7 Chapter 7: Read a book.

The Queen insisted that Blaze and Alvara had to stay in the palace for at least three days before leaving to go Blazes tree home. Kya was only using this opportunity to get to know Alvara as much as possible and to see who her son really found in those woods. After dinner Blaze took Alvara out to the garden, arm in arm they walked gently through the large flowers and small trees. They reached a large marble chair that looked out onto the large pond in the middle of the garden, Blaze let Alvara sit down first before he too found his place next to her. "I know you haven't made up your mind." Blaze said, his crimson eyes glowed in the dark as his gaze was set on the water. "I know I found you and I know you miss your friends. But please consider my proposal, please let me be your mate." Blaze wasn't one to beg but Alvara seemed to already have him wrapped around her small fingers. Alvara stared at Blaze before looking down at her hands. "I need to find my friends, I don't know what's happened to them or if they are even alive. Please don't force me to make a decision now when I'm not even looking for a mate." Blaze didn't show any expression, he stayed silent. Minutes went by as the two sat in silence, Alvara took a deep breath in before getting up and walking back on her own towards the palace.

She didn't want to hurt Blaze, he was the most kind and attractive young man Alvara had ever met. She would love to get to know him, but her mind was constantly worrying about her friends. "Alvara." A soft sweet voice called, she still hadn't made it out of the garden, she looked around but saw no one. She quickly moved back into the castle walls, she had no powers let alone to be strong enough to defend off anyone that was stalking her. She was almost to her room when she heard the voice again. "Alvara, come find me." It whispered like the voice was right behind her, Alvara spun around but again no one was there, feeling frightened all of the hairs on her arms stood up. Was she being stalked? Or followed? She ran the rest of the way to her room and slammed the door behind her shut. Who was calling to her? And where were they? How come she couldn't see them? Alvara thought she was loosing her mind, maybe it was the food or drink she consumed during dinner? Maybe that hasn't agreed with her and she's hearing things.

Alvara started to removed the jewellery from her body, anklets, toes rings, all of them need to come off, they were heavy and she was tired from her long day. She thought sleep would help her mind adjust to what's happening around her, she hoped she was right.

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The next morning when Alvara woke up there were multiple dresses waiting for her on giant marble dolls, they were a gift from the Queen. Kya wanted to make a good impression on Alvara, she wanted Alvara to stay. Kya on the early hours of the morning commanded her servants to find the best dresses the Kingdom had to offer and all had to be blue and gold. Alvara circled around the dresses closely admiring them, her hand gently glided through the soft fabric, it glittered and shine in the morning sun. There was a light knock on her bedroom door, in walked the same lady who dressed her from the night before. "Good morning Mistress, shall we start with your morning preparations?" Alvara was placed in front of a large mirror where she was washed and dressed, her lady then moved onto jewellery and eye makeup. Once Alvara was ready the lady quickly exited the room, Alvara stood and starred at herself once again. She was dressed in complete blue, right down to her jewellery, it was strange how no one wore shoes. Her hair was brushed out into soft waves with a blue hair piece down the middle of her scalp, dangling gently on her forehead.

There was another knock on the door, a guard softly opened the door. "Breakfast is waiting." She followed the guard out into the garden where a massive buffet of breakfast food laid out neatly next to wild flowers that grew outside the palace. The guard took a few steps away just so Alvara could have some privacy, there were so many delectable fruits, meats, eggs, juices and sweets that Alvara got one of everything. She knew that whatever she ate had to be different compared to the food she was used to back home. She sat and started to eat, everything was so good, Alvara was defiantly enjoying herself, Kya appeared out of site behind Alvara. She watched as Alvara ate different food group, Kya couldn't pick up which one Alvara liked more so she presented herself and sat down next to her. "Oh Kya! I mean good morning your Highness!" Alvara jumped up startled and quickly bowed, Kya waved it off and Alvara sat back down. "I've come to let you know that Blaze will not be present with us for the next few days. He has gone away with his oldest brother to meet up with each of the tribe members of our nation. It is going to be a dangerous journey, did he see you before he left this morning?" Alvara looked away and shook her head. "Well that's strange indeed." The Queen finished before grabbing herself some food. "That soldier over there." Kya pointed to the one that escorted Alvara to breakfast. "That's Roman, he will be your private guard for now." Roman was a young and very handsome solider, his hair was thick and curly, his body built like a god and his traditional Ryū tattoos were attracting Alvara the most, art was one of her favourite hobbies and tattoos also attracted that side to her.

Roman noticing Alvaras gaze felt tense, such a beautiful female who had not accepted Blaze as a mate would surely not have her sights on him. She was too beautiful to be with him, Roman thought. He tried to hide the disappointment from his face and he tried to turn away, avoiding Alvaras eyes. He could change her mind? Blaze hasn't seem to have a bond with her yet so surely he had a chance before he was to return... This made Roman feel relieved, he did have a chance, a small mischievous smile sneaked onto his face, Alvara noticed it. She didn't know why Roman was trying so hard to hide his gorgeous smile from her. "If you need me Roman will show you where I am." The Queen stood up and left Alvara and Roman alone heading back towards the castle. A few moments went by before Alvara finally spoke up. "Roman, you can sit and eat with me." Alvara gestured to the seat opposite her, Roman was shocked, no female would be so kind to share her meal with him. Roman hesitated before slowly moving to the seat opposite Alvara. Alvara stood up grabbing a plate beside her a piling on food for Roman to eat, he watched as the gorgeous female went out of her way to feed him. His heart rate quicken when she moved beside him and gently placed the plate of food in front of him. "I wouldn't want you to starve and I really have heap of food."

