Semua Bab His Captive, His Mate, His Queen : Bab 21 - Bab 30

~Ioana~"Hmm."With a muffled groan.And a pressing weight sending me back to the bed, I sank in. Suddenly, it was silent and dark. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell, like an eclipse took place."Is Her Majesty alright?"Maybe the mirror didn't fall, and they managed to catch it."Quickly lift it up from Her Majesty!"Oh, they didn't. Then why don't I feel anything?"It must be Selenara’s will. Maybe she's supposed to pass away from here and the prince's side will be empty once again."I peeked from beneath my lashes. Something dropped on my neck, trailing downwards.It was a person—an unconscious one. That was what I was able to observe: eyes shut, lips pursed, bitten down by her teeth as if caging everything in."Lift! Or else you don't value your heads anymore!""Lift!"When the mirror was lifted, I caught a glimpse of myself—a woman, pallid, bloodless lips, a

~Ioana~"Your Majesty," a body flew towards me with such speed that it left blurs behind. She skid to a halt right before me, dropping to her knees with a resounding thud.Her fingers wrapped around her white apron, wrinkling it as they trembled from excitement."Your Majesty, thank you very much," her eyes sparkled like diamonds.I chuckled, leaning forward. I placed my hand on her shoulders, the muscles under my fingers clearly tensed. "Don't stress yourself," exerting strength, I tried to lift her up. "There, there, you're just recovering. Don't put such kind of strain on yourself. If you fall ill again, who will be my personal…" the word maid felt a little bitter on my lips. Without blinking an eye, I swiftly changed the word, "who will be my personal attendant?"Her gaze fell to the floor. "Your Majesty, you may not really understand, but when I heard that out of all the maids you had chosen me, I was really…" she choked, lifting up her head, exposing her reddened eyes, gleaming

~Ioana~“Prince, you must understand that while even I do not wish to dress her down, but Prince, she doesn't even know basic etiquette…”But Alessandro didn't wait for him to continue rambling off, spitting excuse after excuse—he cut him short.“So the best way to correct her was in public before everyone? Elder Caldren, I am very well aware that you have a son, Frederick, or don’t you?”The elder's lips turned downwards. Jumping in, he hurriedly spoke, “Well, Prince, Frederick has always been…”But once more, not giving him the chance to weave up something, Alessandro interrupted him.“If you believe that your son, who is far older than the queen here, can receive repeated grace, letting him off the hook—oh, I'm well aware of that—then I believe that she can too.Not to mention, I've never once heard you chastise him in public. Should I say that your ability and the oath you took when you became an elder—might I remind you—to love and cherish like a father all citizens…”As the exch

~Ioana~Alessandro gave me a lingering look. It was complicated—something I couldn't decipher easily—but something about it made my shoulders heavy. It descended on me like a blanket. My fingers went up to my chest, rubbing my heart to get rid of the stuffiness.He spun around, the first person to exit, his ceremonial red cape fluttering behind him, but for some reason, he looked desolate—lonely.But that shouldn't be possible… right?“The coronation ends here for now until we can get more answers to the peculiarity that occurred today. Until then, I bid all of you a goodnight.” That was Elder Thalvorn's closing message. With that, he stepped backward, away from the eyes of the crowd.But just as Elder Thalvorn got close to me, he paused, as if he wanted to say something to me. His mouth opened, then closed, a triumphant gleam streaking past his eyes that I couldn't understand.What’s he happy for?Elder Thalvorn continued walking out of the balcony through the doors. With his exit, t

~Ioana~Vivian's grip on the doorknob trembled. Even from where I sat, I could see veins popping out, showing the force she used. "Aren't you going to let me in?" As if not seeing how wrong the atmosphere was, Radu’s grin widened.I kept down the cup of tea in my grip, thoughts flittered through my mind as fast as the wind. Why was he here? This late in the night? Smoothing the creases that formed from my movements, taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't see me, I stood up, walked to the closet, and took out a robe, fastening it. Once I was done and properly covered, I cleared my throat."Vivian, allow him in."Vivian’s head snapped to mine in disbelief, but my face was stern, hiding my thoughts—or I hoped I did successfully.I gave in, widening the space between the door and she. Radu weaved through it, sauntering into my room, his eyes locked on me. Vivian retreated in search of a chair, and when she found it, before she could properly place it across the bed's side table use