Meeting

"Your majesty, the Dukes are waiting for you," the king's servant said, handing him the suit jacket. Arius smiled and went out. It was still 7 in the morning, but the men were getting impatient to meet him.

He entered a spacious room, containing a long table where he held his meeting with ministers and those annoying men who were the six pillars of the kingdom, oh! Now they were just five.

Arius sat on the head chair, designed with red patterns, and stared at them. Three men to his left and two to his right.

"Arius, what do you think you are doing? Banning the Lysio family from entering the kingdom, and this stupid idea for bringing the light to the kingdom, did you forget your identity and begin to believe that you are the rightful king, if it was not for the queen's procuration, you wouldn't be sitting in this chair today," the head of the Kanto family, Sedar Kanto spoke.

"Sedar is right, we need an explanation, King Arius," Dalimar Sanders said looking at him with a stoic face.

Arius's face didn't show any sort of emotion, "I will explain my actions, no need for anger," he said, smiling at Sedar who clenched his fists looking furiously at him.

"About the Lysio family's case, I have a report about the involvement of Dochart Lysio with illegal businesses, not forgetting that the attack from a week ago, happened in his territory leading us to accept the marriage alliance. We chose his daughter as the bride but a few hours before completing her duty, she withdrew and refused to marry. Thus someone who mistreated his people and misused the funds handing it to him doesn't deserve his title. So I had to take action and punish him, though he deserves more."

"You did the right thing. Someone who failed to protect his territory does not deserve to be the pillar of the kingdom," Jolan Theorem said, looking directly at Sedar. The attack was in the Lysio's Dukedom, it was also near the Kanto's. Duke Rak Horth nodded. He was the quietest between them.

Sedar gritted his teeth, then he asked, "What about the light project, is there any need for something like that? We lived in darkness for years."

"I know that but the thing is, with the technological development in the world, why not be a part of it and grab this opportunity and use it for our good, how long are we going to keep using fire for our human workers to distinguish between things? The kingdom has resources but its problem remains in the darkness. Though other than vampires no one will see a thing! If we bring the light, then it will open a bright future for the kingdom and its citizens. This file contains the details of the project. The search we did, and the result expected from it." Arius said. Jolay handed a copy to each of them.

The four men stared at the file and read it. They were also a part of the kingdom and they wished the best for their people. They looked at the one sitting on the right side of the king, Valdo Fortun, he was the most powerful among them, so naturally, they waited for his opinion on every matter.

"If it will benefit the vampires, then I don't have any objection," Valdo said after flipping the papers.

They continued their meeting for hours, the four men went but Valdo stayed with the king. "Arius, the past is the past, don't let it blind you from making the right decisions, I agreed to your project but it does not mean I will turn a blind eye to your movement," he said and followed the other men out.

Valdo exited the room. "Miranda, long time," he exclaimed when he saw her.

"I brought your coat," she responded and handed it to him.

"I thought you would say that it bore you working here and wanted to work in my house as you used in the past," he said, feigning a pitiful expression.

Miranda tried to smile. Her eyes kept looking at his coat. 'What happened to her?' They exchanged a few more words and went away.

In the meeting room, Arius stood facing the window. His hands were behind his back, he kicked the chair beside him and then took a deep breath.

The door opened and Sophie strode in. "Your majesty," she said.

"What did you do last night, Sophie?" Arius asked, staring straight at her, his eyes darkened.

"I-i.." she stuttered, she wanted to say something but she could not, he never looked at her with such resentment.

Arius turned to look from the window, and Sophie swallowed a cold breath then spoke, "The maid was so daring that she talked with the bride and encouraged her to refuse the marriage," she explained with a hushed tone. "I did ..."

"I think your visit this time was long enough. Have a safe journey to your home," Arius interupted.

'Is he chasing me away? Because of that maid?' Sophie thought, rooted to her place.

In the past whenever she did to that maid, he never stopped her or said a thing, but how come today he got angry for letting the woman go?

She turned around and walked to the door, then stopped. She came to talk to him about the head of the council who knew the identity of the bride. Sophie wanted to speak to him last night, but he refused to meet anyone.

Sophie stared at Arius's back, then she opened the door and went out, raising her head proudly.

.

The sound of a pen tapping on the table echoed in the room.

"Now, my job ended," Igor said to the Alpha King and the young man, and then he grabbed his bag. "Alpha Orson, I wish you a joyous union. Something urgent came up so I will have to leave. I hoped to attend the ceremony, but the council's duties never end."

Then he shifted his gaze to the young man sitting across from him. "Once again, wishing you a carefree life," he said, smiling until his nonexistent wisdom teeth showed up. But the young man didn't look at him.

"Thank you, Igor," the Alpha king said, he waited until Igor exited the study room, and he turned to face his grandson. "What's with this behaviour, Orson?" he said.

Orson jabbed his hand over the wooden disk and stood up,

"Orson! Stop right now or…" the Alpha king said, raising both his brows and clenching his jaw.

"Or what? Strip the alpha position from me? Then take it…" Orson responded.

"Don't…" the Alpha interrupted his grandson, "I did it for your sake?" he said with a hushed voice. He wanted the best for his grandson, he chose the princess because he thought Orson and the princess were compatible with each other.

He once met the princess when she was young, she was such a kind person, not pretentious. Though many years passed. He gathered information about her with great difficulty because she kept a low profile, even after having many achievements she refused to use her statute as a princess and lived a normal life.

"You did it for me? Don't lie to me. If you did anything for me, that would order me around and control my life. When my parent died, I became the Alpha on behalf of my deceased father at sixteen as per your order."

"When Akeela died, I didn't even have the time to grieve, because I had to handle the mess happening. You refused to even let me investigate her death. And now, I had to marry just for the sake of peace! As a mere piece of paper will grant it," he said, walking towards his grandfather, staring right into his eyes.

The alpha king looked at his grandson. Every word was like a knife stabbing his heart. 'So he is a controlling freak in Orson's eyes.'

They stared at each other without talking, no one wanted to step back or lower his eyes, suddenly the two turned toward the person who had broken in.

"I.. I… am sorry,"