Chapter 82

'Xerxes, go to Arcadia, apologise to her, I'm recovering already." She does her best to convince him to go speak to his daughter, it had been three days and he had refused to see Arcadia after she defended Mace,
'I want to stay with you." The tears choke his voice but she manages to pull him into an embrace, and he sheds tears for the first time in quite a while, 'Arcadia has broken me completely." He sobs uncontrollably,
'Xerxes, she is your daughter, she would hurt you from time to time. But," she takes a pause, 'I have a feeling she is Bewitched."
He raises his head in shock, 'what?! Charmed??" It sounded do off to him but Octavia had noticed that her daughter was not the same anymore, she nods her head slowly, 'could that be why she is defending Mace with her life?"
'I believe so, she does not even know she is under a spell but it feels like true love. I am weak and it would take me time to break the spell, I would need the assistance of the sage." She sits up from her bed, she was still wrapped with bandages, Arcadia didn't complete the Reiki process so it still left her with scars and wounds,
'I would call her right away but don't leave this place." He warns her and this puts a smile on her face, he leaves and he super-speeds down the stairs to see Asher and his men coming with wounds, 'what is this?!" He had never been this beaten up before in his life and his student was coming back looking like he fought a war himself,
'Beta Czar is not a normal wolf, he happens to be a demon wolf." He grunts in pain and Xerxes uses his body to support him, 'I didn't believe it when I saw it myself, but he morphed and no matter how hard we tried we couldn't kill him. He killed most of my men and wounded the rest. He said he was coming back for the Queen."
Xerxes didn't believe what was happening anymore, he couldn't understand what in the world was going on. It felt like he was surrounded with people who had so many secrets and ulterior motives. Everything looked like an illusion to him.
'Please Mace, I do not want to talk about father now!! He has seriously hurt not just me but Sheila also, he also hurt Loki and this isn't right!! Just because he is angry doesn't give him the right to do whatever he wants!! I have learned my lesson but he hasn't!!" She yells so loud that it was beginning to hurt Mace's ears, she was so loud.
'But my queen, he is your father, he still loves you a lot. Put yourself in his shoes," and she turns to pay attention to him, 'if I got hurt that way what would you do to the offender?" He inched close to her so that his breath teased her skin, she cups his face lovingly,
'I would hang them on the tree outside and let the vultures eat them for days." She places a soft kiss on his lips and he returns it, 'anyone at all."
'Anyone?" He liked the sound of that, she nods in approval and steals a kiss from her, a deep one. They get lost in the moment and fall to the bed.
Asher turns his back on the door with different emotions running through his heart, he was hurt, betrayed but most of all angry and jealous. He thought he was the only one with access to the romantic side of Arcadia. But it seemed she had fallen madly in love with Mace. Maybe that's why she left him for so long; she was busy with Mace.
He leaves before he is seen, he needed to vent elsewhere or he would go in there and pummel Mace with the remaining strength left in him. He came to her so she could heal him with Reiki but she was busy; with Mace.
He goes to his brother instead to help him with his wound and Conan knew there was something wrong with him, 'talk to me." He doesn't waste anytime in asking.
'It's Arcadia, she loves someone else, she loves Mace." The words were very bitter but Conan took the liberty to laugh at his brother which Asher found very offensive, 'what's so funny you moron?" He pulls his silver locks and this makes Conan laugh even more,
'Are you sure you saw Arcadia or one of the maids because what you're saying makes no sense." He laughs it off but it seemed it was a joke to him,
'I swear on the goddess!! I saw them together!! They were kissing!!" He blows at his brother and Conan's eyes widen in disbelief,
'Woah!!! Calm down Asher!! This is a big accusation, are you sure it wasn't a joke or something?" Conan was only annoying him further, 'Black magic is very effective on wolves you know." He rinses the bloody cloth and gets a fresh bowl of water,
'Are you saying she is being enchanted?" He sought confirmation and Conan nods with his chest held high,
'That's what it looks like. I haven't know then Queen for long but from I have observed she usually likes men who are brave and courageous, those who honor women and the goddess. And Mace is sort of far from that." He shrugs his shoulders sheepishly and Asher begins to give it a thought.
'I need to discuss this with the Queen!" He jumps off the table,
'Wait!! I'm not done yet!!!" Conan screams at his brother but he was done, that boy was too reckless for him.
Azure and Loki sat in silence after he saw her take another form, one similar to the women of the rose clan. She didn't want to answer any of his questions so they just sat there and patiently waited for her to come around again.
And Sheila begins to open her eyes, she sees her mate first before turning to Azure, 'Loki…." She reaches out for his cheek and she cups it in her palm, 'you're alright. I thought I lost you again." He leans down to peck her forehead,
'I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here with you and our child." He had never felt so complete.
