DRIVEN

Chapter 23

The king was in his council room where serious deliberations were ongoing concerning their recent situation with the lycans. The vampires wanted an all out war, and they didn't care if they all died, they wanted attacking the lycan kingdom demegra. King Alexander watches from his throne, the deliberations ongoing and doesn't contribute, in all honesty he isn't in the mood for all their shenanigans today again, they had been at this debate for over a week now, they wanted to attack demegra but they didn't have the necessary manpower to do so.

" my Lord" he snapped his head towards the direction his name was being called.

" what do you think?".

" I'm going to go along with whatever the majority decide".

"but my Lord",

" no butts council man herald".

" the council should decide and then tell me what they think I should do, I don't want to make my input and end up doing something you all won't be happy about".

"so just decide and inform me".

with that he stood up and walked out.

He was getting tired of all those old fools making noise all the time, and giving him a headache whenever he was in their presence and with the frequency of their attacks he was almost in their presence Everytime these days.

he walks all the way to the way to his room and as usual, he sees Amol seated beside his queen.

he sits down and asks after her health, he tells Amol about the briefing today and Amol asks him what he feels like doing, he asks him what he feels is the best and Alexander says he can't afford a war now cause they don't have the resources for that, they lost their best fighters recently and also they have a lot of things to attend to at the moment rather than thinking of going back to war.

He confides in Amol, that a war at this moment would be suicide and he can't afford it. and he hopes that majority of the council men see that also and put it into consideration.

He tells Amol that he must be the worst king in the history of kings cause alot of loss has befallen their kind since he became king and Amol says it is isn't his fault that the people died. Amol told him that it takes courage for a man to be going through all the things he is going through and still be surviving.

He tells him tales of kings who faced not even up to a quarter of the challenges he is going through and they didn't make it.

He lays a comforting hand on Alexander's shoulder and tells him to be brave that better times will be here soon, he just has to hold on for a little bit.

Alexander asks him the best action to take concerning his daughter, he feels like leading a covert operation to the kingdom of just him and a few highly trained warriors who will just sneak into the kingdom, save the princess and sneak back out. But Amol thinks if another way that plan could go south, the lycans were highly skilled and had a good sense of smell especially for sniffing out their kind. if they got discovered and the king got captured that means they would loose both the king and princess all at once and how sure could he be that they would ever be set free, what would happen to the queen in that case, the whole bloodline would be lost and there is nothing that will be done to help.

they will go down in history as having been the most stupid generation of vampires ever.

that statement was enough to earn a chuckle from Alexander.

Alright Alright I get it, I'm going to give it time and if nothing happens then I'm going to go regardless of if I get slaughtered and known in history for that or not, I don't care if I have the backing of the entire council or if it's going to be a solo mission, all I know is I'm going to go in there, without one care in the world, do whatever it takes me to get my baby girl out of that hell hole and if I get killed in the process well let's say that's fate."Why can't I sleep, it's almost dawn and I need some shut eye at least for a few minutes".

"This can't continue to go on, I don't care if she's the goddess herself, I can't let this bond control me this way".

Damien continues talking to no one but himself out of frustration.

he has been seeing the effects of being away from his mate ever since he refused to accept and mark her as his. his wolf has been the most aggressive opponent he has ever faced in his life, he couldn't control the damn beast, he was wondering why it was acting so difficult, he was a part of him and moments like this he needed them to function as one entity.

Of what use would it be to be rejecting something one minute and the next minute the lycan would make him look like a fool cause he would be craving it like it's was his very life.

he had alot to do tomorrow and with the way things were going this night again he was sure he wouldn't get any rest.

his lycan was hooked on that vampire's scent like bee to honey. He had to get help for this, he had asked for the help of the best historians in all the kingdoms and they all had the same thing to say. Never had they heard of anyone rejecting the mate chosen by the moon goddess for them, infact having a mate was seen as a privilege and everyone he spoke to thought he was a fool to refuse such a gift which many had died never having been blessed to receive.

The historians promised him dire consequences if he dared reject the offer.

But Damien was stubborn, he continued refusing having anything to do with her.

he had spent a lot of time and effort into building his reputation and now he didn't see having a vampire as a good enough addition into the world he had created for himself. Those vampires had a terrible reputation with almost everyone and if he had one as a queen then the stigma would automatically move on to him.

no. . . ., he wasn't going to let it come to that, the only thing that would make him accept her as his queen was if he was on the verge of dying with no other option, else as long as he was fine, he would never agree to that.

He tries forcing himself to sleep some more and is still met with no sleep. he can't continue like this, maybe he should try taking a walk around the halls just to see if that would be okay to sate his wolf's appetite.

he grabs a cloak and drapes it on his body, wears his booths and puts the hood on, then he moves out, the halls were silent save for the guards who were on duty patrolling, he passes them without any questions because they already sniffed his scent and knew who he was. he kept on moving around and no matter how far he moved, it was like he was being magnetized down another way.

