The Royal Luna (Book 1)

22

ZION P.O.V.

"Aega!" I call out as I enter the temple. The silver statues and the white walls are covered in ancient writings, my barefoot tapping lightly on the hardwood of the floor.  I walk further into her throne room, the floor is now a deep shade of red huge tiles. The walls remain the same. Other than the throne, the only other thing that can be found in the room is the fountain of knowledge. "Show yourself!" I yell into the room with no sign of Aega. But I know she is here, I can feel it. This is all her fault. And I will make her pay for it. Instead of Aega, I see Aphrodite. 

She is standing graciously over the fountain, looking down, as her red hair covers her facial features. Her dark skin glowed with the small bits of light in the room.  I approach her and she sighs, sitting on the edge of the fountain. I sit next to her while keeping an eye on the goddess of beauty at all times, one wrong move, and I would be under the spell of the beauty in front of me. "Why would Aega do this?" I ask her. She out of everyone should know her reason, they are very close. As long as I can remember, Aphrodite and Aega were always together. I know when I came to beg Aega for a mate, she refused to give me one. It was aphrodite who played her cards the day I met Kallisto, going completely against Aega's plans. Only later that I realize why. 

Aphrodite keeps her gaze down, I notice the small crescent moon mark on her neck when she moves her hair away, that tells me she is loyal to Aega, by force. I growl lowly but don't say anything, I know if pressured, Aphrodite will have to tell her everything. She turns slowly and looks at the fountain, I follow her gaze and see Kallisto's location. My heart starts beating fast and I immediately get up to go after her. I take one last look at Aphrodite and nod in thank you. She turns around again playing with the water of the fountain as if nothing ever happened. 

I leave the temple and pass through the garden maze until I am standing in front of my warriors, they are all ready to receive orders. "I found her," I say and immediately shift. I'm about to mind-link Gabriel to let him know about it, but I stop myself. He is the little mole who has been giving Kallisto tips on where and how far I am. I don't blame him, nor will he be punished, severely that is. I am hurt and proud in a way, hurt that he is willing to betray me, but proud that he is also loyal to stand by his Luna side. He is willing to protect her trough all costs even if there is no danger to her. Even though I think the orders are coming from his mate and not himself. I know a would do anything to see his soulmate happy and knowing Cassandra, she pulled all the tricks in the book in order to get him to do so.  This is why this one time I decided to leave him in the dark and told him to stay home with his pup and wife. He didn't hesitate, I know he also needed a break. But he will be dealt with once I'm back. My wolf does not take betrayal lightly. 

Our paws crunch against the white snow, if I didn't know my land I would have been completely lost. There is nothing but woods around us. The only thing close to civilization is the cottage the Marshalls built when they met. Darkness is starting to settle in and I can smell her from where I am. Her sweet savory scent is mixed with a lot of potions. That little witch kid she was so insisting on adopting is most definitely behind all of this. I feel once again proud that she has so many around her that are willing to go against me to protect her. I feel the urge to howl, but if I do, they will certainly hear me. It won't be long before we reach her parent's cottage. She went back there, she figured since I would have checked there already, she could go back. She thought wrong. 

I stop at a certain distance from the cottage, where I can still smell and hear them, but they cannot smell nor hear me. While they are of Royal family, they do not carry royal blood. I shift back and one of my men hands me a pair of shorts and a sweater. I look at him quizzically and he just shrugs. "We will wait here until dark, so rest while you can," I told them all, some stayed in wolf form, while others shifted back and put on some warm clothing. I figured they were not our clothing, but clothes they found in the trees, which means they were the Marshalls, as they do tend to feel cold, specially Kallisto. I sit on the snowy ground and lean my head against a tree, praying to whoever will hear me, to help me win my queen back. 

I think back to the day I lost her. My stepmother had told me was practicing her walk by the stairs and that there was someone with an engagement gift by the garden. Usually, I let her handle these things, but she said she was busy and that it was someone important. I make my way down the rose bushes and into the small area where we receive guests. The glass table and chairs make the area look fancier than it is. I might not like my stepmother, but she does have impeccable taste. The smell of vanilla and peonies hit my nostrils and I look at the culprit who is caring  the smell. Kathryn was dressed in almost nothing, a simple silk transparent gown and her hair loose in messy waves. She looked beautiful, if this was seven years ago, I would have dropped to my knees at the sight of her standing in front of me like this, but right now, all I feel is repugnancy.  I sighed and shook my head, ready to take my leave as I did not want to be talking to her any longer than necessary. "Leave the castle property Katryn, you are not welcome here," I tell her and she whines making me cringe. She steps closer and I immediately step back turning around to leave. 

"Wait, kiss me and I will leave you and your little freak alone," She says and I snarl at her, pinning her to the tree behind her by her neck. "Just one kiss" she manages to say and I press harder until I see she is becoming a shade of purple. I then let her go and she erupts into a coughing fit while sitting on the floor. I roll my eyes and turn to leave when I see Aega standing by the window where Kallisto is supposed to be. 

At that moment I had no idea why she was there, she never visited. Not me, but goddess the amount of time she would come to Kallisto worried me. 

"Guards!" I called out and immediately two shadows appeared beside me, Katrhyn gasped at the sight of the very skillful vampires.  "Kick her out and do not let her enter again, not even by my stepmother's orders" I order them as I watch her being taken outside while screeching the entire time. 
I remember soon after being called to a meeting and then another, I spent all day getting in and out of meetings. 

The only thing I wanted to do was to leave with Kallisto to her home and get this over with, I assume we both have had a very long day and would love to sleep outside castle grounds since this will be our new home in 2 months, but the others were gone when I returned inside that day. I immediately went searching for them, I checked every surveillance camera in the area and outside on the streets, but for some reason, they all stopped working that day. Then I knew we had a mole, I just never expected it to be Gabriel. 

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Happy New Year and Happy valentines day haha
We reached 1K so I will try to update more often with longer chapters <3

Please let me know what you guys think so far, your opinion matters a lot <3

-V.A