A BOLD MOVE

"What the hell are you doing?" Allen roared, his voice harsh and sharp. It was the first time he had spoken a word since Stormy's arrival and the icy-coldness in his tone sent shivers down her spine, leaving her quite baffled and perturbed. She stood silent for a while before quickly collecting herself, then raised her chin up in a defiant manner.

She wasn't going to let his intimidating aura frighten her one bit.

"What the hell was that for?" Allen demanded through gritted teeth, his eyes full of fury and rage, his jaw tensed and his hands clenched into a tight fist as he stared daggers at Stormy, fighting the urge to punch her right in the face.

After sometime, he finally managed to calm himself down a bit and loosened his clenched hands then bent over to help Rebekah up from the ground where she had fallen after she had lost her balance due to being pushed violently by Stormy.

"What is wrong with you?" she yelled after finally being helped her to her feet, a look of displeasure written all over her face. "Why the hell did you do that?" she asked.

Stormy snorted coldly, shaking her head.

They were still putting on an act, huh? How despicable of them!

"Don't you both have any shame at all?" she sighed. "Do you have to go about proudly showing off your infidelity to every single person in this palace to see? And you," she said, directing her attention towards Allen, "even if you don't like me shouldn't you at least show a little bit of respect to me as your wife and hide your amorous relationship with your mistress or whatever she is to you? Come to think of it, if you knew you already had her why then did you agree to marry me too? Am I just part of your political strategy?" she demanded, causing the two people to exchange puzzled looks.

"I don't know what's going on here but I think you're clearly mistaking, Zelda. Allen isn't the one that married you. Allen is my mate," Rebekah disclosed with a serious face, causing Stormy to pause for a second. She thought hard, a baffled expression registered all over her face.

Suddenly, she lets out a cackle followed by a thunderous clap of her hands. "You really got me, Rebekah," she said, pointing at her. "For a second I believed you, but then I remembered the king only had two children, him and his sister. So, my dear tell me, if he isn't the one I'm married to, then who? And don't even tell me it's his sister because then you'd sound more like a deranged person," she concluded.

Following her speech, there was total silence as Allen and Rebekah both exchanged knowing glances, then out of the blue, Rebekah also burst out with laughter.

Stormy, shocked by her sudden outburst, curled up her brows as she stared at her like she was some sort of lunatic. "You find this funny, huh?" she scoffed. "Let's see if you'll still be able to laugh after I report you both to the king."

Rebekah smiled. "Go ahead, my dear. I'd gladly love to see you make a fool out of yourself," she said then grabbed Allen's hand and walked off with him, leaving Stormg behind, all upset.

What does she mean by she'd love to see her make a fool out of herself?

What she telling the truth about Allen being her mate? Mate? What is that even supposed to mean?

But if she was not lying then who was the one the princess was supposed to be married to? How come she's not met him yet?

Could it be that the king has more than two children? And if yes, then where are the rest? Why hasn't she met them yet or better still why hasn't he anyone else told her about them?

Stormy sighed.

This is more than she had bargained for.

"Your highness!" Ella's voice suddenly sounded from behind her, cutting through her thoughts. "Why are you standing here all alone? Is everything okay? Why haven't you gone to the field yet?"

One by one, Ella bombarded Stormy with questions upon questions, prompting her to smile and shake her head.

Out of all the maids who were assigned to her, she was the only that seemed to genuinely care about her. The rest just wanted to serve her because they were supposed to.

She was always by her side every single minute, be it day or night, rain or shine. At times she even mistakes her for Amy since they both seem to have the same sense of humour.

"Can I ask you something?" she spun around.

Ella paused for a few minutes, then shrugged, "I guess so."

"Alright, how many children does the king have?"

Ella smiled already guessing why she asked her that. "Three, your highness," she reveals. "The king has three kids...two males and one female."

"Ah..." Stormy's voice trailed off.

So Rebekah was telling the truth after all.

Oh God! Then it means she had attacked them for no apparent reason.

She was going to be in so much trouble.

She has to find them quickly and apologise...

"Find who, your highness," Ella inquired, making Stormy realised she had been thinking out loud.

She bit her lower lip. "I might've attacked Rebekah just now thinking she was flirting with my 'supposed husband'."

"Oh!" Ella exclaimed in shock, immediately understanding the situation. Seeing how disturbed Stormy looked, she quickly tried to cheer her up. "You don't need to be bothered, your highness. I'm sure they'll understand you were ignorant of the fact that the prince is her mate."

Stormy suddenly looked up at the mention of mate, her face clouded with shock.

"Why does everyone keep saying mate-mate? What is it supposed to mean?" she asked, quite eager to know more about the term.

In an instant, Ella tensed up and a flicker of fear crossed her face. All of a sudden, she began to fidget and nervously sway back and forth. "Uh-I-It's nothing special actually. It's a word we used to describe partners here. It's just the same as how we humans also refer to our partners as husbands or wives."

We humans? Did she hear that well or is her mind playing tricks on her?

This was the second time since her arrival in Nightingvale that she had heard someone refer to her as a 'human' instead of a person and it felt and sounded quite strange to her.

At this point, Stormy's curiosity had been piqued and she yearned to learn more about the people and their strange ways of speaking. She felt inclined to ask Ella more about the topic just so she could gain more insight, however, remembering how weirdly she had reacted when she first asked her the question about the mate issue, she decided to let go and ask her about it another time.

"Come on," she grabbed the maid's hands and dragged her over to her chambers then sat her down. She then sat beside her, a smile plastered on her face. "I want know all about him..."

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It was nightfall. Tyrion was comfortably seated at his usual spot high up on the tallest tree-branch overlooking the vast greenland and enjoying the magnificent view when he suddenly sniffed a familiar scent in the air and furrowed his brows.

What was he doing here at this time?

Sighing heavily, Tyrion leapt down from the tree and landed right on his feet, swiftly sneaking up on the intruder, his long sharp claws pressed against his throat.

"It's just me sire... Luke," said the guy shakily. His tone held a trace of fright and panic. His two arms were held up in the air as his chest rose and fall, his breathing haggard and shallow.

Tyrion smirked. "Of course I know it's you, Luke...it's why you're still breathing," he stated smugly and released him from his grip, as his claws retracted. He then helped him adjust his collar and gave him a soft pat on the back afterwards.

"Thank you," he mumbled, his voice still a little shaky.

"So, what is it this time around? Why are you here?"

"It's your father, my prince-he wants you to come back to the palace and meet your bride," Luke revealed. Tyrion lets out a cold snort.

His bride? Ridiculous!

"Tell him I said I'm not ready to return and that I'll only come back if and when I feel like it." He turned around and prepared to climb up back to his favourite spot.

"But sire...," Luke suddenly called out to him, causing him to stop and turn, "you really have to come back to the palace," he said, sounding extremely worried.

Tyrion frowned. He tilted his head to the right as he watched the expression on the guy's face. "Why?"

"It's the princess..."

"What about the princess? Is she okay? Did something bad happen?" he asked, this time sounding a little bit concerned.

He hasn't yet accepted her as his partner, however she was still under their care and protection and if anything bad were to happen to her while she was there, he and the entire clan will most certainly end up in trouble and it might even just be the start of another thousand years of war and bloodshed between his people and the humans.

Although he already knows which side will win, he still wouldn't want something of that sort happening.

He was tired of the bloodshed and the unending wars.