He knew what was waiting for him down the hall his lycan wanted him to go but he was hell bent on not listening, the more he tries to move the more he feels the pull. he got tired and felt it would be better if he just went back to his room and that's where the issue came in, cause his lycan was refusing to go, he was adamant on him going to see lucilda, and Damien knew that would stir quiet a ruckus cause he knew that was the servants quarters and that side might be busy this time of the night as it was the most busy part of the castle.

He attempts one more time to move to any direction other than lucilda's room but was met with futility from his lycan.

Out of annoyance, Damien marches down the hall to the room, just as predicted the halls are busy with people, but one person does stand out from all of them and that is Damien. Immediately he entered the hall became quiet, the maids and other staff who handled the domestic affairs do the castle were shocked to see their king at that part.

in all his life, he had never step foot into that part for the castle and now one stupid woman was making him do it, she was letting him create a spectacle out of himself very late at night.

As he went towards the wing where the princess his supposed mate was located he noticed the whispers intensify and the murmurings continue.

He couldn't do anything to help himself here, he was at the mercy of his lycan.

Once he got to the door, he met the guards that were stationed there at alert, they didn't even look like they were blinking. At first he was surprised that she was so heavily guarded but then he remembered Killian's reason for doing so, the guards spread out to give him more access to the room but he stopped them, he wasn't sure how he would act if he was alone with her in the room.

he stood outside her door and he enquired about her general welfare. he heard she doesn't do anything much rather than eat, bath, sleep. deep down he was happy but then he felt bad cause he knew she must miss the fresh air and sunlight that only outside to provide.

While thinking, he remembered that if he allowed her freedom like that, his people might start talking that he was being lenient simply because she was his mate, they would demand that the prosecution be continued and he wouldn't be able to go against both his mate and people.

he was still thinking of how to punish her when an idea came into his head, he was going to make her serve as a maid, she would serve and serve the same people she hated for as long as he wanted.

he asks the guards what time Killian came to the place last and he was told that he left not long ago.

He set out to look for him and was thankful that his lycan didn't struggle with him this time around, maybe he was already tired.

Once he found Killian by the training ground, he removed his cloak and his hoodie.

" so what brings you out here "

" I just went round to survey the castle ".

" really, so are you still surveying the castle? ". he asks me with a smirk on his lips.

" so what did you observe? "

" well for one, Everybody is working, good job ".

Killian's smirk becomes bigger.

" okay where were you dressed up to right now ".

"i went to a place okay"!

"And did the place have a certain female vampire who's been in your head for a couple of days in there"

" well Its good you mentioned her, I have a change of plans for her "

" what do you mean by change of plans? ". Killian already didn't like where this was heading.

" well I wanted to tell you to make sure that she be moved from her room every morning by 5am under close inspection to the kitchens where she will be assigned a chore and she must'nt leave her work station till 10pm at night ".

" what Damien " Killian was bewildered.

" yes you heard me, I can't let her be in there all day, she has to move herself around an do some chores. the era of treating her like a princess was long gone now".

" yeah you're right now she's a queen and you have to treat her as such".

"Enough Killian, she might be your queen but not mine since I can see you're in a hurry to forget what her kind have put us through".

" it was war your highness and we never faced her in the battlefield through out till we were done"

" well I don't care about that, I've already told you what I want to happen and I expect it comes into effect immediately, and Killian keep on defending her, I'm sure she'd appreciate it when next she has the chance to slit your throat".

Next morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The court was in disarray, it seemed like there was more hatred for lucilda since the discovery. Killian had to quickly mobilize the guards to move lucilda out of the hall and to another place, now the main problem was where to keep her.

Even though they did know for sure that this was their king's mate, but due to the circumstances on ground, they were more than confused on the kind of reception she should be given.

Cause just a few minutes ago she was the most hated being in their kingdom, she was meant to be hanged and burned along with the rest of her kind as an atonement for their sins.

And now she's their king's mate, the future queen of this kingdom. The men all felt sorry for their king and wondered why the goddess was this cruel.

Things weren't supposed to be this way for him, the king had been through alot and finally he was blessed or rather cursed with a bloodsucker as a mate, It seemed like their king was in the Goddess's black book.

They all stood, none able to ask the most important question on ground now which was, where should they keep her.

Their Commander saw the confused looks on their faces and decided that although they all weren't happy with the choice of mate for their king nevertheless they couldn't do anything about it, they couldn't risk keeping her in the dungeons back for Damien's lycan to discover and rain hell on their heads.

The human part of the king might not want her but the beast in him craves her. It craves her touch, her love and every single thing about her.

So he decided she stay in one of the rooms in the lower quarters heavily guarded.

He led the way with all the other guards following and moved on to the other side of the castle. On their way people kept on staring, it seemed the word had gone round the kingdom now, everyone already knew who she was, this was bad, way bad.

He led her and the guards straight to an isolated part of the quarters which didn't have any other occupants. In doing so he wasn't only trying to isolate her but keep her safe cause he knew that some lycans might try to take matters into their own hands and seek out revenge on the princess's head.

He opened a door and pushed her in, and told 6 guards to stand watch. he gave them instructions to not let any living thing come near that door. No one was to see her. He told them he would make provisions for her feeding personally, he couldn't risk her being poisoned by aggrieved members of their pack.