Chapter 37: Chapter 37

~The Next Morning~

Queen Marlena walked down the passageway that led to Prince Damon’s chamber. She had only one thing in mind. She wanted to know about Miss Maisie.

Getting to his doorstep, his guardsmen bowed their heads to their Queen, and made an awareness to Prince Damon that his mother was around to see him.

“Mother? Let her in!” Damon answered from inside his chamber, and shortly after, the door opened and the Queen elegantly walked in, dressed in her casual yet elegant corset and ball-shaped skirt.

“Mother. What a pleasant surprise.” Damon called with a smile, getting out of his bed.

“Of course, a pleasant surprise. I haven’t seen you since the last time we were in the throne room. I was expecting a breakfast proposal from you or Miss Maisie, but I got nothing. I haven’t seen her in days. Is everything alright between you two?”

“Everything is alright, Mother. I guess she found out we are not compatible, and so she’s given up.”

“Please sit, mother.” Damon further pointed to his sofa, placing the pillows in a way that it would comfort her. Queen Marlena sat, with one knee crossed over the other.

“She’s given up? I didn’t take her to be one to give up so easily. Did you say something to her?” Sue further inquired.

“No, I didn’t, mother. I made it clear countless times that I am not ready for a romantic relationship, but you and father never listened to me.”

“And that is because you are not growing younger. You are the heir to your father’s throne. You need to be more than ready for when the time comes.”

“Don’t worry about that, mother. Father is still very healthy and we don’t wish for his death now, do we? When that time comes, I’ll find a wife at my own will.”

Queen Marlena sighed and bobbed. “I just wished it was Miss Maisie that would rule next to you. I mean, she’s beautiful, has an amazing character…”

“You don’t even know her, Mom. If you really knew her, she’d never say such a thing about her.” Damon answered, clenching his jaws.

“What do you mean?” Queen Marlena became curious.

“Don’t bother yourself about that, mother. She knows she can never win my heart, so she gave us. Let’s just put it that way.”

“I don’t understand, Damon. Miss Maisie seemed like the perfect match, obviously better than all the women we’ve paired you up with. Why have you turned her down too? Do you have someone in mind?”

She narrowed her eyes at Damon, and he chuckled.

“Mother, you know that isn’t possible.”

“Are you sure? And what is this thing I sense between you and that red-furred wolf?”

Damon gulped and scoffed. “Red-furred wolf? I don’t know what you’re talking about, mother.” He uttered, avoiding eye contact.

“Oh please, Damon, don’t patronize me. I’m your mother! I see the way you look at her, the way she looks at you. I even heard she slept in front of the cell the other night.”

“Mother, I was just making sure she was okay. After discovering the real person she is, I couldn’t just stay away.”

“And the rumor about her getting marked?”

“Mother, that is none of my business. Whatever or not she’s marked, isn’t our business. She is just a friend, a sister-figure to Megan. That’s all.” Damon responded coldly.

Queen Marlena reluctantly nodded and stood up. She took one last glance at Damon and said,

“There better be nothing going on between you two, because it would never happen. I’ll reach out to Miss Maisie to hear her own side of the story. Take care, My Son.”

She turned to leave shortly after, leaving Damon in discomfort. ‘It is becoming too obvious. We need to be careful.’

Damon rested his back on the sofa and threw his head backwards, letting himself drown in the thoughts of how to keep his distance from Belinda to keep her safe, and how they still had to be in touch because he couldn’t resist her in any way.

***

Megan stepped out of her chamber after a long while of staying indoors with Yolanda.

They couldn’t seem to get off each other, but they had to because they were still in the kingdom, under the supervision of her father, the king.

Megan made her way to Belinda’s chamber, hoping she’d be in for a walk, when she came in contact with her father, who coincidentally was also heading to her chamber.

“Father.” Megan called the king with the sweetest smile, lowering her head as she paid her respects to him.

“Hmmm… my princess is in a good mood today, isn’t she?” He answered, and they both chuckled.

“My joy is too much to contain, of which the reasons, I’m not ready to state.” She answered teasingly.

“And I’m not ready to hear them because I approach you with more pressing matters.” King Talos answered, putting on a straight and serious look.

Creasing her brows, Megan stood next to her father and they both began to walk down the walkway.

“What is this about, father?” She asked.

“There will be intense training for Belinda tonight. We are going to provoke her to the peak of anger she can attain.” King Talos explained.

“What? Why would we want to do that? Isn’t that a dangerous decision to make? She hasn’t even been trained for a day by the armies.” Megan uttered in terror, trying not to imagine the disaster her father was about to cause.

“Megan, if we train her to be one of the best fighters in the kingdom, what if one day she turns her back on us? What if she loses control and we don’t know how to control her?”

“Are you that scared of her, father?”

“You know everyone should be as worried as I am! She is a red-furred wolf! A killer!” He uttered, barely above whisper.

“And if you make her lose control tonight, how do you intend to bring her back? How do you intend to make her calm?” Megan further inquired, still not comfortable with her father’s plan.

“By finding her an anchor. According to Mr. Theron…”

“Mr. Theron knows about this too?! And he let you proceed with it?!” She exclaimed in awe.

“He brought the idea, Megan. This is what we have to do. So, according to him, her anchor is someone that she loves the most, someone that will get in her way and she’ll find it so hard to hurt because of her care for them. And that is where you and Damon come in. As we all know that you two are the closest to her in the kingdom.”

Megan’s jaw dropped in disbelief as she took a halt. “So you’re putting us in harm’s way?”

“I will never do that if I don’t have a plan to get you two out before things go south! If we don’t do this, then I’ll have no choice than to send her on her way. We haven’t been in a war for years, and that won’t happen now. If she isn’t with us, we have nothing to lose.”

“No, father! You can’t send her away. She has nowhere and no one.”

“Then we have to make sure we can control her before she ruins us all.” King Talos added and turned to face Megan, who was covered with the fear of what was to come.

“I promise you that I’ll never let her harm you. If you or Damon are not the anchor, Mr. Theron will take care of the rest.”

“And if this doesn’t work? If we can’t control her? And Mr. Theron’s plan fails. What will you do? Chase her out of the kingdom? Kill her?”

“We’ll do what we have to do to keep everyone safe, Megan. Prepare your mind for that.”

Megan’s heart thumped very hard against her chest as she listened to her father. She didn’t know what to do or say, but one thing she knew was that she was never going to let anyone hurt Belinda or chase her away from her and Damon.

“Tell this to Damon and get prepared for tonight. People will be watching.” King Talos added, before he turned to leave, with his guards following behind him.

“Belinda has to be controlled. One of us has to be her anchor.” Megan muttered to herself, as she took to her heels, running to Damon’s chamber to tell him about what was about to happen.

‘One of us has to stop her tonight.’ Megan kept replaying these ones in her head as she made her way to the Prince.