HAUNTING PART ONE.

           The next day around Ten thirty am (10:30)am. The human guests started to arrive. 

   Ariadna entered the palace through the back gate. The back gate was created as an escape route in case the palace was under attack. 

 But that was Hundreds of years ago when they were still at war with each other.

  She slowly made her way through the corridor, the maids bowed to her when they saw her.

   "Princess Ariadna," she stiffened when she heard the voice, she turned around and smiled at the beautiful woman with her chestnut hair styled in a widowed hairstyle.

Which was what Trent called it whenever they met.

    "Head maid Marina." Ariadna chuckled to hide the awkwardness.

The woman's hazel eyes narrowed.

   She looked at the outfit Ariadna was wearing. Black jeans a white top and a leather jacket over it. Her hazel eyes snapped back to look at her face.

    "Why is Her Highness sneaking through the back door?" 

Ariadna wrings her hands.

"There are a lot of guests coming through the front gate so I decided to use this one instead." She lowered her head as she answered.

   "Raise your head, a princess should never lower her head like that." Marina's stern voice rang through the corridor.

She wasn't just a head maid. She was once their governess too.

   Ariadna quickly raised her head.

"Now let's go get you changed, everyone is going hunting in an hour.

  Ariadna followed Marina, like a chick running after its mother hen.

       Ella and Lydia are now dressed in their hunting attire.

They each wore brown pants, black boots,  black undershirts, a jacket, and billed hats which went perfectly well, with their pony hairstyle.

   Donovan and Cyra Potter kept looking at the entrance of the palace.

   "Where is he?" She nervously whispered to her husband.

The father smiled and pointed at the entrance. 

"There he is." He couldn't help but beam.

He was dressed in cream khaki pants, with black boots, a white long-sleeve shirt, and a cream khaki jacket and black khaki hat.

     "Father, Mother." He bowed to them.

"Come here, son." He went to his mother and she pulled him into a tight hug.

   "I miss you so much, you don't even care about your mother." Her green eyes glistened with tears.

  Ella paused when she saw Cyrus.

Lydia looked at the shocked Ella and looked in her direction.

"Don't worry, she can not hurt you?" Lydia patted her back.

  Unbeknownst to Lydia, Ella was shocked for a different reason.

Cyrus looked up and his eyes met with  Ella's.

      "Ella!" Cyrus called her name.

"Cyrus, what are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

    "My son is here because the king invited him, unlike you." Cyra sneered at her.

"Stop Mom, please." He gave her a pleading look.

   "You don't know that girl, she's...

   "I know her mom, she is an amazing woman with a very talented older brother." Cyrus cut in. 

He turned to smile at Ella. To him this was an opportunity to win her, though he truly wanted to know how she got an invitation, maybe she came here with her brother.

      "It's time for the haunting!" A man came to announce to the guest lingering at the palace entrance.

     "Let's go." Lydia dragged her along.

They were now in the stable picking their horses, while chatter and laughter filled the air.

 Ella looked around for Trent and noticed that none of the royals were there.

   "Lydia, where is the royal family?" Ella whispered to her.

"probably scolding Ariadna." She whispered back.

Then she recalled Trent mentioning the young lady yesterday at the dining table.

          Ariadna wrings her fingers in nervousness as she stares at her father and mother. Faithia on the other hand was pleased. She has always felt inferior in the presence of her sister. Her sister's beauty was out of this world.

  Faithia always denied Ariadna of being her sister, she also went as far as performing a DNA test to prove her point, but the bitch was truly her sister and she took her great grandfather's hair from their mother's side.

      "I am sure he is already here." The Queen said whilst glaring at Ariadna.

 "Father, I think we should agree with Mother and get rid of the baby," Joel announced.

  "No!! Anything but that, I cannot lose my baby!" She held her stomach shaking her head as tears coursed down her cheeks.

   "Shut up! you disgrace of a woman!" She raised her hand to slap Ariadna but Trent caught her hand and she glared at him.

