CHAPTER 4
1671 Words
Alpha Thane's POV.
A hut by the corner of a lake surrounded by pegs. That was Adria's house.
I arrived at the door wondering if anyone was inside, knocking on the wooden door and I waited.
Creak! The door opened and I beheld a familiar mean face. “Good evening, Tetina,” I greeted. Unsmiling, she pushed further the door and stepped aside.
“Come in," she said.
Gulping, I strode into the room glancing at a cauldron under which three candlesticks burned.
“Sit.” She pointed at a couch and herself sat on the one opposite.
“Thank you," I mumbled and quietly sat, the chair creaking from antiquity.
“Adria told me what happened," Tetina started. “She said you wouldn't mark her.”
“You know how it is done, I can't just mark her when there's no mating bond between us.”
“Do you love my daughter?”
“You know I do, Tetina. Mating bonds is much more than that. I don't want to mark a woman the moon goddess didn't give to me.”
Tetina scoffed. “Azalea, you mean. Where was she when your fathers were kicked out of your country?”
“Enough, Tetina!” I snapped. “I didn't come here so you can mock my fathers or the moon goddess!”
Tetina was quiet scrutinizing me from across the room. “Why are you here?” she asked. Something in her expression told me she knew already the answer to the question she posed.
“The last time we met, you told me about a spell you were cooking.”
“Yes, I remember,” she said dryly.
I adjusted in the chair. “I want to know if the spell is ready.”
“Yes, it is.” She answered and continued to scrutinize me. I exhaled and gulped.
“Please, can I have some?”
“You haven't told me 'yet' what you want to achieve with the spell, Thane. And there's a price.”
“I am planning to reclaim Azalea, starting with spying on the city tomorrow night.”
At my words, a cynical smile lengthened the woman's lips. “Interesting! I will help you then,” she said, “I will help you for free,” she added.
Astonished by her reply, I stared at her. “For free?”
“Yes!” She stood and walked to the cauldron. “For years, I have yearned for the destruction of Azalea and now, here it comes!”
“Be careful, enchantress, Azalea is not getting destroyed. I am only going to reclaim what rightfully belongs to me,” I growled.
“And even so, Alpha Thane, if you become king I know you will marry Adria and make her your queen. You love her so much, don't you?”
I forced a smile but said nothing
“Here.” She stretched a bottle to me. “Take a tablespoon of it tonight before you sleep. By tomorrow, the spell of the weredust won't work on you,” she said.
I don't know why my heart palpitated as I stood and collected the portion from her. Maybe it was because I was one step closer to reclaiming what once belonged to my clan. “Thank you,” I mumbled, staring at the bottle.
“But remember, after tomorrow's midnight, the power of the spell will fade. You must not come in contact with a weredust after, or else you'll react to it.”
Tetina's words continued to resound in my head even until the next day as my brother and I dressed for the ball.
“Did you meet Adria while you were there at their house?” Jake's voice pulled me back to the present. He was buttoning his shirt before the dressing mirror. Gulping, I laced my shoes and glanced at him.
“She wasn't there. Gosh, I wasn't ready for any more of her drama,” I replied.
Done with my shoes, I stood and joined Jake at the dressing mirror; we knotted our ties.
Hours later, our carriage pulled up before the city gates of Azalea. Both Jake and I had to alight from the carriage and each was tried with the weredust. To be tried with a weredust, a portion of the yellow powder will be blown to the person's face. Though looking like an ordinary powder, when a weredust comes in contact with a shapeshifter, he or she would react to it and show their true form.
It was a bad thing for us shapeshifters because, in Azalea, there would always be knights on standby ready to finish off the intruder. Yep, intruder, that was what Delans called us.
Time for the trial. A knight approached us with a bowl of the dreaded powder.
Jake was trembling underneath, worried if Tetina's spell would work.
“Relax, Jake." I whispered but my heart palpitated.
