Chapter 34HopeI was wrong. It was stupid of me in the first place to think that Commander would ever change. After her whole apology that day, I walked into the training grounds a week after when Kyle was all better and it was like the apology never happened at all. Commander still treated me the same way.The only difference was that this time, I didn't swallow down all her antiques. She thought that she would be able to push me to the wall and I wouldn't do anything. That was before. Now I knew that no matter how badly everyone wanted me out of this place, they couldn't get me out. And I was going to use that piece of information to my advantage.Right now, I was practicing with a dummy. A moving one which I had to block the attacks of. And one which was set at full speed, courtesy of the commander. On a normal day, I shouldn't even be sparring with a dummy at full speed but since I happened to piss Darius off at dinner last night, I didn't need anyone to tell me that Commander wa
Chapter 35KyleI hated this. I thought I had escaped this life of war when I had been assigned as my lady's guard. But I was back to it. After a hard day of training, there was ale and forgetting all the worries of the day.Things were a bit different. Now, I wasn't friends with everyone and wasn't allowed to lose myself in the safety of my friends. As I took a swig of ale from my glass, I noticed a few of the men in the barhouse were staring at me with malicious intent clearly written behind their eyes."Don't pay them any mind, my friend," Soren threw an arm over my shoulder, laughing a bit. I used my free hand to pull his sweat-soaked arm off my shoulder, all while he was still laughing, along with the other guys who had noticed our interaction. "Why are you in such a sour mood?" Kirk asked, raising brow as he took a swig of his ale."I am supposed to be on duty." I said with a gruff tone.It took them all three seconds to burst into a unified laughter at my expense. I didn't kn
Chapter 36Hope"Look here, princess. It is too late and I am too tired to deal with your antiques for today. If you really want to raise up this matter this night, take it up with your husband." Orion said to me with a hint of tiredness in his tone."You look well and able to answer my question. So please do." I stretched my lips wide.Orion sighed heavily, then pinched his nose, as though he were thinking of a quick and efficient way to get rid of me. Like he shook all those thoughts out from his head, he dropped down his hand and pressed his palms against each other."Good night, princess." He said quickly, sidestepped me and attempted to go up the stairs. I quickly jumped two steps ahead of him and pitched right in front of him, blocking his way.He sidestepped me once again, I closed the gap and blocked his way. We did this a few more times till he got the hint that I wasn't going anywhere till he answered my question."All this time that you've been spending to throw me off, you
Chapter 37HopeI ground my teeth in anger as I watched Annalise crawl off my husband's body naked. Darius, himself, seemed to be naked as well but luckily for my eyes, the second Annalise crawled off him, he covered his lower half with the sheets.I felt like any moment from now, my teeth would crack because of how hard I was grinding them. My fists were clenched so hard with my nails digging deep into my palms. With any luck, I would soon start bleeding."I have to talk to you." I said to Darius, blatantly ignoring Annalise who was sitting on the other side of his bed with her legs crossed, wearing nothing but shamelessness.Darius frowned at me. "You want to talk at this time of the night?""Yes, I do," I replied immediately. I felt like if I didn't confront him now, all my rage and confidence would elude me and I wouldn't be able to confront him another day."That would be considered rude, my dear Hope. As you can see, Darius and I were in the middle of something." Annalise spoke
Chapter 38HopeThe last time I saw Darius like this was the other day when he had been upset with me about Kyle. But this time there was no one here to tell me to run or bear the brunt of Darius' aggressiveness but me."Let go of me!" I tried to wrestle myself free from his rough hold but he didn't budge one inch."I said try again, princess. It seems I've been too lenient on you which is why you have the audacity to slap me twice in the span of a month." Darius' voice sounded husky and harsh. Like he was not himself.I wasn't a fool not to know that his Lycan side had taken over. What I didn't know what how much time I had till the beast cut my head off my body. "Just let go of me. I've said all I wanted to say to you so leave me be." I lowered the pitch of my voice, hoping that it would somehow tune down Darius' anger. It didn't. "That is not what I said you should do, princess! You've been acting all high and mighty these days, parading around with that lover of yours, and now yo
Chapter 39HopeCould a person use the word disoriented for the state I was in right now? One of Darius' arm was holding me up because I seemed to have lost all strength in my legs. His other hand was wrapped around my neck, keeping me in a chokehold.The more I kissed him, the more the heat inside me seemed to be quenching. He dominated the kiss and sucked on my tongue, making my head light. I couldn't breathe. Like he knew exactly that, he broke the kiss and went for the hollow of my neck and started to suck on it.I let out a foreign sound as his hand on my throat slid down to my right breast. Darius clearly knew what he was doing because he swept me off my feet and carried me to his king-sized bed.My back hit the cushion and I let out a whimper. Darius quickly climbed on top of me and settled in between my legs that were spread. His lips came down on mine again and heavens, I went senseless. All I could think of was the heat I was feeling and the person who was extinguishing it.
