I needed to find out exactly why Emanuel wanted the harbour so badly. It felt as if that would be the key to solving my problem once and for all and saving Ariana. I decided I needed to get down to the harbour. If I could see it for myself, I might just be able to see something that I might have missed before. It wouldn’t just be the business that moved through the harbour. I couldn’t see Emanuel running around collecting taxes and dealing with ship captains.As I walked through the market, it pained me to see the slaves chained up. The market wasn’t what I remembered it to be. The shock was enough to distract me from Ariana being missing. I spent all morning in the market taking notes of all the things I wanted to change in the lives of the slaves, like making sure they had their own homes.It was one of the reasons I needed Emanuel to grant us access to the forest. I couldn’t expand the kingdom beyond its current borders because that would mean war with some nation, but I needed my
I had no idea what I was going to say to him or what he would even do, but I needed to speak to him. I had just turned a corner when Emanuel appeared in front of me. Her face suddenly looked so angry. It was distorted and I wanted to sidestep and run past her, but she did something and I couldn’t run. My legs were running in the air and I was getting really frustrated when I suddenly hit the ground with a loud thud and trees came up all around me like a cage.“Didn’t I ask you politely not to go back there?” She hissed and for the first time, I saw her fangs. She was nothing like she pretended to be! Unfortunately, I saw it too late!“Did you mean it when you said you wanted to save the slaves?!” I growled, knowing she could read my thoughts. I was stronger in my wolf form. There was no way I would give her the upper hand … More than she already had.“That is why I asked you to stay!” A howl echoed through the forest, interrupting our talk. That had to be Lorenzo! I opened my mouth to
ArianaI COULDN’T MAKE OUT WHETHER the pixies were celebrating or if they were upset that I was there, which made me wonder if I would ever be allowed to leave again. Now that I knew where their home was, it would make sense for them to keep me there.A lot about their species suddenly made sense. I always thought they were just some kind of fairy, but clearly, they weren’t. They were the opposite. No fairy would have done this to me. No fairy would ever have taken me prisoner like this, would they? The woman who used to look so damn beautiful now looked as though she was a thousand years old, as she leaned on her walking stick on her way to one of the houses. She was talking in a language I couldn’t understand and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what she was saying.This was a huge mess and I was the one who got myself into it this time. I watched as things slowly died down and wondered what the chances were of me being able to escape. I studied the strange bars of the cage that se
ArianaSILENCE FELL AND A GROUP OF BIRDS took flight. We could hear the fight in the distance, but when silence fell, the guards who were in the camp looked at each other as if they hadn’t heard something they had been waiting to hear.I was just about to try and howl again when the cage around me suddenly started to pull away and I dropped to the ground. I didn’t hang around to find out what the hell was happening and burst past the soldiers on my way back home. Not my peaceful house in the forest. My home is in the castle. I knew I would never see my peaceful home in the forest again, but it no longer mattered.I was just about to burst through the forest line that showed the border of the two kingdoms when I heard his howl behind me. I turned around to see two men carrying a half-dazed Lorenzo. He was still alive, but he had been badly injured, which made me wonder if she was still alive. I didn’t want to waste time as we rushed him across the clearing and into the castle.Trixie a
I knew that tensions were brewing all around us. I could feel it even in my room. Sadly, most people would never know why I ran. Hell, I wasn’t even entirely sure anymore. After my bath, I couldn’t sleep and Lesley suggested that we go for a walk. We were walking through the gardens when I noted people making their way back to town. Many of them were crying, and some of the faces were of the family Lorenzo and I went to see.“Lesley, would it be possible for me to see the dead?” I whipped around, giving the poor girl behind me a fright. She seemed to think about it for a moment and then nodded. I wasn’t sure if she was asking permission through the pack link or if she was just thinking about it, and frankly, I didn’t care. Even if she said no, I would have found a way to go and pay my last respects.Silence fell over the great hall as we walked in and it almost felt as if people were too scared to approach me. I walked to where the first warrior’s family was standing near him and than
LorenzoI was having a hard time keeping my eyes off Ariana and on the people that needed my attention. Silently swearing at myself for how stupid I had been in the beginning, I also promised myself that I would do whatever it took to win her back. Surprisingly, both my parents were in my corner and agreed that making Ariana queen was the best for our people.It was as if my father had finally seen the light and my mother was simply ecstatic. She even offered to try and smooth things over with Ariana and her first duty was to make sure Ariana was presentable for the funeral. That was when she came up with the idea of gifting Ariana her first set of jewels my father gave her when he was courting her.Ariana outshone the beauty of the jewels. She was just that amazing … Or I was biased … Maybe a little of both.ArianaAFTER A WEEK OF MOURNING, it felt really good to be able to trade my black dress for a blue one. I could feel the tension lift as all around the kingdom, the black mournin
I no longer felt as if I wanted to run. For the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t thinking about a house in the forest. I wasn’t sure if it was because the one I did have turned out to be yet another horror story in my life or if it was because I was finally close to having a family, but it didn’t really matter which. I could honestly say that I was happy.Unfortunately, before Lorenzo and I could officially start dating, there had to be a ball and I couldn’t help but laugh when his mother announced it. Lorenzo’s intention to court me had to be officially announced in front of all the nobles since they would all be given the opportunity to object to our union. It was all part of their pomp and fuss and he hated every moment of it.Lorenzo was a great king, because of it. He didn’t want to spend his time lazing about or having parties that cost his people money. He wanted to take care of them. All of them. That now included the pixies who might want to stay in what used to be th
It was truly a magical evening with incredible food, good champagne, not that I drank much of it, and great company. Lorenzo and I danced and I loved walking out onto the balcony with him to get some fresh air. People in general seemed happy with the announcement, but I hadn’t missed a couple of the glares I received from that small group of people.We all knew they were going to object to Lorenzo marrying me. Just like they were objecting to the slaves being set free, and the kingdom allowing the pixies to stay in their country. In general, this group objected to any kind of change that might affect their so-called status. If only they knew how fragile that status was and how close Lorenzo was to taking it away from them.The authority to both grand and withdraw titles lay with the king. Their families might have received the titles years ago from another king, but it was now Lorenzo’s turn and I was afraid that if they kept up their resistance, he might just show them what life as a