Chapter 12HopeThere was not a man in the world that was as confusing as my husband. He did things that I couldn't understand at all. For example, he invited me to a private dinner with himself and Annalise.It wouldn't be the first time in the past week that he had invited me for something that had to do with Annalise. I couldn't tell if he was doing it to spite me or if it was because of Annalise herself who seemed fond of me.And not in a friendly manner. She liked to show off the fact that Darius was married to me but preferred her. She kissed him in front of me countless times, touched him for no reason, and made indirect insulting comments to me about being too naive to cater to his needs.I wished I could decline coming to their dinners, but I couldn't. Maybe I could, but I was too scared to try. I was afraid that Darius would do something horrible to me if I decided to go against him, so I did as he commanded. Every. Single. Time.I walked over to the garden where some maids
Chapter 13HopeI was in the library for the fifth time this week. And every time I came in here, I always heard that chiming noise. It sounded distant sometimes. Other times, I felt like the source was closer, and if I could just take a few steps further, I would get to it. I didn't do that though. Only the heavens knew what waited for me if I ever followed my curiosity to find out the source of the chiming noise. As I read about a human girl who was sold to a Lycan mercenary group and fell in love with the head, the chiming noise resumed.It was one of those days when the noise was loud and near. Putting away my fear, I shut the binds of my book and stood up."Hello?" I called out, walking to the west of the library where the noise was louder. "Is anyone there?" I asked as I got closer to the shelf.What I got in response was more chiming noises. I knocked on the shelf of books but I was met with no reply. I tilted my head to one side, then trudged to one end of the shelf. With all
Chapter 14HopeI was summoned by my husband. I had just returned from the library and had a weird conversation session with Amara when Orion came stomping into my room and demanded that I come along with him because Darius summoned me.As we walked down the hallway to the east wing of the palace, my heart kept thumping. Perhaps he found out that I was reading erotic books and conversing with a crazy woman who claimed to be a witch. If he did, then what would my punishment be?Would he send me back to my home or kill me right away? The possibility of the latter made my heart race."My goodness, stop that! Your heartbeat is too loud. Control yourself." Orion snapped at me, and I stiffened.That was right. They could hear loud heartbeats. I should control myself. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Calming thoughts. He couldn't kill me just like that. He would be killing his wife which should be a crime as far as I could tell. He would warn me off the library and lock me u
Chapter 15HopeWhy was he staring at me like he wanted to kill me? Was it because of what I said in the meeting earlier? Fear gripped my heart at the thought of that. Of course he was about to threaten me for speaking up.I squinted my eyes and braced myself for the earful that I was about to receive."If it were up to me, you wouldn't even know that this room existed. The only reason why you're here and will continue to be here is because of the useless treaty and the elders who want to see your face to ensure that I'm not abusing you." Darius said monotonously."You are not to speak when you are here. I will excuse today because you were caught off-guard and probably overwhelmed. But come another day, keep your opinions to yourself. You might be my wife, but you are not my queen." He continued.His last statement knocked me right off my balance. He was right about it though. Just because I was his wife didn't mean I was his queen, their queen. I was still human and had to be offici
Chapter 16HopeShe was staring at me with a sly look in her eyes. This library was forbidden, I knew it. And now, she would tell Darius about it and I would be stopped from coming here.'What do I do? What I do? What do I do?'"I see you're into books." Annalise's eyes slowly glanced at the book in my hand. I yelped and hid it behind me with a nervous smile plastered on my lips."Yes," I answered, breathlessly.Annalise smiled, taking two slow steps closer to me. "You haven't been hearing any kind of chiming noise inside, have you?" she asked cautiously.I shook my head immediately. "Of course, not." I quickly dismissed it but she looked unconvinced."Are you sure? It's an old library. Such things tend to happen." She spoke in a tone that made me know that she knew everything about me."I- I'm- I—""Shhh," she cut me off, placing her delicate hands over my shoulder. "It's alright. There's no need for you to get so scared. I understand you. You're alone in this castle, no one talks to
Chapter 17HopeHow was I going to get out of this problem of mine? The four Lycans were staring at me, waiting for a reasonable explanation as to why I visited a witch secretly. But if they didn't want me to visit her, why wasn't I banned from that area? No one told me it was restricted. I think I should use my lack of knowledge to my advantage.I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I didn't know that I was not supposed to go there." I said, using a meek voice.My husband was the first person to react as he pushed his chair back and basically flew to my side. He grabbed my right forearm and drew me out from my chair to stand head-to-head with him. I had never seen his eyes so dark before. His veins were twitching, depicting his anger clearly."I know that is not the explanation you're going to go with." He gritted out in a tone that made me believe he was trying to control his anger.Before I knew it, my eyes turned glassy and I started to tremble. "No one here cares about me. Why is it on
