It was a jail, wasn't it?

Mate bonds were brought to Adelaide's enlightenment on her second class with the pack teacher. The first class was all about werewolf classifications and her identity in the chaotic world that she was unfortunately a part of. Being eleven then, still childish on the spectrum of age and society, she was a believer of fates, destiny and nirvana.

The world seemed utopian.

This utopian world was created by the Moon Goddess.

Inconsistently so, from origins unknown or more than one, she had one too many names. Diana for the Romans, Artemis for the Greek, Elatha for the Irish, Myeongwol for the Koreans, Tsukuyomi for the Japanese, so on and so forth. Hence, for a more consistent and easier representation, werewolves all over the globe addressed the ruler of their souls by her befitting title. They chose to believe in the divine force that drove their fates rather discriminate her godly presence with borders, languages, habitats or names.

The aforementioned Moon Goddess, representing morals of chastity, purity, love, beauty, creativity and morality was disgusted by the human nature of cheating, treachery, wickedness and the ugly lies that bore within and decided to create a race of pure beings. Beings who knew how to live in harmony, who knew loyalty, who knew love and trust.

So, she took the good parts of the world, and merged it into a superior being.

A part of the nature.

Bound by its eternal beauty and a habit of giving.

A part of the animals.

Driven by an instinct of protecting and surviving.

A part of the humans.

Enjoying the superior intellect and physical pleasures of life.

A part of herself.

Her soul, connecting the entire race as one-duty-bound to moon.

She created werewolves.

And she created their mates.

Two halves of a whole destined for eternity. A pure love, a perfect match, someone to count on when life gets harder. A soulmate. Everyone had someone waiting for them, always, henceforth unifying their race and shunning the chances of disloyalty, deceit or heartbreaks.

They were a perfect creation.

That's what Adelaide had learnt.

She was a perfect creation and there was someone equally perfect waiting for her.

Nothing could keep them apart.

"Milady," Benjamin pulled a chair out, holding out a hand for her to take.

Adelaide's smile was bright when she took his hand in hers. Both gloved in finest velvets of the lands, his large and hers small.

This man was her entire destiny, staring in her eyes like she was his crown.

The royal dining room was bustling with life as servants assisted to their masters; maids managed plates, setting them in accordance to their masters' peculiarities; butlers whispering amongst themselves, probably having a spat over whose master shone better at the ball.

King Stephan bonded with Luna Belle and Alpha Kane over pleasantries and treaties. Their conversation was more than hushed, even for supernatural hearing as of those surrounding them.

Queen Gianna nit-picked her maid for all the greens in her plate while Adrian tried to reason some sense with her. Honora and Henry snuck inside with ease, trying to act as if they weren't absent just seconds ago.

"I don't think peas are absolutely necessary to be consumed on a regular basis, no matter how nutritious they are," Queen Gianna placed her opinion on the table.

"Nothing is healthy enough to be consumed on a regular basis, excess of anything is unpleasant," Honora chimed in, nodding her bushy head diligently.

"But you consume water on a regular basis..." Henry tried to counter but was shunned to silence as soon as his mother's blazing gold eyes pierced his skull.

Wolf strength or not, nobody wanted to be on the bad side of Queen Gianna. Her mood tends to change at the rate of her blinking speed.

"Your Highness, with all due respect, you do not consume peas on a daily basis. You have it after every three days. Your nutritionist reckons it a safe enough gap," Adrian supplies, to which Queen Gianna furrows her thick eyebrows.

"As the Luna of your pack, and the Queen of your Empire, your words have been deemed void. In the celebration of our first born meeting his mate, I shall not include any greens in my meal," Her thick lips landed in a smile, hands clapping merrily.

Henry scoffed subtly.

"Just for today?" Adrian questioned in a bored tone.

"Henceforth and no longer!" Queen Gianna announced, clicking her fork against her wine glass.

'Wait till father hears about this...' Henry thought.

"Then I too shall like to give up on milk, mother, in the celebration of brother getting a mate," Honora seized the opportunity, doe eyes gleaming in ecstasy.

"Princess Honora! What you talk of is absolutely profane! You mustn't make claim of such ridiculous things under the public eye!" Adrian all but cried out in exasperation.

"Oh Adrian, you worry too much," Queen Gianna shrugged the royal beta away.

