HECATE

II

A sudden knock startled Hecate awake. Slightly disoriented from her nap she approached the doors to her suite in the castle and opened them slightly to see a few of her maids standing there with worried expressions.

“Are you alright, Your Highness? You worried us when you didn’t open the door after we knocked a few times.” Triss, the head maid of her palace who was in charge of the other maids and their work, asked her with a concerned expression.

“I am fine, as you can see. What brings you here?” While talking Hecate looked at her delicate sun stone wristwatch her uncle had gifted her years ago. When she saw that it was already almost eight o’clock in the evening, she walked back into her room leaving her doors open for the maids.

“We just went to look for your sister as per your instructions and she refuses to get ready. She does not want to welcome the royal guests today because she wants to get ready for tomorrow. We don’t know what to do to change her mind, I apologise, Your Highness.” Hearing that Hecate let out an irritated sigh.

Her sister Delphine was extremely spoiled, courtesy of their mother, and so she thought she would just get whatever she wanted if she threw a tantrum or begged. It annoyed Hecate to no end because she always had to take care of the problems she caused, as if she didn’t have enough on her plate already.

“I will go and get her after I change so you can go and rest for today. You have worked hard, thank you.” The maids bowed politely after being dismissed and left to go to their quarters.

When the maids left her room, Hecate walked into her giant walk-in closet to change for the dinner with the royal guests that was planned for that night. Inside, there were rows upon rows of clothes, shoes and accessories. She had enchanted the closet with a special spell so it stretched out into a large fifty square-feet room.

In front of every available wall inside the closet stood a shelf with either drawers, clothing rails, case boards or extractable trays containing jewellery. Instead of looking for an outfit and wasting hours, she simply spread out her magic like a net and scanned through every piece with her eyes closed and in deep concentration.

The speed at which she scanned through all her things was inhuman and after just three minutes she had already found a suitable dress. Hecate made the jeans and blouse she was wearing, along with her heels, disappear in a flash, leaving her naked with only her lacy white lingerie on. Sheer, nude-coloured stockings and a garter belt appeared on her afterwards, accentuating her alluring looks.

The beige dress she had chosen appeared on her when she was done examining it. It had long, wide sleeves that reached the hem of the dress and a deep v neckline. The dress hugged her body tightly and stopped right above her knees. Once she was happy with the dress, she put on a pair of nude Louboutins and proceeded to put her hair into an elegant chignon, letting two strands frame her face. Hecate usually never bothered with much make-up since she naturally had clean skin with a slight blush and long, dark lashes. She only drew a line of eyeliner, put on a bit of eyeshadow and rosy lip gloss on her heart-shaped lip.

Once she was done getting ready, Hecate left her room and walked down the empty hallways of her palace wing. The sounds her heels produced were the only sounds that could be heard until she reached Delphine‘s palace wing. There, the first thing she heard were Delphi’s screams. Two maids stood in front of her room and even though both of them had aloof expressions, they couldn’t hide the palm mark one of them had on her face and the cut in the other one’s arm.

Her sister apparently had a death wish.

Hecate immediately stormed into her sister’s room and barely dodged the vase that Delphine threw while shouting: “I said, I don’t want to be disturbed!”

She turned around, ready to throw a cup this time but as soon as she saw Hecate, she turned as pale as a ghost.

Panic struck her face as she saw Hecate’s, for once, angry expression.

“Sister! I- I’m so sorry, I did not mean for you to get h- hit.” While Delphine was stuttering out an apology, Hecate looked disappointed and let out yet another irritated sigh, which seemed to have become the only thing she did whenever her sister was involved.

“Delphine La Monique, how many times have I told you to treat your attendants properly? They’re people I educated myself to assist you and not some punching bags for you to let your anger out on. And what is this about you not wanting to get ready for dinner tonight? You know how important this is and they are here for your coming-of-age ceremony so it would be incredibly rude for you not to attend-” She was about to say something else when Delphine suddenly interrupted her.

“I know sister, I apologise but I don’t want to go to that dinner! You know that me and the Shifter King’s daughter don’t exactly get along and the Vampire Queen’s daughter always just talks about business with you. None of my friends are allowed to attend.” She started pouting as she said that knowing full well that Hecate disliked when she did that.

“I have been too lenient with you it seems. You will attend the dinner tonight and until you learn to behave yourself and to not abuse the attendants you are forbidden from attending the academy. You will only have your necessary etiquette and management classes in the castle, nothing else. Now, your attendants will help you prepare for dinner and if I hear that you didn’t listen to them I will not allow you to attend your coming-of-age ball tomorrow and believe me, I’m dead serious,” That made Delphine turn even paler that before, if that was even possible, because she knew that her sister was not kidding. If she said she would not allow her to attend, there was no possibility of her going.

Hecate the left the room and before going to find her adoptive father, she whispered something to the maids.

“Next time, use magic to defend yourselves, you do not have to simply stand there and endure it because she is my sister. Also, if she still doesn’t listen to you while getting ready, just restrain her and do it anyway,” After silently nodding, the two maids left to help Delphine get ready while Hecate walked towards her adoptive father’s study in hopes of finding him there. The alternative would be that he was still at the academy, which meant that she would need to hurry in finding him and getting him ready, otherwise they would definitely be late.

Thankfully, as luck would have it, Eric was in his study inside the castle doing paperwork. Without a word, Hecate walked into the room, grabbed him by the back of his dress shirt and with the help of a little bit of magic, first dragged him out of his chair and then out of the study.

“What the- Arcene! What are you doing?! I still need to finish going over the academy’s budget for this month so I can order the new supplies we need.” Eric’s voice sounded irritated as he said that, because no matter what Hecate did, he could never be angry at her. Not when he loved her so much and knew that she was the same as him when it came to work.

“I apologise, father, but I need to get you ready for tonight’s dinner with the royal vampire family and the alpha king’s family. I just finished taking care of Delphine and now it’s your turn before I go to get your wife ready.” When Eric heard that, he stopped trying to get out of Hecate’s unrealistically strong grip on him.

With him now cooperating, Hecate quickly helped him get dressed in a three-piece suit and styled his hair for him, before quickly leaving him to get Rina ready but not before threatening to lock his study and office if he were to be late. It was more or less the same ordeal with Rina, who was doing paperwork as well. Hecate quickly got her ready and this time, she left with her to go to the castle’s entrance gate because they needed to greet their guests. As she had expected, Eric and Delphine both obediently stood where they were supposed to be and so the only thing left was to wait for the guests. That’s when two black cars along with their entourage arrived.