Chapter 18HopeIt has been a rather boring week for me. No one came to summon me for dinners. No one visited me except the haughty maids who came to serve me food with evident distaste in their eyes, like I had wronged them in some way. The only thing that has been keeping me company was India's diary.I read a page in the morning, a page in the afternoon, a page in the evening. I was persistent in savoring it because I had no idea the next time that I would have access to such a thing. The next time might be when I got out of this lockdown and went ahead to secretly visit Amara once again.Yes, that was my plan. Just because Darius commanded me not to go there again didn't mean that I would blindly obey him. Without any friends or source of entertainment in this entire castle, I might lose my mind without a doubt. So, as soon as the ban of my movement was lifted, I would return to my place of comfort. But for now, I would continue to seek my comfort in the pages of someone who was
Chapter 19HopeI woke up in the arms of someone. When my eyes fluttered open because of the bright sun rays, I felt like I was being cocooned by something strong—someone strong. The person's arms were around me and we were both sitting on the floor. I stared at the sight in front of me and suddenly remembered everything.The assailant, Darius saving me, me crying on his chest. And I was still resting on his chest! His arms were strong around me, I couldn't get him to let go. I tried wiggling out of his hold, but I felt something. Something long and hard."Stop wiggling," a raspy voice breathed down my neck and I stiffened.My goodness, that was his… A strength I didn't know I had coursed through my veins as I ripped his arms away from me and stood up at full force, only for sharp pains in my heels to shoot up. I hissed closed mouth, then plopped down on my bed, facepalming myself internally.I forgot about the shards in my heels and I stood up too quickly. What is wrong with me? Now,
Hope Back in my room, I folded myself into a ball on my bed. It seemed like everyone else was happy about my pregnancy except for me. Why did that make me feel bad? That they were all placing their hope on me and that I was going to destroy it?Maybe that was why.I didn't know how long I was curled up for before I heard the subtle sounds of knocking on my door."Your Majesty, it's me. I've brought you food." I heard a voice similar to Kyle's own coming from the outside of the room.I sighed and forced myself to say, "Come in." Not even a second later, the door to my room opened up and Kyle walked in with a food tray. Thankfully, it was only Kyle, and not another person whom I did not want to see or talk to.Kyle walked over to my bed to set the food tray next to me, but I directed him to put the food away and shut the door. There was a complex look on Kyle's face after receiving those orders, however he still obeyed them."Come closer." I said to Kyle, who was still standing by the
Hope I had hoped things wouldn't turn out this way, but they still did. After Darius left, I sunk into deep thoughts. Darius wanted me to keep this child, but the heavens knew that I couldn't.I wouldn't be able to even if I could.I looked down at my stomach. My hand led itself to touch it. It wasn't the child's fault. I just didn't want to become a Lycan. I didn't want to lose my humanity.The Blood Moon would occur in less than a week. This was the absolute worst time to even be thinking about bringing a child into the world.I had no clue why Darius would want a child at this time. Suddenly, I remembered something. He had once told me that he wanted to get me pregnant so that I wouldn't leave him.How foolish of him.If I truly wanted to leave him now, being pregnant would be the least thing that I would be bothered about in our relationship.*****Later in the day, I got out of bed and decided to actually do queenly activities. But as soon as I stepped out of my chambers, Kyle w
Hope"This is the greatest news ever!" Darius exclaimed joyfully, standing up to his feet to rejoice."Congratulations, your majesties," the physician said to me and Darius with a proud smile. "The queen is about two to three months pregnant. We should quickly begin the transformation process in order to ensure a safe delivery and a stable health for her Majesty." "Transformation process...?" I said slowly, then looked at Darius.There was a bright smile on his face as he said, "Yes. The transformation process. You know you can't give birth to a royal Lycan child with a human bodily constitution. There is a ninety percent chance of dying. It is better to transform into a Lycan to give birth."It is not a very difficult process. Painful, yes. But I will be there for you and help you-" "Are you listening yourself, Darius Moratis?" I cut him off with a sharp tone. The tension in the room surged."Ah... Your majesties, I will take my leave now." The physician said with a hint of discomf
