Eskimo Kisses (Currently Under Reconstruction)

Chapter Three

Adeline POV 

Today I had sent Xavier off to the market with this weeks minuscule bundle of cash and a small list of essentials after father had gone off to meet with some of his mates. This meant I was left all alone in the house.

Days like these were my favorites because it was as if I had free reign over the house, almost like I was some sort of royalty. Minus the lavish surroundings and food.

But I supposed it didn't matter much to me. Days like this were always my favorite. It gave me time to go and work in my small garden. There wasn't much there at this point considering that a majority had been crushed, but there were still bits and pieces that I could scavenge. Besides, my little lavender patch had been far away enough that it was still intact. Perhaps if I dried some I could take a lavender bath.

Breathing in the sweet sent of flowers and breezes and sunshine, I couldn't help but smile. It was the little things in life, things like this, that really brought me joy. Settling down in a patch of grass, I brought out the small knife I used for gardening and began to prune off the dead branches and leaves. Starting with the little bits of lavender and moving to the few wild roses that had slowly morphed into bushes, I gently worked my way around the wreckage, handling every plant with the utmost care, always afraid they would break under my touch. After those were tended to, I began to work on finding any spice plants that still maintained life after my father's last fit, and transferred them to a new area where they would hopfully grow.

First the rosemary, then the small string of surviving peppers, then the thyme and the lemon grass. One by one, I brought them back to a place where perhaps they could live once again.

I was finishing up the lemon grass when I heard the hooves of horses pulling a carriage. We lived in a poorer district so carriages are a rarity. This meant whoever was at the house was important, and that scared me.

Neither father or Xavier were home yet which meant that if they were here for something my father did, I would have to take the brunt of it.

Their banging on the dpor was so loud, I could hear it despite not being in the house. "Royal Guard! Open up!"

I was frozen in fear. I had no clue what to do. Our village was extraordinarily far from the centre district where the palace rested. If the royal guard was here, father must have done something utterly terribly. Had he finally snapped and killed someone?

"Final warning before we break down the door!" This caught my attention. Scrambling to my feet I rushed over to the door, not bothering to shout since I knew they wouldn't hear me.

I pulled the door open just as one of them reared back to force the door open. I let out a tiny yelp and only narrowly avoided his incoming form as it crashed into the living room.

"I'm so sorry!" Despite my efforts to make myself louder, my apology still seemed like more of a squeak. "I was in the garden when you knocked."

The guard shook his head, a light scowl on his face displayed that this was the last place he wanted to be.

"Is the household authoritive home?" One of them questioned. I shook my head, opting for a nonverbal response. The guards frown deepened. "Well make sure to give this to him."

The guard thrusted a parchment envelope into my hands. It was soft and light and bore the royal crest. "Is he in trouble?"

"No, but the His Majesty will be hosting the Werewolf King at the end of this month." My blood froze over. The werewolf king? We had grown up listening to village stories about the bloodthirsty king of werewolves. We were told he kills just for fun. Not even his kin are spared. I was even told by an aunt that he drinks the blood of the living so that he'd stay alive forever.

The very though of him terrified me.

"But why would you travel out here just to announce that?" I questioned.

"Because the Werewolf King demanded that all the maidens of Ethria be gathered at the palace. Apparently the moon goddess has made one of them his mate." I shuddered for the poor girl who would be forced into a relationship with such a ruler.

"But wouldn't the moon goddess just tell werewolf king who his mate was, since she already let him know he had one?" I questioned.

"I fucking wish." He snorted. "Either way though, make sure you're at the castle on the twenty-first of next month. The royal guard will patroling there to reinforce that."

And with that they were gone, leaveing the door closed behind them.

It didn't take long for my face to twist into a grim realization soon afterward. Father would not be happy with me leaving the house. In fact he would probably rather kill me than let me out of the house. But with the royal guard patrolling to make sure all females in the kingdom were accounted foe there wasn't much of an option other than for him to let me go.

But that wasn't what made my stomach twist in dread. What really worried me was my baby brother being alone with that monster of a father. I knew he wasn't a small child anymore, but it still worried me that she had been beaten into submission long ago, same as I was, and when beaten by my father he wouldn't fight back. I was scared half to death that father would get angry at him and try to choke him like he had done to me.

I couldn't loose my away brother. I dont think I could cope if I did.

Looking back down at the expensive parchment letter in my hand, I bit my lip.

I had quite a daunting task ahead of me. Convincing father to let me take Xavier would take a lot. But the cost didn't matter in my mind at this point.

Whatever it took to keep my baby brother alive, I was willing to do.