   "You can not slap a pregnant woman." He said in a low voice.

 She abruptly yanked her hand from his grasp. 

    "How dare you….

Joel kept quiet and stepped away when Trent looked at him with his cold murderous eyes.

     Acher was seating down on a chair at the back looking tired and miserable but he wondered why Trent was interfering in all this.

      "Isolde, Trent is right  you cannot hit a pregnant woman." Augustus' gentle and clear voice echoed through the room.

    Isolde scoffed at her husband.

"You will always support your bastard over us." Her eyes were now covered with pain.

  "You can do whatever you and your son want, I will go attend to the guest." Isolde walked out with Faithia and Joel.

     "Does anyone  want to share with me, what is truly going on here?"

   Trent and Augustus looked at Acher who was a total mess, his eyes had dark cycles around them, his hair was scattered and he looked pale as paper.

     "The room of solitude didn't do you well." Trent smiled mockingly at him.

"I am sure, at some point the room wanted to r*pe me." 

Acher shivered.

    Trent chuckled.

"Explain everything to your brother, you guys can come to join us when you're done." 

The King walked out of the room too.

   "So what is truly going on?" 

   "We suspect that the person who pregnant Ariadna isn't human."

   Acher gave him a confused look before he asked.

"And why do you think so?"

"A male human can pregnant a half-blood vampire or a very weak one but not a powerful pureblood like Ariadna. 

To pregnant a women, the male's Cowper gland secretes a seminal fluid that helps to neutralize the acidity in the urethra.

In the case of Ariadna, there is no way he can neutralize the acidity."

   He looked at Acher with the utmost seriousness.

    Acher's brows puckered in thought.

"Is that physics?"

Trent glared at Acher.

"Yes, you're right, it was invented by the palace shoemaker."

He knew that Trent was being sarcastic.

"You can not blame me, you left me in the room of solitude to suffer."

   He staggered as he stood up.

Trent sighed before lending him his shoulder.

  "Let's go and get you fixed up, I left Ella all by herself." Trent used his hand to support his waist as Acher wound his arm around Trent's neck and they both stepped out of the room.

  "I thought that she was with Lydia?" Acher asked.

"Yes, she is but I worry about a fly hovering around. You see My El will be too kind and not swat it away."

   Trent smiled at the confused Acher.

    Back in the forest where the haunting had begun, Lydia and Ella were slowly going around with their horses.

  They heard the sound of hooves galloping toward them and when they turned around the person was none other than Cyrus Potter.

      "Ella!" His horse stopped next to theirs before it snorted.

    "Cyrus, how are you doing?" She smiled at him.

His face brightened.

Lydia's eyes narrowed when she saw the man's eyes looking lovingly at Ella.

     "Are you here with your brother?"

Cyrus asked her.

Before Ella could reply, Lydia beat her to it.

"She came here with Trent, they are now a couple." 

Cyrus felt a pang in his chest, everything became blurry and his breath hitched.

   "Couple." He whispered 

"Yes, they are a couple, like you and your Finance, Ariadna." Lydia smiled at him.

   Ella looked between the two. It was a little bit cold and the dull sunlight shun through the forest.

The sounds of gunshots were heard through the forests including the steps and chatter, the birds flew away because of the harsh sounds.

      "What do you mean by that?" Cyrus glared at her and Lydia frowned.

"Are you saying that they haven't introduced you to her?"

   Cyrus looked confused.

"I don't seem to understand you," Cyrus said to her, his eyes demanding answers.

   Another bullet was fired, Cyrus saw it pass, going straight for Ella,

It was too late for him to do anything, and Ella fell from her horse. 

  The sound of the bullet scared the horses and they started to try to throw off Lydia and Cyrus as they whined.

   The hooves of Cyrus's horse were kicking in the air.

While his horse began to jump around, his eyes widened when he saw the hooves of Lydia's horse almost landing on the unconscious Ella.

   "Ella!!!"