*LYCIA*Seff?What was he doing there?He was sitting on the ledge of my window in my room. The moon shone on his silhouette, illuminating his face. He looked sad, almost as if drained of any life. His bright smile, the first striking quality of his that I had noticed was missing. Why did he look so sad?“What’s wrong with you?” I wanted to ask him but I couldn’t speak, no voice came out of my mouth but I heard a voice similar to mine echo in the room.“I don’t care about you. Did you think this would bother me?” the voice said, making his eyes gather pools of blue in them that he shed looking down. Each tear a crystal jewel shining in the moonlight.No! I didn’t want to say this! I didn’t say this!“Why do you always hurt me, Lycia? Do you really hate me that much?” He said, his voice barely audible.No!“Yes,” I heard my voice say but I never meant to speak these words.“Then there is no use staying with you,” he said and rubbing his cheeks with one hand he smiled at me and said, “G
*SEFF*Looking at the pastry I sighed.“Was it really necessary to come out? I wasn’t in the mood,” I said wondering what Lycia might be doing right now.“Yes, it was necessary. Although your search had been kept under wraps from the public they were all starting to wonder why you hadn’t shown your face in so long,” Reemus said, making me feel annoyed at the way he was acting as the Royal Beta of this kingdom rather than my friend. “Your regular appearance gives the people motivation and builds trust with the empire.”“Basically you are using my face as a means to keep the people happy and loyal to my feared brother,” I said, already aware of the rumors that spread about him and his twisted ways.“Well we have a powerful and scary ruler without a mate so they look for that missing care, mercy and protection in you. Your presence is needed to balance the wrath the king incurs from time to time,” he said almost in a monotonous tone as we waited for the already ordered cakes to be packed
*LYCIA*How did I interact with Seff before?For some reason I had been struggling to face him since we met again. He somehow seemed different. Was it because he was among people of his kind that he was being much at ease now or was it because he had already gotten over me because he didn’t seem as flustered or happy to see me as I had hoped he would be.For instance he still hadn’t spoken a word to me throughout this ride unless it was important and neither had he shown any happiness on my arrival.I… I had been truly happy when he had helped me out with that Lycan. Even if I could have managed him on my own, just seeing him come to my rescue when I was in trouble had given me hope. I was ecstatic at his presence, at his touch and at his voice. I still hadn’t seen his face and I wanted to see it. I was desperate to see his smile and the twinkling of his blue eyes.“Just a minute more, I apologize,” Reemus said, sensing the awkward silence we had all been sitting in.As we approached
*LYCIA*“You really like me?” He asked with big blue eyes staring at me in disbelief still.“Yes,” I replied back walking in the palace interiors to his room.“No, say it properly,” he said, making me give him a blank stare but nevertheless he kept up with his performance and said, “Please.”Those eyes will be the death of me.“Fine, I'll say it again, I like you Seff,” I sighed trying to hide a smile because the way his face lit up when I said those words made it seem like it had been an incantation to his happiness.It had been a relief to my heart that he had accepted me back but even after this I couldn't receive the rest I had hoped for because now my heart sped for a different reason as I became more attentive of each of his actions and words.It was as if I had been discovering new sides to him. How he smiled at ease and in true happiness every time that he heard me confess to him and how after a few minutes, as if he had been in a daze, he would poke me to repeat my confession
*SEFF*“Don’t tell her who I am!” I pleaded, pushing him into the room in front of mine.If it was someone else they would have been dead by now but giving me a chance to speak my brother’s confused expression changed to concern when he saw the panic in my eyes.“Why? Are you in danger?” It was endearing how he cared for me but to still treat me like the five year old me who needed his protection, always made me feel a little childish.Moving away so that his giant demeanor wouldn’t loom over me even though I had been quite tall myself I said, “No, it’s nothing like that, it’s just that Lycia, my mate’s mother, hates lycans.”“That crafty witch? I knew that already. She has been a menace to us before too,” he said, piquing my interest. What did he mean by that? Did he know Lycia’s mother personally besides as the queen of Amoret? “If you want I can talk to her, I had been curious about the infamous Aldith Amoret.”The way he scrunched his fists tightly together with a dark expression
*LYCIA* Rushing towards the door when Seff hadn’t returned after so long I had just opened it a little when I noticed King Rozzen standing before me with Seff beside him. His gaze was unmoving from my face and awkwardly looking away from him I glided my gaze to Seff and said, “I was just going to look for you. Where did you go?” “I am sorry about that I-” Seff had started to say but Rozzen interrupted in between and said, “Let’s head inside and talk.” The authority that he held in his voice and his aura had been almost crazy dangerous, my body moved on its own as if listening to his command even when I wasn’t his subject. Thankfully I caught onto myself and then calmly nodding I opened the door for us all to step inside. While I had been trying my best to not show my confusion, my mind had been a battlefield of all kinds of thoughts and deductions clashing against each other, trying to imagine why and how Seff knew King Roz so well. And how did he come out alive after touching th
