His Shadow Luna

Chapter 10.Camouflage

Forrest and Elene both froze, exchanging glances.

"Tell them I'll be there shortly!" Forrest yelled, and they heard the soldier's receding steps.

"This is bad!" Elene told him. "If a delegation from the North has already arrived, they believe I’m dead or imprisoned."

"It's not like this was unexpected,” Forrest tried to reassure her. “But, regardless, it’s a net positive to have them here. We just need to find a way to return you to them secretly. This could actually be a blessing in disguise; You can leave in a few days instead of in a few weeks."

Idiot! Hades growled.

"Yes," Elene instinctively folded her arms over her chest. "And we can finally reject each other."

Forrest clenched his jaw. "Yeah— That too."

That too? Hades roared. The hell you are doing?

"Elene, I will take you to your room and return for you later. I need to get everything in order, including why I’m taking an assassin to the Convocation building. Also, don't worry about the scars. I will find a way to hide them."

The Princess' hand went to her face, and she felt like there were barely any lines left. However, somehow, this was the last thing on her mind.

"It's fine," she said. “I will take care of it all myself, and I can get myself back to my room, too."

He really wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

"Elene—" Forrest wanted to stop her, but she was already at the door.

"It's Aconite to you," she cut him off and left as quickly as she could.

Well, that was stupid, Bia commented.

Elene reached her room swiftly, barely able to contain her rage. She headed directly for the bathroom and shed her garments, which were now tainted with Forrest's scent. She vowed to herself to forever reject anything infused with even a hint of mint or, for that matter, citrus.

Glancing in the mirror before stepping into the shower, her spirits plummeted. Never in her life had she looked this dreadful. Her fringe was unevenly chopped, her skin lacklustre and fatigued; the scars weren't even the worst part of it all. The odour of bile clung to her, and her lips were dried and cracked, thanks to the dehydration.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she wiped them away. She had already cried enough for two lifetimes. She had already suspected for a while that the gods hated her. First, she was deprived of any special powers, and then, of course, she got a mate she couldn't be with. Typical.

When she was done, she again rooted through Aconite's belongings, finding a fresh pair of underwear with entirely too much lace and a pair of tights. Everything that the assassin owned was unreasonably tiny and had a questionable amount of strings.

Elen had a hard time figuring out how to put on the most modest bra she could find. At least they were the same size.

Look at us, Bia, she scoffed. A princess wearing second-hand undergarments. I don't think we can fall any further than this.

Reject your fated mate, and you will see how low you can feel then, her wolf sighed, not wishing to laugh it off.

Elene didn't have anything to say that would make her wolf feel better. She’d barely survived the death of her parents and Gideon's rejection… She knew her fated mate's rejection would probably be ten times worse.

Yet, it had to be done.

"Time to freshen up the scars," she announced after she pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, and Bia prepared to shield her from as much pain as possible.

This is one thing that I am not going to be missing, her wolf confessed.

Same, Elene admitted and donned a sheer sleeveless vest that barely concealed the intricate brassiere. She got out the dagger that proved to be useful before and sat in front of the mirror. Just three cuts, and she would be done if it lasts for a day.

The knife carved into her flesh, tracing over the barely visible lines already there. The wolfsbane ingested the previous day had tampered with her regenerative abilities, so at least today, she had a full map to work with.

Someone knocked on the door, and she decided to ignore it since only one of three cuts had been made. It was time to pretend no one was in and continue. The second s***h was always harder because, by now, everything was aching.

"It's me," she heard Forrest's voice but decided to finish the job first. The third cut, and she would be done. Thin trickles of blood ran down her cheeks, and she tried to ensure they did not drip onto her vest.

A whimper escaped Elene as she started drawing the knife along the third scar, but she didn't get to finish because the door slammed open, and Forrest stormed inside, eyes glowing red.

He assessed the sparse room quickly, lips parting when he saw the knife in the Princess' hand and the blood trickling down her chin.

"What in the blazes are you doing to yourself?" Forrest's voice broke through the stillness, tinged with disbelief. He grasped her wrist and squeezed it so hard that Elene had to let go of the blade. For the first time, she felt how strong he really felt—much stronger than she’d anticipated.

Forrest didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life it was physically painful for him to look at another person's wounds.

"Camouflage?" Elene replied defiantly as she came to her senses first.

She stood up and pushed him away, getting the small towel she had prepared to soak up the blood and closing the door so that no one could hear them. "How else would you keep my face disfigured and impossible to recognise? I am a royal lycan! My healing ability is off the charts, and I can't walk around here showing my face off! It's a miracle we managed to keep this up for two days!"

