As we went through the royal cave, I saw my father being unchained by one of the royal guards.
And near my father was the king staring at him with narrowed, disgusted eyes.
“Father, she’s here.” Skol spoke.
The king turned around and smiled at me, “Nice to see you again Day.”
I smiled at him, but it felt bitter to do it.
“So, let’s get right down to business Day.” The king drew out a cigarette from his pocket and used a lighter.
In my opinion, smoking and cigarettes are wrong but I cannot judge.
“Now,” The king put the cigarette in his mouth. “your father and I discussed a peace treaty.”
I nodded slowly.
“And the only way for the peace treaty to work is arranged marriage.”
My mouth immediately dropped open.
Skol smiled at me, finally looking at me, but his eyes didn’t look sympathetic at all, they looked happy, as if he was happy for this to happen.
“But sir,” I protested, “I think there must be some mistake! We’re only seventeen!”
“Well, didn’t the Romans marry at those ages?” My father suggested as he drank some champagne from a goblet.
Seriously, some of the decisions these two are making are so stupid!
“And as custom, you have to let Skol change your name before the wedding.” The king added in.
“And I already chose one.” Skol said, “And it is going to be Alora.”
The king smiled proudly at his son.
I groaned.
“And as also custom, you get to choose a friend to go through your pain too.” My father added.
I groaned, what were they thinking?!
And the only friend I have with me is Ambree, and I couldn’t make her go through my pain.
What was wrong with them?!
“Well, um…” I stammered. “I don’t know about this…”
My father smiled, “You have to.”
I knew his smile was fake, but if I could free my people, things would be better.
I sighed, “Fine.”
“Great!” The king clapped. “Now we have several ceremonies to begin, and you would have to decide which friend is to go through your pain too.”
“And you also get to sleep in an actual bed tonight sweetie!” My father tried to sugarcoat the situation.
I gave him a dirty look, telling him not to try to sugarcoat the situation, it would only make it much worse.
“Can I- uh go?” I asked.
“Why?” The king questioned.
“Because um… I need to talk to my friend.” I explained.
“Okay.” The king answered.
I quickly ran away, but was followed by Skol.
“Don’t follow me!” I spat at him.
“But Alora!” He protested.
“My name is Day!!!” I growled.
And marched away from him, and went towards Ambree’s master’s den.
Suddenly I heard another one of her code screams, that must mean Tidwulf found her.
I decided to walk a little faster, thinking it might be funny to walk in on what Tidwulf was doing.
As I walked towards the source, I could hear Ambree screaming no.
I walked quickly and saw that one of the werewolf girls was trying to get Ambree into a dress!
“Hey!” I called out.
They turned around and saw me.
“Um, madame- I uh- was just trying to put where Miss Ambree belonged.” The werewolf girl explained.
“What do you mean ‘put where miss Ambree belonged.’?” I asked.
“Well, um…” The werewolf girl shifted her eyes to the ground.
“The king ordered her to join the court.” A voice called.
I turned around and saw Tidwulf in a blue and white tuxedo.
“Um…” I said.
“Oh um, you must have not heard, since Tala is the only one you have at this camp, that makes her automatically the friend to join your pain.” Tidwulf explained.
“The name is Ambree!” My friend spatted.
“Not anymore.” Tidwulf smiled.
I looked at my dearest friend Ambree, seeing she was almost fully stuffed into a dress.
“I’m sorry but what?” I asked.
“Well, when a human slave/servant is engaged to a werewolf of high status, they would have to let their fiance’ change their name.” Tidwulf looked over to Ambree. “And I changed her name to Tala.”
“And right after the marriage ceremony, at dawn the newly married werewolf will bite their husband/wife on the hand, transforming them into a werewolf.” Chimed a voice.
Ambree and I turned around and saw Skol.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Well, to inform you that on Friday will be a full moon night which means that is the night we shall marry.” Skol explained.