"In eloquence, might I add. Which happens to be quite cumbersome upon hearing," added Honora, waving her hand to greet her maid in waiting as the blue eyed beauty ran up to her mistress in a flurry of awkwardness.

"Princess, I do not--!" Adrian began, but Henry tuned him out.

"There they go again..." Henry rolled his brilliant blue eyes, looking around only to find Adelaide and Benjamin lost in a world of their own liking.

Smirking, he spied.

In the absence of Raven from the table, one of the royal maids attended to Adelaide's needs as Benjamin intently memorized her preferences with stars in his eyes.

He looked at her as if she was the centre of his galaxy.

As if they had a pull of sun and moon bounding them. Close but not too much, far but too much.

And a fourteen-year-old with no interest in romance could spot it from three chairs across. Read Henry.

"You don't do well with spices milady?" Benjamin questioned, stance poised but eyes spilling all the childlike curiosity they could.

"On the contrary, I'm excellent with spices, my Lord, though I prefer not to overwhelm them in my meals. Raven isn't fond of spices and we usually share our food," Adelaide informed with a chirp as the maid, standing beside her, jotted everything down in a diligent passion as if it were a matter of life and death.

Benjamin smiled a stiff smile, biting his insides upon the mention of Raven for the nth time in their personal conversation.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Milady. Your kind heart never fails to astound me," Benjamin complimented, leaning back in his chair as his maid served the food.

"You think too highly of me, my lord," Adelaide giggled and it pulled on Benjamin's heartstrings.

She's absolutely perfect...

"I do not, Milady. I base my assumptions only after I have personally assessed the person," he ran a hand through his now well groomed and clean ombre hair.

"I don't suppose I left a perfect first impression, my lord. Are you being biased by the pull of our mate bond?" She questioned breezily and Benjamin was all but blown over by her charm.

"Maybe...?" Benjamin replied, unsure and teasing.

"Well then I must use this opportunity to redeem myself," Adelaide giggled and Benjamin all but cooed, heart thundering uncontrollably.

He wanted her.

His wolf wanted.

His whole being wanted her.

To kiss her. To love her. To claim her.

"What alcohol as drink, your highness?" the maid questioned, swiftly breaking Benjamin out of his lusty reverie.

Stop it!

What are you doing?

The Royal Code of Conduct forbids you to think about a lady without anything but absolute respect!

"Oh I don't drink," Adelaide replied sheepishly. "I would prefer a sherbet or lemonade please, or just sparkling water. Raven doesn't like bitter stuff so we prefer soft stuff over harsh tastes. She cannot handle liquor well, so I never drink."

The stubby maid diligently nodded, scribbling all the notes.

"Will that be all?" Adelaide asked with a kind smile and the flustered maid only nodded in agreement.

"Please have a copy of that list sent to my chambers by tonight, I'd like to keep a record for future purposes," Benjamin ordered stiffly. He wanted her to be pleased by him, to further blush for him, but his exquisite mate was lost in a thought of her own.

"Y-yes your majesty!" the maid exclaimed nervously.

"Can you please check up on Raven for me? That would be great. I have a feeling that she is lost," Adelaide asked and the maid replied in affirmative and scurried away, bowing all the way back to the doors like a broken doll.

Raven.

Again.

Benjamin sighed, sitting up straighter as he turned to face her all the way now.

"I'd be obliged if you let me on this kinship you possess with that servant of yours," Benjamin inquired, elbows itching to be on the table so that he could gain a more comfortable posture but the Royal Code of Conduct forbade him to do so.

"Now that, my Lord, is not something to be shared on our first meeting," Adelaide's reply was brimmed with absolute rejection.

Benjamin bitterly fiddled with the frilled lace on his sleeves.

"We're bound for life, milady, what does it matter---our first day or last?" Benjamin's protest was as veiled as it could be.

"Unreasonably so."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Trust is earned, my Lord, not distributed under the pretext of pre-existing relationships determined by the moon," Adelaide's charming smile never wavered.

Benjamin nodded, respecting her boundaries and calling quits.

"Very well, I respect it. As you yearn for redemption, I too shall yearn for your trust."

"May you encounter success," Adelaide cheekily grinned and Benjamin's heart flipped in its cage.

<3

The said maiden in question was beautifully lost in the maze of a castle that the royalty called home.

"Now where in the name of strawberry-fucking-tarts is the dining hall?!" she groaned out, questioning the guards for the nth time who, just as ever, gave the same reply.

