LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

ANASTASIA'S P. O.V

The first time I met him at the masquerade ball festival had become a remarkable day of my life. After that, I can't seem to get him off my sanity, though I have been coerced to do so. I felt so close and attracted to him like a magnet. Everything that occurred that night was like a trance and that was two years ago. I was still eighteen then. I never wished to attend the festival because I knew what it meant. Lord Alessandro's scheme and my father's worked out well. I have been bullied by my father to mate with the cruel lord who claimed to love and cherish me. Then my father, because of some nonsensical offer from the vicious lord, of making him more powerful and authoritative amongst his fellow regional alphas, took it upon himself not to live to see me with my fated mate. I grew up knowing that my mother is not his fated mate, and I wasn't that awed. She was like a slave to him. My father has no speck of respect for her but I blamed my mother. She narrated the whole story to me. When she was younger, she was the materialistic type that she became addicted to worldly things. She was the type of woman that desire riches and power over true love from their mates. She met my father at the full moon festival and liked him instantly. Not for love, not for passion but for what the gentleman can offer. I hate to say this but my mother is the sole cause of my dilemma.

Despite being rich and powerful, I've never been happy in my life, I was surrounded by riches but I was never delighted. A time came when I began wishing for death, until I met him, my prince charming at the masquerade ballroom. Everyone was disguised as per the rule of the party. Strangers were rarely recognized and I don't think he was from this bloody empire. It was so surreal that at the first sight of him, his masked face, the reek of joy glided through my heart to my belly that I wasn't aware that I was smiling, and I felt this sudden surge of heat. He stared in my direction and caught sight of me peeking at him. But his stares didn't last long and I felt disgruntled. I didn't know why but I wished I could walk up to him, take that mask off his face and gaze at him directly in the eyes, to know whether he felt what I felt, but that wasn't possible because Alessandro warned me of the consequences of leaving his sight when not approved. Throughout my stay at that ballroom, I was with Alessandro but my mind and thoughts were with my prince charming. Though a stranger, I haven't felt this way in my entire life for anyone before, not even Alessandro. And after that night, I prayed relentlessly to the moon goddess to let me see him again.

As a regional alpha's daughter, I was treated like a princess by others. Nobody dared to disregard or disobey me because of my status. I have never been treated like a normal person throughout my life, and nobody had the confidence to befriend me. I hear people gossip about me. Some said my beauty is out of this world, while others related that I am the moon goddess herself, but those things are the least of my worries. What matters most to me is my happiness, nothing else.

At seventeen, the almighty Alessandro mandated that I relocate to the palace, which my father assisted him in achieving without stress. He was so obsessed with me that I felt like his property. For about three years I've been with him, he tried all he could to make me fall in love with him but didn't succeed. He never tried to do anything against my wish and he respects some decisions I make. I made it clear to him that he won't dare to touch me if I don't consent. I want to remain pure for my fated mate though I've waited these years for him to find me but that has been my greatest fantasy. The one I will cherish for the rest of my life. I've been wallowing in misery since that party. I have tried all I could to fall in love with Alessandro but none worked, I devoted myself to the moon goddess to decide my fate.

"Lord Alessandro! Lord Alessandro!! " I heard someone scream in my dream. I strived to comprehend what was happening and I heard the same cry. This time, it was followed by a harsh bang at the gate and my sights opened abruptly. I recognized that voice as Tommaso's. I glanced at the wall clock and it was still half past four in the morning. "Stay alarmed all of you. I want those bastards captured, dead or alive, Thanos has tasted my patience so badly. We'll know the greater alpha this time!" That was Alessandro's voice. Then I remembered something. That name, Thanos, I think I have heard it from my mother once. That should be the crowned prince of the Mystic Nova empire. Do they come for war? Probably. Figured there was danger, perhaps they broke into the castle. Numerous empires of the world dare not to challenge the Ever Moon. It has acquired more notoriety because it always organized a 'bloody tournament' annually for all the nations of the world. I named it so because it's often nauseating to watch. What Alessandro is only concerned about is the supremacy and power of his empire, over all other empires of the world. I only know of a kingdom that from their history, is way more powerful, also a kingdom that has never taken part in the competition, and that is the Mystic Nova.

All through my existence, I have been striving to visit that empire but my every attempt proved abortive. I learned that the kingdom is paradise itself, not just for beauty, but also for the favorable and comfortable life it offers its denizens, though I know nothing about them. Numerous times I pleaded with my father to let me visit the Noble Empire "Don't ever request for such again. Visiting that territory is as good as visiting death itself". He'll always say. It was just recently that I figured out my empire and the latter were great foes. It was my mother that elucidated everything to me. About the past kings of my kingdom and theirs, how they lived in peace and harmony, and how that peace was destroyed. She further told me about the contemporary crowned prince of that great empire, and how good he is, together with his family. "The crowned queen, Stacy, and I have been very good friends for a long time. She is a wonderful person and we were so dear that she even took me as her blood sister. Her late mate, King Adonis was a great and kind man. Her children, particularly, her first son, Thanos, is a wonderful alpha whom every lunar would love to have as a mate, he's nothing like Alessandro. I have always wished you would locate such a mate, I don't want you to make the same mistake I made, Ann" Ever since my mother told me this, I began hoping to meet the nice prince. Maybe this would be a fabulous opportunity for me to see him.

I rose from my bed, hiked to the window, and peeked out, to realize that almost all the guards were downstairs getting ready for war. Suddenly, my door was slammed open "We need to get you out of here woman! We can't allow you to get harmed". Alessandro's fierce voice sounded in my eardrums and I quickly jumped in fright. He came straight to me and dragged me on the arm. "What's happening? Why am I leaving? Where are you taking me to?" I asked him as I struggled to let loose his grip from my arm. "So many questions woman" he replied as he dragged me to a barricade inside his mighty chamber, did something I could depict as magic or sorcery with his hands while muttering some weird words and hit on it. There was this cracking sound that it produced. In an instant, the barricade began moving to the left, and before I can predict what was going on, a long passageway appeared in front of me. For about three years of my stay in this castle, I never knew that there was a passageway in it. Well, why wouldn't there be? I trust the almighty Alessandro on that. I hated him for many things; he's wicked, inconsiderate, and deadly and that which he did to unlock this barricade, I'm dumbfounded. He tugged me into the room "Stay here, nothing must happen to you. I'll be back, let me finish this once and for all. Thanos must perish right here and now" he said, closed the wall back, and ran off.