MY MIRACLE PRIESTESS LUNA

CHAPTER 3 - NEW LIFE - ALLY'S POV

The carriage stopped, and the King opened the door. He stepped out quickly and reached out his hand to me.

This wasn't happening. I was dreaming. Mother had obviously slapped me so hard that I'd been knocked out, and I would wake up again in my cot, and all of this would have been a bad nightmare.

I ignored his hand and climbed out of the carriage, but I stepped and fell forward. I gasped, but the King shot forward and pulled me safely into his arms. I froze as I looked up into his eyes. They were so gorgeous and green, and I felt myself longing for him to kiss me.

I could feel his heart beating just as hard as mine when our bodies touched, and he looked down at my lips. Did he want to kiss me too? Just as he leaned down, a man cleared his throat behind us, and I quickly pulled away from the King and straightened my dress.

"Why are you back so early?" The tall blonde man asked. ''And who is this young lady?"

"You seem to forget who the King is, Nikolai.'' I growled at him. ''I don't need to explain myself to you. Where is Amelia?"

"I'm here." A very pretty black-haired woman came out dressed in a flowing silk dress that fell to her ankles. 'Who's the girl?"

"Ally, this is my sister Amelia." The King told me, "And my Beta Nikolai who, unfortunately, is also my brother-in-law."

I nodded in acceptance but didn't say anything.

"Everyone," The King looked at his family members. "This is Alyona or Ally, my mate."

"Your what?" Amelia said with wide eyes, she looked me over in shock. "How is that possible? Who are your parents? Where are they? Why weren't we informed that a Lycan couple had a child!"

"She has amnesia." The King said before I could answer. How did he know that? "She doesn't know who her parents are."

"I'm not a Lycan." I spoke up, and the King growled in frustration. "I'm a witch, the King is wrong."

"She's a tad reluctant to accept me." King Eli said angrily.

Nikolai laughed and looked me over. ''Well, I wouldn't want him either.'' He teased the King. "But unfortunately, I'm taken, so the King will have to do."

"Enough Nik." King Eli rolled his eyes. "Ammy, I want you to get her something for her injuries. One of the i***t mothers hurt her."

"And you left her alive?" Amelia asked in surprise. ''I'd have killed her if she'd hurt my mate."

"Naw." Nik said sweetly. ''It's almost like you have a crush on me or something?"

"Seriously Nik." The King growled as his eyes darkened, “Enough, Ammy get your bag and meet me in my wing, I want her injuries taken care of.”

"I'll meet you there in a minute.'' She turned and rushed into the castle.

"I can't believe this is happening." Nik looked me over again, and I shrank back and looked at my feet. ''Maybe this means the curse is weakening, Am and I can finally start having children."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Nik.'' King Elijah warned him, "It's early days yet, she's part witch. Maybe that has something to do with her birth."

"Part witch?" He said in surprise. "How is that even possible?"

"I' don't know." Eli shrugged, "I'm going to go see the keeper. Perhaps a half-breed has been born before."

I frowned. "Do you really need me here for this conversation?" I asked. I hated being spoken about right in front of me like I wasn't there, not that I wasn't used to it.

"Forgive me, your majesty." Nik said to me, and I stepped back.

"Don't call me that."

"We should go." The King gestured for me to walk on as the other carriages pulled up, and I could see the girl from earlier glaring at me from the window of the carriage.

Several guards stared at me with interest as we walked in the entrance of the castle and I noticed the King move closer to me.

I looked at the stone floor as we walked inside. I was very nervous, several Lycan's started whispering to each other when they saw me with the King. They were under the impression that I was a rogue witch or something and the King was going to have me killed. I actually found myself wishing they were right.

After what felt like an hour of walking, we finally turned a corner and two guards bowed to Elijah and opened the doors.

"You're majesty." One of them nodded to him. "Your uncle was looking for you earlier, he said he would come back later."

''I look forward to it.'' The King said with little interest. ''Let my sister in when she arrives."

''Yes sir.'' They said as they both looked me over.

"This is Ally." Eli told them. ''She is your future Queen. She is to have full access to my wing and anywhere else in the castle. Let the other guards know.''

''Our... our Queen?'' One of the men stuttered and looked at me with more interest than before. "This is amazing, my mate will... forgive me, yes sir, we'll let the others know."

