Chapter 64HopeDarius didn't let me sleep until sunlight glared the curtains of his room. I had no idea what he stood to achieve by ravishing me so mercilessly. When I eventually woke up, he wasn't with me. I also wasn't even in his room anymore.Instead, I was in my new one which was the Queen's chambers. It looked like someone had bathed and clothed me while I was in deep sleep. It was certainly not Darius so I could relax with that thought in mind. But whoever it was would've seen the marks from last night.I looked at myself in the mirror. The gown I wore didn't cover my neck and the front of my chest which were designed with red and purplish marks. It was light pink in color. If one were to look at the sleeves carefully, they would see marks.The annoying ones that Darius placed on me with his mouth and sometimes his hands. I had gotten to know just how much of a beast he was last night. When he had had his fun with me, his beast had taken over to pick up from where he left off.
Chapter 65 Hope "Might I ask, what gave you the idea to present such a 'gift' to me?" I asked Kyle, not hiding my sheer curiosity for the creature which was gifted to me. "She'll be a very good companion in the case of protection." Kyle replied. I almost said "what case of protection" but I quickly clamped my mouth shut and continued to stare at the dragon. It wasn't a very big one. It was about my height. From legends, I knew that dragons could grow up to twenty times my size. It seemed like this one was just a child. But that was the confusing part. Dragons were supposed to be extinct creatures. So where was it possible to get one? A child at that. As though Kyke could see the gears turning in my head, he spoke up. "It's not a real one, though." I raised my brow in curiosity. "What?" "It was made from half a bone of a long dead one by a small-time witch. It might be disappointing to hear but the dragon won't grow past this height. But its firepower is incredible as it was o
Chapter 66Hope"What are you doing here?" I asked my husband, using an irritated tone. As I got closer to him, I folded my arms together and frowned deeply."Is it a crime to visit my wife's chambers?" In a split second, Darius had wrapped an arm around my waist, hoisting me upwards against his body.My mouth fell open. "Are you crazy?!" I tried to wiggle my way out from his hold, feeling totally embarrassed. Kyle was standing just a few feet away, getting himself a front row viewing of this nonsense display Darius was showing."I don't seem to think so," Darius said, placing a kiss on my cheek.That was the last thread. I used all of my strength to shove him away, then I took a few steps backwards. "It seems like you're currently out of your mind. Escort yourself away from this place if you still have any shred of dignity within you." I was beyond annoyed. Who did Darius think he was? Was it that after one night, he thought I belonged to him or what? The lax expression that had p
Chapter 67Hope"I'm still in possession of the Morati knife. It will take me nothing to march straight into that hall, stab your husband with it, and flee the scene before anyone is able to do anything. But I will not do that now. I will do it on the day the moon dies. And on that day, I pray you will either not to be around to face my wrath or you will join my side and beg for my forgiveness and mercy." I could vividly remember the words Light said to me. I haven't had the time to ponder deeply on them, but every now and then, her words would replay inside my head. Even though I had pretended to be confident and unfazed in front of her, within me, I was truly afraid. Afraid that she would destroy everything that our ancestors had died trying to achieve.And the most frightening part was that I didn't know when she would strike.The day the moon dies...When would that be? I had thought of seeking Amara's help concerning this but she still hadn't returned from wherever she disappea
Chapter 68HopeWell, well, well. After all he had said to me merely days ago, begging for my forgiveness and promising to be better to me. Thank the heavens that I hadn't believed in any single word he said. If I had, then the feeling of disappointment and anger I felt right now would've been much heavier. Sighting me from the corner of his unclosed eyes, Darius quickly shoved Annalise away and wiped his lips like it had been stained with poison. Annalise, noticing that I was in the room, turned around to look at me.She was wearing a very satisfied expression. As if to say, "I told you so." Perhaps it was because of said expression that I felt like I had to wipe her off from the face of the earth in order to achieve true peace with myself. And that was what I attempted."What are you doing here?" I asked her, using a haughty tone.Prior to my question, I had given Darius a look that was akin to saying, "Do not interfere with my next actions." And he understood well, taking a step
Chapter 69HopeAnother council meeting was being held today. Instead of a council meeting, it was just a gathering for complaints. The rebels have been stirring trouble more fiercely than before. Their reach has extended from the borders and over to the Kingdom's center.More civilians were now aware of the rebels than before, protesting that the King does something to take care of them. The councilmen are here to plead with Darius to take proper action.Some are here to discuss the identity of the leader of the rebels. Talk of Light being the leader has been making its way into people's heads. I wouldn't blame them for leaning towards that.She was the one with the Morati knife. She was talented in politics and warfare. Who else, other than her, could stir up so much amount of trouble in such little time?Though everyone knew the identity of the leader of the rebels in the back of their heads, no one dared to say it out loud in front of me and Darius.It would indirectly be blasphem
Chapter 70HopeAnd to think for a second I believed that Darius had summoned me for something important. The moment I stepped into his office, he had engulfed me and in a tight embrace and quickly assaulted my lips with his own.It took me a second to push him away and catch my breath. With a frown, I said, "Stop doing that. I hate it." "What do you hate exactly? Kissing? Or kissing me?" Darius questioned languidly."Both!" I bit out.He chuckled at this, then wrapped his arms around me once again. "What can I do to make you like them both?" "Nothing. And stop holding me!" I tried pushing him away but he held onto me tightly, refusing to let go."To think by now you'd know that physical contact is my love language," Darius said carelessly.The side of my lips tugged up in irritation. He could take his love language and shove it up his ass. I didn't want it. But Darius had other thoughts as his hands begin creeping to my erogenous zones.I bit my bottom lip to mask the shameless sou
