Chapter 116

DAN stepped lightly into the meeting room that has been designed for this meeting. It was the request of the young queen Arabella that she wanted to meet with all the leaders of the supernatural other than Vampyre.
And they were all wearing some kind of mask in front of their faces.
There were 4 leaders excluding Arabella and her husband, Aiden, who were looking at them warily but the young queen just smiled as she was greeting the leaders.
“Welcome, fellow monarchs. I hope you have a pleasant journey to come to the capital?” she asked as the leaders were looking at her before some of them nodded.
Some remained passive.
Danial shifted in his seat as he was sitting between Tom and an empty chair beside him. It was reserved for his cousin, Baron of Fell, and apparently, he was not invited to this meeting. But Danial was wrong on that matter when someone stepped into the meeting room after the queen was smiling at the leaders.
Danial blinked his eyes.
Felix Marshall, also known as Marsh by his cousin and his friends, went to take a seat beside Danial as he was following his cousin’s movement. The relief was coming over him like no other, knowing that his only family, his blood and fresh, was safe and sound again from the field trip that Marsh frequently went on.
“I did not know that you’re coming back,” Danial said as Marsh turned to look at him. He smirked before he was whispering to his cousin as he turned with his dangerous slate orbs shining with mischief.
“Oh, please, cousin. You know I can handle the danger. It’s you that I am afraid of,” he said as Dan arched his eyebrow. Marsh smiled.
“I heard that you were married. I was sad still that you did not invite me,” Marsh said as he was smiling wickedly at Dan. He swore under his breath before he was looking at his cousin before he sighed as he was looking at the other lords that were serving in the Higher Court that might have told him about his wedding.
Niklaus could but he did not bother with anyone’s business.
Tom maybe do it because he wanted to amuse himself.
Ian? Well, the marquis was known to be some kind of mischievous person. Maybe he was the one that tells his cousin about the wedding.
“Did you hear from—“
“I will stop you right there, cousin. We can discuss later since my work in the field is done,” Marsh said before returning to look at the debate that was going on between the young queen of Niapachad Island and the leaders of the other supernatural.
“Of course,” Dan said before he returned his gaze to the meeting, trying to catch up with what was going on with them.
He just hoped that nothing dire will come out of this meeting.

“I just asked that we might still live together in harmony if we’re going to work together. I know that it has been a dumb idea to ignore you for the longest time since the end of the Golden Age, but I was hoping that we can mend it together,” Arabella said as she was looking at the 4 leaders that were hiding their faces behind the masks.
It was their request that their identities will not be known and Arabella has been kind enough to let them feel safe in her castle.
Not that it was never safe before, it was for the interest of the future for the island together if they agreed to live in harmony, after all those years.
“And how we know that you will comply with the harmony that you believed to exist between us, Your Highness? Your kind drove my kind out of the island to settle down somewhere else while the Vampyre was rampaging through the island after the Golden Age,” the leader on the far left said. It was clear that the leader was a man for it was rough to hear his voice behind the mask.
“Yes, and I have been living under the pretense with the gentry that I am a human for which I am not. I am being forced to be in the servitude of a maid for which I was not before when the Golden Age valued that every supernatural was equal,” the leader next to him said and it was a woman.
One woman, one man. I wonder who are the other two, Arabella mused before the next leader spoke up.
“It is clear that the time has been long enough for us to come together as one since the golden age,” said the leader who was clearly a man, “but I don’t think we can go back to the past and live them. We can only move forward and try to live in harmony together with the guidance of the Golden Age to show us the way so that we can live in harmony together,” he said as the other first two were nodding at him.
“But what of the humans?” the last one to speak was a woman and her voice was smooth like the honey. Something stirred inside Arabella when she heard that voice. Like it was calling to her to get to know the woman even know Arabella never saw or hear them before.
She only knew that she wanted to follow her and please her.
“Humans have always been under us. They were pests and lived a very short time compared to us. They will die and change like a cloth after one another. They did serve as the peasants back in the Golden Age,” the first man said before Arabella was shaking her head. She had enough of all this and she wanted to make sure that her island will not succumb to the supernatural.
Humans have evolved from their superstitions that they should be afraid of the supernatural. But that was all in the past. Aiden has been a human when they first met before she married him and changed him into a Vampyre.
No, she would not let her husband’s people be treated as such.
“No, the humans will not be served as peasants,” Arabella said loudly as her voice boomed in the meeting room. All 4 leaders were staring at her, probably, considering that she cannot see their eyes behind the masks that they wore. She took a deep breath before she was looking at them and stand regally as she supposed to.
“I know that we have all the ability to step the humans down like they were insects underneath our shoes,” she started, looking at her husband that was at the end of the room, flinching when she said that. She wanted to calm him down but she has to tell the leaders the alternative to all this.
“I did read that the Golden Age treated humans like peasants and they only belonged in that category. But things have changed, my lords and ladies. We know for a fact that they were afraid of the royalty because we were Vampyre which means they cannot go against us if they wanted to. They will not have a chance,” Arabella said as she felt her husband eased up a bit after that but not quite all the way down that he can relax.
“So, what do you suggest, Your Highness? Is there anything that your idea would do to help keep the balance?” asked the second leader before Arabella smiled at them.
“In fact, I did. My husband, Aiden, was once a human before he married me. He still communicates with them, knowing that he was once a human and the people loved him. Hence, they tolerated me. If not, I will not be standing here with him anymore,” Arabella said as she was looking at the leaders. They glanced at each other.
“Do you suggest that you want us to breed with humans then?” one of them asked before Arabella shook her head.
“No, it should be your choice if you want to have a human consort or companion. I merely suggest that we should consider mingle ourselves with them so that we don’t oppose a threat to them. An alternative way to say that we care about them as much as we care about ourselves,” Arabella said as she was looking at the leader, strength that was building from the talk. She was inspired and with this, the leaders were murmuring amongst them.
“The Higher Court, my trusted court, has been courting with their humans and married them. That’s how I know that we can live in harmony together. Maybe we’re not following exactly what the Golden Age did but this is our time and it will be on our terms. So, I will ask you to join me to see that our island will be living in harmony for future generations. So what do you say? Are you with me?” Arabella said before the leaders were turning to her. The decision has been made.
She only hoped that it was the outcome that she wanted.

“WELL, that was intense,” Ian said after the meeting. The lords of the Higher court were meeting after the intense moment where the leaders of the supernatural made their decision. It was unbelievable that they voted to join in with the young queen’s idea and they will send word to work out things together in the future. The queen has been relieved to hear that and looked forward to working with them.
“Yeah, and she burst up in tears after that while she was hugging her husband. Can you imagine? I have never seen her so vulnerable before,” Tom said as Niklaus’ lips thinned.
“I have,” the duke said before he told them that it was the first time after she took the monarchy that she cried.
The last one has been when her parents died.
Dan was listening to all of this before someone was tapping his shoulder. He turned around and saw that someone he did not know pulled his head closer to hers and kissed him. He has been so much shock before she broke the kiss and went away.
Dan blinked his eyes before he turned to look at the woman. She stopped to look at someone that was passing her by and before Dan can focus on what just happened, someone slapped him across the face.
The sound vibrated across the hallway. Even his friend was shocked to hear it. Dan turned to look who was it and it was none other than his wife, Caroline.