relaxing about it.Every scenario and circumstance kept playing into my head. My father’s kidnapping. The change of the details of the curse. The probability of Edna being Xavier’s half-sister and then Xena wanting to place her life on the edge of danger…How could I rest?Xavier’s plan was a full-on attack but what if… that one question held the key to the outcome of so many lives. It was true that with a perfectly planned attack with everyone’s support, we could win it, but would Nico change his mind?Unable to calm my head as the thoughts came moving in and out of me, I got up and walked to the window. Watching as the men outside, sat gathered in groups.It was Nico’s men and Xavier’s men too. They were sitting together in groups as if they had not just been enemies a few hours ago.A small smile danced on my lips. It was a good development and ma
XAVIER’S POVThe room fell into perfect silence as they stared at me with shock in their eyes. My eyes narrowed especially on Nico who was trying to play me here like I was a fool.“So, according to you, it isn’t a crime for me to mate with my half-sister and also, it is perfectly fine if we go against what the elders said?” I said shaking my head and watching their reactions.While Nico had a defiant frown and I could guess that he was already scheming for the next words he was going to say to frame me up into his selfish wishes, Edna could no longer look at me in the eye.It was funny because the idea of her being my half-sister was still very strange to my head but nevertheless, as I said it and they were reacting like this, then it could only be true. The problem now was how they birth to her.“Xavier, listen to me,” Nico started up and I raised my brows ready to listen to his trash for a second time. “I know all this information is a little overwhelming but none of these stories
XAVIER’S POV“What?” We all echoed out in the room in shock.Our voice was of different intensity. Where Charles had the gentlest of them, I couldn’t control mine.“This is unbelievable. How can it be possible?” I cried out. I couldn’t believe this. “Edna can’t be an Octavian, from who? We all know that Uncle Lartes was never even into women to begin with! The man preferred men!”My eyes were narrowed, and my temples were squeezed into a tight knot as I tried to unravel the truth or even basic idea about the information that Xena had given me.“She is not from Uncle Lartes,” she whispered and the cloud of confusion in my head got even thicker.“How then?” I growled. “If she isn’t from Uncle Lartes, who then birthed her?”My father had just one brother and that was Lartes. If he didn’t have then whose child was Edna— as soon as the thoughts crossed my mind, I froze. This meant one thing, if she was an Octavian, then she was…“She is our half-sister?” I whispered, unable to say the word
XAVIER’S POVHer question left a ringing in my ears and the way she collapsed to the ground, caused a panic to start within me. I knew what her argument was based on was the right thing but why did loving her also feel right? Why did fighting for us, feel right?Haven’t we been through enough already?I left my position and went to her with a troubled mind of my own, but I was certain we could figure it out together. I reached out my hands to her and as they came into contact the flame spreading between us was the assurance I needed. This couldn’t be wrong.“Anna…” I whispered with a blank head but at least it was a starting point.She raised her sad tears filled eyes to me and I was about to start cooking up the first plan that came into my head when the door opened and Charles, the vessel captain, stepped in.He bowed before us and held the position. “My king, I have news from your sister, the queen of the island,” he said, and my brows rose instantly to my hairlines.“What about my
ANNA’S POVThe hours on the journey back were ridiculously cold and silent. Every man was to himself, and I couldn’t help but begin to wonder if there was something I missed while we were all there.As the water danced around its waves, I seemed to be the only one rational enough to notice. It got to a point that I became worried for the men as they could fall or worse could happen to them.But the goddess stayed with us. We got to the shores of Black Moon safely without any casualties. Yet the mysteries surrounding the men didn’t stop. Rather it seemed to spread even to the others as we got down.Even the men in Black Moon all seemed to carry around them a strange dark aura that felt wrong.“Let’s go see the King,” Charles said and we picked a representative from the two teams of soldiers we carried along with us.We were going to the head to the throne room but we were redirected to the conference room where we found Xavier, Edna and Nico all seated with long faces.My wolf was itch
ANNA’S POVI tried to think of an explanation to what I heard, but there was none.Everything around me started feeling off, and my heart was no longer beating in the normal way.I pulled out my walkie-talkie, and I wanted to dial Charles, but with no idea where he was or how it was in there, I decided against it.I returned my device to my pocket and moved the one I got from my father and his diary into my backpack, then I did a double back to the vessel.There was nothing I could do but wait, hoping that he would have more information when he returned.“Princess Anna, we got an interception from Black Moon but the connection was not stable enough for us to pick up anything,” the man we had left as a scout on the vessel said.“Oh, we will try again later in the night, connection is always better then,” I said, based on what Xavier had told me when he handed the devices to me.It was what Lartes had used to pass information from Black Moon to the island. It worked, we just had to fin
XAVIER’S POVI wasn’t even the one to reject it. Edna herself slapped her palms to the table and jumped to her feet.“No, uncle Nico. I am not going to be mated to him!” She cried out like I was some sort of plague but surprisingly I felt no hate towards her because it was a mutual feeling. I didn’t want to be mated with her either. I already had Anna.“Sit down Edna and listen to me,” Nico growled and for the first time since I have come to know him, I saw agitation in his eyes.But Edna had gone wild.She stepped away from the table and shook her head like she had suddenly become possessed.“Why should I listen to you?” She spat out and Nico narrowed his eyes and he searched for the right words to say but before he could even come up with them, edna continued.“No way! I have listened to you all my life. I have done everything you have wanted.” She beat her chest and pointed in my direction. “But you see this particular one, I am not going to do it. I am not even going to sit here a