Chapter 003

Esmeralda POV

“Are you sure about this? Won’t you all get into trouble or something?” I asked the girls as we got to a secret part of the palace. I didn't get what was going on. It seemed like I'd just got out of something like a trance.

I now know that I wasn’t having a nightmare, but something seems to be missing right now. It feels as though I’m meant to be with something or someone.

Right, my father. He should be with me right now, that horrible experience was just a part of my imagination. It definetly wasn’t real, so he should be with me right now. There was no way he's actually dead. Of course he wasn't, he promised me that he'll be there for me forever

So yeah he's….

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, we’ve taken care of everything already. And even the guards at the entrance will allow you go, we all know about it.” She said, cutting my thoughts off.

“Can we wait though? I need to go with my father, I can’t leave without him.” I said, stopping.

They all looked at one another, a sad expression crossing their features too. Why are they staring at me that way? Is that pity?

I realized that I was wasting more time by standing there, so I just turned around in a bid to go and get my father like I had said. I was however drawn back by the one closest to me.

“Uh, you have to leave now. Your father is in a better place now, I’m sure he’d want you to leave now too as we’re way behind time.” I was told.

I frowned, “What do you mean? Isn’t he waiting for me? He came to the kingdom earlier-“ I was cut off by some quick movements close to us.

The maids dragged me away from that place and we started running towards a place that was so unfamiliar to me. We got to a wall and one of the maids started punching some parts of the wall. I was confused as to what was going on until the wall started making way. It’s a door. It’s really a door.

“You have to leave now. Just go down this tunnel, it’ll lead right outside the kingdom. There are warriors and guards at the other side, they’ll let you go.” She said, then stared at me with something like disgust mixed with pity. “Maybe you'll meet your father at the other side”

I wanted to talk but the door was rapidly closed and locked. I looked around to see myself in a tunnel, the only thing is that it wasn’t dark at all. It was well lit.

Where’s this place? It looks like a hidden passageway or something. Thorne had actually told me once that there’s a lot of hidden passageways in the palace, it comes in handy in case of emergency.

I walked down just like I was told, I didn’t even know what I was doing anymore. I just knew that I needed to get out of here.

Just like I had been told, I saw the guards. They let me go and I was given a map with a lamp, I asked for my father once more and I was only given that pitiful look.

What was wrong with everyone? Why wouldn't they just let me see him?

As I stepped into the woods, all that was on my mind was making it till morning then I’d go look for my father.

~

A yelp of pain escaped my mouth as the wolf fell off of me.

That's another one dead. How many have I killed so far?

When exactly will these rogues stop attacking? I’d fought against three rogues counting from last night even though I had made sure to stay on the neutral lands.

“This really isn’t how I expected my first pregnancy to go.” I mumbled to myself as I tried to rest a bit before proceeding again.

My mind slowly drifted to few nights ago with Thorne. We had a very mind blowing sex, one that made both of us pant for air after we were done.

“That was so good, I’ve never felt so good.” He said to me, his hand slowly brushing my hair as he said that.

“if I’m happy, you’re happy.” I mumbled, a small smile on my face. He placed a very gentle kiss on my cheeks, making me feel so contented and loved. The forehead kisses and his warm hugs make me feel like nothing else matter in this world.

“I love you, don’t ever for once doubt that. I love you more than life itself.” He said, almost as if he could read my mind and could see the uncertainty running through it.

I slept in his arms that night, so happy and loved. It was the next morning that he started acting up, I didn’t even know that he found out about my father’s plans and he presumed that I knew about it because of how close I was to my father.

And he said he was going to stand by me through everything. A bitter feeling came up in my mouth as I remembered all that we had done together since we met two years ago.

My hand went to my stomach, I rubbed it affectionately.

“I promise to be with you all through everything, and this isn’t an empty promise at all.” I mumbled.

This child is going to be the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I’ll ensure that. I'll make sure my child never suffers. But for now, I have to make it out of this place before I get eaten up by the wild wolves. It seems there’s quite a number of them in this part of the woods.

I’ve never been so happy that I took my training classes seriously, it’s not even like my father would have had it another way. He loves me, but not to the point of protecting me to the extent of getting a few bruises from training.

I picked up myself and the map that I had been given, using it to nagivage the woods. I walked for some minutes then I felt the presence of some rogues around me.

“Not again,” I mumbled to myself. Can I just get a breather for today already?

And I really hope the moon goddess has a very good plan in stock for me. There's gotta be a reason for making me go through all these stress.

The rogues came into view but they weren’t the regular ones at all. These ones look so clean and organized.

“Hey,” I called out to them but they barely stared at me before going their way.

How rude…

I sighed and headed towards the opposite direction. I couldn't help but wonder though

Who were they?