dark times

"Is he mad?" Sam exclaimed, anger rising into his voice. "Does he want to spread panic?"

Kiera also couldn't understand the Solomon King. What could he have meant when he announced there would be dark times ahead? What information could the Solomon King have that made him declare such a preposterous thing?

With the rumors the Beasts have been spreading, how could the King know the Barghest was a monster from the Forest? If he somehow did find out, then it was only a matter of time before the Beasts would be questioned.

Kiera could not wait any longer and decided she would go immediately to the Beast King.

"Let's continue this conversation in my office." She left the garden as she heard the prince tell his aide.

***

"Your Majesty, I need to speak with you," she said as she stood before the King's quarters. She heard his familiar voice from behind the ornate door.

"Come in Kiera." She did as she was told, making sure to close the grand doors behind her with great care to avoid making much noise.

"It seems that the news has even reached your ears. Is this the result of spending more time with the Third Prince?" Her King seemed calm, sitting down at one of the room's couches with an opened book in his hands. "It truly is fascinating how the Solomon King has chosen to deal with the unexpected situation that has arisen."

"Do you know what he is trying to accomplish with his latest announcement to the public?"

"I can only assume the Solomon King wants to weed out the ones responsible for letting the monster free in the middle of Farrington."

"And by how exactly does he intend to do that? By creating mass panic during the peace talks?" She couldn't control her fury. To her, it seemed like a ludicrous idea. It did not help her control her emotions after hearing Sam angrily saying the same thing just before leaving his garden.

"As we initially thought, the humans have never seen a Barghest before. They were bewildered, for a short while, until the King couldn't wait any longer and released a statement to the public regarding the newfound monster."

"What will this mean for us, milord?" She looked to King William for answers, expecting him to assuage her growing anxiety.

Her king closed the book in his hands, peering at Kiera as if she was a child that needed calming.

"We will be just fine Kiera."

"Will we?"

She wasn't one to normally question her lord when he had shown her his confidence, but for some reason she was having a harder time believing in his words.

"Yes. It will be some time before the humans begin publically suspecting any one group. Before that, they have to deal with the revelation of the new monster species in Solomon, and with the rumors we have been spreading since yesterday, I don't think the Solomon King's suspicions would ever land on the Beast Kingdom."

"So you believe they have taken the bait?" Then what thoughts were running through the Solomon King's mind? What could he have been alluding to when he said dark times were upon them?

She clenched her fists at her sides. Kiera could not stop the ball of anxiety that was lodged securely at the base of her throat. She tried to dislodge it by swallowing, but it still persisted firmly inside her.

"Now why are you making such a face Kiera?" She looked up at him as he stood up from the couch, towering over her. She let him reach out and pat her head affectionately.

"We will make it through this. We are the Beast People are we not? We have dealt with bigger problems in the past than this, and we have done that by believing in the joint effort of our kin."

"Yes," out of habit, she immediately agreed with him, but her worries did not lessen.

"Perhaps, we should go back," she spoke without thinking, only regretting her words as soon as she finished her thought.

"Then have you given up on the prince?"

Kiera couldn't answer him. The image of the prince flashed through her mind and she was overcome with an uncomfortable feeling as if something ripped through her heart. A pang of phantom pain had struck her and she was dumbfounded.

"We cannot leave. We must stay just until the Golden Rose Treaty is rewritten. Only when the peace talks have ended are we to formally depart from Solomon."

She mutely nodded at his words.

"I expect by then you will have made your choice: stay with the prince or leave here without him."

***

"Kiera," by the way his emerald eyes widened as he watched her enter his office, she could see he did not believe he would see her again today.

"I thought you had gone back to the main palace." He approached her, forgetting all about the mountains of paperwork stacked on his desk.

"It seems that I caught you at a bad time." She motioned at his desk, to which his eyes briefly looked back before settling his eyes on her once more.

"I'm never too busy for you Kiera." She calmly watched as he brushed his thumb across her cheek. "Is something wrong?"

Could he tell there was something wrong just by looking at her?

She pursed her lips and let him continue caressing her face.

She wanted to be embraced by him, but she did not know how to tell him. She supposed she could outright ask him to hug her but that was still too embarrassing for her to do.

"Is it about what my father has said?"

He hit the nail on the head.

She hesitated before she nodded her head.

"What," she hesitated some more before continuing, "what do you know about the things your father had announced?"

He sighed, "I'm convinced he only said the things he said out of frenzied panic. My father is neither intelligent nor conniving enough to have a deeper meaning behind his words."

"You don't think he was trying to weed out the people responsible for the monster in Farrington?"

He gave a short laugh. "How would those words possibly weed out any information?"

"Then, his words really meant nothing?"

He nodded his blond head.

"Trust me, I know my father's methods better than anyone. He is not some sort of genius mastermind." He said while smiling dazzlingly, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

"That is surprising to hear, considering how his son is." Her words made his lips begin to tremble.

"I assume by 'son' you mean me?" Then he joined their lips together in a short kiss.

"I like to think that other than our hair and eyes, we share no other similarities."

"I never thought you did. To me, your eyes and hair are completely different." Her fingers went up to play with a section of his hair. The softness of his hair surprised her once more.

"Hm," he made a noise that Kiera believed was to express how much he took pleasure in her touching his hair.

"Let's sit on the couch?"

She looked at the couches and then her mind remembered the last time they sat on Sam's office couches. Her eyes moved from the couches back to him.

"I should head back."

"Don't." He held her hand as she tried to remove it from his hair. "Stay a while longer."

She couldn't believe she was being enticed by him, but the way he kissed her fingertips made her emotions stir. She was soon conflicted with her thoughts.

"Sam you still have work to do."

"You don't have to worry about that, it will get done regardless."

She was led to the couch, where she was gently pushed down by his hands. She sat down as if possessed, and all the air in her almost left her body when he laid his head down on her lap.

"You can continue." He instructed, grabbing her hand and putting it on his head.

"You want me to continue touching your hair?" She asked as if she did not understand.

He smiled, "Yes, what else did you think we were going to do?" By the smirk on his lips, she could tell he knew exactly what she was thinking when he invited her to sit on the couches.

"I'm going to pull your hair."

"That's alright with me as well. I'll let you do whatever you want with me." He declared confidently, closing his eyes as his head rested on her lap.

"Don't say such dangerous things," she commented as she lightly tugged on his hair. Her tug was so light that almost couldn't be considered a tug at all. He laughed at her inaction to follow through with her threat.

"Why not? I want the wolf to gobble me up."

Kiera couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her face warmed by his suggestive words. If he opened his eyes he would be able to see how effective his words were.

"If you say it like that," she breathed slowly, "I just might take you up on that offer."