"T3-LH1."

Raven's temper flared like mercury in heat.

"I fucking hate this! You're shitty at your job! I'm leaving a bad review on Google, just so you now," she cursed out, stomping through hallways without labels in hopes to find whatever in the name of Sailor Moon was T3 and LH1.

The castle was an ever rounding mystery to her, she felt like she was walking in circles no matter how many stairs she climbed up or down.

"As if straight-out claiming my Addie wasn't enough, the royal prick had to prance away with her in this wicked labyrinth. He's a fudging spider and this is his web. It is what it is," Raven grumbled to herself, debating whether to call Sir Marshall and ask him for Adelaide's exact coordinates.

No.

It would be pathetic of her to text him first.

Especially after her cool exit.

But where the fuck am I?!

Raven, for a good two minutes, considered jumping down the windows to get a better look at the castle from outside because finding one legitimate door was a chore too big for her mental capacity and emotional range.

Jumping it was then.

Nodding to herself, with determination, Raven pulled open the glass windows only to find them railed. Metal bars barred her exit.

It was a jail, wasn't it? That's what castles are, extravagant jails.

Shaking the metal bars with her hands, Raven whined like the mature person she was.

"Let me go! Open up! Let me out!! I wanna go out! Addie must be waiting for me, worried sick!" the ravenette shook the bars with all of her body swinging in momentum as the guards lining the corridor eyed her insanity as a new form of entertainment.

"What in the name of heavens are you doing here?!" came an oddly familiar voice that Raven would have done better without encountering.

Life never takes a break with her, does it?

"I'm planning your funeral, wanna pitch in some ideas?" a borderline maniacal grin graced her lips when she turned to face him.

Dylan Cobalt.

Local Arsehole Delta.

The sunglasses freak with hot hair, shifty hands and a shady personality.

A man, audaciously dumb enough to pull a rank on her.

This time, he walked in with his train of guards in tow.

"It's you!" Dylan shouted, pointing exaggeratedly at her face.

"Newsflash, now all of China knows."

Raven rolled her grey eyes and walked up to him, standing face to face. Dylan was broad in his shoulders and a few inches taller than her, but she reached up to her target perfectly fine. Smirking, the ravenette leaned into his neck. She felt the boy visibly stiffen in front.

"Wh-ha-hat th-e--!" Dylan began but Raven hushed him with a finger on his chapped lips.

"I see your neck is doing pretty fine. No signs of disillusionment," she traced her nose along his Adam's apple and the boy gulped in sheer shock.

The guards gasped collectively.

"Well, hello to you too. You're one face I would have done better without," She whispered against his neck, distance thinning as her other hand started roaming on his chest, hot breath fanning on his nape as her innocent eyes stared up at his bespectacled ones.

Dylan sucked in a breath and pushed her away in one swift motion.

"What do you think you are doing?! Touching me without permission you perverted woman!" The brunette all but cried out loud, clutching his hands over his clothed chest and chapped lips.

A hushed murmur rose amongst the guards.

"Y-y-you deserve... death!" Dylan cried out loud.

Raven's scoffs turned into laughter, lips still pulled in a smirk.

"And that's exactly how I felt this evening, except less pathetic. Now scram, I don't have time to deal to with your sissy shenanigans," She shoved his shoulder and walked past him as his trail parted on impulse.

"W-wait! Where do you think you're going?!" Dylan called out rushing back to catch up with her.

"Away from you," Raven replied dryly, waving.

To her distaste, he was already beside her.

"You cannot proceed on this path, royal treasury is that way. If you're seen anywhere until 3 miles of it you'll be arrested without warrant," Dylan informed her, blocking her path with his arms open wide.

Raven cringed.

"Are you sure you should be telling me this?"

Dylan proceeded to turn her shoulders in the opposite direction and nudge her forward.

Raven swatted his hand away. "Stop touching me without my permission if you cherish your limbs intact, arsehole."

Dylan licked his lips, retracting his hand in a speed that almost rivaled light.

"Where are you heading to?" Dylan questioned, walking beside her as he dismissed his trail for duty with a simple gesture of his hand.

"Why does it concern you? Will you kidnap me on my way and execute your elaborate revenge plot where you skin me alive and paint your nails with my blood?" Raven mumbled unconsciously, and upon realization she stopped for a second and pondered over what she said.

