Ancient Moonlight

My Mate

The walk out of the clearing and through the side of forest I hadn’t set foot in since I was discovered as a baby was a blur. It could have taken minutes or hours and I would have known no difference. By the time I came back to myself, clear minded even while remaining misty eyed, we had settled into his carriage and were on our way. The realization startled me.

“I didn’t even know there was a road this way.” I say, mostly to myself but I look over at my traveling companion as I speak. Its just the two of us in the carriage, the driver sitting separately in the front. The curtains on the windows are drawn, and the carriage itself is smaller than I would have assumed. Or maybe it just feels small with his huge frame taking up the entire side opposite me.

He looked up seemingly startled by the sound of my voice before he quickly recovered his more aloof demeanor. “They really did have you sheltered in that little village, didn’t they? Of course there is a road. And all roads lead to the capital.”

“Is it a long trip? How long will we be on the road before we arrive?” I can’t help my curiosity. Even with how everything has gone the last hour that I remember clearly, I have so many questions. I quickly think through the most pressing questions, why did he request me? What is expected of me? Then I arrive at a question I can’t believe I haven’t already asked. “What am I to call you?”

He again seems somewhat startled by the question, but that quickly turns into the smirk I’m quickly learning seems to be his default expression. “You don’t know your King’s name? What have you been referring to me as in that little head of yours?” He asks, shoulders almost shaking with amusement.

I look down, I can feel the color bleeding into my cheeks, and I know he can see it, but I want to try to hide my discomfort as much as possible. “I’ve been mentally referring to you as the King.”

“I see, well at least its accurate.” There is a teasing lilt to his voice that I didn’t expect to hear, so I look back up. “My name is Varek. Most people don’t use my name, so you aren’t alone. To be honest I think I’m called ‘My King’ or ‘Your Highness’ far more than I am called Varek, but I’d like it if you called me by my name.” The end of his sentence trails off, and he sounds a little shy if I were to describe the tone. Yet another surprise. “To answer your original question, the ride is long. We will more than likely need to stop at least once to give the horses rest and to get some food, but we should be in the capital by midday at the latest.”

Midday. That was what? Maybe just over half a day? Half a day and I would be in what apparently was going to be my new home, “Where will I stay when we arrive?” The words leave my mouth almost without my permission. I blush again, but refuse to look into my lap again, instead looking at him for an answer. I want to know what will be expected of me when we arrive and knowing my living situation will be at least one thing that I can hold onto while the rest seems so out of my control. Even where I will be living is out of my control, but I need to know. Ridiculous or not, it suddenly seems like the most important information of all.

“You’ll stay with me in my wing of the castle.” He looks at me askance. As if my question is absurd. Maybe it’s the turmoil of the last few weeks, building up to the absolute upheaval of today. Maybe it’s the years and years of smiling and nodding at whatever Theron said or agreeing with Nyssa and her family about everything to maintain the status quo. Maybe it’s just the simple fact that I refuse to begin another part of my life that way, being taken in by strangers and made to feel at home only to be tossed aside years later when it became convenient, but his response sets me off.

“Oh! Your wing of the castle of course! And what will I be doing in your wing of the castle? What exactly is expected of me? What about me is so important that you took a trip this far outside the capital, made arrangements with what I’m sure you view as a backwater Alpha, and then! Then when those plans don’t work out and that Alpha has the audacity to tell you no, you go behind his back and plan a coup with his son?! Why on earth is any of this happening? ‘Stay with me in my wing of the castle’ like it’s the most obvious thing on earth!? Don’t be absurd, why would that ever happen?” The words come out almost in one solid mass, so many and so quickly they almost have a weight to them, and once they are all out, I feel lighter. Like the space I’ve made by letting the words out have released some pressure inside my body. I take a deep breath, but before I can even think of saying anything else, not that I knew what I would have said, the King or rather Varek interrupts.

“You WILL stay with me in my wing. Do you think I came all this way to get you, made all these plans and as you said ‘planned a coup’ to obtain you just to have you working in the stables? Is that what you imagined Aurelia? That I promised favors to the furthest village from the capital, condoned the murder of an Alpha, and met with said murderer in the middle of the night ALONE for what? A servant?” Now he’s the one whose words seem to be coming out faster than he can catch them. “I’ve been looking for you for years! Since I became King! Everyone in that backwater village is lucky I found you before you were bonded, Aurelia you are MY MATE!”