"So all these charitable acts that I have been hearing were actually done by you on Ariana's behalf, Lady Bennet?" Nathaniel asked Persephone. Everybody's attention shifted from Xavier and Ariana to them. "Unless you consider taking credit for giving away something that doesn't belong to you as a right thing to do."
"I shall willingly give her all the credits if it makes you happy, Nate." Persephone declared, earning gasps from people at the table.
"It's Alpha Astor for you." Nathaniel announced before getting up and leaving, earning even louder gasps.
Persephone remained seated, fuming in humiliation.
Alpha Anwar clenched his jaw in anger. He didn't like this one bit. One by one, his family affairs were being aired. He glared at Persephone. Had she not instigated Ariana, this drama wouldn't have happened. Anwar noticed that Persephone had started to get on not only Nate's but Xavier's nerves as well. And losing favor of the King was the last thing he wanted for his pack. He must talk to her before she further humiliates Ravernia and Bennet family in front of all the pack leaders.
"I know what you're thinking." Luna Naomi mind-linked him. "Do not worry about losing favor of the King. For the King wouldn't do anything that upsets your other sister from now onwards." She gave a reassuring nod to her mate.
Meanwhile, Ariana absentmindedly walked to another garden of the palace. She went to the table set there, before sitting on one of the chairs, facing opposite to the castle. She sighed as she thought of the conversation she had with Xavier.
"Maybe I should have said one or two more hurtful things to him before walking away. Don't you think, wolfie?"
Saoirse nodded in agreement. "You know, I had a little bit of faith in Moon Goddess thinking she did give us the Alpha King as a mate at least. But now I feel nothing but anger. How could she give us such a delusional freak as a mate?"
"I know, right? If he didn't want me to curtsy to him, he should've given me the rank of his Queen. If he wanted me to remember moments with him fondly, he should've accepted me as his mate. I swear, wolfie. I shall address him as my brother-in-law whenever he tries to talk to me."
After a moment of silence, Saoirse spoke. "I know you're hurting from inside, human."
Ariana wiped the tears falling down her cheeks. "Of course I am! How can a werewolf forget the pain of rejection given by their mate? I'm certain that never in the history has it happened to anyone. Why me? He was supposed to be mine, Saoirse!"
"I know."
"And now, I cannot even look at his face without my blood boiling. His very presence reminds me of his betrayal!"
Saoirse listened to her in silence, allowing her human to vent. When Ariana finally stopped, she started, "His wolf was trying to reach out to me -"
"- Lady Ariana."
Duchess Lily entered, followed by a maid, who had a tray full of teapot, two cups and sweat tea pie in her hands. The maid quickly set the tray on the table before pulling out a chair for the Duchess.
The whole time Ariana didn't get up from the chair to greet her but stared at her with bloodshot eyes in an attempt to make her uncomfortable.
Duchess Lily didn't even notice the disrespect as she instantly became worried seeing Ariana's puffy face. "Ariana, were you crying? Is it because what Persephone said before? You do not need to worry about that at all. You saw how Xavier didn't even listen to her."
"You're right, Duchess. It's not like I ever had to worry about Persephone when it came to him." said Ariana sarcastically.
Duchess hurriedly took her hands in her own. "Trust me. You won't have to. Forget the past."
"Hit my head with a hammer and only then, I will." Ariana withdrew her hands. "Nevertheless, I thank you for you concern."
Duchess Lily cleared her throat awkwardly before motioning the maid to leave. "Here. You weren't able to eat anything before." She handed Ariana a cup of tea.
Ariana thanked her again before accepting the cup.
After few sips, Duchess Lily started the conversation once again. "The Kingdom needs a Lancaster heir."
She glanced at Ariana, who nodded in agreement while taking a huge bite of pie and chewing loudly.
Duchess continued. "It is the duty of the Alpha King and his mate to provide the heir of course."
Ariana didn't fail to catch the suggestive tone in her words. She decided to play innocent. "But the King divorced his publicly claimed mate."
"It was an annulment. Meaning it is considered never to have existed." Duchess corrected quickly.
"I know that you and the King do not find me worthy but I didn't know you think so low of me to think that I don't even know the meaning of annulment." Ariana faked a sad look on her face making the Duchess feel guilty.
"Neither I nor Xavier intended to make you feel that way, Ariana. I apologize."
"Anyway, what now Duchess? What will His Majesty do to ensure this bloodline?" asked Ariana.
"You tell us." Duchess Lily looked at her expectantly.
