Toby agreed to discuss with Tate about the practice schedules and make arrangements with Rafael. The meeting was dismissed, and everyone went home. Xandar and Lucianne picked Reida up from Christian and Annie’s place and put her into bed before getting into bed themselves.
As soon as Lucianne made her space in Xandar’s arms and was about to drift off, Xandar kissed her forehead and muttered, “I am so sorry, Lucy.”
She looked up at him with droopy eyes and murmured, “Darling, again, it’s not your fault. It’s not his fault either.”
Her hand traced his cheekbone, making his animal coo as it made Xandar pressed his forehead against hers. She continued whispering, “Stop blaming yourselves and each other. Neither of you would have done such a thing. We found a way to s
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“I’d like to know more about your father, Pelly. What was the late Emperor Kosh like?” Lucianne asked after she and Pellethia sat down on a wooden bench facing a large pond with a few papilionibus (singular: papilio) - small, blue-colored animals that each had the body of a bee and the wings of spring azure butterflies.“Father was…strict and protective, like most fathers, I suppose. We lost mom when I was three and my governess brought me up after that. Father was often busy with royal duties,” her emerald eyes met Lucianne’s orbs.She continued, “He really liked you, Rosalie I mean, not as an intimate partner, but as a friend or, in his words, a trusted ally. He used to say that Rosalie was someone one could turn to for the cold, hard truth. She was the one who…made him
Pellethia’s self-doubt was not only laced heavy in her voice, but emanated strongly from her bright green eyes. Lucianne wouldn’t have guessed that Pellethia had any problems with leading the empire had the empress not shown this side of herself to her.When Lucianne thought that Pellethia was strict and ferocious to her own people, the empress was actually…scared. The fear she instilled in her governing members was a defense mechanism to shield herself from her own fear of being stepped on, being overlooked, being a puppet to more than willing puppeteers.The fear was also probably another reason why Pellethia never found it in herself to channel the Empress’s Authority. Pellethia probably couldn’t draw out her power because confidence and emotional security wasn’t something that she had pr
Despite having already met her a couple of times and spoken to her, Tate was still nervous about seeing Margaret, who was still kept in a holding unit with her followers. Tate wanted to ask for more leniency in terms of freedom and accommodation by pointing out that Greg’s followers were free to go wherever they pleased and do whatever they wanted.But the difference was that Greg had proven trustworthy when he gave himself up after exposing the Kyltons, pledging loyalty to Lucianne. The duke and his followers even kept her safe during the Blue Crescent attack. Margaret and her people had not done anything close to those things, so there wasn’t a strong enough reason to satisfy granting more leniency than they were already offered.Tate wore a light green shirt and black jeans. Stella was in a white shirt and dark s
When Margaret and Tate entered through the gates, they saw Stella on the far left in a squatting position as she tried to get the best angle to take a picture of the bed of orange flowers swarming with ladybugs. The teenager zoomed in on one of the insects, muttering, “Don’t move. Don’t move. Just one second, and…”In the microsecond before she tapped on the button, the ladybird she set her sights on flew away, and the teenager groaned before falling on her bum and sulking while she silently cursed the uncooperative insect. That was the moment when the same ladybird landed on her knee. Stella tried not to get too excited, and very carefully positioned her phone at the best angle she could get before taking a perfect snap. Her lips curled up into a successful grin as she squealed to herself.Tate c
Tate sat by the fountain and gently pulled Margaret to sit next to him as he began, “Mom was a math teacher, and she’d throw a fit if I scored anything less than the highest mark in my class. When I was nine, the first time I was the second-highest in math, I erased my answer and wrote the correct one before going up to the teacher to ask for a review. That was the beginning of a very horrifying experience.”Margaret’s eyes sparkled with interest as Tate continued, “It turned out that my math teacher and my mom were friends, so when I got home, I was given an hour’s lecture, grounded on the night of a concert my friends and I bought tickets to six months prior, and, to my dismay, more math homework. There was so much that I started seeing numbers and math questions in my dreams.”Margaret chu
Tate’s heart stopped everytime Stella called him ‘dad’ around Margaret. The pessimistic part of him thought that Margaret would be angered and tell her daughter to stop acknowledging him like that. But when Margaret said nothing the first time, he felt relieved; the second time, he felt hopeful; the third time, which was now, he felt like the most blessed creature in the world. He matched Stella’s smirk when he said, “Says the one who’s trying to converge every conversation with me to only one topic.” “Which topic is that?” Stella questioned. “You’re doing it again.” “I know,” Stella chuckled, and as embarrassed as Margaret was, she couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s happy face. There was no worry or
At around 8 p.m. in Polje, a hundred decipios led by a very excited Rafael join the werewolf and lycan monarch, ministers, warriors and rogues.Toby muttered in Lucianne’s way, “You got to admit, if they weren’t on our side, what we're seeing now is shit scary.”Lucianne murmured, “Not if you think about what’s at stake, how many creatures we have to protect.”Those words shifted Toby’s perspective, and the cold night suddenly became less cold.After exchanging bows and acknowledgments, Rafael and Toby got their species to partner-up, one decipio for every two lycans or werewolves. Rafael then threw out a stern reminder, “As I’ve mentioned before, we’
When they were far away enough, Rafael said, “May I just say that was a game well-played back there, Your High—”“It’s just ‘Lucy’, Rafael, really. And I wasn’t playing anything. Those two cousins hate each other more than anything or anyone. If they don’t improve when everyone else does, I WILL be practicing with my husband despite the risks.”Rafael took a peek at his best friend now manipulating the king and duke before he said, “I doubt the king and duke would let that happen, Lucy.”When they reached the tree, Lucianne asked, “So, who am I fighting, Rafael?”With a warm smile, Rafael said, “Me.”