Chapter Six:The Kingdom That Shouldn't Exist

​POV: Aurelia

​The bed underneath me felt softer than anything I had ever touched in the Bloodmoon pack house, so I opened my eyes slowly to find myself inside a massive bedroom carved entirely from white crystal blocks. The deep ache from Kael’s brutal rejection was still throbbing heavily inside my chest,  when I pulled back the silk sheet to inspect my right forearm, the deep cut from the blood sacrifice was already closing up into a faint pink line.

​I stood up from the mattress, walking over to the enormous glass windows on the far side of the room, so I could figure out where the strange warriors had taken my body after the assassins cornered me in the northern forest. Outside the glass lay a massive hidden kingdom with white stone houses, grand towers, bustling markets, while the entire city was completely surrounded by towering snow-covered mountains that made it look invisible to the rest of the world.

​"Where on earth am I, because this cannot be anywhere near the neutral territories," I muttered to myself, turning away from the window to head toward the massive double doors of the chamber so I could find a way out.

​The moment I pushed the heavy doors open to step into the hallway, dozens of heavily armed royal guards wearing polished silver armor dropped down to their knees right in front of my feet.

​"Welcome home, Your Highness," the guard captain said, keeping his head bowed low while his long spear rested against the stone floor.

​I froze completely, looking down at the top of his helmet because I was certain these men had confused me with a completely different person. "You need to stand up right now because you have definitely mistaken me for someone else, since I am just a rejected, wolfless orphan who was kicked out of her pack yesterday morning."

​The guards exchanged quick, uneasy glances with each other, but they remained on their knees, refusing to explain a single thing to me despite my clear confusion.

​"Our orders are very strict, so we must escort you to meet the ruler of the hidden kingdom immediately if you are able to walk," the captain replied, rising to his feet while the rest of his men stood up to form a protective circle around my body.

​"Can you at least tell me the name of the ruler, or why your leader in the canyon called me a princess before I passed out from the blood loss," I asked, following them down a wide hallway filled with grand statues, but the captain just kept his eyes forward, remaining completely silent.

​As we walked through the main halls of the royal palace, every single person we passed stopped what they were doing to bow their heads deeply in total respect. Several young servants began crying into their aprons, while a few elderly nobles stopped walking, staring at my face as though they were looking at a literal ghost from their past.

​An old maid carrying a silver tea tray suddenly dropped it onto the floor, causing a massive clattering sound to echo down the corridor as the cups shattered. "It cannot be her, because Princess Lysara disappeared over twenty years ago."

​"No, look closer at her features," an older noble quickly corrected her, pulling the maid back while staring at my eyes. "She is not Lysara, but she has her mother's exact face."

​The whispers made me feel increasingly unsettled, because none of these people knew my name, yet every single person in the palace seemed to recognize my face.

​Before we reached the main audience hall, the guards guided me into a side dining room where a young girl was waiting with a steaming bowl of meat broth, fresh bread, sliced fruits.

​"Please sit down and eat, because you have been asleep for two full days," a kind older physician said, stepping forward with a jar of soothing medicine to gently treat the minor scrapes on my knees instead of mocking my human weakness.

​Nobody in the room called me a useless curse, nobody looked at my lack of a wolf with disgust, so the simple kindness completely overwhelmed me after five years of abuse from Kael’s pack. I sat down at the table, quietly crying while chewing on the warm bread, because the gentle treatment made me understand how terrible my life had actually been back at the Bloodmoon borders.

​"Do not cry, little one, because no one is ever going to hurt you inside these walls again," the physician whispered, handing me a clean cloth to dry my face before the guards signaled that it was time to move.

​The massive golden doors to the royal throne room slowly opened, revealing a vast hall filled with hundreds of dressed-up nobles who all stopped talking the exact second I stepped inside. An imposing Alpha with long silver hair, broad shoulders, a massive crown rose from the central throne, stepping down the stone dais with heavy, echoing steps.

​The moment his bright silver eyes met mine, the powerful ruler stopped moving, his knees buckling until he dropped straight onto the floor in front of the entire court. With hot tears streaming down his weathered face, he reached out a trembling hand toward my cheek, whispering his next words into the quiet room.

​"My daughter... you are finally home."

​The entire court gasped loudly at his words, while I stood completely frozen in the center of the hall, staring at the crying king.

​"What did you just call me?"