"If you ask me" Ariana started, "I suggest that a young healthy widow she-wolf be found, who is willing to breed with His Majesty."
Duchess Lily looked at her in absolute shock.
"His Majesty can't go around breeding another wolf's mate, can he? So, a widow would be the best candidate."
When Duchess Lily didn't reply for a while, Ariana got bored. She quickly finished the remaining tea and pie and got up.
"Since Persephone pointed out my human-made clothes and His Majesty didn't defend me, I interpret his lack of support as his agreement with Persephone. Hence, I have clothes to buy. I take your leave."
"There is no need for you to go anywhere, Ariana. Just say the word and Xavier will make sure you get every dress, every jewelry that you desire at the snap of your finger."
"Really? Every jewelry? What about the crown?"
"Crown of the Queen consort? Yes, of course." Duchess Lily replied proudly.
"No." Ariana answered sharply. "Crown of the Monarch. Can he? No, right?"
She bowed and left for the market leaving a speechless Duchess. On the way, Nathaniel joined her. By the looks of it, his mood hadn't changed for better. He was still agitated from inside. As soon as he saw Ariana, he approached her and started rambling.
"How could the Moon Goddess give me a narcissist and a delusional person as my mate?"
Ariana chuckled. "Maybe that's why both the delusional freaks chose each other leaving us sane people."
As they were about to exit the main gate, few guards started following them.
"Wait." Nathaniel turned around to face the guards. "What are you doing?" He narrowed his eyes at them.
"Following orders of the King. My apologies." One of them answered.
"Go inform your King that I don't need his protection." said Nathaniel.
"Actually it's for Lady Ariana, my lord." The same guard replied while the ones at the back snickered.
"What?" Ariana asked in annoyance.
"Following orders of the King. My apologies."
"Did he ask you to keep an eye on me?" questioned Ariana.
The guard didn't answer. He pondered for a while before answering. "Following orders of the King. My apologies."
"No no. Say it one more time." Nathaniel snapped. Guards at the back snickered once again.
"Just leave it." said Ariana tiredly.
They reached the market in half an hour in a carriage, followed by the guards on horses. Ariana quickly selected five dresses. She was about to walk to the paying counter when Nate started walking ahead of her while taking out his wallet. Ariana quickly grabbed his hand and stopped him.
"Wait. What are you doing?"
"Going to pay?" Nate answered nonchalantly.
"Why would you? You don't need to."
Nate was about to protest when Ariana interrupted. "You've already done so much for me. You let me stay in your palace and Luna Iria and Ivory took care of me. I don't want to burden you anymore. Besides, I've earned some money from my job these past months and these dresses are simple and not expensive at all."
"Burden me?" asked Nate offended. "I consider you my close friend, Ariana. And what I did was bare minimum. Do you have any idea what you've done for my pack as well as the whole Kingdom? You have every right to burden us all you want if you call this burdening."
"Don't take this the wrong way, Nate. But I wish to be independent. As a student, Aunt Bella and Uncle Kevin used to give me allowances. I've stopped taking money from them as well so how could I take it from you? I've completed my studies. I have to earn for myself now. And a healer isn't a low-paying job exactly. The King has given scholarship to every student. Next year, I'll become a doctor as well free of cost. I'm set for life."
Nate thought for a while before answering quietly. "You're right."
As Ariana asked for the bill, the lady at the counter stopped her right away. "My lady. I couldn't possibly ask money from you."
"Why? Isn't this a shop?" Ariana asked playfully. She took out some cash from her pocket and handed it over.
The lady quickly pushed her hand back. "You embarrass me, my lady. How could I think of profiting off you when I owe you my life?"
"Huh?"
"My mate and elder daughter had got Xanthus. They were in critical condition. Healer had given up on them. Then suddenly, I was informed that they were saved and getting better. We got to know the day before yesterday that it was all because of you. Thank you, my lady. Thank you."
Ariana looked at Nate awkwardly.
"It's the love of people for you. Take it." He mind-linked her.
"Okay." Ariana smiled at the cashier lady nervously before walking out of the shop, followed by Nate, while the lady shouted from behind. "Do visit again, my lord and lady."
On the way to the carriage, Ariana saw a beautiful anklet in display of a shop. She eyed it for few seconds while walking past the shop before entering the carriage and returning to the palace.
Ariana went to her chamber and tried on the dresses. Though they weren't as expensive or designed like her previous dresses used to be, she thought they were very pretty and suited her well. She put on the yellow lemon one with thin straps and decided to walk around the castle for a while, showing everyone that she isn't going through some rebellious phase where she goes against trivial rules for attention.
