Snagged by the Rogue [COMPLETED]

22.

Alex.

"Your majesty," I immediately greet but the Queen isn't looking at me, her eyes are fixed on Anaya.

I hear James coming out of the waiting room behind us.

"What are you still doing he-," he starts to ask but stopped when he spots the Queen.

"Who is this girl?" She finally speaks.

James starts nudging us forward, "They were just leaving, your majesty, I apologise for the intrusion."

"I asked who this girl is this girl is," there's a lot of power a lot of power emanating from her and even though the question isn't directed at me, I feel obligated to answer.

"My name is Anaya," Anaya says before I can.

"And what are you doing here, Anaya?"

"I want to see my mother, Princess Dahlia."

There is a collective intake of breath around the room. From the servants and guards, because of Anaya's shocking announcement, from James probably because he didn't believe she would dare repeat the sentence.

The only people who remained inexpressive were me and Queen Natalie.

There's silence and the Queen and Anaya just stare at each other. It's unusual for anybody to be able to maintain eye contact with a royal for that long.

"Come with me," Queen Natalie finally says.

She starts going into the palace and Anaya looks at me before we follow along. She walks deeper into the palace until we arrive at a door. We go in and I realise we're in her rooms, the room we've just entered being her sitting area.

"Sit down," the queen says, herself settling into a chair.

The room is big, as is every place we had been in in the castle so far. There is a large, floor-to-ceiling window letting a lot of light into the room and making it feel a lot bigger. On the wall opposite the window hangs a giant portrait of the queen herself in her royal attire, complete with a crown.

In the center of the room is a sofa, upon which is seated the queen, and around it are smaller armchairs. Anaya takes one, and I take another.

"Why have you come to look for Dahlia?" She goes straight to the point.

Anaya speaks, "Because she's my mother."

Queen Natalie shakes her head as if this information is inconsequential, "No, why now? Dahlia has been here for nearly two decades. Why have you decided to come to look for her now? Do you need something? Is that it?"

"Excuse me?" Anaya's voice is calm. But having known her for a while and constantly been on the wrong side of her temper, I know that it's the calm before the storm.

"Money? Cars? A title? You want your mate to be chosen as king? You have to have a reason."

Through the bond, I could feel Anaya's anger, but deeper down, I could feel her shame.

"Don't speak to her that way," I have to say something.

The queen looks at me for the first time since we had met her. She raised a perfect eyebrow at me and I resisted the urge to shrink in her gaze.

"She has had to endure insult after insult just because she's trying to find some closure. Just looking at her, you can see we're not lying. And if you don't believe us, then too bad."

"Oh, I know she's not lying."

Anaya's head snapped to me, her eyes wide. Her expression mirrored mine.

She turned back to the queen, "You believe Princess Dahlia is my mother?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why were you implying I was only saying it because I wanted something from you guys?"

She sighed, "I admit that was uncalled for. Dahlia returned broken. Your father took her and she returned broken. She returned all these years ago and then you show up now, out of the blues..."

"What do you mean my father 'took' her? And what do you mean by she's broken?"

She stared at Anaya blankly, then slowly her eyes widened, the first expression of shock I'd seen her show, "You don't know? You don't know. How do you think you were born a rogue?"

"My parents were kicked out of their pack. I don't know, that's all my father ever said."

"You father was a low ranking Lycan wolf who came with his Alpha on business here. And he met my daughter and they started a relationship. Dahlia said they were in love and wanted to get mated right away. My husband wasn't happy with that. Dahlia was a Princess, next in line to the throne, he didn't want the king to succeed him to be a low-ranking wolf. So, he ordered your father's Alpha to banish him. We didn't know Dahlia would decide to run away with him. She had already left before we found out she was pregnant," she paused and closed her eyes as though relieving the events were painful.

I was enraptured. Not a word of all this had gotten out in over 20 years. Anaya was staring at the queen, sitting very still and barely breathing as though any distractions might cause her to lose even a word of the queen's story.

Queen Natalie opened her eyes. She took a sip out of the glass of water that a maid had brought in, taking her time.

"We searched everywhere for her but we couldn't find her. Then 5 years later, she showed up right here, in front of the palace like she had never left.

Except she looked different. She was frail and filthy. Her hair hung in limp strands and her eyes were sunken in her face. The doctor examined her and said there was nothing wrong with her, physically. She just needed good food and some specific nutrients.

So we did that, I fed my daughter, I cared for her. Her father was still angry with her but he needed an heir and his heir was back home. He didn't care about much else.

But Dahlia gained her weight back, she got colour in her face again, her hair returned to being long and full.

But it's been two decades and my daughter hasn't spoken a word."

"What do you mean she hasn't spoken?" I find myself asking, getting irritated with the cliffhangers.

"I mean, my daughter is alive and well. She reads, and takes walks in the gardens, and stares out of the window. But she doesn't speak.

I haven't heard Dahlia's voice since she returned."