"Do not get over excited Robert." King Eli warned them. "Just because she was born during the curse doesn't mean It's broken. Do not start for children with your mates until we know for sure that they'll come to term. I don't want any more dead children."

"I understand, your majesty." Robert nodded. "It's just, my mate, she's going to be hard to convince to wait. She's been waiting a long time to be a mother."

"We've all been waiting." Nik pointed out.

"Yes sir of course we have." Robert nodded again. "I will wait until we have more information."

The King continued through the doors and I quietly followed him, his wing was very pretty, the stone of the castle was countered with several plants and flowers and huge paintings, and his furniture was elegant and expensive, a single chair in this room alone would feed the entire school for a day.

The King lead me into a room, his scent was the strongest in the room across the hall and I suspected that it was his bedroom.

"This will be your room." King Eli told me, though I could hear the annoyance in his tone. "Though I wish you would reconsider sharing mine."

"Give her a few days to get used to the idea, Eli." Nik saved me from answering. "It must all be a huge shock for her."

I looked around the huge room, there was a bed to my left that could literally fit 5 people. It was covered in a thick quilt, 4 large pillows and two smaller pillows, who would need so many pillows. At school, I barely had one.

I touched the bed as I passed it, it was very soft. On either side of the bed were tables and to the right of the bed was a door and an even larger vanity and chair. Next to the vanity were large glass doors covered by a thick royal blue curtain.

I turned and looked to the right of the door where a large fireplace sat, there were two sofas and a long sofa around it, next to which was a bookshelf, and then next to that we"d come full circle and Eli and Nik were standing by the door.

"Do you like it?" Eli asked me hopefully, but I shrugged.

"It's a room." I said dismissively. "One's as good as the next."

In truth, I'd never seen such luxury. Everything was so pretty and seemed very expensive.

Elijah frowned but Nik touched his shoulder in comfort.

"So Ally," He said and stepped towards me, but I stepped back to keep a distance between us. My actions didn't go unnoticed, and he quickly stopped. "Did you bring anything from the school? We can help you unpack."

"I don't have any belongings." I told him. "Just a few dresses like this one, but I don't mind losing them."

"I'll have some clothes brought up for you." The King told me.

"There's no need." I argued gently. "I'm fine with this one."

"I insist." Eli said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "I won't have you dressed like this."

"Like what?" I asked, my temper rising. "Like a witch."

As Eli opened his mouth to respond his sister came in holding a bag and several dresses. "I thought she could use these. Why did you put her in this room? It doesn't even have a private bathroom."

Elijah glared at his sister, but Nik spoke up first. "I guess great minds think alike." He said and took the dresses from his mate and placed them on the nearest sofa. "Eli was just talking about getting Ally some clothes."

"Well, he's always been very feminine." Amelia commented, and placed her other bag on the bed. "Ally, could you please come over here and sit down so I can examine you."

I wanted to argue, but when I opened my mouth to protest, I noticed Elijah glaring at me, so I walked over to his sister and sat down. The bed was far too soft. I wasn't used to this kind of comfort, and I had to wiggle around to be able to sit up straight.

Amelia looked at my face for a second. "May I touch you?"

I nodded, but I couldn't help but cringe a little before she made contact with my skin. "It looks like she got you good." She commented.

"It will be healed by tomorrow morning."

"Has she hit you before?"

"Does it matter?"

"It matters to me." The King growled, and I noticed his hands clench into tight fists, but I ignored him and looked back at his sister.

"Can you please let me go now?"

"Oh, sorry." She said quickly, letting go of my face. "This paste will help you to heal in a few hours, but it'll sting a little."

I nodded and watched as she opened a glass jar with a clear paste inside. She scooped up a tiny amount on her two fingers and slowly wiped it over my face, I gasped and bit my teeth together, I noticed Eli step forward with his hand outstretched to me but he quickly composed himself and stepped back again.

"How old are you?" Amelia asked.

"17."

"When is your next birthday?"

I sighed in annoyance. "In 5 months, but I won't turn if that's what you are all waiting for."

"I wasn't thinking of your shifting." Amelia commented, "I was thinking more of your healing abilities kicking in, though if you're half witch your body might be different, perhaps you won't get a healing ability at all. We should go over some differences between the species. Do you bleed once a month like other witch females?"

I blushed and looked over at the men.

"Perhaps we could have some privacy." Amelia suggested.

"NO." Eli said loudly.

