Chapter 123
“I hear you have mated, and you are keeping her?” Queen Lana, his mother with red hair and blue eyes, asked, not approving.
“Let him have her until we can find him a royal bride,” his father, King Makens, said.
Prince Deacon wanted to give them a piece of his mind, but decided it can wait for another day. Prince Deacon signaled a lady-in-waiting to come over. “Take some food to princess Emily. She is in my room. Afterward, get her cleaned up and dressed for the day.”
“Princess? I thought she is not a princess?” one of his brothers pointed out again.
“As I said, I would have not mated with her if she did not have some sort of royal heritage,” Prince Deacon said, slamming his fist down on the table, making everyone jump a little.
King Makens gave him a look of warning. ‘When will he learn to control his anger? This new girl better tame him, or I will get rid of her myself,’ King Makens thought with a stern warning on his face.
After an uncomfortable breakfast that was nothing new, Prince Deacon went straight to his room to be with Emily.
The lady-in-waiting has just finished pinning Emily’s hair up when Prince Deacon walked into his room.
“No, let it down,” Prince Deacon said, and the lady-in-waiting does as she was told.
Emily looked at Prince Deacon in the mirror as he took his morning jacket off and laid it over the back of the daybed.
Once the lady-in-waiting was done, Prince Deacon ordered her to leave. “Take the tray with you.”
“Would you like a morning coffee?” the lady-in-waiting asked, before leaving.
“Yes, Emily will also have some,” Prince Deacon said, not bothering to ask if she would like some as he knew that she was from England and would probably want tea instead.
“Tea for me, please,” Emily objected.
“You will have coffee,” Prince Deacon said.
“Coffee it is then,” Emily agreed. ‘Guess I can try something new,’ she thought to herself.
“What happened to all the princesses?” Emily dared to ask.
“They got married to Kings or a prince and soon will have bellies filled with babies,” Prince Deacon said, without batting an eye.
Emily bit her lip before uttering out the words. “What will happen to me?”
“That all depends on you,” Prince Deacon said, standing at the window, looking at the gardens below.
“What do you mean?” Emily wondered.
“Get to know this world. If you don’t like it after a year, you are free to go,” he said even though he had no intensions of ever letting her go.
“A year?!” Emily exclaimed.
“Six months?” he tried again.
“I have a confession to make,” Emily said, wondering if she told the truth, if she will be allowed to go back home.
“Confess already,” Prince Deacon demanded, interested to hear what she had to say.
“I am not really a princess. I took the place of my best friend because my family needed the money,” Emily said, looking down at her hands.
“I know,” Prince Deacon said, as he already saw everything there was to her when he mated with her.
“What will happen now?” Emiliy asked, hoping that she can go home.
"You will stay for six months and if you still want to leave after six months, then you may leave and your family can keep the money," Prince Deacon said.
'Guess six months are nothing and we get to keep the money,' Emily thought, happy about the arrangement.
"So? What do you say?" Prince Deacon asked.
"I thought I don't have a say?" Emily asked sarcastically.
"Are you not the least bit interested in this world you find yourself in?" Prince Deacon asked.
"I am more interested in my safety," Emily admitted.
Prince Deacon laughed at her wittiness. "You are perfectly safe if you don't try to run away and end up in the vampire wing again."
"Are you a werewolf?" Emily asked a question that she already knew the answer to, but she needed to hear him say it.
"Lycan." Prince Duncan says. “Werewolf is a beast that shifts against their will and only on full moons walking on two legs and has claws where lycans shifts at will, looking like a wolf.”
"You are much prettier than the horror stories," Emily thought out loud. 'Oh no, I said that out loud.
"Thank you," Prince Deacon responded, smiling at her.
"I cannot believe vampires and werewolves are real," Emily admitted, standing up from the vanity chair.
"Amongst other supernatural beings, but werewolves died out along with a whole lot of royals in the supernatural war. The key word is lycan." Prince Duncan says.
"Supernatural beings?" Emily asked, not sure she really wanted to know.
“Use your imagination. The creatures from your nightmares, your childhood bedtime stories, and everything in between will most likely be found at this castle,” Prince Deacon said.
“You are not serious?” Emily asked, scared.
“Well, that depends on what the creatures from your childhood were,” Prince Deacon said, smiling.
The lady-in-waiting arrived with the coffee and pours them each a cup that seemed too delicate to be held by a man, but Prince Deacon took the cup and saucer with great elegance.
Emily took a sip and pulled her face. “How can you drink this stuff?”
“Try it with some cream and sugar,” Prince Deacon suggested with a show of hand for the Lady-in-waiting to add some cream and sugar.
Emily tried it again. “Much better.”
“Would you like me to show you the castle? The gardens?” Prince Deacon asked after they finished their coffee.
“That will be lovely, but what about the creatures?” Emily asked, concerned.
“No one will harm you, unless you want them to,” Prince Deacon laughed.
“Why would I want them to harm me?” Emily asked, not understanding.
“Never mind. Shall we?” He offered his arm for her.
Emily wrapped her hand around his arm and together they walked through the hallways, greeting someone every now and then, Prince Deacon explaining what type of creature they shift into or what they are.
“How old are you?” Emily asked as they strolled through the gardens. The air was a bit nippy that early in spring, the memories of winter were still visible on the bare trees that started to blossom.
“Twenty-Five,” Prince Duncan lied. He was much older but because he shifts regularly, he stayed young.
“I am eighteen,” Emily said.
Prince Deacon nodded his head to a gentleman walking past with a lady on his arm.
“Why is the fashion so disorderly here? It appears as if every woman is wearing a dress from a different era?” Emily asked, not liking it.
“Because here we do as we please and that includes what we wear,” Prince Deacon laughed.
“What about me? Do I get to do as I please and wear what I please, as I am certainly not wearing what I want to wear?” Emily pointed out, grabbing the skirt of her dress.
“I will have a lady-in-waiting show you the castle wardrobe a bit later and arrange for a wardrobe to be brought to our room,” Prince Deacon said, smiling.
“Our room? If I share a room with you, a man that I am not married to then I will certainly not be doing as I please as it does not please me at all to share a room with a man that I am not married to,” Emily said, acknowledging the couple that just walked by the lady on the gentlemen’s arm wearing a dress from the seventeen hundreds.
“It is for your own protection,” Prince Deacon said.
“What about my honor?” Emily asked, letting go of his arm and coming to a halt, turning to face him.
“Your honor? Where was your honor when you tried to deceit us?” Prince Deacon asked, staring her down.
Emily could feel her cheeks turning red. “It is not the same.” Emily continued to walk, but Prince Deacon stood still, holding his arm for her to take it.
Emily realized that Prince Deacon was not walking beside her and turned around. “What are you waiting for?”
“For your hand,” Prince Deacon said, waiting patiently for her to walk back and put her hand on his arm.
“What if it does not please me to touch you?” Emily asked stubbornly.
“It pleases me, and is it not a woman’s duty to please her feature husband?” Prince Deacon asked with a smirk.
“Future husband? I assure you, Prince Deacon, I will be leaving in six months’ time,” Emily said, walking back to him and stubbornly putting her hand around his arm.