Tidwulf coughed.
“And that is the day that Tala and Tidwulf will marry too.”
Ambree looked terrified and I could see why.
“And to make sure you don’t escape, you two will be locked up in the castle for the next couple of days.” Tidwulf added.
Ambree’s frown turned into a terrified one.
“I got to uh-” Ambree bursted into a run, not finishing her sentence.
“Wait my love!” Tidwulf called and turned into a wolf and ran after her.
There was a moment of silence.
Skol whispered something into the werewolf girl’s ear.
She nodded and left.
There was another moment of silence.
“So… um… we’re alone…” Skol coughed a bit.
I nodded silently.
“So… do you want to uh- kiss?” Skol shifted his feet.
I backed away, what is wrong with him?!
Skol slowly walked towards me.
I backed away more, until… I hit a wall…
Skol used one of his hands and grasped my shoulder.
Wind blew into my hair.
“Um…” I shifted my eyes to the side.
Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and tried to pull me in.
The only thing he got from that was him hugging me.
It was a long moment… an utter silent moment… I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks… what was this feeling?...
It lasted for maybe a minute or so, then I pulled myself away from him.
“Fancy move boy.”
I then walked away from him before I could respond, hoping he wouldn’t notice how red my cheeks were.
I decided quickly to go in Tidwulf and Ambree’s direction, in hopes of finding Ambree without Tidwulf finding her first.
“Ambree!” I called out as trees passed by me.
This must mean they went into the woods.
“YEAH?!” She called back.
She was close by, must be up in the trees.
I grabbed a low branch and began to climb it.
I swung to a high branch and then the next until I reached the top.
As I climbed to the top, I saw Ambree’s face.
It was red as a cinnabar, and Tidwulf was behind her, slightly blushing and had a cheeky little smirk on his face.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing.” Tidwulf smiled.
“SOMETHING DID HAPPENED!!!” Ambree growled.
Then she looked at Tidwulf and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “But I would have to tell you later tonight, when he is not around.”
“Now um…” I said. “We’re gonna go…”
“You can’t go, Tala and you can’t go until we give you a tour!” Tidwulf protested.
“What Tour?” I asked.
“Tour of the castle.” He waved his hands towards the castle.
“Well um… I’m sorry but I think we have a map of the castle.” I explained.
“Really? Who gave you the map?” Tidwulf asked.
“One of our fellow peers.” Ambree explained and took out the map from her small satchel and showed it to Tidwulf.
“I think we will be fine.” I folded my arms.
“And also, where are we supposed to sleep?” Ambree asked.
“Well, Alora will be sleeping in the royal family quarters while you, Tala, will be sleeping in the advisor quarters.” Tidwulf explained.
“Wait wait, so that means we are gonna be separated?!” Ambree asked.
“Well yeah, your new schedules are completely different except for the same free time and dinner.” Tidwulf explained.
“We have never been separated before!!!” Ambree protested.
“Yeah!” I agreed then added, “And if we are separated, we will protest!”
Tidwulf rolled his eyes, “You guys will be fine, still got freetime and dinner.”
Ambree scoffed, “Fine. But we don’t need you to give us any tour.”
“Right! We’ll just ask for some assistance from one of our fellow peers.” I chimed in.
We then scoffed and turned around.
Ambree just jumped off the ground and landed in the bushes, while I swung on from branch to branch until I reached the bottom.
“Wait!” Called Tidwulf, we could see him peering through the trees.
Ambree usually just ignored Tidwulf but this time, she turned around and stopped. “What?”
“Um…” Tidwulf shifted his eyes. “Do you think… we can uh… talk later?”
“Um…” Ambree nodded then grabbed my wrist and we ran far away from it all.
“So, what happened?” I asked.
Ambree stopped and turned around to face me.
Her face was redder than anything I had seen, she murmured something.
“Sorry, can you repeat that but louder?” I asked.
