Fighting Darius

When we reach his bedchamber, Caspian shoves me inside and closes the door behind us. How very charming! I seriously need to make a new resolution about not killing the crown prince.

Caspian’s bedchamber is a massive two-story suite. Both levels are luxuriously decorated.

It looks a bit different from the last time I saw it almost five months ago. The color scheme is different. The red, gold, black and cream are now replaced with black, white, grey, teal blue, and silver. The heavy window coverings and wall art are new.

There are now new grey chairs and a sofa facing a curved big screen tv that dominates the wall in the seating area. I venture

further to the spiral wooden stairway which is also new, along with the black wrought iron railing that runs along the stairs and all around the opening of the second level.

“Did you re-decorate?” I ask him.

“If you want to call it that,” he answers with a slightly derisive smile.

“Wait! You destroyed your room after another big fight with the Queen, didn’t you?”

“I might have,” he answers with a careless shrug. Wow, that must’ve happened just before they moved to California.

“Huh…very interesting,” I remark.

“What’s very interesting?”

“It’s funny how you destroyed everything else but left your precious books unharmed.”

He grins as if I caught on to him, but not an ounce of guilt is present on his smug face.

Row after row of books covers an entire wall, from the first level all the way to the second level. There is a black wooden ladder with small wheels, that is attached to the bookcase.

These books are precious indeed. Most are first editions, a lot are hundreds of years old and some are even handwritten.

On the far wall is a comfortable seating alcove by a big arched window overlooking the garden below.

Caspian takes out a small bottle from his bar fridge and pours the content into a glass.

“What’s that?” I ask him, eyeing the clear green liquid in the crystal glass.

“Something to help me relax,” he answers and takes a sip of the drink.

Relax? I need something to relax especially if I have to deal with Caspian the whole night. I grab the glass from his hand.

“Beany!!” he bellows, trying to stop me, but I down the content in one gulp. Ackkk!!! My throat burns.

“Oh, Beany…“he shakes his head with a sigh and a slight smile.

His eyes narrow as he studies me for a while.

“What is it?” I ask him, staring at the empty glass in my hand while trying to catch my breath. Now my chest burns. It tastes somewhat bittersweet…almost like alcoholic licorice. It smells strangely like some kind of flowers and herbs.

His lips stretch into a wicked grin. “Don’t you think you should’ve asked first before you down the whole thing?”

“Well, too late now,” I say. “What is it?”

“Absinthe.” He suddenly laughs. “You’re going to be very drunk very soon.”

“No, I won’t. I don’t get drunk easily.”

“Oh, you will. It’s a very good, strong one…a gift from Summer Court of the Fae world.”

“It must have gone bad. It tasted awful and it’s not working. I don’t feel any different.”

He shoots me another mischievous grin. “You just wait,” he says before he hunches over his electronics.

Caspian fiddles around with his sound system while I venture up the stairs to the second floor.

“I’m bored,” I tell him.

“You won’t be bored for too long,” he sings. Pretty soon, the music fills the air.

My fingers playfully trace the railing as the famous Sergei Prokofiev’s Петя и волк (Peter and The Wolf) echoes through the enormous space of the bedchamber.

“What are you? Five?” I ask him even though I don’t mind the music. Sometimes I don’t even understand why I have the need to infuriate the Prince without any reason at all.

“Now you’re just being ridiculous, Beany. You don’t have to be five to enjoy Prokofiev,” he huffs. “By the way, do you know that we sound like an old married couple? We can totally pull this off. Nobody would have any doubts that we’re mates at all as soon as they hear us. I’m sure of it.”

I just roll my eyes and shake my head. Ridiculous!

The second floor is where his massive bed is. It’s too big to be even called king size. Maybe it can be qualified as giant size bed. There’s a huge woodburning fireplace on the other wall facing the bed. A small fire is licking the wood in the center of it, bathing the bed in a warm orange glow. There are two doors beside the fireplace. One opens up to his ensuite bathroom and another, to his walk-in closet. This floor also has a balcony. The thing it doesn’t have is an exit door. You can only access to the second level of his suite through the first floor.

“How very nice of you to give up your bed and sleep on the couch for me,” I yell at him from the railing. “Thank you!!!”

He looks up at me from where he’s still crouching in front of his sound system on the first floor. His lips twisted funnily.

