Chapter 16

Serafina wore a greenish-blue gown made of soft, satiny fabric, long and loose. A semicircular, high collar made of silk-like materials headed the ankle-length robe. She walked as lightly as an acrobat. A puff of wind swept through her white hair before it slipped into the woods to rustle leaves. The creamy sheets of the silk dress slipped onto her shoulders, peppering her body with soft, sensual kisses. Like a lover, it seduced the senses and conveyed with utmost skill the art of pleasing.
This woman knew how to make an entrance and the soft muted colour in contrast to her pale skin made it look like that the dress was made right just for her. I stared at her and kept staring.
“Sin, if I did not know any better I would have told you that probably you were smitten with me,” she teased and I scowled.
“You are so pretty. I wish I had skin like yours,” I moaned and she laughed out loud.
“And I wish that I had your dark hair, babe. The feeling is mutual. Now tell me Drima, what is the dress that you have selected for her. Preferably something in red, isn’t it?” asked Serafina. Now I was no designer and neither was I great at doing anything regarding hair and make-up and all this nonsense. Serafina could change anything I wanted and alter it with the few spells that she had been able to learn when we were kids and they had come in handy for a long time.
“Red is the colour of the Red Hearts Pack and since this is an almost royal ceremony, gifting her something precious from the royal treasure I figured it would be only fitting that she wear red,” said Drima as she went to the closet and brought out a dress. I watched in awe as the red and black and silver beads shone in the light and Sera whistled in appreciation.
“Now that is what I say is called a dress in which you make an appearance!” she said and I could not agree any more with her.
“That is a pretty bold choice for a gifting ceremony but I guess that then it would be only fitting that I wear it. After all, it is always a matter of comfort and what I would choose to show to them,” I said as I eyed the dress. I got down from the bed and looked at the bust which was made to wear the dress. He dress had no sleeves. And that was the best part, because it gave me free rein to use my arms and in case I had to use my hands if there was an attack. There were loops on the side where a belt could be worn to cinch my waist and my daggers could be hidden there as well.
“I would have really paid to see the way you had Rubina pinned down, though,” said Felicity and I turned back and smiled.
“There is a fair chance that you might see that in the final. I mean, that if Rubina makes it to the final and then we would have to lock horns then all of you have to see that. As a part of my pack, you all will be witness to that,” I said and she replied,” Now that is something I can really bet on.”
I laughed out loud and then turned in the direction of the dress again. The upper part covering the breasts was pure midnight black which seamlessly flowed and turned into red in a flowing gown. There was no slit in the thighs which meant that I would have to settle for the shorter weapons and dagger in my boots. There were silver beads and pearls in turn woven in the bust of the dress climbing down like glittering vines. It was gorgeous.
“Put it on, Sin. We don’t have a lot of time now,” said Sera as Luke trotted inside and stood beside me. He nudged me and growled menacingly.
“What happened?” I asked without even bothering to hear Serafina. I knelt in front of him and saw that his eyes were tinged with a red. That did not mean good, it meant that he had been the in presence of something very dark. But in the royal manor, in the middle of the Capital of the Wolf Kingdom, Amorentia, where would a dark creature come from?
“Rubina’s room,” he growled out loud and I looked at him. I did not know what was there in her room but whatever had him riled up was something really bad.
“We don’t have time for this now but we will look into it as soon as the ceremony is over. I am not going to be late to my own gifting ceremony,” I said as I turned towards the dress and Drima handed it over to me while I went in the closet to dress up. It did not take me long to dress and I placed all the daggers and shooting stars in the body armour that I wore underneath the dress. It was compulsory for me to wear that and Drima had made this one specially for me. It was sexy and if I undressed at the first glance it would look like a corset.
Once I was down donning on my party gear, I came out of the room looking every bit like the heiress that I was supposed to be.
Drima smiled and Sera whistled looking at me again. Even Luke was standing looking at me silently staring me for a while.
“Girl, you are gonna set that floor on fire,” said Serafina as she snapped her fingers before me and in a moment all my make up was done. My dark hair flowing long to my waist was straight and smooth and I liked the way it felt like a reassuring halo at the back of skin.
“Come on, let’s go,” said Drima as everyone came and stood in front of me and Luke by my side. Every single one of them was wearing the uniform of the pack with the insignia of the pack sewn on their jackets and they looked every bit smart as they should.
“You look all so great,” I said as I smiled at all of them but my heart panged at the loss of all the members of the pack that were lost to the rogue attacks. They should have been alive and kicking and enjoying just the way we were doing but the Moon Goddess had might be some other plans.
“If you are feeling sad, Sin for all them, my brothers and sisters who lost their lives then don’t. They died what they were supposed to be doing. They knew that there were risks associated when it came to the protection of the heiress of the pack and they knew that if they had to sacrifice their lives in protecting yours, they would not hesitate to do it again,” said Deke and I could not help as tears welled up in my eyes. This was my family, the one who had given me their unconditional love no matter what.
And now I was going to prove to them that I had enough power and capability to rise up to the mettle of becoming a Queen. My birth had only one significance, being able to rule this land one day and help all the subjects of my kingdom reach their full potential.
“Then let’s get to the Hall and dazzle those old codgy bastards,” I said with a grin lighting up my face and Luke howled in response and the rest of my pack whooped and howled together. They were my family and I was going to protect them no matter what.
“Has the Council been informed of the presence of my Pack’s Magical in this ceremony?” I asked Drima and she nodded. Even though I knew that she would never fail to put any protocol in place still it was my responsibility to ask and I could not stop myself from doing that.
“Do you think that I should make a grand entrance? I mean, like scaring them for good?” asked Serafina with a crazy smile and I nodded saying no.
“We need to be on our toes now that we know that there is something really fishy going on with Rubina and all the other royal families are going to be there. I wish I had some more time to talk to him,” I said as I bit my lip and Serafina narrowed her eyes at me.
“With whom?”
“With the Concubine of the Red Queen,” I replied. There was something definitely that he knew and he wanted to tell but he was not given the chance. He might be grieving the death of the woman that he loved most in his life but things were really not adding up. As far as I knew that the vampires would have been a lot more on their guard and maybe even planning for war now that there was no Queen at the helm but it seemed like they were least bothered about it and it seemed really strange to me.
I was not going to sit idle and I knew that before I could be able to do anything worthwhile I needed to secure the throne in the first place.
And finally we were there.
We had reached the Great Hall which had been all decked up for this ceremony. And like always Red Hearts Pack was the first to reach the hall.