How could a female be so caring? How or why does Alvara care about his health? Roman started to eat but couldn't drop his crimson eyes from her. "This May sound strange of me to ask, but you see I'm not from this tribe and I don't know much of this world." Roman stopped eating, how could this female not know anything about the world or the Ryū tribe? Maybe she was dumb like the rest after all. "Only because I was hidden and told nothing growing up." Alvara defended herself quickly, she saw the look of suspicion on Romans face. This seemed like an agreeable reason as to why Alvara was not familiar to the world around her, he had heard of females that would be locked away to keep off any unwanted males. "What would you like to know?" Roman asked gently, Alvara shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "How many tribes are there? And what kinds are there?" Roman wasn't aware but Alvara was definitely playing twenty-one questions on poor Roman. "Ten, including the capital. Some are a distance away, but when you can fly like us it's very easy to get around, some tribes do not know how to fly or cannot fly at all. You've got the Panthers in the south, it's extremely cold there, no one likes going." Alvara remembered that Raven had said she felt cold before jumping through the water and disappearing, maybe Raven was in the south! "You've got the Serpent tribe that insists on having access to water who are a lot closer to us than other tribes." Roman paused like he remembered something. "Why am I even telling you this? I can take you to the archive! You can read everything there." Alvara was delighted, no more odd questions that would cause suspicion or endanger her stay here, she could read everything and no one would suspect a thing.

The books were not like the ones Alvara had read at home, most were written by beast men and only few by woman who were in a position of power. The book had a hard wooden front with some sort of eco-friendly material. "Why is the ink that colour?" Alvara asked Roman. "It written in blood, the writers blood. You will notice the different colours of blood when you read different books, depending on what the beats man or woman is." Alvara was shocked, the pages were thick and tightly written, the amount of blood that would of been used to write this would of been a lot. "This is green blood, who's does that belong too?" Alvara questioned Roman again, he really was surprised of how little Alvara knew. "It's the blood of a Merman." Mermaids were real? Alvara screamed in her head, how absolutely amazing! "The book you are reading is one about the Mermaids and Mermen, however that's only one writer there are many books by different kinds of Mer-people." Different kinds? There were different kinds of mermaids?!

Alvara used her time wisely, she got Roman to bring a book from both female and male of every tribe, even the little towns filled with creatures that didn't have enough of them to become a named tribe. Majority of the small towns were massive tribes once just like the Ryū, but as one of the History books written by a Sea Serpent explained that most of them were proud and cocky and when the Titans appeared a few hundred years ago they wiped out most of these populations.

Griffins were one tribe that no one had seen since the arrival of the Titans, there was thousands of them, they out numbered every tribe but no one has seen them since. Alvara read about the description of a Griffin, it was a modern mix of both lion and eagle something that seemed oddly familiar to her, like she had seen one before or recently. That can't be right, Alvara thought, none have been sighted for years.

Roman watched Alvara curiously she was reading a lot faster then even he could and all soldiers had the best education when it came to reading and writing. Females tended not to worry about silly things like that, his father always read to his mother when they were growing up, she always enjoyed it. The only females that had education were the Queens private ladies and just like the Queen they could shift into Ryū and had the best combat trainings. Females that couldn't change into Ryū were normal, it was very uncommon for a female to be able to shift forms.

Alvara turned the pages quickly, she soon finished the book written by the Sea Serpent and reached out for a black covered book with a red seal on the front. "That book is about the Titans, written by every creature to have ever encountered or seen one with their own eyes." Roman gently sat down next to Alvara, she didn't notice and opened up to the first page. Many creature described the Titans in different forms, some were loud, obvious and giant but some were quiet, invisible and lethal. The ones that were invisible were the biggest problem for all creatures in the Animal Kingdom, they could transform into anything, mostly handsome men or woman to draw out an innocent creature. Over the years they got easier to identify as they all had a strange symbols down their spin which gave them away. Being in human form also made them a lot weaker and many were able to be captured and kill however many lives would be lost just to kill a singular Titan. The Titans that weren't invisible were quiet stupid, as they gave their presence off by being loud and giant, this made it a lot easier to hide and get away from, but they had a very keen sense of smell which made it easier for them to find small prey. You could believe that you had found the safest and best spot to hide from one but the Titan would smell you out or you would get trapped or killed unknowingly because of its giant body. Trees and bushes below would crack and crumble to the ground destroying the land from underneath them.

Alvara shivered, even though it was a warm day she still could feel the ice cold feeling of fear like a blanket wrapping itself around her, the thought of coming across one of these creatures being only human seemed helpless in this situation, Alvara knew she would not survive an encounter with one of these demons.