He’s trying not to laugh.

“You are so nice, Caspian. So so nice…so nice I could hug you,”

I tell him as I let myself fall on his soft silk covered bed with a sigh. I bounce on it a few times. My heart is so full of love right now. I love this music. I love Darius. I love him so so so much.

“Yooo hooo!!!! Caspiaaan!” I sing.

“You called?” He asks, and I scream. He’s holding onto the railing next to the bed with a big grin. He jumped from where he was to the second level so quickly and quietly that he almost gives me a heart attack.

“Thank you for giving up your bed for me,” I thank him again.

“Give up my bed? You should know by now that I’m not nice, Beany.”

“Oh, but you are,” I insist. “that’s why you’re letting me sleep in this soft, wonderful, totally awesome bed and you’re taking the sofa.” I spread my arms and legs out like a starfish in the middle of the bed. I love this bed. I love this bed so much I could cry!

He climbs up from the railing to flop into the bed next to me.

He pushes my arm and my leg out of the way so that he can lie down properly. “Tell you what. Why don’t we share the bed?

It’s big enough for the two of us. Hell, it’s big enough for ten people.”

“No, no noo…we’re not sharing,” I say, frowning. “Ooohhh, listen!” I grab his hand and put my finger to my lips. “Do you hear that?”

“What are we listening to?”

“Dance of the Knights. Isn’t it beautiful, Caspian?” The music is floating in the air like freaking butterflies! Never have I ever listen to such a beautiful piece of music before. Prokofiev was a freaking genius! “So beautiful,” I whispered reverently. I feel like getting up and dance but the bed is so soft.

Caspian laughs. “You’re so drunk, Beany.”

“Am not!” I say, frowning. “You! Go sleep on the sofa.” I try to push him off the bed.

“Not going to happen. We can share the bed.”

I’m not giving up the bed for anything, nor am I sharing it with Caspian. He might kill me in my sleep.

“You don’t want to share the bed with me. I might hog the blanket,” I tell him. “Or I might kick you out of the bed.” He just rolls over and pretends not to hear me. He has no idea just how very much close to the truth that is.

“I might snore like a dying cow when I sleep…or I might have a nightmare and scream bloody murder in the middle of the night.”

“Music to my ears,” he says.

“I might drool all over you when I sleep, or I might kill you with my morning breath.”

“I’d wear a gas mask,” he says and then adds, “You think that’s gross? I might wet the bed.”

“Ooohhh…golden shower. Kinkyyy! I yell. “I might have to warn Quincy about that.”

“Don’t you dare! That was a joke. I don’t do golden showers!”

he jumps out of the bed like he’s had enough and can’t take it anymore. “Okay, get up, Beany.” He lifts me up and set me on my feet away from the bed.

“What? Are you throwing me out in the middle of the night?”

He just rolls his eyes and pushes me towards the fireplace.

“What??? Are you going to burn me?” I ask him in horror.

Suddenly, I feel teary-eyed. “Please, don’t do this. Think of the kids, Caspian.”

“What kids?”

“Our kids.”

“We don’t have kids!”

“Duh! Of course not. You’re about to burn me alive,

remember?”

“This whole conversation doesn’t even make sense!” He pulls a fistful of his hair in frustration. “The darn absinthe. You’re more annoying than usual when you’re drunk.”

Oh, now he’s crushing my heart. “You don’t like me. Now you’re mad at me.” My lower lip begins to tremble.

For a few seconds, he just stares at me like he can’t believe what’s going on. “Aww..Beany…come on, don’t cry,” he says.

The expression on his face looks like he just tasted something sour. “Come here,” he says, pulling me into a hug.

“You hurt my feelings,” I sniff as I wrap my arms around him.

“I’m sorry, Beany. I won’t do that again,” he promises as he rests his chin on top of my head.

Yeah, right! “Don’t lie. You’re totally gonna do it again.”

“Okay, I’m going to do it again,” he sighs. “Come on Beany, I’m just going to show you to your own room.”

I quickly pull away from him. “Asshat! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“I thought it would be fun watching you squirm,” he answers with a grimace.

Ha! Look who’s having fun now!

The fireplace is huge, the roaring fire devouring the firewood in the middle of it doesn’t even reach the sides.

