"Father Ethan..." I muttered under my breath, yet still good enough for Oliver to pick up.
"You mean that delusional man from your village," His eyes narrowed, "has something to do with this" He gestured to the letter.
I slowly nodded. Father Ethan was the only soul that I believe would rat me out to the Kingdom, there must've been a reward or offer of coins for him to do so.
One of the kingdoms knights must've told our village soon after I left, for any strange encounters or mishaps that occur around the place, most likely due to their wolf problem.
Yet, for Father Ethan –who's basically the village leader– to rat me out for living! Makes him unbelievably unworthy to be leading my poor village.
I mean, he was the reason for the female sacrifice for the wolves.
It then occurred to me how sick of a man Father Ethan really was. I knew he purposely picked on the weak for the sacrifices, yet for one to escape without harm, would that not be good fortune?
Now I had to face what ever wrath this Prince had. He had written of a Jester, but what could a fool do to harm us? They were told to be for comedy and laughs in the palace, so to think that one could hurt us was unbelievable.
However, Oliver did mention that most of the Jesters were controlled by dark magic, weather it be by a witch or one of their own, it was widely know to never make contact with those who held magic.
Oliver's arm tightened around me, looking to his face he was just in a deep thought that I had also just been in.
"If this Jester is of dark powers, then how are we to stop it from potentially taking me?" I questioned, yet Oliver remarkably grew a small smile.
"So you do wish to stay?" An amused smile of his face. I was confused of his actions, but then recalled saying not that long ago, that I would leave once I had found a suitable place.
"Off topic, but If that would be ok with you, then yes. I believe this place is better for Andrew then anywhere else, he can grow to be a fine strong man. As for me," I didn't know what to reply for myself, was I really starting to grow a attraction to him? "I also believe that I fit in well if I kept low and watch over Andrew." Phew
Oliver hummed in reply, likely picking up my somewhat of a lie.
"Well, I do believe you suit this place very well, along with your brother. However, for that dream to come true, we must to eradicate that Prince..."
"Yet that will be near impossible, he's the Prince of our kingdom. He's highly protected by all, no matter his sick game obsessions." I stated.
"I know, that's where the wolves and I come in. If we get that witch, then Prince L.K will be no more than a small, naive little boy with nowhere to run. He'll have no control over the people, his fear in his reign will be gone and hopefully the people will revolt against his sickening games." He explained.
Oliver's face was proud and confident, giving me hope that his idea would work.
"Well I guess you should start planning, but I do believe that you should apologise to Connor first. The poor boy was only looking out for my brother, he didn't mean to intrude on anything." I started, sticking up for poor Connor.
Oliver silent for the first minute, thinking whether or not to do as I say. He was properly a man who had never truly apologised to others -other than me- from the heart. Eventually he nodded in defeat, hopefully releasing his wrongs.
"I'll properly apologise to him this afternoon. In the meantime, for safety reasons of course, how about you take slumber in my room from now on?" He smugly asked.
I knew that this was to come up sooner or later - hopefully the later, but as his mate there was a sought of need and purpose for me to be with him from now one. Yet as a lady, I just didn't find myself comfortable sleeping in the same room with him, but if I had to willing admit it, then yes my attraction towards him was a main cause.
"But I do believe that I am well off in my brothers room, am I not?" I questioned back. I think he knew I would reply like this, as his smug smile transformed into a confidence-knowing smirk.
"For comfort of family yes, for protection no. If the Jester were to attack sooner than planned, would dear young Andrew be able to care for you, or will he be the one cared for?" He spoke confidence in his reply, knowing just as well that I would protect Andrew over myself. He was my only family left, how couldn't I?
"I see your point, but who will be there to protect Andrew, if the Jester goes to hurt the ones I love the most?" Oliver's smile fell just a bit, I did not see why but could it have been due to my over care of Andrew?
"If that is your concern, then he'll share with Connor, those two get along well and even Connor can be mature at times." He then made strong eye contact with me, cupping his hands on the both of mine, raising them to his chin. "I promise you, Andrew will be safe with Connor. However, my priority is to make sure that you are safe at all times." His voice had become lower and softer at this point, indicating that he took this matter seriously as well as delicately.
He rose his warm hands that were covering mine to his lips, delicately placing a soft kiss there.
My heart soared, a small red heat rushing to my face.
I sighed in defeat, knowing well enough that Andrew would be safer with Connor. Besides, I would be safer with Oliver.