Oh wow, Adelaide is rubbing off on me.

"No, on the contrary, I wondered if I could be of help," Dylan replied, folding his hands behind his back.

Raven, shocked with suspicion, stopped and stared up at him. He had his Royal Guards uniform on, but weirdly he had all the permission to roam around freely. He wasn't an absolutely detestable sight to look at, though...His lips were contoured in a crooked smile, half of his face covered with the cracked Ray Bans he wore inside the castle, even at nighttime. He wiggled his head in question and Raven's entire being felt repulsed.

"You're sus, don't take it personal, but personally, I think it's time you jumped off a cliff."

"You're awfully rude for a mere lady in waiting. Is it because wolves cannot pull a rank on you? Are you hiding something? You don't have a specific scent or any signs that show that you're a legitimate wolf. Are you a witch? Rouge spirit? Disguised Nøkken?"

"You speak too much. Shut up."

"Do you have ulterior motives of being inside the palace? I don't smell a pack's claim on you---that's why I thought you lied about being from Bleu Del Luna. Who are you? What is your purpose of staying beside Lady Adelaide?"

"Who said you could walk beside me?"

She shoved him away with a push, but he bobbed back beside her.

"You're heading to the Dining Hall, aren't you?"

"Honestly, can you stop creeping around me before I lose it and punch you in the face?"

"You don't know what T3-LH1 is. That's why you've been stuck roaming around for so long."

"What the fuck are you reading my mind or something?!" Raven questioned, swiftly pulling his head in a headlock as he choked on air and tapped his thigh.

"No! Oh my Goddess-you're choking me! I cannot read minds! What happened to no touching without permission?! leave me!" Dylan cried out, tapping himself even louder.

Frowning, Raven let him go. Dylan jerked away, his glasses falling on the floor as he cursed out, bending to pick them back and that's when Raven noticed his eyes.

Both of them were different colors.

Dylan haphazardly pushed his glasses back on his face, eyes not opening for a second until they were back in the protection of the black walls guarding them.

"Can you please refrain from all these sudden attacks? I have a weak heart!" Dylan huffed out, brushing his brown hair back in place.

"You have a weak everything, don't delude yourself," Raven mumbled, walking down the wrong way only for Dylan to rush in front of her and stand again.

"That's the wrong way!"

"What on earth is T3-LH1 even?!" Raven questioned in exasperation.

"Oh! isn't it obvious? Tower three, Lower Hall one, the location of the dining hall," Dylan supplied.

Exhausted, Raven descended on the ground.

"My intellect never fails to surprise me..." she whispered to herself. "And why the fuck could these guards not speak so?"

"Oh that's because they are forbidden to. Not even ninety percent of the people working in the castle know its exact structure. They are only acquainted with the department they work in and have no idea where anything else is---for protection purposes, you know. In case of emergencies, codes were made for swift deliveries but only a select few know what they exactly mean. So it's a long passing the parcel until it reaches the right person."

"Well you know what?"

"What?"

"Fuck Royalty."

<3

Upon reaching the Dining Hall, Raven had already regretted her life decisions for a hundred and seventy-two times. Yes, she kept a count; for Dylan's obnoxious chattering was eating her soul away.

Slow but steady.

But as the royal mauve doors were pushed open by the guards, Raven's grey sight landed directly on Adelaide and the bland world gained color.

"Let's never meet again," she shoved Dylan away -who still wasn't used to her rude ways and grew offended- and feeling elated all but ran up to her mistress.

Dylan stood by the guards in the back.

The sudden disruption did not go unnoticed by any of the occupants of the table.

"Raven! Where have you been? I was worried sick!" Adelaide all but sobbed out, springing up and pulling her best-friend into a bone crushing hug.

Raven smiled brightly, eyes crinkling, as she wrapped her arms around her waist and swung her in a clean circle. "I got lost because the castle's too big, nevermind that, I'm here now."

The jewels of her gown stabbed Raven's stomach because of the proximity, but she didn't bother with the pain.

Adelaide buried her face in the crook of Raven's neck and whispered worriedly, "Don't disappear on me like that. They were an awful 51 minutes. Sir Marshall had no idea where you were!"

It was the longest time they had spent apart, on stranger territory, in a decade or so.

"Hey, it was you who agreed to scoot away with prince charming before I returned from the meeting. Everyone was gone!" the ravenette complained, brushing Adelaide's head in a soothing gesture.