Azure smiles in pain and stands to leave, she didn't want to be the one watching their affection,
'Azure wait…." Her speech is slurred and the maid stops dead in her tracks, 'did you see a woman here? I swear I saw a woman, she is a rose like me, did you please see her? She came to see me." Her eyes held tears that refused to flow, and Azure does her best to put up a smile,
'It must have been a dream madam, no one came here." She corrects and leaves in a hurry before she asked anymore questions that would lead her to shed tears, she turns to Loki,
'I swear I saw my mother!! She was right here! Why is she lying?" Sheila was losing sanity slowly but Loki embraced her, he wished he could explain things to her but even he didn't understand the situation.
He didn't understand who Azure was.
He wouldn't stop knocking until she opened unto him, his hands were starting to ache but he knew his daughter was as stubborn as her mother so he hadn't a choice but to keep knocking.
'Arcadia please, open the door, I beg of you!" No response but she was in there,he knocks harder, she should pity his hands and to his favor she does.
The door swings open and he walks in, she was busy with her hair and didn't seem to notice when he walked in. But deep down she as actually ignoring him. She didn't like the look of his face any longer.
'Arcadia….. Look at me." He comes in front of her but she carries her head elsewhere, he didn't know what to do anymore. And he knew Mace was the cause of it, 'Arcadia, would you like to go for a walk in the garden?" He offers his arm but she does not take it, instead she looks away once more and when she was done with her hair, she slid her weapons in them.
He sighed comically, he had too many self centered women in his life. First if was Octavia who drove him mad daily and now his daughter was giving him the silent treatment, 'I'm sorry."
'Sorry will not fix the damage you have caused father, you have put both your daughters in difficult situations. Because of your anger she would have to birth and orphan and you…….you would have broken my heart."
'But Arcadia, I do not understand you anymore, when did you start having feelings for Mace? I thought you hated him as much as I do." His questions makes her mute for a while,
'It doesn't matter, what matters is that j was able to see the good in him and you should too. He is not a bad person but he is always misunderstood. We have misunderstood him for far to long and we need to do what we can to make up for it." She preaches and Xerxes is completely dumbfounded, if anyone told him that this was the girl he has raised to the past 18 years of her life he would throw that person into the river.
This was not Arcadia!! This was a dumb lovestruck teenager who doesn't see the wolf in the sheep clothing. He was definitely convinced that she had been charmed. His daughter is not an idiot.
'Very well, I understand." He nods and comes closer to embrace her, 'I will accept Mace if he makes you happy." He says so just to get her to brighten up and she does, she hugs him back with a smile on her face,
'I love you so much!!! Thank you!!" She kisses him multiple times on his face and he is scared to the bone, he needed to speak to Octavia immediately. He speed down the hallway and opens the door to her room, she was reading some scrolls and chanting mantras and this had caused her energy to fly about in little wisps, her orbs eluded by her power,
'Any news?" Even her voice had slightly changed, she rolls the scroll and her form begins to revert to her original form,
'You're right about this! Our daughter has been Bewitched!!" He had never seen a case before but when he talked to Arcadia he didn't believe he was speaking to his student or his daughter.
'I told you so." She chides, but it was serious indeed, 'I have something I can use to break the spell but it would only be effective on the night of the full moon. It's our only hope, the magic must be extremely strong."
'However strong it is we need to break it, I have a feeling Mace's doing this to get something out of her." He is deep in thought and Octavia remembers Sativa's words,
'He's doing it to get the power."
Sativa was taking a small walk round the palace premises and she bumps into Mace who was all dressed up in total clothes, she takes in the scent of the wolf she knocked and a small smirk plays across her features,
'Mace boy, it's been too long won't you say?" Her grin is toothy but he is still angry about all of her words, 'I see you have risen and so quickly, it has not been up to a month here and you're already making the Queen dot on you, let me tell you, it wouldn't last long."
'I don't care what you have to say to me, all of your words never helped me and I see why it didn't, you're a rose and you would always stay true to your clan. I don't need your advice anymore, give it to someone who does." He moves past her but her words stop him,
'Stabbed from behind and thrown away and left to die, that would be your fate. You would never be an Alpha without a Luna; you would never be the strongest without Arcadia." She laughs loudly before resuming her walk.
Mace grits his teeth and walks out in annoyance, she always knew how to get on his toes and though he wished he could end her miserable life he knew it wasn't the wisest thing to do; it would ruin his chances of getting her power for himself.
Two days and it's the day of the full moon, everyone is in massive celebration since it was a sacred day for the rose tribe, the women would find their mates on this very day and would even go as far as spending a night with them.