The Bennet family occupied one of the tables set in a garden. Ariana was disappointed when they weren't escorted to the garden which she had visited the night before. Apparently, the royal palace had ten different gardens.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Persephone took a sip of tea while admiring topiary.
"It is, indeed." agreed Anwar, who was occupied by Naomi lately.
But not as much as the garden I had visited yesterday, Ariana thought.
"Hope you had a sound sleep?" Duchess Lily joined them.
"We did. Everything was wonderful yesterday." Persephone gave her a beaming smile.
"Yes m'Lady. Thank you for worrying about our comfort." Ariana said in the most polite tone she could come up with.
"No need to be so formal, dear." Duchess smiled.
**~~~**
After breakfast, the young ones, who hadn't been in the palace before, set out to explore. The group included Anwar, Persephone, Ariana, Naomi, Mary and Emma led by Christopher who had already been here once. To everyone's surprise, he took them to the training grounds.
"Why did you bring us here?" Anwar, who was already irritated by the arrogance shown by Christopher on the way, asked.
"Why do you think?"
Everyone continued staring at him.
"To check out your skills, of course." Christopher laughed. Everyone else groaned.
"Now, come on." He insisted.
Everyone returned in ten minutes after changing into suitable attire.
"Let us start with sword, shall we?"
Christopher dueled with Anwar whilst Persephone decided to challenge Naomi, leaving Ariana with Mary.Emma just watched.
"Let us see whether you've got what it takes to be Luna to our pack, shall we?" Persephone started circling as if she was about to pounce on her prey.
Meanwhile, Ariana and Mary too picked up swords and stood in alert postures.
"I am going to defeat you. You have no chance against me." Mary bluffed.
"Yeah. You don't have to do too much talking before the duel."
"If you hurt me, I will complain to Persephone and she will make sure you get punished." Mary said now in a scared voice.
"Shut up!" Ariana spat before attacking. She easily won against Mary.
Christopher and Anwar were busy fighting each other when Anwar felt pain of his mate. He rushed to Naomi, who had a cut on her arm.
"Why did you do that?" He scolded his sister
"This was meant to be a breezy duel, Persephone. Why did you injure her?" Christopher took Anwar's side.
"What? I was easy on her, okay? It's not my fault that she is not capable of handling a duel."
"It's fine. I'm fine." Naomi tried to assure everyone.
But Anwar was still angry. He took Ariana to side before whispering "Make sure she looses."
Ariana nodded before starting to duel with Persephone. Although Persephone was trained by Alpha Edward himself and Ariana was trained by her older brother, she still managed to win. This crushed Persephone's ego.
"Not bad, pup." Christopher ruffled Ariana's hair.
"I found out yesterday that you are only three years older than me, Christopher. So, do not call me a pup again."
"Fine, Ari." He gave her a grin.
"No. You cannot call me that either. Only my loved ones call me that." She scrunched her nose.
"But I love you too, Ari." He cooed.
"Disgusting!" She spat before checking up on Naomi.
The second activity of the day was decided to be archery. Whoever was able to hit the eye of dummy, won.
Everyone was able to do that except for Ariana and Mary. The dummy was kept at a long distance from the archer. Everyone had an advantage over Ariana due to the presence of their wolves.
Anwar and Naomi decided to spend some time together and headed out. Persephone too gave her a smirk to Ariana before heading out with Mary, leaving only her and Christopher behind.
"Aw Ari. Are you feeling sad? Don't feel sad." Christopher teased.
Ariana rolled her eyes. She was about to leave when she heard. "I can teach you."
She turned back. "Why?"
"Because I wove you."
She groaned hearing a grown man talk like a baby.
Christopher laughed. "Seriously, Bennet. If you want to learn, then I can teach you."
Ariana pondered for a while. "Okay fine."
He started giving her vocal instructions. But even after an hour, there was no improvement.
"Ugh. Just leave it, Bennet. Even I can't teach you." he complained.
Ariana ignored him and continued aiming, but in vain.
Suddenly Christopher came near and touched her arm, positioning them in the correct way. They made an eye contact before he whispered. "Release."
This time the arrow hit its target making Ariana happy. She thanked him before parting ways.
**~~~**
Ariana couldn't sleep this night too. She couldn't get the man she had seen the day before off her mind. Hoping to see him again, she strolled to the garden which was illuminated by the moonlight. Surprisingly the man was already there. Although his back was turned on her, she could still recognize him by the way her body and mind was reacting.
"Couldn't sleep tonight as well?" His voice sent shivers down her spine.
"My body isn't adjusting to this new place, I guess." She chuckled, nervously.
"Oh but your heart is surely adjusting to new people."
Ignoring the coldness in his voice, she replied "Yes." She thought the remark was meant to be about them.
His body went stiff. After a while he turned around to find Ariana plucking roses.
"Do you think it is acceptable to pluck flowers from somebody else's garden?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Is this your garden?" She asked, continuing what she was doing.
"It isn't." He answered, icily.
"Then you have no authority whatsoever to stop me." However she stopped and lifted her face to meet his gaze. He had a frown on his otherwise perfect face.
"Arrogant." He whispered. She too frowned and continued plucking flowers.
After collecting five beautiful red roses, she walked forward and stood in front of him. "May I?"
"May you what?"
"Sit beside you."
He was sitting on a rock with somewhat flat surface. She motioned towards a little space on the rock beside him.
He sighed. "Wait."
He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and spread it. "Sit."
Ariana smiled before taking a seat. "I plucked these roses for someone."
"For whom?"
"A man."
He huffed in annoyance before standing up and facing another direction. "I am sure the pup from Celik will be delighted to receive it."
"Who?" Ariana pondered for a while before realizing who he was talking about. "Oh! So you know Christopher?"
The man closed his eyes in pain.
"You two seem to be taking a liking to each other today."
"Oh please! We argue all the time. He is such a pain in the a-" She stopped herself before she could say the word.
"So along with being arrogant, you swear as well. How nice!" He smirked and turned around to face her.
"Technically, I didn't."
He continued to stare at her face.
Ariana felt insecure under his scrutiny. She feared that the man, whose face she found to be completely flawless and body to be the most well built one, would not find her attractive enough. Little did she know that he was mesmerized by her beauty at that moment. Then, there was again that pained expression on his face before he looked away.
Ariana was hurt by his action. She couldn't stop herself from asking. "What happened?"
"Don't ask." He said in a soft voice.
"Why?"
"Because I said so." He answered in a firm tone this time.
Ariana rolled her eyes. She approached him and left the roses on his side of rock before whispering. "You're that man."
After she turned around and walked away, he picked up the roses and inhaled the scent. His expression changed immediately and his face showed contentment and vulnerability. Not because of the scent of the roses, but because it smelled of her.
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