The Wolf God’s Mate

Chapter Five

The crying abruptly stops. Chocked sounds from suppressing a sob can be heard, as though the person inside was waiting to hear what the person at the other side of the door had to say.

"Why don't you open the door and we can talk alright? Come on honey", he tries to convince her.

Some silence and then faint footsteps can be heard in the room coming towards the door. The lock clicks and the door slowly opens, but with only a little bit of space. Standing there at the crack with a hand still on the handle is Amelia, with red eyes and face wet with tears. She looks up into Marcus's eyes with sad eyes but doesn't say anything.

"Can I come in Amelia?" he asks in a quiet gentle voice.

Hesitating for a moment, she opens the door a little wider, turns around and goes back into the room. Marcus places a hand on the door, pushes it and steps into the room, right on time to see the little girl climb back into the bed and bury herself in the blankets. He closes the door gently behind him, shutting out the people trying to peep in with anxious eyes. He stands there for a moment, looking at the lump on the bed with affection-filled eyes, sighs and then walks over. He gets to the side of the bed and sits down beside the cocooned Amelia.

“Amelia?” he calls out, receiving no answer, he tries again, and she still says nothing, determined to ignore him.

“I’m sorry honey,” he says resignedly. “I don’t want to go either, but I have to. There is nothing I can do about it either,” he explains. “Why do you have to go now?” she hoarsely answers back from under the think cozy white blankets. “Can’t you go another time? Why does it have to be now?” she continues to complain, her voice nasally, sounding like she was about to burst out into more tears.

Digging her out of the blankets himself, Marcus sits her down on his lap and gently wipes her tears with the pad of his thumb. Amelia looks at him with wobbly lips, on the verge of tears and he quickly explains.

“There are two packs in the far north in Edinburg who are on the brink of war. An Alpha’s son was found dead in the lands of the neighboring pack and he believes they have to have had a hand in it. However, the other pack swears they are innocent and had nothing to do it. It seemed like the boy ventured into the other pack’s territory and got attacked by a wild animal. It looked like he was killed by a bear and not a wolf at all. Even after knowing this, the Alpha still believed the other pack were responsible. This is because they had been disputing over territory for a long time now,” he explains.

It wasn’t odd that she was told something like this. After all, Amelia was no ordinary child. She was a Royal, and Royal children were trained from young to be able to take on the heavy burdens of ruling the entire werewolf world. As pampered as she was, Amelia wasn’t coddled.

Understanding dawns on her and she looks down, disheartened. “But you’re going to miss my birthday feast”, she whispers, “You’ve never missed it before”.

Hugging her close, he rubs her arm and kisses the top of her head. “I know”, he says with a sigh. “I don’t want to go either, but I have to”. “You understand don’t you?”

Hesitating, she nods her head unwillingly. She didn’t want war to break out and for people to die, but she really, really, really wanted her Marcy to be there. It wasn’t an ordinary birthday after all. This one was special; she was going to be thirteen and that was a very special age for Royal werewolves.

“But you’ve only been back for a month and a half”, she complains quietly.

“I know”, he pats her back.

“I don’t want you to go,” she repeats again.

“I know”, he answers again, not losing his patience at all.

The room is quiet for a while, Amelia sulking and Marcus patiently waiting for her come out of it. Having an idea, she sits up excitedly with bright eyes, looks into Marcus’ eyes and suggests “Can’t Adrian or Adam go instead?” showing blatant partiality. “Then you’ll be able to stay!” she excitedly tugs at his clothes insistently, “Can’t you Marcy, can’t you?” she looks up with hopeful eyes. “They’re stronger than you anyways”, she adds, ruthlessly poking at his sore spot.

Wincing yet completely unoffended, Marcus laughs lightheartedly and answers, “I’m afraid that won’t do”, with a shake of his head. “They might be stronger, but the situation calls for diplomacy, not violence. We want to amicably stop the conflict, not suppress it with force. If Adrian or Adam go there and scare them into ceasing all fighting, the root of the problem will still be there and they’ll just look for a different angle and start a war because of it. But if we help resolve the problem from the root, then we won’t have to worry about them going to war anytime soon. Do you understand?” he lectures. Amelia nods in understanding, with a frown on her face. Clearly, she understood, however, she didn’t like it. “Besides, I’m still the State Preceptor in case you’ve forgotten”, he adds, playfully poking her forehead. “It’s my job to advise, which is exactly what I’m going there to do”. “I might not be very strong, but I do believe I’m much smarter than your brothers”, he say haughtily. This time Amelia bursts into laughter. Smiling, he is glad to finally see a smile on her face.

“Especially Alexander”, she adds.

“Yes, especially Alexander”, he echoes with a smile.

As much as Amelia liked to mock and bully Alexander, she was also closest to him out of all her brothers. Just last time, when she had set Adrian the demon trainer on him, Alexander had come back into the castle in the evening, looking absolutely miserable after he had been dragged back to the training ground for a “friendly match” with his brother. He had also been ordered not to heal himself, so as to better “get used to the pain”. And so, he had slog his tired, beat up body- every limb incredibly sore, up to his room for a much needed sleep.

