Chapter 43 - Palace Arrival

"You finally made it!" Melody stood up to meet both Adalyn and Naya as they walked in to her room.

Adalyn had been in complete awe since Naya first pulled up to the palace. The vast beautiful gardens and the grand entrance carved out of marble were breath-taking. The palace was a symbol of the wealth and power of Galas. The walk down to Melody's quarters was like walking through an art museum. Painting of past kings and alphas adorned the walls and huge stain glass windows depicted key moments in Galas’ history. She could quite easily get lost in this place, with how vast it was. As she followed Naya in to Melody's quarters her mouth was still hanging open, and she had to force it shut to not look a starstruck country girl in the big city.

Melody embraced her in a warm hug. "Come, sit" she motioned to a seating area where Melody had tea, cakes and other small refreshments waiting for them. As Adalyn started following Melody to the seating area, Naya started walking back towards the door.

"I'll be outside if you need me." She waved as she left without looking behind her. Naya was never really one for girl chat and cute lunches, so she was keen to leave them to it.

Melody sat down first. "I'm really glad you decided to come tonight. I know Kai will be pleased to see you."

Adalyn had nearly forgotten that she was in Kai's home. She wondered how close he could be to her right now. Despite their rattled conversation earlier, she missed him.

"The palace is beautiful Melody. I didn't realise that it was so huge on the inside."

"Yeah, it is a bit of a tardis on the inside. Matias, Elias, Kai and I each have our own quarters within the palace, so despite us all being under one roof you could be going about your business for days on end and not run in to any of them."

Adalyn nodded and listened closely to her. Kai had never talked about any of his siblings and she figured that she only got to meet Melody because she surprised him. "Are you all close?" Adalyn asked.

"Elias, Kai and I are pretty close. We're not far apart in age so we all grew up together."

Adalyn couldn't help but notice that she had left Matias out of that list. "What about Matias?"

Melody's mouth tightened. Whilst he had never really been abusive or threatening to her or Elias, they were never really close either. He wasn't always like that but he had been old enough to understand why their father suddenly became frailer than usual, after the death of Kai's birth mother, and from that point on he took his role as crown prince more seriously and began to distance himself from the rest of them.

"We're not as close. He took what happened with our father quite hard... so he's been focusing on how best to support him."

"I see..." Adalyn could see that she looked a bit troubled by this topic of conversation. I guess no family was perfect or without their own difficulties. Even the royal family.

"Anyway...I'm really happy to know that Kai has you now. I can already see small changes in him. His face is much less serious than before" Melody mockingly made a face of Kai looking serious and Adalyn laughed in response.

"I think I recognise that face" Adalyn giggled.

"Kai told me everything that is happening. I'm sorry you've had to get dragged in to all of this, but I know Kai will make it right. After what happened with Rae, his chosen mate, I know he's determined to keep you safe." Melody covered her mouth realising that she accidentally let slip her name.

Adalyn had previously heard from Kai that once he had a chosen mate that had died, but this was the first time that she had learned her name. "His chosen mate? The one that died?" Adalyn asked.

Melody was surprised to know that Adalyn knew that much. Kai very rarely spoke about her, but if he had confided in Adalyn, then it demonstrated to her that he was serious about her. Knowing that Adalyn already knew of her, she felt secure enough to say a little more.

"That's right. Rae died back when they were children. Her family was attacked and unfortunately Kai was there to witness it. She hid him from their attackers and protected him. I'm forever grateful to her for that, but Kai took it hard. He blamed himself at not being able to help her even though he was just a young boy. Nobody should have to endure what he has endured growing up. I just want him to find peace and happiness." Melody picked up Adalyn's hands. "That's why I'm so glad he has you now."

Melody squeezed her hands a little and looked at Adalyn warmly. Adalyn could see the love for her little brother in her eyes, and she couldn't help but get a little misty eyed herself. She had no idea that had happened to Kai. She had lost her parents too but was too young to remember it, whilst he had to witness Rae's death first hand. She would have never have had known that he had experienced something so traumatic.

Melody could see Adalyn's eyes starting to get cloudy. "I'm sorry Adalyn... that conversation got way too deep, too quickly."

"Please, call me Ady," Adalyn interjected.