"I agree with your idea, I shall be with you and Andrew with Connor. However this is-" I was immediately cut off and off guard when Oliver stood up, swinging me around in his arms.
He was overjoyed just by this??
Even if this was found to be immature, I still felt my heart swoon from the admiration and joy I continuously got from him. It even made me break out in a laugh.
~*~*~
Later that evening, Oliver went to properly apologise to Connor. I could see them talking from my bedroom, that I was soon to leave from.
Oliver had his arms crossed the whole time, trying to have a strong and meaningful look to his appearance, yet of course Connor saw through that and broke into a ginormous laugh. Going on about how he couldn't believe Oliver, the Alpha, was apologising to silly, little him.
This went on for a while, but the troubling issue of where Andrew was came to mind. He couldn't have gone far and highly unlikely for him to leave, so where was he?
My window wasn't giving me enough clearance to see, yet I was warned to not leave when it was close to sunset, especially with this Jester supposedly coming. I had agreed to myself that if he was not to be seen in the village, I would ask for help from the others. Hopefully that stayed an 'if'.
I had grabbed my red-hooded cape, knowing that my new fabric of white clothing would not be enough to shield me, from the cold grip of air outside. My mind slightly got frantic at every step I took to get outside, knowing that Oliver would oppose my choice. However, knowing that Andrew was safe was my main priority.
Once out into the cold air, I saw an still amused Connor walking this way, noticing me his eyes perked up even more.
"Sylvia! You wouldn't of guessed what just hap-"
"Connor, Do you know of where Andrew is!?" His facial expressions dropped, realizing a problem was surfacing.
"No, I thought he was with you."
My mind went frantic, almost haywire, but I needed to find Andrew. He was never a smart boy and getting lost was his forte, hence the major panicking.
Connor comprehending the situation, his eyes widened and he turned around, likely to find Oliver.
"Wait, Connor! Please do not involve Oliver in any of this, Andrew's probably just out here wandering about. So please, give me some time." I pleaded.
Connor narrowed his eyes, something I thought I would never see him do at me. He took a step closer to me, than another, and another, each time I too took one back.
"You are ordering me to disobey my Alpha by not letting him know of the situation? How do you think he'll feel about that? You are his mate, for you to lie and hide things from him, he'll be hurt."
I could understand why Connor was so concerned by all of this, but I knew Oliver would over react, sending everyone looking for Andrew, something more they'd hate about me.
"Connor if you were to help me, I'd still be protected and have more of a chance to find Andrew. Please just help me, I'll explain to Oliver if the situation get deadly."
He closed his eyes, exhaling heavily. "Fine, but if we don't find him by dusk," He looked saddened as he paused, hoping that we wouldn't come to that, "then we report to Oliver and he'll send a search for him.
I nodded, agreeing to his terms.
"Good, now grab Ardan."
With that we were off. I on Ardan, slowly walking about the cold snow - with no saddle due to inability to saddle horse, yet a reasonably good bridle. Connor shifted into his wolf form long before, sniffing out any trace of Andrew whatsoever. It was now extremely close to dusk and the probability of Oliver noticing me missing, was incredibly high.
With every second that ticked past, my worry for Andrew grew alarmly. Maybe it would've been best to involve Oliver...
It was then that I heard Connor's worrying but oh-so-thankful voice.
"Sylvia! I found them,"
Them? Andrew was with someone?
I didn't let myself think, clucking Ardan into the direction of where Connor's voice occurred from. Ardan went in a Canter that was nor slow or balanced, making me get chills of the hose that I wasn't controlling. The fault of not having a saddle made it harder to stay a balance, but I eventually found Ardan stopping tragically, close to making me slide off. My eyes were blurry, almost to the point of sickening, yet I heard a breath of relief escaping in front of me.
Was it Andrew?
Upon raising my gaze, there was Oliver.
~*~*~
Helloooooooo, hoped you liked the chapter, I made it extra long for you all. ALSO, I have Exams next week (first time ever...yay) SO, Idk about updates around then, but I am thinking of doing another chapter right before it so you can all enjoy that :) <3
What I imagine Sylvia to look like. (Of course with red cape-I tried to photoshop one on but it failed) Originally I took down the pictures of what I thought my characters looked like, but I decided if I were to make another cover I would use this photograph of Lilly Collins, so I guess just picture Sylvia