Amelia had watched him drag himself through the sitting room, where she had been sitting with her Papa, trying to convince him why it was important she learn how to ride a horse while standing up while he in turn basked in her attention.

She had looked down the hallway which led to his room with distracted eyes and without so much as an ‘excuse me’ to her Papa, had run downstairs to kitchens, got a half-filled bowl of hot water and a rag and had ran back upstairs, through the sitting room and into Alexander’s bedroom. She had then ordered him to lie down and gently massaged his sore muscles. When he had teasingly asked whether she was worried about him, she had flatly denied it, saying something along the lines of “You’re just pathetic” and “I’m doing this as charity” but her red earlobes had betrayed her. It was quite obvious that she cared about him a lot.

And so throughout the next day, the image of a gloating Alexander and a King Damien glaring daggers at him could be seen.

Back to the present, Marcus looks at the still smiling Amelia and hesitating for a moment, reaches his hands to his neck and lifts a slim gold chain, up and over his head. Holding the necklace in his cupped palm, he stares at it for a while, lost in thought.

“Marcy?” she calls.

Jolting, he comes out of it and looks at her and all she could see on his face was a deep, piercing agony.

“Marcy? What’s wrong?” she asks, worriedly.

Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath and lets it out, when he opens them back up, all the pain was gone. It was almost as though she had imagined it.

“Are you alright?” she asks, still concerned.

“I’m alright. Nothing is wrong”, he answers with a soothing smile, though deep within his eyes was a buried sadness.

Opening his palm up completely, what was buried in it was now visible - it was a gold pendant. It was in the shape of a rose and all the petals were so intricately carved that it looked like a real rose steeped in liquid gold. The detailing on it was amazing. The necklace was so breathtakingly beautiful that it was obvious that a lot of time and effort had been put into its crafting. It was also obviously a woman’s necklace.

He rubs his thumb reverently over it, brings it up to his lips and places a kiss on it. He then uses the other hand to cleverly maneuver the petals on the pendant and suddenly, it separated into two smaller identical roses. Even the chain on it cleanly disconnected and became two thinner chains of the same length. It was a testament of true craftsmanship.

Putting one around his neck, he puts the other around Amelia’s neck and carefully pulls her hair from under it- the neckless falling onto her chest, contrasting beautifully against her red dress.

Looking at the pendant and caressing it in awe with her fingertips, she looks up with bright eyes and exclaims, “Marcy! Didn’t you say that it was your most prized possession?” she remembered clearly that she had once asked him to get her one just like it and he had replied that there was no other. It was the only one of its kind. She had been incomparably disappointed afterwards.

“Yes”, he answers, “I am giving my most prized possession to my most prized treasure”, and gives her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s my early birthday present to you, my Treasure”, his voice soft.

“Thank you Marcy! Thank you!” she exclaims, extremely happy and gives him a tight hug around the waist- practically vibrating with joy.

“You’re most welcome”, he says, laughing heartily. Amelia lets go of him and raises the necklace to the light, admiring the way the golden petals shined with a golden hue from the refection.

“Can you do me a favour?” he asks, bringing her attention back to him.

“Hmm?” she looks at him distractedly, hand still holding her necklace.

“My Bettys are going to wilt in about two weeks. Could you help me pick them from the garden and place them in vases around the castle?” he asks, “I don’t want anyone else touching them.”

“Bettys?” she asked confusedly. “What’s a Betty- Ohhhh!” she remembers. “You mean your flowers that you talk to?” she asks teasingly.

Neck flushing, he coughs awkwardly and nods seriously. “They have a short lifespan so I usually decorate the castle with them. That way, they share their beauty with us before they die”, he says on a sigh.

“You really like them don’t you Marcy?”

He nods, “they’re quite beautiful and they took me years to create”, Marcus’s Magéia was of the earth element so he really liked taking up the challenge of creating new species of plants.

Amelia grins mischievously, “Okay, I’ll pick your precious Betty”, she teases some more.

Neck still a little red, he nods in relief. “Wonderful! Remember to pick them in eight days. Just right- it’ll be your birthday on that day. They’re beautiful and smell sweet so it’s perfect for a celebration” he tries to sell her even more on the idea.

“Don’t worry Marcy, I won’t forget”, she places a kiss on his cheek with a loud smack and jumps off his laps to the floor. She then skips out of the room happily, planning to go show off her new necklace.

Marcus smiles gently after her and gets up from the bed, taking a moment to massage his cramped legs and slowly trails behind her.

Two days later, Prince Marcus boards a carriage wearing comfortable travelling clothes, helped by his footboy. Several imposing looking warriors who will serve as his guards for the duration of the long journey which usually takes about a month, to and fro, are riding upon well trained magnificent war horses. There is another carriage which will be used to carry his luggage and supplies in which his foot boy will also ride in.

The rest of the family see him off, and amidst Amelia’s quiet sobs, they ride away and disappear down the road.