Chapter 71Hope"Someone's looking pretty," Darius said with a smile the second he saw me.It was midnight and I had already dressed up, anticipating his arrival. I wasn't wearing anything especially pretty. Just a dark blue tunic with a pair of black trousers. My hair was parted at the middle and I donning a few jewelries around my neck, wrists, and fingers."Hm," I said in response to Darius."Don't you have anything to say about me?" he teased.He was also dressed as casually as I was. What was there to compliment him about? I turned away from him and said, "Stop fishing for compliments."He made a psh sound before putting out a hand for me. Begrudgingly, I placed my hand in his and unexpectedly, Darius leaned down and placed a kiss on my hand.I flinched and almost retracted my hand, but his hold was firm. He quickly roped an arm around me and began leading me out from my room.To be honest, I was curious about this 'date' of ours. What was Darius hoping to achieve? Why was he so
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
Chapter 74Hope Darius marched over to Kyle and I with a sudden possessive aura clouding his being."Her majesty was attacked by a spy posing as a human maid," Kyle explained solemnly.Upon hearing Kyle's explanation, Darius didn't ease up one bit as he told Kyle to get a physician and leave the two of us. Darius then replaced Kyle and led me to sit on the bed, his face painted with worry."I'm sorry," he said. "I should've gotten here faster. You wouldn't have gotten injured and I would've been able to catch the bastard who did this to you." Hearing him say such words, I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. It was stupid because I believed him. He had done it once before, back then when there was nothing but hatred between the two of us.It got me thinking that maybe the assassin who snuck into my room that night could've been another of Light's underlings who was sent to kidnap me and bring me to her.I sighed mentally at the thought."I have something to tell you," I whispered
Chapter 73Hope I've put up with this long enough now. It was early morning, a week after 'forgiving' Darius. I was preparing to have breakfast with him when Gwendolyn began speaking."His Majesty has been treating you very preciously these days." It was only ten words but they stirred me up so bad that I stood up from my dressing chair and faced her. "Gwendolyn, you can stop putting on an act now." My voice was firm and my frown was even firmer.It took only a few seconds for her innocent expression to change. Her usual doe eyes narrowed to an almond shape and a wry smile made its way on her lips.She backed up a few steps and placed her hands on her waist. "How long have you known now?" she asked.I glared at her. "You know, I wasn't sure of anything until you just asked that question."Shock flashed her features, but it was too fast for me to decipher her level of surprise.I had always found Gwendolyn annoying and suspicious. But after the entire thing she told me about the st
Chapter 72 Hope "What are you trying to say? Are you trying to mock me or make me feel pity for you?" I questioned. "No, that's not what I'm trying to do. I can assure you," Darius said. I didn't believe. In fact, I didn't even want to believe him. I didn't want to sit here and listen to him wail about his childhood, trying to concoct an excuse for why he acted like a big bully. I liked myself and hated him too much to give him a chance to thaw my heart with his story. "Anyway, I had a very normal childhood fitting for someone that was to be king in the future," Darius heaved a sigh as he spoke. I unconsciously raised a questioning brow. If you had such a normal childhood, why did you then kill your family and make yourself such an unapproachable tyrant? As though he heard my thoughts, Darius said, "But growing up in such a way only made me weak, thought my parents. I wouldn't blame them, I was far too kind in the past." I almost snorted. "There was a time when I
Chapter 71Hope"Someone's looking pretty," Darius said with a smile the second he saw me.It was midnight and I had already dressed up, anticipating his arrival. I wasn't wearing anything especially pretty. Just a dark blue tunic with a pair of black trousers. My hair was parted at the middle and I donning a few jewelries around my neck, wrists, and fingers."Hm," I said in response to Darius."Don't you have anything to say about me?" he teased.He was also dressed as casually as I was. What was there to compliment him about? I turned away from him and said, "Stop fishing for compliments."He made a psh sound before putting out a hand for me. Begrudgingly, I placed my hand in his and unexpectedly, Darius leaned down and placed a kiss on my hand.I flinched and almost retracted my hand, but his hold was firm. He quickly roped an arm around me and began leading me out from my room.To be honest, I was curious about this 'date' of ours. What was Darius hoping to achieve? Why was he so
Chapter 70HopeAnd to think for a second I believed that Darius had summoned me for something important. The moment I stepped into his office, he had engulfed me and in a tight embrace and quickly assaulted my lips with his own.It took me a second to push him away and catch my breath. With a frown, I said, "Stop doing that. I hate it." "What do you hate exactly? Kissing? Or kissing me?" Darius questioned languidly."Both!" I bit out.He chuckled at this, then wrapped his arms around me once again. "What can I do to make you like them both?" "Nothing. And stop holding me!" I tried pushing him away but he held onto me tightly, refusing to let go."To think by now you'd know that physical contact is my love language," Darius said carelessly.The side of my lips tugged up in irritation. He could take his love language and shove it up his ass. I didn't want it. But Darius had other thoughts as his hands begin creeping to my erogenous zones.I bit my bottom lip to mask the shameless sou