Eyes fluttering open, feeling the night cold rush by, making Ariana shivers within her duvet. It was cold tonight—not just the casual wind but a full-out breeze howling at the night sky against her window.
Millions of goosebumps lined her arms, her body's weak attempt to catch warmth in the cold night making her ball herself up underneath the thin fur that she called a duvet, as she cursed herself for not having made a fire in the chimney the evening prior.
Finally finding a glimpse of warmth, she squeezes her eyes shut, a bad attempt at hosting sleep even though it eventually latches onto her as she listens to the master clock tik-tok by, a lullaby to her ears.
The ghastly wind outside her chambers had turned into spurts of rain, creating an escalating mess of muddy grass and puddles for the courtiers to face the next morning, a small gift from the Moon Goddess to her lands and people.
The next morning, Ariana wakes up to the sound of rain, a heavenly body against her ears. The normal wolf would usually hate rain, moaning at how it soaked their fur coat and caused them to move slower than they usually would. But Ariana was no ordinary wolf; rain was a source of joy for her, a reminder of how she felt at home on dark, lonely days, where she sat in a smaller room that was much warmer than her current one. With walls holding a sea's worth of memories. Home was home, and rain reminded her of it.
Ariana gets up and dresses, wearing a blush pink dress with a flowery hat. Alpha Alec still didn't allow her to wear their house colours, even though many courtiers and other houses commented on it, asking why she wasn't wearing her colours.
The majority of the day passed as usual, bustling around, mingling with the other courtiers, nothing out of the ordinary, until the sky became a breath-taking heaven of turquoise blue with intricate threads of marigold weaving through, the clouds a blush pink and white, as she sat alone watching in awe on a bench in the palace courtyard, as though the warm glow of the sunset was kissing her pain and sins away.
It was serenity at its greatest height, a cushion of tranquillity only broken by a sudden voice beside her, "Is it not the most beautiful thing in the world?"
Gasping in surprise, only to notice that it was William sitting beside her, "It is, where did you come from?"
" No were special," William said, his voice holding a slight remorse as he looked up at the sky, his face a blank slate, "It's even more beautiful on the northern hills of the Royal Pack, "
"Really?" Ariana said, sounding slightly breathless as she looked up at him expectantly, his closeness getting to her in ways she didn't think it would. His dark, wretched curls falling onto his eyes as he sat carelessly, not knowing the effect he had on her. "They say the sun never sets on the empire of the Great Alpha King; is it true?"
William sits still, his jaw slightly clenching as if thinking of his response, "They say when the sun sets here, it rises on the black stones."
"The black stones," Ariana says with a low hum in her voice, "They say it has the darkest soils, even the plants there are said to be the colour of ash, it must be remarkable to see such a beautiful splender of the Earth."
"It is, and the wolves of the stones are also incredible; they have always been known to have an intelligence like no other when it comes to the modern arts and technology," William said, his voice filled with slight amusement. "Will you ever wish to go to the islands?"
"Maybe, I've never really thought about travelling much," Ariana said with a tired sigh, "but maybe one day with a good friend or Nathaniel."
"You could always come with me," William said, his voice sounding hopeful.
"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to go with an unmated male, especially alone," Ariana said, pushing the idea away.
"I am your mate," William said in an obvious voice, adding emphasis on each word as a low growl erupted from his throat, his wolf unhappy with his mate's denial.
"How can I be sure that you are when I barely know you?" Ariana said her voice was filled with distrust, causing him to slightly roll his eyes at her. "If you wish for me to believe you, I would like to meet the lady from that night."
"Do you not feel the pull?" William asked, his brow slightly raised, his face masked in perplexity.
"I do, but that doesn't mean I won't feel the same with someone else; maybe there's someone else out there with whom I'll feel the pull stronger." Ariana said as she got up and brushed out the wrinkles in her dress, wanting to leave.
She's about to reach the palace corridors when she feels a strange, warm hand wrap itself around her wrist as she's pulled into a hard mass of muscle, causing her insides to instantly calm and her muscles to relax. There was no doubt in her mind about her attraction to William; maybe this was why he thought that she was his mate.
"You little Kitten are coming with me, lets put an end to this stupid theory of yours." Will says as he brings his lips close to her ears, taking her earlobe between his teeth and tugging on it, making her gasp as she tries to step away, his grip on her wrist tightening as he pulls her towards the courtyard.
