chapter 4

Back inside the comfort of her room. Aria carefully brought out what she had hidden underneath her dress. She held it in her hands and placed it delicately on her bed.

She wondered if Dax knew that she had sneakily taken the Ancient Historical Journal from his study the moment he wasn’t paying attention to her. 

She made a mental note to return the journal as soon as she finishes reading it, before he would notices that it was taken away from his study. 

The ancient journal contains so much information that she thinks will help her to understand her duties to the king and to their pack, but what she didn’t know was that the journal was a sacred property of the royals and is not to be held by anyone except the King and the Head Counselor. If anyone should see the journal with her, then she would be in a lot of trouble.

She absentmindedly started flipping the pages of the medium sized old-looking journal aggressively. She was trying to absorb as much information as she could within a short time.

The knowledge packed in the journal was too extreme for her to comprehend. She was getting more confused as she kept on reading. They were secrets that she misunderstood, instructions that she misinterpreted. Her head was spinning, but she didn’t stop.

   “ARIA?!” She heard her name echo through the room.

She quickly  sprung up in shock and then , hurriedly covered the journal with her blanket so as to hide it from the eyes of the person that had entered her room unannounced. But her effort was pointless because he had seen the journal before she could hide it.

   “Why didn’t you knock?” she  asked. She was furious and ranging with anger. 

“I could have been naked, you know!”She stated , angrily staring at Marcus whose head was facing the floor .

   He composed himself and felt sorry for barging into her room. 

  “I’m sorry my lady. I knocked on your door several times and got no response but besides, that isn’t an excuse for me to come in without your approval.” He placed his hands together in a prayerful manner and sincerely apologized.

   “It’s alright… I’m sorry for the way I yelled. You just scared me.” She apologized.

   “Dax shouldn’t see you with that sacred journal. It was handed to him by his father before they were ambushed… He would be very pissed the moment he perceives that the journal had been removed from his study.” He spoke in almost a whisper.

   “I promise to return it as soon as I’m done with it.” she replied with pleading eyes and pouty lips.

   “Then lock your door while you are reading it. I have to go.” He said,

He was trying to leave Aria’s room quickly because he was afraid that someone might have seen him when he entered her room and would misinterpret his intentions.

   “Marcus?” she called out his name as he was about to leave.

   “Yes, my lady.” He stopped to answer.

   “I know that I may be asking too many questions, but could you tell me how Dax's father died?”

   “W—what… everybody knows how he died.” Marcus stuttered and rushed his words nervously.

   “I have never seen you as nervous as this before. Just a minute ago, you said something about an ambush. I just want to know the real truth.” Aria calmly insisted.

    “My lady, if you really want to know the truth about Dax's father's death, then you should ask the king .” He suggested with a shrug.

    “Oooh…”

   “And another thing my lady, King Dax wanted me to let you know that he would be leaving tonight for an important meeting and would be back in the next few days.”

   “He is leaving?” Aria found it hard to believe.

   “Yes, but it’s only for a few days.”

   “Huh? Wait… why couldn’t he tell me himself?” She requested.

   “Because he is having a meeting with the council of elders as we speak.” Marcus said these last words and walked out of Aria’s room.

She  stood at the same spot for a while before she moved to lock her door. Just when she was about to lock it, someone knocked on the door.

   “Yes…” she breathlessly answered. The news of Dax leaving had left her feeling weak and withdrawn.

   “Are you okay?” Dax worriedly asked when his eyes fell on her sad face.

   “Marcus informed me that you are leaving.” She quietly spoke, not having any energy in her voice.

   “I’ll be gone for only a few days.” He raised his hands and gently placed them on her  shoulders. 

   “How many days?” she asked.

   “Five or six days.”he responded as he glanced at her yearning eyes ,mixed with sadness that was slowly creeping into her .

   “Ooh that’s too long… make it three days, pleeease.” She clasped her hands together and pleaded with puppy eyes.

Dax let out a forced exhale through his mouth. He looked down at her cute grayish blue eyes— her eyes were one of a kind, so innocent and yet mysterious. He couldn’t help but admire her beauty. He knew that it was too early to leave her to such huge responsibilities, but he had faith in her that she would perform her duties well and see to the organized running of the pack’s warfare. 

He smiled at her as she begged for lesser days. He could tell that she was nervous and unsure of her capabilities.

   “Okay. Three days and I’ll be back.” He didn’t want to waste more time.

   “Promise?” she  unclasped her hands and stretched out her right pinkie fingers to his face.

   “I never knew you could be this childish.” He chuckled warmly. 

   “There are many things you don’t know about me, my lord.” She smiled playfully, still holding up her pinkie.

   “I promise.” He removed his right hand from her shoulder and entwined his pinkie with hers. 

They both giggled like little kids, then felt embarrassed as soon as they dropped their hands by their sides. Aria planted her eyes on her feet while Dax fixed his gaze on one of the windows in the room.

