Chapter Seventy-Two – Freedom for the people.
(Dark Dynasty Kingdom)
There was still no news on his mother and it worried him. He kept his sister close to him at all times. She was the last thing he had.
“My King, the first travelers just crossed the border. The werewolves didn’t harm them. A woman was gifted a yam tuber even” a soldier reported to him, happily.
He heaved a sigh of relief, the Blue Moon had kept their own part of the agreement, good. His people call travel freely and they’d be no need to overwork the dwarfs.
He remembers Lu he had kept in prison. The small man was sneaking up on him to release Margaret, that day.
Did he think he’d leave his mate unprotected? He’d have to be sure she don’t run away but at the end he gave her up. And made it look like he negotiated her.
She’d be disappointed if she knew how he really felt. But that was his decision, not the dark energy’s.
The prison house was darker than normal. Or perhaps it had always been this dark but he never noticed as he rarely visited.
“Light some torches around. Let the prisoners have hope. I cancelled the death penalty so they’d leave here one day, please”.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
The soldier who was instructed bowed, and carried out the task immediately. The King strolled further to find Lu.
“I wasn’t expecting you here” he chuckled on seeing the dwarf. He thought the dwarf crawled out by a hole somehow. He overestimated him.
“Same. I wasn’t expecting you here. And, I know I’d die but release that girl. She’s someone’s wife. I value marriage and they seem happy”.
The King clenched his jaw on hearing the dwarf’s words, “And I did. She’s happy, with her husband. I came on more important issues”.
Lu sat up from the dampened soil. The King had released the girl? What changed his mind? And why’d did the werewolves leave him here?
“What issues?” Lu scrutinized him.
“Dwarfs have two options. Since your ancestors swore to serve us, you either serve, with a good reward. Or leave and never return, all of you”.
Lu jumped to his feet. What was with this young man? Agreeing on things that have been pleading on him for long.
“Dwarfs have no where to go, as you know. We’d take the offer to serve with a reward. All of us. Agreed?” the dwarf made small jumps.
The King smiled briefly, “Settled. As for you, death penalty has been canceled so you won’t die. But you’d serve thirty years in jail”.
Lu’s happiness died down as the King’s smirk grew wider. It was, more or less, a life imprisonment.
He would die before it’s last. Still he thanked the King for the leniency. At least, he somehow made a change for his people as he had wish.
And he could be visited by some of them, it was still as refreshing.
The King looked back at the prison house when he was outside. They’d be less prisoners here as they’d be less protests for freedom.
His people were free and there was a less tension in the air. Except the one in his heart.
“My King, still no news on the Queen. But someone saw a figure hovering around the border of the Blue Moon Pack” a soldier reported.
The King face palmed. As he had feared. The dark energy would want to make nonsense of all his efforts to bring peace.
“Send a message to Blue Moon then. That… err… what’s your name?” he paused to ask.
The soldier, who was looking for a paper to write the letter on, was surprised to hear the King wanted to know his name.
“Um.. Well, Flutter, sir. Though friends call me Flu” he immediately regretted his second sentence. His King can’t be his friend.
“Flutter. No wonder you flush easily” Gerard remembered the earlier experience when the boy blushed as he came close.
The soldier looked down, fondling the paper, flushing visibly.
“Well, Flutter, write. Make it short: My mother, controlled by the dark energy is coming for your pack. Incapacitate her and return her unharmed”.
He perused the letter. He used the brush ink to circle ‘unharmed’. That was his priority. His mother shouldn’t pay for the dark energy’s sin.
“Send immediately, Flutter. No time” he patted the man’s shoulder and marched into his palace. His last business would be Anya.
“Can I come in?” he knocked on her door. He noticed her window opened and peeked in through it.
She was painting her weird illustrations again. They looked like forest and two small stick humans, just hanging across the trees.
“Anya? Open the door” he went back to the door. It creaked open. There were many scattered paintings on the bed.
“Did you make those too?” there were also two stick humans, only they seemed to be around a house, “Are you telling a story? Who’re there?”.
Anya sprang up from her seat. He went back as he didn’t know what she wanted to do.
“You said Margaret is your mate yet you gave her to the wolfman. Now my dream of staying with Chan is gone” she folded her hands.
He sat on her bed, looking for the right words to say, “She is married. And, Chan… now we’ve settled with them, he could visit any day”.
Anya loosened her hands and sat besides him, “You won’t put him in jail?”. He nodded, it was his mother who had done that before.
She smirked and went back to her painting, “But Margaret is your mate, how is she also someone’s wife? Is she in a happy marriage?”.
Gerard stayed mute. Margaret did seem happy. And Scott wanted her back so he cared for her. Only that there was still some questions.
If he was her mate, don’t that mean he was the only one to assure her happiness? Or how did the mate thing work?
“I don’t know but dad said something once about soulmates. I guess they’re like mates. A person’s irreplaceable other half” the girl added.
The King stood from the bed but sank back, “Then I should be the unhappy one. She’s happy there. I got.. replaced?” he shook his head.
The mate thing was just weird.
“Maybe she’s married and happy. But if he’s not her mate, he isn’t hundred percent. You can marry a seventy percent and still be happy”.
Gerard viewed his sister’s paintings again. They looked different from her usual ones. A taller male stick figure and a fatter female one.
“Since when did you know about soulmates?”.
She shrugged, “Since mom revealed mine was Chan. Same way you knew. He clearly doesn’t like me. But once a mate, always a mate. They’re worth fighting for”.
So what was she advising him to do? Fight Scott for Margaret?
“The dark energy could be wrong”.
“Or right. If it’s wrong then werewolves mating process were wrong, as well. Cos the energy is werewolf energy”.
Gerard’s shoulders slumped defeated. So she was now the smart ass. And she and Chan did look cute anyway.
He wasn’t sure what he’s to do but if she was really his mate, then she’d also want them to be together. It had to go both ways.