*LYCIA* “Is something wrong?” I murmured to myself walking towards the palace garden that Esme had called me to. For some reason she had insisted we meet there but it was weird because she had sent a messenger to fetch me instead of coming to see me herself. Did she need to talk to me secretly about something? Seff had been gone for the past hour to talk to the King and Reemus about his departure from the kingdom back to my Coven so I had been killing time searching for Esme when I received the message. I might sound like a bad friend but maybe I should have paid more attention to her instead of leaving her with a complete stranger. “Shit, I probably need to apologize and do some damage control,” I muttered looking at the heavily guarded palace with Lycans staying put at their posts in utter discipline. Their eyes followed me periodically and every move I made was assessed to guess if I had been a person with ill intentions. Well it was a given, I was the princess of the neighbor
*SEFF*“A month, huh?” I muttered to myself as I sighed and walked out of the throne room after having a serious conversation and some mild begging to my brother. He had allowed me to go back to Lycia’s Coven but wanted me to come back to the kingdom in a month. I am partly sure that it is because he still doesn’t trust the coven and Lycia that well yet but the other half could be because he feels lonely when I am gone.The palace always felt a little too big to me when I was alone here and Roz was away for official business.A month felt too short a span of time to probably sort everything and come back to visit him but I needed to try my best.“If it is a day more than a month then be prepared to see me present myself there the very next day.” That was his threat to me and given the history that Lycia’s mother had with the Lycans this type of a situation could only lead to both sides hating each other more.Why couldn’t people understand that a moth was too less a time to sort relat
(6 years later)*LYCIA*Blinking open my eyes I yawned and turned my head to the side to find that my husband and adorable mate was already staring at me.“Good morning,” I mumbled, making him kiss me.“Morning beautiful,” he said against my lips.“How long have you been staring at me, you creep?” I asked with a chuckle, realizing that it was still early in the morning.“Long enough to get me hard,” he said, swiftly turning us over so that I was now sitting above him as he clamped onto my thighs that were stretched out on his either side, with my crotch directly in line to his cock.“Seff!” I admonished him hitting his chest as I felt all sleep vanish from my mind with the straining hot dick I felt through the soft cotton of his boxers. The loose t-shirt I was wearing over my boy shorts moved out of the way leaving us touching directly save for our underwear.“What? I thought you promised that we would do something naughty today,” he said and I realized that he must have been looking
*LYCIA*"I can't believe you would be the first one to get married among all of us," Esme said, adjusting my veil so that it framed my face better."Hey, don't forget you were the one who wanted me to get into a serious relationship. I merely adhered to my best friend's request," I said, making her pout at me."Don't think that just because you made me your bridesmaid I will forgive you for keeping that secret about the spirit from me," she said, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "That isn't something you hide. You should always come to me first when something happens. I want to be there for you.""I've already apologized a million times for it. Please let it go for today," I groaned, her action reminding me of Reemus. The two were similar in that they both held a mean grudge.She grinned at my expression and then, facing forward, she said, "By the way, you look really sexy! Seff is going to lose his mind."Suddenly, there was a cough behind us, making her look embarrassedly at my d
"Give me some space and move as far away as you can," he said, motioning for us to stick to the walls and keep our distance."Are all magicians this strong?" Seff asked in my head. "I feel like every witch and wizard that I have seen so far are phenomenally strong.""No, I think it's just Lars who can get off a hospital bed and start to wield such strong and difficult magic like that," I said in slight awe at the power he held."Alright, I will start now. Don't try to intervene in between," he said, and then closing his eyes, he started chanting a spell in the old witches' language.Electricity crackled in the air around him as the clothes on his skin started to lift in the air from the waves of magic that he was sending out from him. Slowly, he was lifted off the floor, and just when we thought something would happen, he was plopped down to his feet, making him open his eyes and shake his head."Ah, I think I have become a little rusty not having used magic in so long. Don't worry, j
