LOGINDivya’s povFor days following my encounter with the queen and Lord Matthias, I've been feeling an unfamiliar sense of restlessness. I had initially brushed it off as a side effect of being in a new environment and the training I was currently undergoing, but I thought that with time it would stop. Yet as time went on, the restless feeling intensified, making me edgy.I didn’t know what was causing my restlessness, but I had tried several times to sort out my feelings and had done everything I could to make it go away. But no matter what I did, the feeling didn’t subside. Unbeknownst to me, Cassius had noticed my unusual behavior and reported it to the king, who in turn summoned me to his office.As soon as I entered his office, the king walked up to me and held my hands. “Child, I heard that you have been feeling restless for a while now. You need to brace yourself. You are about to experience your first change. The restlessness you have been feeling is the first stage of the chang
Mother stood up and walked up to me. She reached for my right hand, placed it between her palms with mine falling upward, and gently rubbed the inner part in a circular, soothing way. Growing up, she always did this as an act of calming me. Which works most of the time.“I traced his life force. Though it is a bit faint and barely spotted, it is not yet extinguished.” I quickly grabbed her hands in mine. “You located him.”“I located a trace of him,” she corrected. “His energy flickers near the eastern border… beyond the Blackwater cliffs.”My eyes darkened. “Blackwater cliffs?” As far as I can remember, there is nothing there. It was just a vast wasteland that had remained unclaimed for ages.“Yes, Blackwater Cliff, and I wonder why. That place has been nothing but unclaimed, forgotten, and secluded territory, which made me wonder why his energy flickers there," she said.My mind was already racing at the thought. A light of hope ignited within me. “If Lee is truly around there, then
It was the man I had run into earlier with the king. “Oh, if it isn’t the young lady I had the honor of meeting earlier. What a pleasant surprise it is. Are you done visiting the king, or are you going to stay for a while?”The man (if I recall correctly, the name the king called him was Lord Matthias) approached me as though we were acquaintances. He walked up to me and spoke in a familiar tone that could mislead others into thinking we were close and well acquainted.When my maids saw who it was, they quickly greeted him as "Lord Matthias." However, I couldn't help but notice that when they saw him, they all trembled slightly.I became suspicious of him. Not only from their reaction toward him, but also from how the king acted toward him. The king had kept my identity from him and was being cautious with him despite being his uncle. There must be a reason for that. A reason that I’m yet to know about.Hence, it wasn’t a bad idea to take note of these and be cautious of him. There
I met her gaze. “You can believe whatever you want to believe. Your opinion about me doesn’t affect me in the slightest. However, I do know one thing for sure.“And what is that?”“You are afraid.”The laughter dies, and Althea’s eyes harden. “What do you mean? I afraid? Of what exactly? Please do tell me.”“Me. It seems, for some reason, you are intimidated by me.”She let out a short chuckle, “Hehe. Unbelievable. What makes you think that I, Althea Dragomir, am scared of you? Let me tell you something just to be clear. You are the one who should be afraid here. Not just of me, but of everyone. This palace devours those who are unwelcome and without protection.” She looked away from me and nodded toward Lee. “If you think that he will be able to protect you, then you are too naive. Even my father, the king, will have a hard time protecting you, much less him. That you were even able to come out of the queen’s bedchamber without a scratch, you should count yourself lucky.”I paused br
“My lady, are you alright?” Lee rushed up to me as soon as I stepped out. I nodded my head in confirmation and stepped forward. “Yeah, I’m alright, Lee. Let’s get going.”I was already feeling exhausted from the emotional turmoil I had with the queen, and all I just wanted at the moment was to rest my head.I turned to the maids, believing they knew the way to my room. “Please show me to my assigned room.”“Yes, your highness.” They bowed and turned to lead the way.However, an arrogant voice stopped that from happening.“Wow, I didn’t know that privileges and titles meant for the royal family could be easily given to just anybody.”I stopped in place and looked up to see who it was that just spoke.Just ahead, closing in the distance between us, was a lady, rather young, probably younger than I was, and dressed in a luxurious outfit with an air of arrogance. Her gown was adorned with gold and rubies. A step behind her were two other young ladies with the same air of arrogance.They
The room fell into silence as I opened page after page of the file before me. “So you are telling me that this was not the first time these creatures made their first appearance on our territory.”“Yes, brother. From my investigation, one of them appeared in our territory twenty years ago on the night of the red blood moon.”A chair scraped sharply across the floor. Rowan muttered a curse under his breath. “I remember that night, Your Highness. The sudden explosion that took place at the border that night had thrown everyone into a state of despair because no one knew what had triggered it. The borders were in chaos. We suspected rogues, witches, and even traveling fae caravans. We even suspected neighboring packs. But not once did anyone speak of a different race.”“Well, that was because they never gave us reason to, Captain. The legends said changelings kept to themselves—secluded valleys, drowned cities, caves that mirrored faces in the walls. They hid from not just the wolves bu