The knight puffed his breath against his hand, sending the yellow devil across to our faces and nothing, it worked! Tetina's spell worked! Neither Jake nor myself shifted.
“Cleared. Open the gates for them,” the knight shouted. We hopped back into our carriage and continued into the city. When I thought we were done with the obstacle for the day, we faced yet another one at the palace gates. We needed to show our invitation cards or else there will be no accessing the palace or the ball for us.
“Allow me,” Jake said. And he alighted from the carriage.
Seconds later, he reappeared at the door waving two invitation cards.
“Wait, what? H-how did you?” I stammered.
“I borrowed them from two careless guests, don't worry!” Jake jumped into the carriage and he shut the door. I smiled and shook my head.
Our carriage approached the checkpoint and Jake happily showed them the two invitation cards. “Cleared!” the man-in-charge shouted. And our carriage was permitted inside the palace.
Stepping out of the carriage, the first thing I did was to scan the environment noting how a handful of guards patrolled the place. Jake alighted from the carriage and joined me. “What next?” he asked.
I adjusted my suit. “First off, we go stealthy. We blend with the rest of the guests until when everyone is carried away, and then we work.”
Nodding, Jake turned and joined the queue into the hall. I joined him.
Speaking of the hall, the place was beautifully decorated with lights and flowers; white and pink flowers. My eyes continued to scan the place until it sighted a twelve steps cake over which were ribbons styled into what I read as ‘Happy Birthday, Princess Larissa’.
“Larissa, her name is Larissa," Jake whispered.
“Clearly,” I mumbled and grabbed a glass of wine from a passing server. “How old is she today?”
“Seventeen. She's very young, right?” Jake grinned and also grabbed a glass of wine.
“Yes, very young,” I muttered.
Larissa or whatever they called her deserves nothing but the fate that will befall her father in a matter of days.
“Are you alright?” Jake asked, staring at me. “You look tense.”
I sipped my drink. “Is she in the room?”
Jake sighed and drank from his glass too. “I don't know if she's in this hall. Truth is, I have never set my eyes on her before. It is rumored that since her birth, the king has kept her locked behind the walls of this castle.”
I snickered. “What do you think? He is hiding her from us.”
“Exactly,” Jake mumbled. “The rumor has it that she is very beautiful, intelligent, and stubborn too.” Jake smiled.
Meanwhile, I wondered what such a princess would look like. Shrugging off the thought, I sipped my wine.
“She would make a nice gift for someone,” Jake muttered, and a mischievous smile played on his lips.
“Pardon?”
He looked at me. “No, I said nothing,” Jake said and tapped my shoulder.
Whatever that meant, I shrugged it off and resumed scanning the hall hoping I can pick up the much-talked-about Princess from the gathering. Thanks to Jake, now I am curious and eager to set my eyes on her and see what she really looks like.
In curiosity, my wandering gaze caught a glimpse of someone else, rather, King Stephan! The man was drinking and laughing with some friends.
Angrily, I gulped a mouthful of my drink.
Jake was fast, he followed my gaze and saw our enemy. “Brother, I see you've found him,” he whispered.
“Yes.” I glanced at Jake. “In an hour we go to work, I take care of the north and west of the castle, you take care of the south and east.”
“Noted.” Jake raised his glass to the pact.
Silence fell between us and I resumed studying King Stephan from across the hall.
As for Jake, a maiden was already into him, casting flirtatious glances his way but chatting with her friends.
“Go ahead," I said to him. “Have fun but not too much.”
“What about you, brother? If I leave you will be bored.”
“I will be fine," I said. I assured him by moving away from him but not too far away.
I brought myself standing at the foot of a staircase and watched as Jake joined the maidens and they began to flow in conversation.
Exhaling, I emptied my glass, dropping it, and I picked up another one.
And then a door behind me, atop the fleet of stairs; they pushed open. A mild but very alluring scent filled the room. It was feminine.
Footsteps echoed. I tilted to have a look.
And she stepped into the room.
- Writer
