Chapter 9

(Rian’s P.O.V)

It’s now the evening of Morrigan’s and my leaving feast and the palace is a whirlwind of activity with servants rushing about getting everything decorated and set up. I was anxious to get back to our kingdom and show her our world, the world she should have been born into. We’ve spent the last several days getting to know each other better and she’s begun to awaken her powers. There was one instance that was both terrifying and hilarious just the other day involving myself and Killian:

(Flashback)

“I need you to let Cormac know that we will need to have a welcome party for Morrigan and let him know that he will need to help reign in my mother when it comes to the Luna ceremony.”

Killian laughs because he knows that it is going to be impossible to reign my mother in when she is so excited about the fact that I’ve found my mate and that it’s Princess Morrigan. My mother and Queen Raya are old friends and are now positively giddy at the fact that they will now be family. As Killian and I continue our discussion about things that need to be done when we get back home, I see a spider crawling across the floor. In seconds flat, I scream like a teenage girl who just met her celebrity crush and hopped onto the desk in the room.

“KILL IT!!!! IT’S A SPIDER KILL IT WITH FIRE KILLIAN!!! BURN THE PALACE DOWN. I DON’T CARE. JUST KILL THE DAMN THING!!!!”

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s spiders. Creepy, crawly little things that have too many eyes and too many legs. Of course, this amuses Killian to no end and he’s rolling on the floor laughing at me. The big bad Supreme Alpha acting like a little bitch over a spider. Suddenly, I hear a popping noise and there stands Morrigan, bent over laughing, clutching a stitch in her side.

“Oh, my Goddess, I was not expecting that reaction. That was amazing, I’m saving that in the memory bank.”

What. The. Fuck.?

“Wait, are you telling me that YOU were the spider!?” I say in a state of absolute disbelief.

“Well duh.” She replies like it was the most obvious answer to such a stupid question.

“How did you do that?”

“It’s one of my powers. I can shapeshift into anything I want. Now, how would you have felt, killing your mate in such a brutal way? Killing me with fire? Honestly.”

“Well, I didn’t fucking know it was you, did I!? I thought it was just a regular spider!” I retorted.

“Are you going to get off your desk now or are you going to stay up there like the sissy you are being?” She asks.

It’s only then that I realize that I am still standing on the desk, having been scared up here by my little devil tribrid of a mate. I’m just curious how she knew I was afraid of spiders in the first place. Wait. The only other person, besides my parents, who knew was…

“Beta Killian, would you mind telling me WHY you would tell secrets about your Alpha?” I say using my Alpha tone with him.

“Because Luna asked if you feared anything because she wanted to play a prank on you. She had just discovered her ability to shapeshift, and we both thought it would be funny.”

“FUCKING MUTINY, I TELL YOU!!!!” I scream as I stomp out the door, listening to my mate and Beta cackling at me.

(End flashback)

After that little bit of alleged “humor” on the part of my mate and Beta, she has kept the shape-shifting to a minimum. She has also begun to display instances of teleportation, which was an even funnier experience because it didn’t happen to me, it happened to her sister Ilayda and her fiancé, Vladimir, during their “private library time”. I’m not sure who was more horrified in that experience; Ilayda, Morrigan, or Vladimir. Morrigan had been so focused on finding Ilayda for something that one minute she was in the gardens with me and the next she was in the library, seeing her sister and her fiancé making “the beast with two backs”—did I also mention Morrigan loves Shakespeare? Yeah, had no idea what the fuck she was talking about when it came to the whole “beast with two backs” thing until she pulled out a book, found the passage, and shoved it up to my nose for me to read. So, after these little mishaps, she began to try and figure out what it takes to make her teleportation happen as well as her shapeshifting. I was so stuck in my thoughts about what has been going on the past few days that I didn’t even hear Morrigan calling my name nor was I really paying attention to where I was going.

“Rian, mo rí, where are you going?” Morrigan called out, as she ran towards me, her curls flying out behind her.

“Sorry mo grá, I didn’t hear you calling me, and to be honest I was so lost in thought I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was going,” I say with a chuckle.

“Well, we need to start getting ready for the feast. It’s going to be starting soon.” She says and grabs my hand to walk back to our respective rooms.

After taking a shower and putting on a new suit; black with a crisp white shirt and an emerald green tie, I make my way next door to Morrigan’s room. I knock on her door and the moment she opens it, my breath catches in my throat. I thought she looked positively breathtaking in the dress she wore to her birthday ball, but this dress makes her look ethereal. It’s white with a plunging neckline, a high slit up to her thigh, her hair is down and pin-straight with light makeup on.

“Close your mouth, Alpha, you’ll catch flies.” She says coyly with a slight blush on her cheeks from my reaction to her appearance.