Forrest strode forward, taking Elene's chin in his hand, angling her face towards the light. The slashes marked her from one of her eyebrows to the cheekbone.

"This is madness," he muttered, his thumb brushing lightly over one of the marks. "There is no need for this."

A laugh escaped Elene, devoid of humour. "Oh? And what would you have me do? Stroll into the Convocation Hall with my face bare for all to see? I might as well wear a sign declaring who I am."

"I brought you this!" He put a leather jacket with an attached red silk hood into her hands, the Princess inspected it warily. "The hood will cover your face a little and—"

"And what if someone pulls the hood down?” she let out a snort of laughter, rolling her healthy eye. "What will you do then?"

"I'll kill them!" he growled without hesitation, and Elene's heart skipped a beat. Surely, he did not mean that.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, "Well, that would probably create more trouble for us anyway. Besides, why would you do that for me?"

"Because you are my—" Forrest stopped talking abruptly.

Ma-te? Hades stretched the word out suggestively.

"Partner," Romero cleared his throat and turned away from the princess.

Idiot, his wolf snarled, going back to the darkest corner of his mind.

"Don't worry; our partnership is almost over," Elene said in an icy tone, returning to the mirror. "There's just a day left, right?"

She expected him to say something snarky, but the General was surprisingly quiet.

"What are you—" she pivoted on her heel and froze, watching Forrest pick up what looked like a piece of complicated lingerie with many strings and harnesses from the bed. One of Aconite's possessions which was not designed to actually cover any important body parts.

Her cheeks heated instantly.

"Where does this even go?" he muttered, forgetting where they were and trying to work out how the lingerie was supposed to look on a body.

"Put that down!" Elene grabbed the "bodysuit" and shoved it under the bed. "And, please, remember that it's not mine! I have to wear these things!"

Forrest's eyes immediately went to her chest, noticing the strings showing, and his Adam's apple bobbed. How had he not notice this before?

Better late than never! Hades chimed in.

"So," he coughed, "this is what you've been… wearing the whole time you were here?"

He picked up a pair of thongs with his index finger, waving them before Elene.

"And that, General," the Princess stepped closer and placed her palm on his chest, only now realising how hot it was and how his heart was racing, "is something you will never find out."

It was time to laugh in his face and move away, but… she didn't.

Neither did he.

Hades was pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and for a moment there, Forrest was about to give up and kiss his mate.

"Getting aroused by a dead woman's lingerie?" Elene arched her brow all of a sudden, bringing them both back to reality.

Why are you doing this? Bia whined in her brain.

Because I will not be remembered as a one-night stand, Elene cut her off. Besides, it's best not to know what being with him would feel like, considering how this is going to end.

Or, we can give him a taste and change that plan, Bia's voice became too high-pitched for her.

The silence in the room was getting heavier.

"Don't do this anymore," Forrest gestured at her scars.

"You know I have no choice," Elene sighed, not looking for a fight anymore. "I am just trying to survive here."

"You need to learn to trust me. If I wanted you dead, you—" He did not finish the sentence because it would have sounded wrong, but they both knew what he was going to say.

Oh, she’s definitely going to trust you after that remark! Hades grunted.

"The fact that you haven’t strangled me doesn't mean that I can trust you," Elene reasoned, moving away from him. "Don't look at my age and think that I am naive. I probably know more about politics than you. I grew up in the thick of it!"

She has a point, Hades contributed with his usual helpfulness.

"Okay, I see," Forrest nodded. "Put the jacket on and come with me."

Elene's anxiety was palpable; every fibre of her being thrummed with tension. She shouldn't have said that. Her role was simple: smile and agree with everything until she was safe.

Forrest led her through the shadowy, stone-lined passageways of the Cathedral, their footsteps echoing ominously. Elene's nerves frayed further with each determined stride he took, almost escalating into a full-blown panic attack as they arrived at a massive wooden door.

To her surprise, Forrest opened a small panel in the wall and quickly dialled a code, followed by an approving beep. The heavy door opened automatically, revealing something she never expected to see.

"Don't be afraid," the General took her hand gently and pulled her along to follow after him. “You need to understand that me sharing this with you endangers me. Now, you know something that no one else is supposed to know. You now have that power over me if you want to use it. I, of course, hope that you won't."

Elene wasn’t sure how to respond, as she took in their surroundings. Tables with potions, test tubes and what looked like… ingredients for witchcraft.

She was still trying to connect the dots, when she saw a figure standing up from a desk near a tall window.

"You must be kidding me!" the woman hissed, and Elene immediately recognised her. "What is she doing here?"