As Adelaide apologized repeatedly, Benjamin noticed the change in her scent, the elevation and openness of her tone and the freedom of expression his mate let out around chopsticks. As if she were a different person entirely.

He chugged down a glass of water, feeling eerily antsy at their public display of affection. It should be nothing much, it was just his mate and her best friend---but why did his wolf feel so threatened? Why was it, every time he saw Raven he wanted to claw her eyes out and roll them in a bowling alley?

Why oh why?

King Stephan coughed- sitting on the head chair, groomed in pricey jewels and an undecipherable expression- to gain attention.

The girls swiftly pulled apart, Adelaide quickly morphing into a smile as Raven stared at the King, dead in the eye.

"Your majesty," Adelaide curtsied, poking Raven's spine to follow her lead. "My Luna," she bowed turning to Queen Gianna who breezily waved at her. "She is Raven Crown, my friend."

"Her omega aide," Benjamin stood up, rushing to add before his father's burly ginger eyebrows would contour into a frown.

"My fr-" Adelaide was about to protest but Raven cut through.

"Your highnesses," Raven curtsied, not having any further capacity to be disappointed in the crown prince anymore.

King Stephan nodded, focusing back on the conversation at hand.

"Take a seat," Adelaide's mother mouthed and before Benjamin could sit, Raven very blatantly pulled the chair from behind him and sat beside Adelaide.

Baffled, but not quite wanting to stir chaos, Benjamin took a seat beside her.

If he ever had time on hands, he would write a book titled, '101 ways to kill a Raven' and the first chapter would be: choke her on your little brother's dirty socks.

"Now as I was going to announce before I was so rudely interrupted," King Stephan began in a diplomatic tone, voice gruff but dominant over their wolves, "Gianna and I congratulate you on finding each other, irrespective of the circumstances, you are his bride to be and we accept you, noble Lady Adelaide Moore of Blue Del Luna."

Adelaide thanked His Royal Highness.

Raven couldn't let go, the feeling of being in an extravagant jail as the King, the jailer, now pronounced her friend's fate.

"In accordance to this, Luna Belle and Gianna suggested they visit you to the church of our High Saints and let your union be blessed, Benjamin, Lady Adelaide," he tipped his bearded chin at both of them, continuing after their nods, "A week after our Lady has settled in the household, the Coronation ceremony and the Royal Wedding would be in tow. I conclude a week to be enough for a woman of your caliber, Adelaide, to understand your duties as a forthcoming Queen of an Empire."

A wedding. Eternal captive. That was her friend's verdict.

"I wouldn't dare disappoint," Adelaide responded with a smile, hand on her heart in a silent vow.

"Your blessings be with us," Benjamin raised his glass in a toast.

"To a great union," Queen Gianna added, following her son.

"To health and longitivity," Luna Belle added.

"To a just rule," Alpha Kane supplied.

"To pretty dresses-"

"-and a sparring partner!" Honora and Henry chimed in, raising their glass of juice.

"To family..." Raven mumbled under her breath, not that anyone cared but Adelaide who smiled brightly at her.

"To family," Adelaide repeated, raising her glass of lemonade, smiling at the gathering.

"I expect nothing short of perfection, my dears," King Stephan returned her smile with his grim one. "Let the dinner commence!"

After an hour of Honora and Henry convincing Raven to spar with her and she rejecting it over and over as she was busy being the perfect cockblocker between Adelaide and Benjamin, the dinner came to an end.

Fortunately, Raven was too distracted by external forces to enjoy her food and chomp on it.

Benjamin proposed everyone to go on a night stroll in the gardens but Adelaide promptly declined, wanting to spend time with family. On the face, Benjamin couldn't agree more. Internally, his ego bled over all the continuous rejection he had faced in one day.

Thankfully, Adrian was there to escort him back to his chambers before the crown prince could commit any harsh crimes like Murder in Public.

Petty, his prince was petty and he knew it. But it was also his duty to keep it hidden from the world.

Luna Belle was more than proud of Adelaide's mate, though worried of all that was in store for their daughter, happy nonetheless.

"I can't believe she's twenty-one already. The only big step in near future was you inheriting the pack but look at you now, going to rule an empire!" She all but cried, squishing her daughter's cheeks and hugging her close while the royal butler escorted to them to their living area.

