The Other Lycan Princess

Chapter 2

Constantine looked down at the letter in his hands, and heaved a deep sigh. The writer of the letter had evidently been in a hurry to pen it, judging by the cramped but still readable hand. Between the lines of polite but bland pleasantries, all he had been able to tell was that Princess Talissa seemed a sensible creature, determined to fulfil her duty and go through with the match. Beyond that, his new bride-to-be remained a complete stranger to him, a formless shape in his mind with nothing to color it in.

As he’d done so many times before, he brought it to his nose to take a sniff, his wolf hoping against hope that there would be some trace of her scent, but the month and the half it had taken the letter to reach him meant that all traces of his bride to be had been erased by the smell of the leather satchel it had been carried in, and lingering traces of the hard road between their kingdoms.

Summerlands and the Bower Kingdom - it was an unlikely alliance, but one that they’d been secretly plotting since he and Elena had become fast friends not five years prior, when they had both attended the wedding of King Caladan two kingdoms over. The secrecy had been necessary at the time since they hadn’t yet figured out the true nature of the threat to both their kingdoms. And now that the time had finally come to put up a front against the conquering gaze looking their way, his Queen had been taken off the chessboard before her time, and a pawn sent in her place.

As his thoughts went to Elena, his heart gave a pang. She had been utterly brilliant, a true strategist who always thought ten steps ahead of everyone else. She was the one who had first identified the threat that lay ahead of them, and convinced him and her father to take it seriously. Him and his wolf both saw her as the sister they never had, which would have made wedding and bedding her awkward, but Constantine knew his duty to his people, and understood that the Bower Kingdom could only continue to stand with a partnership with the Summerlands bound by the ties of kinship. And a partnership built on a foundation of mutual respect would not have been so bad.

Elena had seen him in the very same light, which was why he thought, she had come up with the screen of a secret, passionate romance to explain away the frequency of their missives. It was very much like her to turn things on their head, and fit well with her sense of humour.

“Should anyone with foul play in mind find these letters, their first thought will be to blackmail either one of us, me in particular. Since my father already knows what we are planning, and you are a King who supposedly can marry whoever he wants, that cannot hurt us. Besides, an excess of passion always embarrasses the people who have to witness it, adding an additional layer of protection for us. And given the nature of our real correspondence, we might as well find some way to make it funny.”

Thus, Elena had always penned her letters in beautifully flowing calligraphy, and spritzed them liberally with the perfume she wore, all the better to disguise their true nature.

He in turn had made the language of his letters as florid as possible, and no doubt alarmed his librarian with the sheer number of books he’d consulted that had been of a rather questionable nature. In truth, all of this had hidden substantial military planning, and an exchange of the information their spies had been able to gather.

For instance, I long to kiss --- had meant enemy troops had been spotted. Whether these kisses were on your lips, your hands or where your neck meets your shoulder would then indicate their enemy’s location. Whether these kisses were languid, peppered or worse, interspersed with lick, would give the other an indication of the size and nature of the enemy company, and whether they had seen action.

Thus far, the enemy had been testing the borders of the lands adjacent to the Bower Kingdom, which hadn’t been a good sign. How far until they were emboldened to launch an all out attack? And beyond traditional warfare, they were definitely engaged in all manner of foul experiments. Constantine had his suspicions about the plague that had taken Elena, given the way the waves of sickness had emanated from enemy lands. The Bower Kingdom had thankfully been spared, but Constantine hadn’t thought that was a coincidence either. There were extremely few latents in Bower lands, many of whom were from elsewhere.

Elena had always been generous with her information, but one area where she’d definitely held back was when it came to her sister. She had certainly been nothing if not protective. All Constantine had been able to glean was that there was a sister in the first place, and that Elena had adored her. Well, if anyone was alright in Elena’s book, there was a good likelihood he’d like them too. Still, he’d have liked knowing more. Especially before taking the plunge.

He’d known after all that Elena was a latent, but her wolf had been so close to the surface, and so dominant, that his wolf had been appeased to be partnering with someone so strong, even if his wolf had not been able to touch hers directly. Politics within his own kingdom might have been touchy, but he didn’t think it was something Elena couldn’t handle with his backing. Her sister on the other hand - if she were latent too but not as strong, that would definitely bring some additional complications to the plans already set in motion. Nothing he couldn’t handle, having been King and dominant Alpha of the Bowers for so long, but definitely inconvenient.

“Sire?”

The voice of his trusted valet, Simon, shook Constantine out of his thoughts.

“It’s time to get you to the Temple of Selene for the ceremony. I’ve been given word that the bride is almost ready.”

Constantine nodded, and shot Simon a smile of thanks. Planning a wedding had been Simon’s main tasks for the past few months, and he’d done an excellent job of it.

“I’m all yours to direct Simon,” Constantine announced, as he placed Talissa’s letter back in the safe drawer in his desk. “Let the festivities commence.”