"For goddess sake, brother." Amelia sighed and turned to him with her hands on her curvy hips. "What do you think I'm going to do? Mark her? Just get out, both of you."

Elijah looked from his sister to me in panic, but finally he nodded and walked out of the room, closely followed by Nik who shut the door gently.

"That's better." Amelia smiled at me. "Some girl time. Where else are you injured?"

I pulled up the sleeves of my dress to reveal the large welts made from the belt, and Amelia growled.

"I can't believe Eli left that cow alive after she did this to you." She shook her head and scooped up more of the paste.

"Why would he care what happens to me?" I said before I could stop myself. "He only pretends to care about me because he thinks I could potentially be used to break the curse."

Amelia froze for a moment, "Ally that's not true." She told me. "I don't think you understand what you mean to him, to everyone, for my brother to find his mate, it gives us all hope, but he cares about you. It's an instant love meeting your mate, nothing else compaires. He wants you not the idea of breaking the curse."

"It doesn't matter anyway." I said firmly. "In a few months, when I don't shift, he'll ask me to leave and this whole nightmare will be over and you Lycan's will have to use another witch to break the curse, though in my opinion, you all deserve it after what you did to my kind."

Amelia sat down on the bed next to me and closed the jar. "Is that so?" She said patiently. "Ally I was there when this horrid war began and let me tell you, no one deserves what happened, on either side."

"It's easy for you to say when your kind weren't kept as pets for hundreds of years."

"If you think we haven't suffered you are wrong." She told me sadly, "You have no idea how hard it falling pregnant over and over again only to have your child die because of the curse that the priestess put on us."

"If your father hadn't hurt her in the first place none of this would have happen." I snapped and got off the bed. “You want to blame someone, then blame your own kin.”

"My father wasn't perfect."

"That's for sure."

"But he wasn't the monster you were taught to hate growing up." Amelia told me, "When the witches came through my father allowed them to stay because their world was dying, but upon seeing their priestess he fell in love."

I crossed my arms, and I didn't want to hear this.

"She was his mate." She told me and I frowned. No one had ever mentioned that. "He was already mated to my mother, they weren't destined mates. He chose her as his Queen because he was getting older and he feared he would never find his true love."

"They didn't mean to hurt my mother, but when you find your mate nothing and no one else could compare." She went on. "He rejected my mother for his mate, and for a time they lived in peace and love."

"Until your mother killed her."

"My mother didn't kill anyone." Amelia told me, "The priestess killed herself."

"You're lying."

"I don't lie." She told me. "My mother returned to the castle for my shifting ceremony. I was the last Lycan to ever turn. My parents had been together for a long time, and they bonded over my shifting. One thing led to the next, and they slept together, but the priestess caught them. My father pleaded with her for her forgiveness, but she was in a rage. She killed my mother and took her own life, but not before cursing my kind, she punished us all for his mistake, and we still suffer."

I took a breath, but didn't respond.

"My father lost his chosen and destined mate." She went on. "That does something to a Lycan, not to mention the guilt from the curse. The war began because my father wanted blood. He tried to break the curse. He rounded up the remaining priestesses and killed them all in a horrific act to help save his people, but when it proved useless he enslaved your kind, he wanted to keep you all under control so that one day perhaps one of you could break the curse. But 100 years ago, he'd finally had enough and ended his life. That's when my brother took the throne and put an end to the slavery. My brother is a good man, his not like my father. Please give him a chance before you reject him."

I didn't know what to say. I simply turned away from her.

"Well." She continued. "If you have no other injuries, why don't you change into one of the dresses while we talk a little more about your medical history, and then we can go get something to eat."

I looked down at the dress and frowned, I'd never worn anything so elegant or expensive, but I settled on a pretty light purple dress, I slipped it on while Amelia had her back turned to give me privacy, but when I couldn't reach the strings at the back, I had to reluctantly ask her for help.

"Of course." Amelia said excitedly and rushed over to me. Once she had tightened the dress, she touched my hair. "Sit down at the vanity, and we"ll get these knots out. Did you own a brush at school?"

"No." I answered as I sat down. I hated the look of pity on Amelia's face as she stared at me through the mirror.

"Well, you have one now."

"None of this is mine." I told her. "It belongs to your brother."

Amelia didn't respond. She simply picked up the brush and began to gently run it over my hair while I sat there uncomfortably.