I don’t say anything in response, I just grab her by her waist and pull her towards me, crashing my lips against her. Her hands roam my back and make their way to my backside, where she gives a firm squeeze and pulls me closer to her to deepen the kiss. My tongue envelopes hers as we fight for dominance, exploring each other in a way only mates can do. Too soon we hear someone clearing their throat behind us, interrupting our moment. I sigh and lean my forehead down to touch hers, breathing deeply to capture her scent to calm me down.

“Alpha, Luna. Everyone is here and waiting for your arrival.” Killian says, with a slight smirk on his face.

“Thank you, Beta Killian, you may take your leave,” I answered, dismissing him because I was annoyed, he ruined a moment between my mate and me.

“Yes, Alpha.” He responds, turning on his heels and walking away.

I hold my arm out for Morrigan to take, and once she does, we make our way down to the formal dining room where the feast is going to be held. The Herald announces us, and we enter through the double doors together as everyone claps and smiles at us offering their congratulations. We sit in our respective chairs at our table with her family, her future brothers-in-law, and Killian. Dinner was going nicely, and occasionally, someone would come over and offer their congratulations to us.

BANG!!!!!

The sudden sound of an explosion courses through the palace, earning screams and shouts from those at the dinner.

Stark, what is going on?

I don’t know Rian. I can’t smell any type of explosive or anything.

Was it just a servant dropping a dish?

I don’t think so, look at the floor.

I do as Stark says and I can see a thick cover of what looks like a purple fog, creeping across the floor of the dining room.

BANG!!!!

Another sound of an explosion before we finally hear a voice amplified throughout the dining room.

WE HAVE WAITED IN THE SHADOWS FOR TOO LONG, KING LEONARD AND QUEEN RAYA. WE HAVE BEEN SHUNNED BY OUR KINGDOM AND LOOKED DOWN UPON AS ABOMINATIONS FOR LONG ENOUGH. THIS IS YOUR FIRST WARNING, GIVE UP THE THROWN AND WALK AWAY NOW OR ONE BY ONE, INNOCENT PEOPLE WILL DIE.

The fog begins to recede, and Leonard and Raya get up from their chairs.

“Everyone, the dinner is over. This threat will not stand but right now I need to convene with my war counselors and our elders.” Leonard states, he grabs Raya’s hand, and they walk off together to his office.

Everyone begins filing out of the dining room and out of the palace, whispering about what just happened. I wonder what this was all about and who could have been left in the shadows and shunned so to speak?

“Hey baby, I’m going to go to your dad’s office and see if I can’t join in on this meeting. With us being mates, this allies our kingdoms, and I need to know if a war is brewing. Are you going to be okay having Killian walk you to your room?” I ask Morrigan.

“Yes, but please, when you get back, I want to know what is said in that meeting. I don’t want secrets between us.” She states.

Killian comes over and escorts her up to her bedroom while I head to Leonard’s office, where I find the door closed. I knock and Leonard allows me entry.

“King Leonard, since Princess Morrigan is my mate, and I know that we have an unofficial alliance at this point, but I would like to take part in this meeting.” I request.

“Of course, Supreme Alpha Rian. Please, have a seat. We were just beginning.”

“Do we know who these people are?” I ask as I sat down in the chair to Leonard’s left.

“Possibly Alpha Rian. We aren’t one hundred percent sure, but we believe that the threat was issued by the dark Fae.” One of Leonard’s advisors said.

“Dark Fae?”

“These are Fae that had gifts of light but used them for selfish purposes. Calida is one of their leaders and she was a healer before she found her mate was cheating on her with her sister. She found that not only did her gift heal but she could manipulate it into killing people by giving them diseases and other ailments.” Another advisor stated.

“So, they were shunned from the Fae kingdom because they had dark gifts?”

“Yes, they were also deemed as a threat to the kingdom because some of them, including her second in command Silas, can manipulate the mind. Bending people to their will. That gift is dangerous when placed in the wrong hands,” Leonard stated.

“So now, they want to be seen and they want to be in power. How long have they been ‘shunned’ so to speak?”

“The last hundred years or so, give or take a decade. We tried to make them see that using their gifts for such malevolent purposes was against the Goddess Danu, but they didn’t see it that way.” One of the elders stated.

“Well, I guess if I was shunned by my people for about a hundred years, I would be a bit butt hurt too, though I understand the reasoning behind it.”

“We just need to figure out where they are hiding and wipe them out. They can’t have many dark Fae on their side. There weren’t many, to begin with.” Another elder says.

The meeting continues, talking about strategy and trying to figure out how best to snuff out this rebellion with the least number of lives lost. I have offered my wolves if they are needed, which the war counselors and the elders were thankful for. After the meeting was over, I made my way up to Morrigan’s room. Killian was standing outside her door like I had asked him to, I waved him off and went into her room, not bothering to knock.