She strutted around the castle for a while. As she was returning towards her room after the walk, she stopped and stood still on the long straight open passage, admiring the golden hour just before the dusk.
"Although you look beautiful in any other dress, it's just something else when you are dressed in gowns."
Upon hearing the compliment in the deep seductive voice of her mate, Ariana turned around.
When she did that, she took Xavier's breath away. The sunset rays had illuminated her whole body, making her seem angelic and delicate. The color of her dress helped too. His eyes fell on her enticing red mouth. They lingered on it for a while before he lifted them to meet her eyes. Her soft innocent doe-eyes. Which to his misery, turned cold quickly.
"You must have said the same thing to my sister at some point." Ariana scoffed. She noticed that he was in his royal black uniform with the Crown resting on his head perfectly.
Xavier flinched internally but he maintained a front. "You're the first woman I've ever complimented."
"And I'm supposed to believe that." Ariana mocked.
"Whom could I possibly have complimented? As a King, I'm not obliged to compliment any women publicly even as a common courtesy. And in private, I haven't a found woman beautiful enough to be complemented by me. Till now."
"Oh wow. Too bad the first woman you married wasn't me but my sister. I doubt you are someone who honors the mate bond. You even stayed in the human world for your studies. There must have been several other women of the King, no?"
"Believe me, Ariana. I'm not the promiscuous man you think I am." Xavier took a step forward towards her in desperation.
"Fine. I believe you. But you must be aware that I too had gone to the human world for my studies." Ariana suggested flirtatiously.
Xavier felt a little pang of pain and bubbles of jealousy forming in his chest. His face had hardened. He decided not to say anything as he knew if he did, there is no way where he wouldn't come out as a possessive control-freak. And also he had complete belief that his Ariana had been faithful to him.
Getting no reaction from him, Ariana was about to walk away but stopped hearing Xavier. "You desire the Imperial Crown, I heard?"
"So the Duchess informs him of every little thing." She thought, annoyed.
"Yes, I do." She confirmed with a light smirk.
Xavier raised his left eyebrow while he smiled at her.
"But I know. His Majesty cannot fulfill this desire of mine as someone other than the Lancaster heir can't even wear the Imperial Crown for a fraction of a second."
"Says who?" He asked while walking towards her.
Ariana didn't step back. "Says every Monarch of Wicref. It's the law."
Xavier stood in front of her. He took the Crown from his head and placed it on hers saying, "Well, I'm above the law."
The guards behind and afar looked at them in horror.
"The King has gone cracked in love." One of them whispered to another.
Ariana stood there dumbfounded while Xavier fixed her hair fondly. After making sure that every strand of her hair was in place, he searched for something in his pocket.
Ariana watched in horror as the King knelt down in front of her.
Xavier lifted her gown a little bit to tie something around her left leg. When his work was completed, he stood up.
Ariana finally looked down and saw what he had tied. It was the same anklet that had caught her eye for a moment in the market. For a moment. How could he have even known?
"I am even aware of your subliminal desires, Ariana. We aren't soulmates for no reason."
Ariana didn't say anything. They stood in silence for a while. Finally, she removed the Crown from her head slowly and handed it back to Xavier. She seemed to be in a trance. "The only thing I need is for you to leave me alone."
"And repeat the same mistake I did three years ago. No." Xavier shook his head.
"However, I will leave you for now. Rest well." Saying that, he walked away.
**~~~**
"Sylvester." Duke Lorenzo greeted his friend through the phone. "Got the official invite? I presume."
"Yes, yes." Mr. Windsor confirmed.
"Good. I just wanted to invite you personally as well. Big day for Sean." Duke smiled.
"Yes, it is." Mr. Windsor laughed. "I always thought Ms. Bennet would top the exams. I can't believe my own rascal did it instead. Would it be too sappy if I tell him that I'm proud of him?"
"I do not know. Decide for yourself." Duke laughed along.
"Listen, I can't talk right now. There's a surgery in ten minutes." Mr. Windsor informed.
"Sure. Go on. Don't keep them waiting. We shall talk later." saying that, Duke ended the call. He could help but have a sinking feeling in his stomach.
He sincerely hoped that the closeness he had seen between Sean and Ariana hadn't gone any further, for the sake of Sean. Xavier had only gone sentimental and soft after loosing Ariana. Otherwise if you ask anyone who knew him before that, they would tell you to beware of him as the Alpha King goes to any length to get what he desires. His conquests of Kestramore and Edruke as his witness. Either he will kill or die in his Ariana's love.