He felt our bond, Mother

"I want you to be among the guards that will receive him and, if possible, deliver a message for me," Auriana said. She could be happier now. Even her wolf was as happy as she could be. Their mate kept his promise very quickly, too. But since he was coming in the form of a Royal visit, it meant that he was not ready to let their relationship out just yet, and she liked it that way too.

"Yes, my Princess," Caleb replied with a bow.

Irene had found a spot to sit and ponder over what she was told. It was shocking to imagine alone, but this was not an imagination. It was real. Princess Auriana is mated to a vampire and is none other than King Lyrus Donovan himself. She didn't know anything about him besides the tales told of him. She could only hope he wasn't as the tales that preceded him.

"Your Highness, Pardon me, but something has been bothering me," Irene said, drawing the attention of the other two people to herself.

"Go ahead, Irene," Aurinaa said, giving her permission to speak.

"Do you think he would make a good mate? Your Highness, I mean no disrespect, I am just worried about you. He may be king, but we do things differently and live our lives differently," Irene asked. She looked down at her feet after she asked. For a moment, she had forgotten that she was talking to the princess about their possible future king. 'That still sounds weird.' she thought. "Forgive me if I spoke out of place, Your Highness.`"

"It is alright, Irene, I know you mean well. As for Lyrus, I have only met him once, and he didn't appear to be what people say he is, although I can not say everything is entirely wrong," she stopped to think. "I did not feel any form of hostility from him towards me either, so I am certain he wouldn't hurt me, at least not without a reason."

"But there is a possibility that he will hurt you, Princess. After all, we know what he is capable of," Irene said even before she could realize it.

"Irene," Auriana called in a warning tone. "I understand the reason for your prejudice but do not forget that anyone on his side would think the same of me. Just as tales and rumours about him run wild here, the same rumours are happening in their kingdom too about us, and they would think I will harm their king. So the next time you speak, try to look at both sides of the coin and not just one."

"Yes, Your Highness. Forgive this servant," Irene said. "Please excuse this servant," she bowed and left the room with her eyes down.

"I should go after her and make sure she does not do anything foolish," Caleb said, and Auriana nodded her head. He left and followed her immediately, not wanting to have to sniff her out.

Left with nothing to do, Aurinaa decided to take a walk around the castle. She would have preferred to go beyond the castle walls, but she doubted they would allow her, and she didn't want her parents to result in grounding her. That would make her room bound, and there was nothing she hated more than being in small spaces for long. Well, her room was quite big but even the biggest place can become smaller and smaller if you spend too much time in it alone.

The castle was silent which was not much of a surprise to her knowing how big it was. The distance from her wing to the king's was huge. Her room was in the North wing while her parents' was in the south. This was what made it easy for her to sneak around as a child and no one would notice.

"Auriana," Aurinana stopped at the familiar voice of Hazel. She turned to her right and found her standing by a window by the tower. Auriana frowned because she didn't feel anyone's presence until she was called. Was she that distracted? That was not a good a sign for her.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" She approached Hazel and asked. Although she was caught off guard, she didn't let it show.

Hazel turned to look at her, a faint smile on her lips and a little shine in her eyes. "I want to talk to you, mother to daughter. Just us two. I have also sent all the servants here away for a while." Hazel replied.

Auriana took a moment to study her and then nodded her head. "Alright, Mother," she said. She then walked to stand beside her mother, also gazing out the window.

"I want to believe you know why I am here," Hazel started. She briefly looked at Aurian who gave a curt nod but didn't say a word. "I am happy for how much you have grown, Auri, I truly am. I have watched you grow every step of the way," a faint smile appeared on her lips as she reminisced about the days of old. "You know, when I was pregnant, everyone thought that I would give birth to a boy. It came as a surprise to everyone that you were born a girl. Even I was surprised," she chuckled.

Auriana just listened knowing where all of this would lead. Her guesses for every conversation she had with her mother in the past were either spot on or very close to it.

"The color of your eyes and hair also came as a surprise but then, we all knew you would be special. The very first Queen to rule Diric, not just as the king's mate but as its heir and true ruler. Your father and I are very proud of you," Hazel continued. Her words told Aurinaa that they were close to the main target of this one-sided conversation.

"Thank you, Mother," Auriana said with a smile, nonetheless.

"Auri… your father and I want what's best for you, you know that right?" Auriana nodded with a hum. "I know that you are upset with us for not supporting your union with… a…"

"You don't have to say it if you are embarrassed to, I understand, '' Auriana said and Hazel nodded her head.

"...a vampire. It is just that it's something that had never happened before and accepting him will not be good if you want to secure the throne. A ruler's utmost concern is his people and our people wouldn't accept a vampire as their ruler," Hazel went ahead to say. As hard and distasteful as it was to say that a vampire was her daughter's mate, that was the case and she could not blame her daughter.

"Things can change you know," Auriana said. " He could have rejected me but he didn't, rather he looked happy to see me. He felt our bond, something that I was told couldn't happen. He wanted me, Mother," Auriana turned to look at her mother.

"What?!" Hazel exclaimed. That shouldn't be possible at all.