.........Maia........“What?” The king’s voice draws our attention to the dining area, where we see him approaching us, and Stefania runs to him and buries herself in his arms before dropping another bomb on us. She says Paris’s mate is a human. He broke their engagement off for a human.“That’s impossible. He can never be mated to a human,” the king says with a disgusted incredulous look in his blazing eyes before instructing us to assist Stefania to her room. I take her hand, feeling the familiar ache in my heart at the king's reaction and the queen drapes her arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer.Humans are insignificant to wolves. The king even says they slow the world down and are a nuisance. I cried the first day I heard him say that, and the queen came to find me and told me he didn’t mean it. She said they don’t think of me as a human because I’m family, but even she couldn’t look me in the eye as she fed me that bull. After I turned eighteen, two years ago I wanted to

.........Evaki........."Come sit down," Tory says, patting the spot next to her as I stand by the window, watching the outside even though my mind is so clouded that I can’t even see anything. When I don’t respond, she walks up to me, and I feel her hand on my back. "You’re going to be fine, Evaki," she says, rubbing circles, and I appreciate her constant words of comfort. But they are not doing anything for me right now. I shouldn’t have come here. It was stupid of me to even hope that I’d be accepted. I should have run the moment Paris told me who he was. I’m not cut out for this. Even if his family accepted me by some miracle, I’m not a queen. I’m just a simple girl from a small town, and I’m way over my head here. How would I lead a kingdom of supernatural beings when I couldn’t even lead humans? His family will be right not to want me. I will make him weak. When I still don’t respond, she takes my hand and lightly squeezes it, and just then, the door to the room opens and Ant

.........................................................Aphrodite - Paris’s mother .........................................................Paris left after delivering the gut-wrenching news that he wouldn’t take the throne. He is our only heir, and he cannot turn his back on his people. We have never had a human queen before, but I won’t lose my son. I’d rather damn everything than lose him.Plus, what if he’s right? What if this isn’t a test but the will of the gods, and we go against it? If it's indeed a test, what if it’s not he who’s being tested but us, and we fail? Mates are sacred, and they are given to us as a gift. By forcing rejections and choosing others, we are rejecting that gift. Veseleios and I were not destined mates. After Dimitris helped him defeat his enemies, he had to take his place on the throne, and a king cannot be crowned without his queen. So he was forced to take someone who wasn’t his mate, and the council began the quest to find a suitor for him and c

.........Evaki .........Tory and I pull back from the hug at the sound of the door opening, and just then, Paris comes within sight. I get up from the bed and run to him, and I throw myself in his arms and cry. I don’t want to; it’s all I’ve done since returning from the king and queen, but I’m scared. Before I came here, I told myself I could walk away from him, but I was fooling myself. I wouldn’t know how to, no matter how much I wanted to. We pull back from the hug, and he connects our lips in a long kiss, and more tears escape my eyes even before he says it. There’s no need to say it; the kiss screams goodbye. He wipes away my tears when we pull back, tears gleaming in his eyes as he tells me he loves me, but I stop breathing when he says my queen before a smile slowly spreads across his face. "The King gave you his blessing?" My voice comes out softer than intended, while Tory gasps behind me before letting out a squeal, bouncing on her tippy toes. "Yes, they did," he nod

............................Author’s POV................................................................................At the Wizard’s Mansion....................................................Kyro's room is eerily silent as the moon shines through the window, casting an eerie glow on the figure shrouded in darkness standing over him. Driviar is surrounded by a thick cloud of black smoke, which seems to move and swirl with a life of its own as he stares at a sleeping Kyro while dressed in a hooded cloak that covers his face. He raises the knife, his dark robes blending in with the shadows as his piercing eyes glow a bright red, illuminating the room. But at that moment, Kyro's breathing changes, and Driviar's confliction paralyzes him, causing him to vanish through the wall, leaving the room empty in a flash. He storms onto his rooftop, his frustration palpable. His indecisiveness and the king's unexpected visit have thrown everything off balance, and he can feel the anger b