"What. ...where are you taking me?" Ariana asked frantically, her voice trembling as she tried to loosen his grip on her wrist, which in turn only tightened into something that would leave her skin bruised. They were turning towards the back of the court yard, where the forest began.
After dusting through dusty paths where the trees became denser and the plants became wilder, they came to a small opening beside a lake holding a small cottage that would have probably looked cosy if it wasn't falling apart.
"Is this...is this where you kill me?" Ariana asked, thinking that she had crossed a line with her last statement.
"Maybe you'll have to go inside to find out." Will said his eyes filled with a hint of mirth as he pulls her towards the cottage, even though she tried to stop him by digging her heels into the ground.
They head into the cottage, a rusty place with wooden furniture inside that looked old, with the roof dripping water and the walls smelling like damp.
There were two people inside: one was a young boy, perhaps eight or seven years old, with deathly pale skin and strands of grey inked into his brunette hair; even his lips appeared slightly blue to Ariana. She turns around to see the woman from the night of the Nox relá leaning against the little boy's bed. Her eyes were red and puffy, with dark circles looming around them, and her clothes and hands were covered in mud and soot. She looked tired, to say the least. Out of all the things Ariana expected to find, this wasn't one of them.
Looking up, the woman notices them and gets up to her feet, her movements slightly hurried as she forms a curtsy while saying, "yo-your majesty, I wasn't expecting you here."
"Leave the formalities, Jocelyn; how has Jamie been?" William asked, looking at the little boy on the bed worriedly, "He looks worse than before."
"Yes, he has gotten worse," Jocelyn agreed, her voice slightly trembling from unspoken emotion as she noticed Ariana staring at her son with an emotion she couldn't read.
"Your Majesty, who is this fine lady?" Jocelyn asked, trying to form words that seemed regal enough for her high-bred guests.
"This is Ariana, she came to visit you." Will said his voice was timid as he spotted Ariana walking closer to Jamie's bed from the corner of his eye.
"He truly looks unwell; may I touch him to see how hot his forehead is?" Ariana asks in a low whisper, causing Jocelyn to nod her head in approval.
Ariana bends to feel the boy's forehead who was dripping in sweat, his body in a horrifying heat," why is he so hot?"
"He has a condition in which he stays in a feverish state," Jocelyn said, her eyes beginning to water, causing Ariana to embrace her in a comforting hug.
"What? What condition will do this to a wolf?" Ariana asks, stepping backward, her face scrunched in bewilderment and confusion.
"Well he's not a wolf....not completely," Jocelyn breathes out through her weeping, " you see I'm a fearie and my mate was a wolf ,so little Jamie is a bit of both. "
"Tha-That's not possible; two different breeds can't procreate," Ariana said baffled at what she was finding out.
"Well, we did. My mate and I first thought it was a miracle when we found out that I was with child." Jocelyn said with a faraway look in her eyes and a ghost of a smile on her face as if remembering something before her face fell with a look of mourning, "Soon after he was born, he fell ill, and I thought he wouldn't make it, but my mate didn't give up hope. He learned about a cure, a plant called Avax Clara, that could heal Jamie. The plant was rare, so rare that it is said to only grow in the eastern mountains, so my mate left for the plant, only to never return again."
A small sob escaped Jocelyn as Ariana rubbed her back in a soothing manner to relieve her of the tension in her muscles before saying, "I'm sorry to hear about your mate, but you must have tried something else to heal your little male."
"Yes, I tried to find a healer for him, but...but not a single one of them agreed on going to the east for the Avax Clara unless I paid them handsomely as compensation for the risk that they were taking," Jocelyn sobbed out. "The night of the Nox relà, the King had been generous enough to give me enough gold to pay for a healer, but. ..but we were ambushed, and the King had to leave with the gold."
Ariana swallowed down the bile that had risen, embarrassed at how she had been so stupid to think that the king was trying to take advantage of a female, as she got up and sent an apologetic look towards William before looking back at the grieved woman to ask, "do you have a sketch of the Avax Clara?"
"Yes...yes I do, my mate once found an image of it in an old text." Jocelyn spoke as she bent down to look under the bed for a dusty old book, which she hands to Ariana after opening it to a page with an image of a gold petal flower.
"Can I keep this?" Ariana asked.....
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5S2AKcaVe