He murmured a bit louder.
“Can you say it a lot louder?” I asked.
“Okay, HE KISSED ME!!!” Ambree yelled on top of her lungs.
“Tidwulf?! Kissed you?! Tidwulf, you sly little werewolf.” I joked and laughed.
Ambree rolled her eyes.
“Did you like it?” I teased.
“I don’t know.” Ambree shifted her eyes to the ground.
I raised my eyebrow, “So you did like it.”
“NO!!!” Ambree protested.
Her eyes were wide in embarrassment and her cheeks were even redder.
“Okay.” I smirked at her.
She sighed and we began to walk away again.
“Hey, Day…” Ambree looked at the sky. “Can we… escape this?”
“Maybe… but it would take time…” I looked at the sky. “But I think we can escape now…”
Ambree nodded, “Let’s go to our master’s den and pack up, if anyone asks, just say we are packing up and going to the castle.”
I nodded in agreement.
Luckily, our masters’ dens were across from each other so we would meet in the middle of the camp clearing.
As we walked into the camp clearing, we saw several of our peers and werewolves staring at us.
We got this bad feeling as if something were about to happen to us so we ran into our masters’ dens.
As I began to pack up, I had this weird feeling about something… or someone… was watching me…
But I had to ignore the feeling and keep packing, I first put my clothes, then my washing supplies and hair brush, then my trusty knife, and lastly but not least, my small gun.
As I zipped it up and turned around, I saw Skol staring right at me.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“Packing up.” I responded.
“Oh…” He shifted his eyes. “Um… I’ll see you later…”
His face was so sad, why was my heart aching?
What’s wrong with me?!...
Before he could go, and for some reason I couldn’t control my arms, I wrapped them around him.
It was a long silent moment…
What was this feeling?...
I could feel Skol wrap his arms around me… “Don’t you remember me? I used to be your childhood friend…”
I could feel the tears wet my shoulders… “I… can’t… remember…”
Skol grasped tighter…
For some reason my heart ached… but of what?...
“It’s okay…” I whispered…
For some reason, now I didn’t want to leave…
But what would… Ambree think?...
“Alora, please don’t leave me… don’t leave… please…” Skol begged.
For some reason now I liked the name Alora…
My mind tried to wrap around these feelings… but I couldn’t understand them…
“I… won’t leave…” The words felt empty coming out of my mouth…
This was my only chance to escape… what was I thinking?!
“Day…” A voice softly called…
I turned around and saw Ambree.
“Um… did I interrupt anything?” Ambree looked down at her shoes and shifted them a bit.
“I’ll leave you guys alone to talk…” Skol let go of me and walked out of the den, still somewhere nearby though.
“You ready?...” She asked, her suitcase swinging in one of her hands.
“I don’t… know…” I said, the words felt bitter to my mouth… what was I going to tell her?
I sighed… “I don’t want to leave…”
She looked at me in surprisement, “What?!”
I frowned at her, tears trailing down her face.
I could feel hot tears streaming down my face too. “I’m… sorry…”
“We were supposed to not be separated!” She spat at me. “We… we were supposed to be best friends forever!!!”
“We can still be!!!” I protested, then looked down at my feet. “If… you stay…”
There was a moment of silence…
We stared at each other, tears were overflowing her eyes now… probably blinding her…
Her frown seemed so bitter, as if it was a taste of poison but in emotions…
“But we could have freedom!” She tried to whip the tears away from her cheeks…
“I…” I bit my lip…
It was either Skol… or my best friend…
“I… I’m sorry…” Tears were everywhere…
I ran out of the den and before anyone could do anything, I lunged through the woods and trees and bushes, and I wouldn’t stop until I reached my hiding spot…
I lunged for my den and crashed into my nest.
Safe and warm…
The sky was getting dark anyways, so might as well sleep the pain off…
I closed my eyes, and let sleep take over…187Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIAzJUGwV4