"Ady…" Melody beamed as she echoed the name back to herself. She released Adalyn's hand and started pulling out some of the plates and cutlery. "Come, lets eat Ady and then I can show you the dress I picked out for you for tonight."



------------------


Kai was getting ready for the ball. He had already put on his black trousers and white shirt. He was fiddling with the sleeves, trying to loop in some cufflinks. He had zero enthusiasm for attending tonight, but his mother making this a ball to celebrate his victory at reclaiming part of the Eclipse Fang territory meant he was guest of honour, so he couldn't avoid it. He was still upset that Grayson, the Eclipse Fang alpha was nowhere to be found and part of him felt that this was a bit inappropriate given the circumstances, but there no getting out of it now.

He wanted to see Adalyn. Being away from her for just a couple of days at a time was getting increasingly difficult and Pax was gnawing at his mind to do something about it. Since his outburst in the interrogation room, he still hadn't made up his mind on what to do with the options that Elias presented him with. He was becoming more aware of his triggers that made Pax act up, and he was doing his best to try and curb them, but he knew that there was only so much that he could do until he claimed her or slept with her. He pushed those thoughts down for now. Thinking about it was only making him more irritated. As Kai continued to fiddle with one of the cufflinks, it slipped out of his hand and rolled towards his bedroom door. He looked over in that direction to fetch it and saw his father standing there. Maddox bent down and picked it up.

"Father?"

Maddox retrieved the cufflink on the floor and walked over to him. "Need some help?" Maddox kindly offered.

Kai smiled and then turned his wrist over so his dad could put the cufflink on for him.

"I never got on with these things..." Maddox mumbled. He fiddled about with it for a bit before he finally managed to secure it. He ran his thumb over the top of the pack emblem on the cuff. It was adorned with blue sapphires. It matched the ones that he was wearing with his dark blue navy suit.

"Got time to sit down with your old man for a moment?" Maddox gestured towards Kai's bed with his head, then proceeded to walk over and sit down. Kai followed him and sat next to him.

"Everything okay?" Kai asked curiously. Whilst he and his father were never super close, Kai had always admired and respected him. As Kai got older and as Matias took on more of his work, he found that his father had more time for him than before. That was the one small thing that Kai could be grateful to Matias for.

"How are you feeling about tonight? Your mother has organised quite the spectacle for you."

"*Spectacle* is a good way of phrasing it. We both know that tonight has nothing to do with Eclipse Fang and everything to do with her meddling in my personal life."

Maddox couldn't stop the small chuckle from escaping from his lips.

"She would just like to see you settled soon. As would I. I won't always be around. It would give me some relief to know that you had somebody else to fight in your corner when we're no longer around. You deserve at least that much."

Kai furrowed his brow at him. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you to worry about that."

"I know..." Maddox stared at the rings on his hands. "You've never once come to ask me for help. You get that stubbornness from Kaia." Maddox smiled thinking about Kai's birth mother.

"I may not be a strong as I once was, or as reliable but I'm not oblivious to everything. When you've lived here long enough you realise that these walls talk Kaiden." Maddox looked in to Kai's eyes. They were the mirror image of his arctic blue ones. Vibrant and with the same fierce determined look that he once had. "I don't want my children to turn against each other or inherit my past mistakes. I'll do everything that I can to prevent that."

Kai had no idea how much his father did or didn't know about what was going on, but he didn't want to add to his worries by letting on. "You make it sound like you're dying. Stop that."

Maddox chuckled again making the few lines around his face dance around. "Don't worry I have no plans on going anywhere anytime soon." Maddox stood back up off of Kai's bed, but it took him much longer to get up then to sit down. He coughed in to his hand once he was back standing again. Kai had only ever known his father in this state, but knowing the victories and various accomplishments that he had achieved previously, he wished that had been able to know him back when he was in his prime.

"I better head back to your mother before she sends a search party out for me." He smiled briefly. "I'll see you down there son." Just as Maddox was about to turn the corner he shouted back. "And you better turn up or we'll both never hear the end of it!"

Kai smiled as his father left. Maddox always had a great sense of humour which he only really shared with his wife and children. Everyone knew that it was really his step mother Ophelia that ran the show in the palace. There was nothing that Maddox wouldn't do for her. Even attending her elaborate parties.

Kai threw on his jacket over his shirt. "Let's get this over with" he declared to himself.