Hope It was annoying how I was always waking up to Darius sitting by my bed. However, today, he was not the only person by my bed. There was a physician standing over the bed. I easily recognized him as he had attended to me once before.I sat up on my bed defensively and said, "What is it? What's going on?" "Calm down. Everything is going to be alright." Darius said in a soothing voice, then reached to touch my face.I slapped his hand away from my face. "Don't. Why's he here? What's happening?" Seeing that I wasn't going to relent until I got answers, Darius exhaled through his mouth and decided to explain things to me."He is here to perform a full body check up on-""I don't need one," I quickly said, cutting Darius off.A full body check up? That was equivalent to executing me with a stake! I glanced at the physician and glared at him. If he touched me and sensed my pulse, he would immediately be able to tell that I was pregnant.And since he appeared to be deathly loyal to Da
HopeThe next day, Darius was in my room when I woke up. I was momentarily startled, causing me to sit up on my bed and say, "What are you doing here?" Darius smiled gently before saying, "I came to check up on you. It's almost noon and you're still in bed." I frowned, then turned to look at my window. The afternoon sun was much too bright and I got the urge to close my eyes once again and continue sleeping. "Well, I'm fine as you can see. I was just resting. You've checked up on me. You can leave now. You've done enough." I didn't hide the irritation and annoyance in my tone, causing Darius to flinch at the sudden hostility he was receiving from me.I wanted to take back my words but it was already too late and I was still much uncomfortable in Darius' presence. He made me pregnant for hell's sake! I didn't want to even look at his face right now."Oh, okay then. I'll leave you to rest." Darius' tone sounded awfully pitiful in that moment as he stood up from the bed and dismissed
Chapter 78Hope Kyle was quick. It didn't take up to two days and he had already set up a meeting with the witch for me. According to him, she wanted to keep her name and location a secret.So, instead of leaving the castle to meet her, she would be the one to come over. I had no problems with this, as all I wanted to do was get this phase of my life over and done with.She arrived at midnight. Earlier today, I had told Darius not to come to my room since I wanted to rest well and him being around would only disturb and irritate me.Though he had been against it because of his recent overprotective behavior, I still managed to wear him down at the end of the day.By the time the witch arrived, I was seated by the window in my room. She and Kyle entered so quietly that I didn't even notice them until they had gotten close to the window.The moon was incredible bright this night and my room was brightened with lamps and lit candles. The witch was dressed as a castle worker to avoid sus
Chapter 77 Hope When I regained consciousness, I saw that Darius was sitting on the side of my bed with a worried look on his face. I let out a soft sigh, and he jerked into action, noticing that I was finally awake. "How are you? How do you feel? Hope, are you alright?" he questioned. I rolled my eyes and stretched to take a sitting position on the bed. "I'm fine, just a little tired and thirsty." Darius quickly took the cue to stand up from the bed and pour in a glass of water from a jug and gave it to me. I emptied the glass and handed it back to him. "Hope, I was so worried. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have kept you up working all night. I should've—" "It's not your fault, quit acting so pitiful," I chided him. "It was just a sunstroke. And I'm not the first person in the world to get dizzy under the sun. Stop worrying unnecessarily." "You say that so easily, but I wouldn't be able to bear it if something bad happened to you. You've been so moody these da
Chapter 76HopeA cold chill slapped my face after Darius said that word. It was foolish of me to have expected that something like war would be taken care of with no hitches along the way.And because of this reason, I softened up a little and used a small voice to say, "I want to see. Show me what you're doing." Darius stared at me for a little while before shaking his head negatively. "It's nothing. You don't need to bother yourself with things like this. Please, go and rest. I'll take care of everything."Darius must have thought that saying such things would put my mind at ease but all that it did was anger me as I raised the volume of my voice and said:"You'll take care of everything and I should go rest? Have you forgotten that I'm the queen of this kingdom? I should rest while you deal with the brunt of things and I remain a silly little oblivious queen. Is that what you want me to be? You want me to be stupid and ignorant for you?"Darius immediately stood up from his chair
Chapter 75HopeI turned around to look at who just spoke. To my surprise, it was Thomas—the grumpy son of the commander. There was a clear frown on his face as he came forward. But before he could step in front of me, Kyle stood between us."Her majesty was not speaking to you, back away." Kyle said with a firm tone.Thomas glared at him and said, "So what if she wasn't talking to me? Is it a bad thing for me to offer myself to my queen?"His last two words were coated with deep sarcasm that I couldn't even ignore. I patted Kyle on his shoulder, gesturing for him to step aside. He did so, but begrudgingly.I faced Thomas and asked, "You want to fight me?" He didn't even bother to hide the defiance in his tone as he said, "Yes, and so what?" I smiled, surprising the kid who was one or two years younger than me. "Okay then, let's spar." Kyle stepped forward, probably about to stop me but I held my hand up and gave him a look, causing him to step back. I spoke to him with my eyes, an