Caspian ducks his head and steps into the stone fireplace, careful not to go near the fire. His fingers move along the crevices of the stone and he pushes a slab away. A side panel opens up. The opening is very narrow allowing only one person to fit through. I watch him disappears into the opening in amazement. Wow! A secret door. Cool!!!

I always find it strange that there’s no exit door in his room on this level. Now I know it actually does have an exit or at least an entryway that leads somewhere…or is this another ruse to kill me?

“Hey, are you coming, Beany?” he pokes his head out through the opening.

“You promise you won’t kill me?”

He sighs, rolls his eyes, grabs my wrist, and pulls me into the opening with him.

It’s a tunnel! It’s pitch dark until Caspian turns on the flashlight on his iPhone. We’re in a narrow stone passage that only allows one person to fit through at a time.

“Follow me,” he says though he’s already grabbing my hand in his and pulling me along to stumble behind him.

“Shhh…don’t make any noise, Beany,” he warns me in a whisper. “We might pass through occupied rooms since we have a lot of guests staying in our wing.” The stone wall is thick, but I know a lycan’s hearing is very sharp.

We seem to be walking in silence for a long time until we finally reach a dead end. He pushes the wall and it slowly gives way to create a tight opening. He slips through and I follow him out.

Caspian flicks a switch on the wall and the space is flooded with light.

We’re in a smaller size bedchamber. A king size four poster bed dominates the space. The bed is covered with a white bedsheet and a comforter with lacey frills. The wall is dark pink. Big windows on one side of the bed are covered with white damask semi-sheer curtains. I don’t like the pink walls and the ruffles and frills, but I decided not to complain.

“You okay, Beany bean?” he asks me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You’d better go back before I start thinking that you actually love me.” I’m feeling much sober than I was a few minutes ago. I think the effect of the absinthe is fading.

“Yeah, you know how much I hate you, Beany,” he says, chuckling.

“I know. I hate you too, your highness.”

He gives me a brilliant smile as he pinches my cheek. He draws back before I could swat his hand away.

“Make sure you come back to my room through here in the morning,” he instructs me as he slips back out through the tight opening of the wall and a built-in oak armoire. It looks very heavy. I’m sure even a grown male werewolf would have trouble pushing the armoire aside.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Oh, you really should think of a suitable endearment for me, my dove,” he says with a wink before he disappears into the darkness and the furniture slides back into its place.

My dove? Pffttt…HE should work on a better nickname for me!

My dove. Really?

I turn the light off and push the curtains aside. It’s late now but I’m not feeling tired yet. I know I should get some sleep.

I peel out of my shirt, pants, and underwear and I lie down naked in my large four poster bed with ruffles and frills.

I can see the dark night sky through the big glass windows. I wonder what Darius is doing now. I wonder where he is. Is he thinking about me? Is he missing me like the way I’m missing him? He’d better not be entertaining himself with any of those beautiful lycan women…or else.

Imagining him with other women makes my blood boils. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I sit up and pound my pillow a few times before dropping my head back into it. Gah!

I’m going nuts. My mind is driving me nuts. If he’s here right now, I’m kicking him in the nuts. I really should stop thinking about nuts. Now I hate nuts.

Absinthe makes me feel funny. I hate absinthe, I decided.

Jet lag is a nasty thing. I hate jet lag.

I love everything a while ago. Now I hate everything. I definitely hate absinthe.

I don’t hate Darius. I miss him. I need his arms around me right now. I need my other half. Maybe I should start counting sheep.

It’s customary for us to have breakfast and dinner with King Alexandros and Queen Sophia every day when we’re here.

We’ve decided to tell them that Caspian and I mated each other this morning. This is not something that I’m looking forward to.

So, very early in the morning, I make my way through the tunnel back to Caspian’s bedchamber to get ready. I can see that the passageway leads further than just to Caspian’s room.

The narrow tunnel forks out in several directions. It would be fun to discover where they would lead to.

I hear knocking at the door while I’m getting dressed in Caspian’s massive walk-in closet after my shower. Caspian answers it. For a while, I hear his voice mingled with someone else’s at the door.

“Somebody sent you this,” says Caspian, handing me a sealed envelope when I walk out of the closet.

“Wow! This is seriously like in the olden days!” I exclaim.

Nobody sends letters anymore.