Chapter 40HopeI didn't get any sleep last night. Believe it or not, I spent the entire night thinking. Thinking about Light, thinking about Darius, thinking about my future. There were so many things to think about and I thought about every one of them.And thankfully, there wasn't going to be training today so I could spend the entire day thinking. Which was what I thought until Gwendolyn bursted into my room unannounced.Looking at her dressed in a maid's uniform right now, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in her presence. I didn't know if it had something to do with the fact that she was human or that she reminded me of Light. Maybe it was the two."Don't you know that it's considered disrespectful to enter into someone's room without permission or knocking? Who do you think you are?" I spoke with a haughty tone, drawing a line between the two of us.She bit her lower lip apologetically. "I'm very sorry, my lady. I was just in a hurry which was why I forgot to knock." She e
Chapter 41DariusMy head was throbbing. A constant headache which I couldn't get rid of has been plaguing me for three days now. It started on that night. I felt so ashamed of myself. Why did I let that go so far?I couldn't even blame myself fully. I had my wolf to blame. He was the one who wanted her. And he was the one who got her. Not me. This was the first time that something like this was happening to me. It was so annoying.My wolf only surfaced when I was angry or when I needed to assert dominance over lower stubborn Lycans. It has never surfaced when I was with a woman. It has never sought pleasure so recklessly.So why? Why did it have to be with that wench of a woman? I just couldn't understand. I prepared myself for the day, wearing my kingly attire and topping it off with a casual crown on my head. There was going to be a meeting with the councilmen today.Which was the only reason why I had let Thaddeus out of the dungeon days ago. That fool didn't deserve to see the li
HopeI was in a very good mood today. I woke up early feeling refreshed. Maybe it was because there was no longer a creature inside my stomach draining my energy. I freshened up and sent a maid to tell Darius to meet me for breakfast at the dining table. By the time I reached the dining table myself, I was surprised to see that Darius was already there.And an even more surprising thing to me was that I saw the head of the dining table now had two throne-like chairs placed side-by-side to each other.Darius was standing behind the chairs with a stroke of uneasiness on his expression. I walked over to him and said, "Good morning." "Good morning, Hope." Darius said back to me, then his eyes bounced and landed on Kyle who was close behind me. I could sense the hostility in Darius' gaze as he looked at Kyle. It made me want to frown. Was this foolish husband of mine jealous of the same bodyguard that he had hired to protect me?I almost facepalmed myself at the thought. But since I was
Kyle "S-Shut your mouth." I said with a stutter."Why should I? Everyone knows about your unrequited love for her. It's honestly pathetic, but to think that you would go against the kingdom for her. You've become so soft and stupid-"I tightened my grip on Thomas's hands and forced him to shut up."I've said what I wanted to say. Stop making a fool of yourself and keep quiet. This has absolutely nothing to do with you." I spoke with a deep and threatening voice.Thomas didn't say anything again, but it looked like he had something to say."And if you think about telling anyone about tonight, remember that you were also in that shop." I added.It meant that Thomas also wanted to purchase something that was not appropriate. His eyes widened as he understood what I was talking about. Then they narrowed into slits."Fine. Whatever." He finally relented with a reluctant tone.I slowly let go of him and backed away. "What were you there for?" I asked him.Thomas glared at me shamelessly a
Kyle My hands were trembling. Ever since I left the castle, my entire body has been shaking. Would I really be able to do this? Betray my kingdom... Betray everything I serve, everything I believe in. All for the very person that I serve, the person I believe in, the person I love. Could I really do that? What was I thinking? I was already doing it. I was already close to a hidden tonic shop. There was no time to regret my actions or turn back. I had already promised my lady that I would do everything for her. Including this. And I very well knew why she wouldn't want to give birth to the next heir. She was human, damn it! And she wanted to remain human. She didn't want to turn into us... me... It was still clear that she held resentment for the Lycan kind. Abortion tonics were not exactly illegal. From time to time, people would come to order them. Not everyone had to bear the heir to the throne who was important and ending their life in a womb was a sin. And also, this par
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