Anything is possible if you want it enough

Chapter 17

"Sweetie, let's go upstairs and rest, someone will come by later to clean up the mess," said Beth as she took my arm.

"Do you live here?" I asked.

"Of course! This castle is an engagement present from my fiancé, or rather from my former fiancé, Sir Edward. So I know all about the secret passages down here." Beth explained.

We passed by the place where Theo had taken shelter from the bullets, and Beth slide her hand down the statue that was now riddles with bullet holes and whose head had been knocked off.

"Look what those bloody assassins did, this was a birthday present from Sir Edward, the last work of the Master Alexander Calder."

She sighed, "Forget it, at least those people have gone now, these things just me remember things and adds to my sadness."

Although I was very interested in the story of Beth and the Sir Edward, I didn't pursue the matter any further. We ascended the stairs to the second floor, where she pushed open an ornate door and said, "Sweetie, this is your room, you go and take a hot bath first, and I will come to you later."

I sighed as I was immediately stunned by the bedroom in front of me. There was antique mahogany Victorian furniture, the walls were adorned with stunning paintings in ornate gold frames, and a pink canopy was draped in soft, sheer fabric that billowed gently in the breeze. I felt like I had become a princess in a fairy tale.

I entered the bathroom where I bathed in a round porcelain bathtub, and afterwards put on a black velvet robe that I found in the closet. Soon there was a knock on the door: "Sweetie, can I come in?"

"Yes, please!" I replied in haste and opened the door.

Beth stood in the doorway, wearing a green velvet bathrobe. She had no makeup on her face this time, but her skin was smooth as porcelain, and it was hard to imagine she was at least eighty years old.

She was holding two goblets of red wine, one of which was for me: "This is my favorite. Let's drink while we talk."

I took my goblet, and we sat down together on the couch. I took a sip of the wine and the warming liquid oozed down my throat, a sense of relaxation washing over me.

"Beth, please call me Dory." As I was now wearing my long hair, there was no need to pretend I was a man.

"Okay, Dory is not a common name, but I like it. How did you and Theo meet?" Beth looked at me with an inquisitive expression on her face.

I blushed and told Beth all about how I met Theo at the bar, how I went from Alpha's daughter to rogue, and how I was saved by Theo. I thought Beth was someone I could trust, and she and Theo were close, so I didn't need to hide anything from her.

After I had told Beth my story, and probably partly because of the alcohol, I was now relaxed and started to gossip. I asked, "Beth, is the Sir Edward not still your fiancé?"

Beth didn't seem to mind my intrusion and took a sip of her wine, glanced at me and said, "If you want to hear my story, I'll tell you, but it's a long one."

"It was a long time ago. I was just twenty years old, and my father, also known as Theo's grandfather, arranged for me to be engaged to the Prince of the Inca Kingdom. I did not have the right to refuse, but I really didn't like that Prince at all, so I begged my father to let me go to the human world to have some fun on the condition that I would return to get engaged. Father doted on me, and I was his youngest daughter, so he agreed."

She paused for a moment and then continued, "I met Edward in London, and I'll always remember the first time I saw him. It was in a pub, where I was out having a drink with my friends. When he came up to me, all dressed up in his military uniform, he looked just gorgeous. I felt the world stand still, and all I could hear was my heart thumping."

I glanced at Beth, and her usually white face flushed as if she were a young girl in love.

She continued, "It was love at first sight for both of us. At the beginning, I thought I was just having fun with him and it wouldn't get serious, but after a while, I felt I couldn't leave him and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. So I did something crazy - we secretly got engaged."

I asked gently, "Did you tell him you were Lycan?"

Beth hesitated and then continued, "When I told him what I was, he didn't believe me at first and thought I was joking, but then I showed him what I looked like when I shifted and he believed me. But he said he loved me, and that whether I was human or not wouldn't make him change his mind."

"I soon became pregnant. When my father found out that I was pregnant, he was furious and threatened to kill Edward if I did not return home at once. So I had to have an abortion and leave him to go back to the werewolf world. My father couldn't forgive me and imprisoned me in a house for sixty years before Theo became king and set me free."

"I waited and waited alone inside that lonely house, and when I was released and I ran to him, Sir Edward had passed away fifteen years earlier." Beth's tone was calm, but I saw tears welling up in her eyes.

I didn't know how to comfort Beth, so I remained silent.

"Dory, do you love Theo?" Beth suddenly asked me, pulling my thoughts back from her story.

My cheeks went red and I didn't know whether to say yes or no, but instead I whispered, "I am a rogue."

"So? Theo is a good King despite the misconceptions of many people. He was the one who resisted the pressure not to release me, and he didn't like the traditional rules. I can see that he really likes you, you are a lucky girl," she smiled at me.

"It's getting late, let's get some rest and we'll start shooting practice tomorrow." Beth downed the remaining wine in her glass, stood up, hugged me and kissed me on my cheek before wishing me good night and leaving me on my own.

I was lying alone on the big soft bed, but I couldn't sleep at all. I had become used to being in Theo's arms and falling asleep inhaling his scent. I thought about Beth's words just now. Do I love Theo? I asked myself.

In fact, I had never dared to think about this question, as because of my lowly status, love was a luxury for me. Isn't there a saying that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment? I silently said in my heart, "Theo, I am thinking of you, are you thinking of me?"

(The next day)

After breakfast, Beth drove me to a nearby shooting range, where we spent the rest of the week practising daily. Beth was a great instructor, and she taught me a lot of shooting skills, I don't know if it was my experience from throwing darts, but I soon learned to shoot expertly.

Bang! I shot the pigeon out of the sky, and it landed beside me. Bang! Another one... I finished my bullets, and Beth applauded, "Good girl! You hit all of them, that's awesome! Tomorrow is the weekend, so let's take a break, I'll take you out for a bit of fun."

"Sure, I'm at your disposal." I agreed excitedly.

At the weekend, Beth took me to browse the latest fashions and accessories from some of the world's top designers in Oxford Street, Bond Street and Harrods, before we came to a restaurant near Notting Hill.

"Dory, do you like it here? Do you want to stay here?" Beth asked me while gracefully swirling the red wine in her glass.

"I...I like it here, but there's no way I can stay out here." I stammered.

"That's not necessarily true. Anything is possible if you want it enough and live long enough. Look at me, I've always envied the human life, and even though I was locked up for sixty years, I managed to get out alive, and now I'm living here."

She pointed to Diana's Garden in the distance and continued wistfully, "Princess Diana was a charming and kind woman, and everyone loved her, but sadly she died; her rival has been criticised all her life, but because she is still alive, she can now be crowned Queen."

I nodded and remembered what Sophie once said to me, 'There is a hope, there is a life.' I remembered the time two months ago when I was picking up hamburgers from the garbage to eat and being pounded by a boxer in the mud.

I was glad I survived to have the opportunity to experience the human world, which I had never dared to think about before.

Over the next few days, I continued training and was finally able to shoot blindfolded accurately at the target. One morning over breakfast, Beth said to me, "Dory, I have something to do today, so I can't take you to the shooting range. Call me on my cell phone if you need anything."

I happily agreed. In Beth's absence, I went to visit the British Museum, and then to the Borough Market, where I had heard there was a great selection of food. Deep in the market, I came across stalls selling international cuisine from all corners of the globe, and the smell of fresh bread, spices, and grilled meats filled the air.

Suddenly I sensed the familiar smell of grilled sausages, and it turned out to be a stall selling hot dogs.

I thought of the strange man selling hot dogs at the amusement park that day and thought, why not go to the amusement park today and see if I can find any traces of him?