Chapter 51I grunted once again as the royal carriage kept moving up and down the bumpy road.Alisa was sitting beside me and chattering about how beautiful my dress was and some other thing that I could barely concentrate on.“Alisa, what's the relationship between Arnou and Herley like?” I interrupted whatever she was talking about.She turned her head to look at me in surprise.“Oh. They're a bit close I guess. That's normal though considering the fact we all grew up together. Why? Is there a problem?” Alisa asked.“Just curious,” I replied to her with a fake smile.After that Alisa seemed to pick up on my mood and stayed silent for the rest of the journey home.When we arrived at the palace, I looked around surprised. The servants had been busy while we were gone and the entire palace and grounds had been decorated.I knew they were going to decorate it in anticipation of the wedding guests that had begun to arrive but I didn’t expect them to get it done so quickly.“Daciana, come

I spun around panicked. Everywhere was dark and I still couldn't see anyone.“Arnou!” I screamed out in hopes that he might be nearby. But all I got in return was silence.I was just about to shift to my wolf so I could see in the darkness when I heard a loud sound.I ducked quickly with my hands above my head in fear, then suddenly the clearing was filled with light.The sight before me nearly took my breath away. The entire clearing had been decorated with lights and flowers. It was so beautiful, and I kept staring trying to make sense of the scene before me.“Happy birthday!” I jumped in surprise at the sound of more than thirty people yelling birthday wishes at the top of their lungs.“Happy birthday Daciana!” Alisa yelled out as she came up to me and enveloped me in a hug.I looked at her surprised. Was today my birthday? I had not celebrated my birthday in so long, I had forgotten about it.I mean technically today isn't my real birthday but seeing as I don't know who my real

I stood in shock, unable to move a limb or even cry out in distress.I slapped a palm across my mouth as I choked back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm me.Alisa was looking in confusion. She still didn’t get why I was shaking so badly.I took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit so I could tell her about my dress.But before I could speak, Gloria looked at the dress trying to investigate my insane reaction.She shrieked in outrage when she saw my tattered wedding dress, Alisa and the other servants hurriedly turned to view the dress as well.Alisa screamed out at the sight of the huge rips that raked down the dress.Someone had shifted and railed the dress apart with their claws. Alisa was so furious she wrapped her hand around one of the maid’s hair and began to pull on it.I tried to stop her in shock, but she shrugged off my hand.“What is the meaning of this? Why would you destroy the dress? Tell me exactly what happened to the dress immediately.”Alisa yelled at the m

Arnou’s POVI felt pain. The excruciating pain made me gasp for breath. I blinked my eyes trying to clear my head.Then I noticed the entire hall was in an uproar. Granny was yelling something and she was on the floor beside her.Beside Daciana! I sank to the floor with gritted teeth and tried to rouse my wife to no avail.She lay on the floor unconscious, every bit as beautiful as she had been the first time I saw her.Tears rolled down my eyes as I realized what was going on.I had known something was wrong. When Daciana and I held the lit candle for our joining, the complete mate bond snapped into place. However, the bond had been accompanied by extreme pain and a hot flash. I had been too surprised to react, then as quickly as I felt the pain, it vanished.I was perplexed and looked over at Daciana to see if she experienced anything similar. But she was staring at our joined hands with the most angelic smile on her face that I forgot about the pain.She must have been feeling t

“Are you fine?” Alisa asked with a gasp as she ran over to me and began to frantically check my body.I was still self-conscious about how I looked so I tried to pull my arm back but Alisa held me firmly.She pulled up the sleeves of my dress and let out a choked sob.“I’m so, so sorry,” Alisa choked out as she dropped my arm like fire and stumbled backward.She probably felt guilty for finding the poisoned dress.“Hey, baby girl, it's not your fault,” I whispered with tears in my own eyes.I would have stood up and gone after her but my legs were still shaky.“Come,” I called out to her as I beckoned with my hands for her to come closer to me.She stopped walking backward and began to walk toward me.“If I had been more. If I did more or checked more-“ Alisa muttered.Her words broke my heart and made me shake my head vehemently.“No Alisa, you are perfect. You did good, this isn’t your fault. It’s the fault of the people who didn’t want my wedding to hold,” I said to her as she fina