His Forsaken Luna-Chapter 41: Stations

Theo shakes his head, finding the situation funny. As he begins to put my hair up in a braided bun, something else scratches at the back of my mind. "Where is Soren?"

"He was called away," Theo says quietly.

"Where?" I question, my brows tugging together.

"Do you ask because of what almost happened last night?" He asks calmly.

I start to shake my head, but his hands tug tightly on the strands of my hair. "No. I want to know where my guard has gone," I shrug, but I don’t feel so nonchalant.

It irked me to have so little information about my guard. He should have spoken to me whether I was passed out in the study or not. I sigh, realising it is probably related to my station as the Forsaken Princess.

Did Deyanira ask for him? He was one of her spies, and she had yet to leave in a few days for her short-term banishment.

"I wouldn’t worry about him. You have a date with an oaf of a Prince," Theo commented lightly, trying to distract me.

I frowned at his comment instead. "Watch what you say, Theo," I chastise softly. "He is a Prince and one who easily kills."

Theo’s responding silence turns my head around. He is scowling as he finishes my hair. "Theo?"

He turns away, grabbing my coat. "I say this for your own good," I add, disliking the sudden drop in mood.

"I know." He returns to me as I stand and holds the coat out for me. "It is my station, or lack thereof, I hate."

My arms slide into the coat, and Theo wraps his arms around my waist, tugging me back into him, his nose skimming the side of my neck and inhaling deeply. I freeze to the intimacy but slowly relax. "I’m just glad that I can do this without fear of servants coming into the room and discovering us."

My mouth works for a moment before I can respond. I feel a little insulted by his comment. "That is because of my position. If my mother hadn’t been beheaded, and I was still in line to the throne with a wolf, this would not be possible." My back is ramrod straight, and my tone is defensive.

"But all of that has happened." His arms tighten around me. "How you’ve been treated is why you want to run away."

I release a long breath and nod. "Yes. I do not think it will be possible for a while, especially now."

Theo stiffens. "How long do you think we should wait?"

"I don’t know," I whisper honestly. "The winter seasons are dangerous. The seas grow more treacherous, and now there is a threat outside these walls... Also..." I spin around in his arms, but he has dropped them and taken a step back. By the time I looked up, I noticed his frown had returned. "Eryx won’t make it possible."

"Eryx..." Theo repeats, then scoffs, looking away. "Yes, you have a date with your Prince."

"My Prince?" I cross my arms against my chest. "He is not my Prince."

Theo looks back at me. "You shouldn’t be late," his tone is clipped, making me take a step back and assess him. He had been easygoing so far until now.

"You’re right." I move past him. "I shouldn’t."

𓆩:*¨༺✧ ♛ ✧༻¨*:𓆪

I’d meant to storm out dramatically on Theo after his little mood swing, but my slave followed me and then escorted me to the front of my palace. As soon as the doors opened, revealing Faidon, we both stopped, our earlier tension dissipating as we focused on the man who Theo had tried and failed at fighting on our attempted escape.

Faidon doesn’t bother looking at Theo and bows his head at me in deference. "Your Highness."

"Where is he?" I ask, not bothering with niceties. He was a failure of a shadow, not able to detect how the nobles and servants treated me or not bothering to report this to Eryx. Is it so his Prince doesn’t pity me and stop his schemes?

Pfft. Eryx does not seem like the type to do that. What was Faidon so worried about? Okay, that was all my speculation, but still.

"His Highness is by the northern courtyard." That courtyard was just a little further away from my palace. At Faidon’s words, I look past him to the path I know Eryx will not be standing by. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"And why is he there and not here to greet me?" I ask, stepping away from the palace and along the path past Faidon.

Faidon didn’t comment, but after I silently glared at him, he replied, "Because you are returning to his quarters first, and he did not want to walk the entire way."

"So, he is lazy," I state, looking past my shoulder and nodding in farewell to Theo.

He nods back and closes the doors, his expression still a little stormy. Is it because I am going to see Eryx? He wasn’t jealous when it came to Soren.

"His Majesty, Alpha King Alaric stopped him. I proposed escorting you while they caught up," Faidon explains.

Goddess. What is my brother up to? He knows we are meeting. Actually, this might be a good thing?

When we arrive, however, Alaric is already walking away, and multiple guards, including Sigurd and Ivar, are trailing behind him. My brother doesn’t usually walk around well-protected like that on the palace grounds. Was it because he was meeting with Eryx?

That didn’t make sense. He’d met up with Eryx before. Was he unsettled about the recent attacks?

"He is leaving the palace," Eryx explains as he stops before me.

My eyebrows shoot up in question.

"You were wondering about your brother’s guard detail," he explains.

"I was..." I trail off, my brows tugging together.

"Hold off on scowling until we are hidden away, Lia," Eryx chuckles like he finds it amusing that his very presence makes me frown.

I was frowning this time, though, because he’d read me so easily. I didn’t like it.

Eryx offers me his arm, and I step forward, about to take it when a gust of wind blows across my back, causing me to step forward once before I find my footing. Then I am on my back with a thud, a growling, great black wolf on top of me, snarling with razor-sharp jaws near my face.