*LYCIA*So maybe I was wrong. The reason why Mom wasn’t worried wasn’t because she had been hiding her fears; it was because she had been working on it. So far, she had put ten tracker witches on Alora’s case to find her, and although they hadn’t been successful, she had been putting all her time and energy into bringing her out of whichever hold she had been hidden in.“It feels weird to be back here,” I commented from my spot on my bed, where I had been lying flat on my belly while Seff was seated on the sofa of my room, holding a cushion to his chest and taking in the room.We had decided to stay the night at the palace yesterday after the ceremony and had only returned back home just two minutes ago after having breakfast with Roz and freshened up.“Yeah, it does, but also kind of nostalgic and comfortable,” he said, picking at a stain on the wall of my lipstick form when I had once thrown it at him, and the stick had smeared red on the wall. “I can’t believe so much time has pass
*LYCIA*There was a still silence that hushed the people as they stared at the scene before them.“Your Highness,” the priestess started at the sudden change of the happy scene. “We shouldn’t do something like this on such a joyous occasion like today.”“It is exactly why it should be done today, in front of all these people, to show them their fates if they were to try to harm the crown and the royal family,” Roz said, his voice naturally reaching far and wide even without the microphone as people listened in on what their feared leader had to say.“But this is an auspicious occasion, shedding blood today…?” The priestess trailed off hesitantly, voicing her thoughts and those of the others who had been raptly looking at the scene before them.“Are you questioning your king right now?” Seff asked, looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.The question chilled my blood; there was rage behind it that couldn’t be masked even with the calm demeanor he had used to ask those words. He abho
*LYCIA*My heart felt like it would beat out of its cage and run all the way back to Amoret. Amoret was a small coven, so its population was small too, but with the way things had been in Darrow, I didn’t know how to face such a gigantic crowd.“Nervous?” Mom asked, coming to my side where I had been waiting to be called to greet the crowd of Darrow.“How could I not be? There are more than a thousand people out there waiting to see me, and millions more watching me back at their homes,” I said, feeling the anxiety eat at my nerves. "I knew what was coming for me, yet when I peeked out and saw it in reality, it was unbelievable. I can’t believe I am a part of the royalty of such a big kingdom."“Regretting being mates with that boy now?” she asked with a wicked smile on her face. She was teasing me and enjoying seeing me squirm, as if taunting me to have listened to her and stayed within the protective walls of the coven.“Never,” I admitted, “I almost died, fought a crazy manic culti
*LYCIA*"So you finally got rid of the Luna training, huh? Wasn’t this a bit extreme, though? You didn’t have to go and risk your life for it."At the words, I turned around to finally see the man who had been missing since yesterday after our return."Reemus! Where have you been?" I asked, rushing towards him. I had wondered about his whereabouts a few times but had forgotten to ask Seff about it."While a certain someone freed herself, I am still bound by my duties to get the Luna ceremony prepared for her," he said with a sigh. Then, with a small smile, he let go of his pretenses of being annoyed and said, "It's good to see that you are fine. I heard what happened, and it must have been really scary for you.""Of course, almost getting transformed into a chimera with my mate wasn’t the most pleasant of thoughts," I joked. But even as I said it, I felt my bile churn at the thought of it actually happening."Spare me from having to imagine that again. If that human hadn't already bee
*LYCIA*They knew.It was apparent by the silence that we now sat in after having just finished our lunch. We had been late because of obvious reasons, and by the time we came, dessert was already served to Dad and Roz, making us quietly hurry through our meal."Since we couldn’t talk while having lunch together," Roz said, looking at the two of us pointedly, "We should continue our conversation in the sitting room."Oh my goodness, I could see it from his gaze that he knew we were late because we were busy fucking each other.‘This is so embarrassing,’ I said, following King Roz to his sitting room, who was now talking to Dad again.‘Is it? I feel quite content, though,’ Seff grinned, glowing from the post-orgasmic bliss.‘Don’t joke about it! I can’t even look Dad in the eyes,’ I said, groaning as I remembered Dad politely smiling at me when I walked in and apologized for being late. ‘We should have stopped right there in the bathtub. Why did you have to seduce me to do it properly
"Lycia! Oh, my goddess! You are back!" Dad's worried voice fell on my ears like a salve, and tears spurted to my eyes like those of a child. I turned around to let him gather me in a hug."My sweet child, I am sorry. It's all my fault. Are you alright?" he asked, his shaky hands reluctantly pulling away from me to look me over. I could see in his eyes that even as I stood there, he found it difficult to believe that I was before him, safe and sound."Why are you covered in soot? Did she try to burn you?" Roz's aggravated voice roared out his anger and concern as he grabbed Seff by the shoulders and turned him around to check on him."We are fine, but let us talk about everything after Lycia and I take a bath," Seff said, pointing at his attire and our state."Yes, of course, but first, tell me, are you both hurt anywhere else besides this?" Dad asked, still anxious as he examined my burnt hands. He didn't wait for my response as he closed his eyes and started working on healing my han