The pack was to reside on the castle grounds until after the Royal Wedding was accomplished.

"Mother, stop! I'm still your little baby girl, love me!" Adelaide squeaked in a baby voice and her mother proceeded to smack her head.

"Now leave all of this childishness behind Addie! You're going to be a Queen for Moon's sake!"

Adelaide pushed her lips in an elaborate pout, eyes growing big.

"Raven...look after her, would you?" Luna Belle sighed, and the ravenette laughed before nodding.

"Don't you worry Luna, our Addie can handle anything that she puts her mind into," Raven complimented, patting Adelaide's back who proceeded to brush her head against Raven's shoulder.

"By Diana you're such a child, help Goddess. Are you seeing this Kane?" Luna Belle pointed at her daughter's audacious motion whilst complaining to her husband.

Unbeknownst to all, Alpha Kane had been sniffling all along, stifling his cries, and upon hearing his name being mentioned he suddenly turned to look back in all his teary eyed snotty glory.

"Kane..." Luna Belle dragged out, looking clearly concerned as her light eyebrows dropped down at her husband's sniffling nose and scarlet eyes. As his shoulders jerked up and down and lips pressed in a straight line to stop any escape of hiccups his face swelled like a baby pumpkin.

Even her husband was a baby...

"Father!"

"Alpha!"

Adelaide and Raven exclaimed simultaneously, running up to hug him.

"M-my d-d-daughter f-f-found her m-m-ate!! She's g-g-going to get m-m-mar-ried!!" he wailed out, hugging his child close. "She's going to l-l-leave me!!"

"Father! I would never leave you!" Adelaide wailed as well, hugging him close on his left side as his heart thundered against her ear.

"Yes Alpha, I'll stay by you!" Raven chimed, hugging his right side as their father figure ran his hands along their backs.

"My little g-g-girls! They've grown s-so bi-i-g! Yo-y-you both will leave!! Of course you have to s-s-stay by Addie's side!" he took in hasty breaths, panting, while he tried to make coherent sentences.

"By moons, what a family..." Luna Belle mumbled, wanting to criticize them at their childish display, but ended up joining their hug. Crying her heart out, in the middle of the hallway, inside the infamous Aningmoon Castle of the Shadow Empire.

If Yuna were to find out about this shameful act she committed, she would never let her live it down. So, Luna Belle cried even louder.

In someone's happiness came someone else's sorrows.

In one great moment of dumb decisions, her fate flipped forever. Hugging her father close, Adelaide wondered what was left in store for her. If the said happiness promised by the Moon Goddess would come at stake of her everything, would she accept it?

She wasn't ready for it.

She wasn't ready to risk everyone or anyone as a matter of fact.

Adelaide refused to be a part of this whole if it meant breaking apart from the whole of which she was already a part of.

She'd rather be a happy half forever than be a sad whole.

Was she being immature? Childish?

How hard could letting go be?

A future full of brilliant adventures awaited her---just like she always wanted.

Accepting life was always easier.

How easy could she make it for everyone around her?

Question after question whirled inside her head, consuming her being into a trance.

If she fought against fate, would it be worth it?

Raven snapped her out of it.

"Addie, we're here," the ravenette, thanked the butler who lead them to their rooms and, pushed the peach doors open and stepped into one lap of luxury from another.

"Didn't expect any less," Adelaide mumbled under her breath, rushing straight to the Queen sized bed and jumping on the springy mattress. "By Sailor Moon, I missed this!" she smothered her face in a soft pillow and squished another one against her body.

Raven giggled, checking out the room in matters of security. Finding all the possible means of entry, exit and leads to secret tunnels.

"You cannot sleep princess; can I call you a princess now? You need to change!" she called out, Adelaide whined in response.

"Just call me Addie and I'll change when I want to," Adelaide grumbled against her pillow. Raven sat beside her, pulling out the pins from her Adelaide's side bun and letting her beautiful ocher hair flow down.

"Well I'd recommend you to go around it fast or Aunt Yuna would flip if something happened to her precious fabric."

Adelaide looked up from her smothering hug of the pillow, glared at Raven for three seconds and looked back down.

"What happened buddy? Is it the castle? Alpha Kane? Prince Benjamin? The mate bond? What's bothering you?" Raven questioned, unhooking Adelaide's bracelets and clipping off her hair accessories.