   “Ummm… I should be going now.” He hesitantly broke the sudden awkwardness. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on her cheek. As he was about to turn and face the door, she stopped him with her hands and spun him around to face her again. She stretched on her tiptoes and kissed his lips lightly.

   “Have a safe journey,” she whispered.

By the time Dax was out of her room, she locked the door and went back to reading the journal. 

She found herself smiling occasionally whenever the thought of Dax crossed her mind. She wondered what he thought about the kiss because he was quiet and said nothing. She started contradicting herself  when she realized that she had gone over her head by kissing him.

She feared that he would think less of her and assume that she was delighted with how things worked out between him and her sister.

‘I wished I didn’t kiss him.’ She heaved a frustrated sigh and dropped the journal so she could figure out what she would do to fix the whole kissing episode. Her mind was still trying to make up an excuse when someone started banging on her door.

She speedily rushed and hid the journal in her dresser.

She unlocked the door and Sarah was leaning on the wall by the door frame.

Aria perceived that something was wrong because Sarah was sobbing and panting heavily.

   “What is the problem?” Aria asked her as she inspected her face and arms for any injury.

   “The little omegas will all die if you don’t intervene,” Sarah whimpered. 

   “What do you mean by the little omegas that will die?… Are they in any form of danger?”

   “It’s Miranda. She is making them work as hard as their parents. I tried to stop her but she punished me instead.”

   “That’s unbelievably cruel of her. Please take me there.” 

She hurriedly followed behind Sarah. They both ran into the kitchen and Aria nearly burst into tears when she saw little Abigail scrubbing the kitchen floor with her bare hands. She knelt in front of the little girl and tried to stop her from hurting her delicate hands.

   “Abby, it’s me Aria… I want you to stop what you are doing… Okay?” Aria spoke calmly to the little girl whose hands had turned bright red from all the rigorous scrubbing.

Aria attempted to stop the girl with her hands but she didn’t budge. The girl refused to let go of the tiny sponge in her hands.

   “Please… Madam Miranda will not feed me if I don’t finish my work.” Abby begged in her tiny shaky voice.

Aria felt so emotional and broke down when the girl spoke. She took it upon herself at that moment to set things right.

She had known the little girl, Abby—as she fondly calls her—for a while now. 

Abby is a little black orphan omega with beautiful brown skin. She has dark curly hair and a small cute face. Her father and older siblings died before she was born. Then her mother died while giving birth to her. She had been under the care of the orphanage home that had been taking good care of them until now.

   “Sarah, where can I find Miranda?” She asked as she stood to her feet , leaving Abby to continue whatever she was doing.Her heart was heavy and she was also hurting.

   “She should be in the field instructing the workers.”She responded,with her hands pointing towards the direction of the field.

Aria was in agony but decided to calm her raging nerves with some breathing exercises. She knew that as a Queen, it is very important to compose herself and hide her emotions as much as possible. She made up her mind to solve the situation with the use of wisdom because she knew that Miranda was playing mind games with her by hurting the omegas intentionally so that she could get an irrational reaction from her.

But first things first, she cut a piece of  chocolate cake in her hand and showed Abby who hadn’t raised her face up from the floor. 

The little girl’s big black eyes shone delightfully as her brain recognised that the cake on Aria’s hand was dessert.

   “When was the last time you ate a piece of cake?” Aria playfully asked her.

   “I can’t remember.” The girl held her belly as it made a rumbling noise.

   “Do you want it?” She teased.

   “Yes, Aria.” 

   “Then get up and let Sarah wash your hands so you can eat your cake.” 

Abby jumped up with the last strength she had and abandoned the sponge on the floor. After Sarah had washed her hands , Aria gave her the cake to eat.

Aria resumed washing and cleaning the floor by herself, even when Sarah had protested against it. She knew that Sarah was tired and didn’t want to stress her out.

When she was done with everything, she invited Sarah and Abby to stay with her in her room since she needed their company and was scared that Miranda would come after them again.

As soon as they got to Aria’s room, she bathed Abby and treated her bruised hands with some ointment, then sang lullabies until she fell asleep in her arms.

   “What would happen to Abby when Dax comes back?” Sarah asked with concern.

   “I don’t know for now… but I’ll figure something out later.” 

The room was quiet for a while before someone began pounding on the door like it was a pouncing bag.

Sarah stood up to open the door.

Miranda was standing by the entrance with two high ranking Lycan soldiers. One of the soldiers announced to Aria that she had been summoned to the council of the elders.

   “That’s okay. Let me hurriedly get my coat,” she asked softly.

   “That wouldn’t be necessary my lady. It is a matter of—”

    “As the Lycan Queen of this pack… I order you three to leave my presence at once!” Aria commanded angrily. She looked to her left and caught a glimpse of Miranda’s evil stare as Miranda and the soldiers left them alone.

She assumed that she might be in some kind of trouble. She tried to recap her thoughts so she could place her finger on why the elders had sent for her.

   “Look after Abby… I may be gone for a while.” She laid the girl on her bed and covered her with her blanket.