I'm proud of you

*clopf clopf*

they were interrupted by someone knocking on the door

"Come in! '' shouted Celea after getting away from Clause's hold . The maid then came in

" miss Celea and King of lycans you are invited by King Dereus to dinner"

" tell him we are not coming" reported Claus

" Tell him we are coming in a bit" the maid nodded and left. Celea than turned to face Claus

" if you don't want to come than talk about yourself don't include me in your decisions without my approval"

" Oh so you are this desperate to see him again"

" You may have forgotten your responsibility for your people but I didn't forget about mine, I came here with a goal and I'm not living till I get what I came here for. The more you get in my way the longer we're gonna stay here, so if you want to live here, stay out of my way"

with that she left the room Claus then caught up with her and took her hand in his

" I'm not gonna live you alone with him"

" you are very insecure despite your confident behaviour, is this how you try to cover your insecurities?"

" I'm not insecure "

" but you also believe I'll live you for him which basically means you subconsciously acknowledge him as better than you "

" I will never acknowledge him as better than me and I'm not insecure"

" then is that jealousy?"

silence

" well jealousy is basically also insecurity, the insecurity of not having what the other party has, in your case my attention"

" what a smart mouth you are "

" Well, age can make you react in different ways. For example, some may get crazy, some may get angry, some may get empty and some may get wise. It's all about the way you decide to react to what you see, hear and live it's all about mindset"

"Do you know what kind of grandpa you are?"

" a grandpa? Does this look like grandpa to you?" Claus was pointing at his face and body

" well what would you call a 1000 year old lycan?"

*frowns*

" well what of the above do you believe you are as a young looking grandpa"

" which one do you believe I am?"

" neither of the above, you are a lunatic" Celea gives a small smile

" a lunatic?" Claus raises his brows as if not believing what he has heard"

" ah look we are here"

than 2 servants opened the door to the dining room

" good evening " greets Celea

" good evening" Dereus greets back while Claus doesn't greet at all a

They then went ahead and sat down, the table was full with delicious food. While eating Celea broke the ice by saying

" I saw her quite often on the palaces walls, she is beautiful"

" it's true she is very beautiful..." said the king with a sorrowful voice

" I also saw a statue in the garden of her, it must be even more beautiful under the moon's shine.

they then looked at each other for a brief moment

" you are right...tho she is beautiful no matter the light or season"

Claus than started talking with the king about some political matters mostly to keep him and Celea from talking with each other

*****

"so you did understand the message" Celea

" it wasn't that hard to figure it out" King Dereus

" Why do you have her necklace?"

Celea than took the necklace out of her pocket and gave it to him

" I never once wore it except today to get your attention"

" How do you know my mate?"

"I'll answer that after you tell me why you hate lycans" Dereus gave a deathly gaze but than decided to tell her

" They killed her, they killed my mate, my most precious thing, all I have left of her are her ashes " you could hear the grief in his voice.

They were both looking at the statue

" I thought that may be the reason"

" King you have been lied to"

"what do you mean" frowns

" Your mate was never killed by lycans nor burned"

" What are you talking about?"

" I was there"

" the moment she died and I never burned it I put it in a magical crystal coffin so that she'll never wither"

" You can still see her I can show her to you "

* drop drop* tears were now falling out the King's eyes

" How...how did she die?" Dereus asked in a teary voice

" she was attacked by hundreds of hunters... she could've winn but she had something to protect something more precious than her life"

Dereus was listening to what Celea was saying

" I can still remember it. Her eyes begging me to protect what she couldn't anymore after she gave her last breath they were about to kill what she died protecting, so I killed them, all of them and took what she asked me to protect with me and it's been with me for the last 15 years and they all have her eyes.."

at her last sentence Dereus eyes grew wide and jumped to his feet

" Are you saying...."

" yes, congratulations you are a father of 3 beautiful and troublesome kids"

Dereus was a mess of emotions he didn't know if he should be happy or sad

" Are you saying they are still alive?"

" yes they are"

" the reason your mate died was my reason to live"

" But why are you telling me that just now?"

" I am very overprotective over them I didn't know who you were or what kind of father you would be I didn't even know you were still alive, so when I got the opportunity to come to the dragon palace I thought I'll use this chance to find their family so I took the necklace with me, after I saw the paintings all over the palace I knew the father was royal and after I saw you have the same necklace I knew you were the father" Celea than also stood up

" You and I have the same purpose in this war and that's the kids, I had to join this war so they wouldn't be involved in it, I don't want them to experience such a terrible thing as war"

" You talk as if you know what kind of place that is..."

" there is no one knowing that place better than I do...I've lived it many times"

" but the last war was 600 years ago, did you live that war?"

" No. I'm cursed to be reborn every time I die, I'm always born in different worlds too so this worlds past has nothing to do with my past"

" How many times have you died? "

" about 50 "

Dereus was taken aback by her answer

" and I've experienced war in all of them"

" You know you look a lot like a person I know..."

" who? "

" my father...."

Dereus was surprised to hear that

" He died in my 15th life protecting me..."

they were sitting on the bench again by now

" for you to be able to still remember and miss him you must've love him a lot"

" *little smile* I still do. I still love him and miss him every day even tho hundreds of years past since I lost him, maybe you looking just like him is the reason I overshare things with you..."

" Celea do you have a father in this life"

" No. He was killed when I was 3 "

" I know I may not be as good of a father your father was but I would like to be your father in this life"

Celea gives a little laugh after hearing him say that

" looks like I made the right decision to entrust you with my trouble makers "

" Can you do me a favor?"

" What is it?"

" I don't want you to interact with the kids for now at least not till after the war ends, if you do they'll have no other choice but to join and I don't want that"

" As much as I want to see them, you are right it's better that way"

" but I can give you the address where your mate is"

Dereus smiled warmly at Celea than hugged her just like a proud parent would

" Your a strong woman to handle it this far after all you've been through I know I only know 1 % of your struggle but I'm proud of you Celea"

Celea was taken aback by the sudden hug and sudden words but soon hugged him back

" thank you" says Celea in a small voice

" No. I should be the one to thank you for all you've done for my family even tho they were just strangers to you at the beginning"

" I won't be able to call you father yet but I hope you'll allow me to call you uncle"

Dereus smiles

" sure"

" It's gotten quite late let me escort you to your room"

" ok"

they kept small talking on their way back

" So what are their Names?"

" the oldest is called Draco, the middle is Azar and the youngest is Kai"

" This are very beautiful names, not even I could've done a better job"

" oh please it was very easy to pick these names it only took the whole night"

they looked at each other and started laughing

" looks like we have arrived "

*sigh*

" yeah it seems so "

" than good night Celea"

" good night "