"Everything! Everyone! Even that delta we met outside!"Adelaide exclaimed out, unable to handle her emotions. Raven knew a rant was upcoming when Adelaide jerked up and sat straight on the bed, hair messing up like a bird's nest.

"Oh never-mind him, I've dealt with him. He wasn't much of a hassle," Raven reassured her, now going through Adelaide's stuff to find her night gown.

"Oh you're such an absolute angle! I swear to Sailor Moon what would I do without you?!" Adelaide cried out dramatically, jumping off the bed and running up to hug Raven's back whilst she was crouching on the ground rummaging through a suitcase.

"Probably wallowing in self pity at this point," Raven choked out, suffocated by her heavy hug but not complaining.

So that's sort of how Sir Marshall must have felt when I jumped on him.

"Precisely, that's why I love you so muchie," Adelaide huffed, pulling back to shimmy out of that forsaken gown.

Raven laughed, walking up to unstring her corset while she asked, "What about Benjamin? What do you think of him?"

Adelaide turned to face Raven, a glimmer in her icy blue eyes.

Raven's heart sunk.

"I hate him!" Adelaide replied with a passionate smile while changing her underwear.

Nevermind, it's floating again. You might as well find it on cloud nine at this point.

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy there buddy, why would you say that so---eagerly?" Raven laughed out loud.

"Mate or not, he's obnoxious, pretentious and looks at me like I'm his door to afterlife. As if he wants to devour me," Adelaide shuddered for a bit, "Talking to him exhausts my braincells; but it's fun in way," Adelaide replied, putting on her lavender nightgown on and rubbing her hands against its heavenly soft fabric.

"How so?" Raven questioned, curious to say the least whilst she prepared Adelaide's bed.

"Being with him is like playing a part," Adelaide replied, eyes sparkling in the childlike innocence she possessed whenever she was up to no good. "I play the part of being his mate. I have to constantly brainstorm for lines, hold up a pretentious conversation, act as if he's someone I admire and it's very fun to do so! As much as my hatred constantly grows whenever I see his face, smiling in front of him just fuels my entire being with passion. It's like...he doesn't know what is going on inside my head but I know all that is going on inside his. I feel like I have an upper hand in this relationship and it makes me feel exhilarated!"

"You're manipulating him," was Raven's straightforward conclusion as she unequipped herself.

"Now that's downgrading all the mighty efforts I've been putting in all night long."

"Adelaide, I understand how much you love playing people but still, he's your mate. Don't you feel anything? A pull? A connection? A bond? He's the Crown Prince for crying out loud you'll be his Queen. The stakes are too high!"

"You worry too much. It's not that intense. I mean whenever I'm near him, I get this unfathomable urge to strip and submit but it's nothing against my willpower," Adelaide pointed at her forehead, raising her bangs to open the triangular scars on her forehead.

"Brain of steel, there's no getting through it, is there?" Raven mumbled, pulling her to bed as Adelaide brightly shook her head.

"Not when I've pre-decided anything."

"When did you turn your back against the bond?"

"The moment he uttered the unholy words of shoving you down the ditch."

"Moons, Adelaide, you're mad."

"-ly in love with you."

"Shut up and off you go to bed. We've to go to some church tomorrow."

Adelaide groaned, cuddling Raven she whined, "I don't wanna be a Queen!" she protested with all her body, flinging her hands and feet in air and shaking them in exasperation.

Raven criticized with only her eyes.

"That's the fate befell upon you. Embrace it rather cry about it."

"Now now, Raven, we mustn't give in to life like that. It's my life and I control it the way I want to. Fate be dammed if it takes my freedom away, I shall fight!"

As long as there was someone to fight for. She would.

Raven laughed out loud, eyeing Adelaide's proud face, gleaming under the moonlight.

"And how do you suppose to do that with your lanky arms and zero battle skills?"

"It's all mind games, love. You'll do the fighting and I'll do the brainstorming. We're perfect together..." she mumbled sleepily, playing with Raven's curls.

"Look at you already acting like a Queen. Putting your pawns into battle."

"You're not my pawn Raven! You're the only chess piece I have. You're my friend!"

"And it's us against the world."

Raven muttered in her sleep as Adelaide snuggled closer in her chest and off to merry land they went.

No matter what destiny the Moon Goddess had planned for her.

Adelaide knew she wasn't a perfect creation and her path was only hers to choose.

And in that case, let the royal shenanigans begin.