“Exactly like in the olden days,” Caspian agrees. “It’s safer this way. There’s no electronic trail anybody can uncover or trace.

Just burn the letter after you’re done reading.”

I excitedly open the envelope. There’s only one piece of paper inside.

* Good Morning Malyshka,

I wish I could be with you this morning, but I have a pressing matter to attend to. You’re on my mind always. I will see you tonight.

Missing you,

-D

The note is short, but it put a stupid smile on my face. He took a risk just to send me this little note. The paper smells like him.

I hold it up to my heart before I reluctantly hold it over the fire in the fireplace, letting it go slowly only after it catches fire.

Caspian just rolls his eyes. “Whipped,” he says before he opens the door of his bedchamber.

It seems like Genesis, Constantine, Serena, and Lazarus are waiting for us to go for breakfast together.

“This is for everyone. We’re in this together,” says Constantine, squeezing my shoulder. Genesis loops her arm through mine and Serena does the same to my other arm.

“We’re a very small pack, but we have each other’s back,” says Caspian with a determined set to his jaw. I guess this is our pep talk.

Lazarus pats my head like he’s patting a puppy. He’s totally ruining my hair! I shoot him a glare, but I can’t help my lips from curling up into a grin. We make our way through the palace to the state dining room together.

Whether we want to or not, we’re going to do this. We have to.

We have no choice. A lot is riding on it. This is not only for my future with Darius or Caspian and his mate, it goes even beyond the survival of our pack. The rebel is set on taking over the crown, that means war is coming. Our success in flushing out the traitor would ensure the safety of the throne and hundreds if not thousands of lives.

“Well, here we go,” whispers Caspian, taking my hand in his as we neared the door of the dining room. Constantine tucks Genesis close to him and Lazarus does the same to Serena.

“Time to face the lions…or rather my parents. Are you ready?”

asks Caspian holding the doorknob.

“Honestly? No,” I answer.

“Good. Let’s go,” he says, opening the door.

We enter another hallway where two guards are standing by another set of doors. They bow before opening the doors for us.

“You got here rather close to the day of the celebration. I was beginning to think that you’re not going to show,” says Queen Sophia. Her green eyes, quite similar to Caspian’s flash angrily.

“Alas, here we are, mother,” answers Caspian. “I’m beginning to think I would rather be spending my time sunbathing in the Caribbean than being here.” His tone of voice is mocking, dripping with insolence.

These two can’t be in the same room for five seconds before they start at each other’s throat. This is not a good start.

It’s a bad start the very moment we entered the state dining room, actually. Lady Celeste is here. She is seated next to where Caspian is supposed to sit. Caspian barely acknowledges her, instead, he tightens his hold on my hand and drags me to sit at the other end of the table.

“Caspian,” warns King Alexandros quietly.

Appearance wise, Caspian looks a lot like his mother, same vivid green eyes, blond hair, and a slightly narrow, but strong jawline.

King Alexandros has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Apart from the eye color, Constantine looks more like the king than Caspian does.

I reach out and give Caspian’s hand a little squeeze.

Queen Sophia’s eyes flit to our joined hands. She had noticed our linked hands since we first entered the room and has been looking at us with a watchful expression since. I’m sure they can sense that I’m a lycan now.

“Caspian, your outfit will match Lady Celeste’s dress for the party tomorrow night,” says the queen. Lady Celeste brightens up for the first time since we got here. She had been pouting, though I doubt anybody really noticed, especially Caspian.

I sometimes feel sorry for the poor woman. Caspian can be very rude and cold when he wants to. A total royal brat. Most of the time he mainly ignores Lady Celeste who acts like a puppy, following him around and ever so willing to do anything he tells her to do.

Well, okay…I guess I feel sorry, but not sorry enough to befriend her. Lady Celeste is quite a snob, especially when I first met her. Now, my lycan is already loyal to Quincy and wants her to stay away from Caspian.

“I’m sorry, mother I won’t be matching with her this time…or any other time in the future. I have my own announcement to

make,” Caspian says, giving my hand a little squeeze. “Mother, father, I have claimed Penny as my mate.”

We hear a loud clattering sound following Caspian’s

announcement. Lady Celeste has dropped her cutlery. The king doesn’t look at all surprised. Queen Sophia is currently staring at us as if she’s expecting the news but her lips are thinning and her eyes are narrowing.