"Artemis," he breathed, gripping my arm softly as he stopped me in my tracks. 

My eyes flickered upwards, meeting his warm, sunshine yellow eyes and twinkling in the soft, morning light. "Andreas," I responded, the corners of my mouth being pulled into a smile. "Is there something you want?"

"Would you like to go on a run with me? I am not needed in the meeting today."

"Oh," my eyes flickered over to Octavia who was speaking to Duke Titus in the doorway. "I am sorry, but the Princess needs me as her Agem. Maybe another -"

"She will go," Octavia cut in, looking at me with a mischievous smile having clearly been listening in on our entire conversation. "I have two lieutenants and the Duke to protect me. I think I will be quite safe."

"Excellent," he responded, looping his arm around mine as I glared at her. "My wolf is longing to meet yours, and the forest here is stunning."

I muttered soft curses under my breath in Santorinian that only Octavia would hear and understand as I followed Andreas out of the palace, irritated at how easily it was for him to make me do what he wanted. 

We walked in silence, the heat radiating from his body a source of calmness as I desperately tried to contact my wolf. She was dormant and had been for many years, but I did not want anyone to know that. And after she had whispered those few words to me when I had first met Andreas I hoped the promised bond had strengthened her enough to allow me to transform.

But it was like she did not exist at all and as I caught sight of the treeline, I realised running with his wolf would not be possible. So, I turned to Andreas with the sweetest smile I could muster and lied. 

"My wolf is shy and I do not think she is ready to meet you yet. Perhaps we could walk in this form instead. Do you have a favourite place to go?"

His face fell at the idea and I felt a pang of guilt for making him unhappy but pushed it down. It was the promised bond, not actual care because I could not care for someone I barely knew.

"You could tell me about yourself," I added, hoping this would make up for this. It seemed to as he pulled me closer to him and nodded.

We entered the forest on a well-worn trail and I breathed in the heavenly scent of pine and oak that filled the air. The forests in Lycaon were unmatched by any place I had ever been to and it was the one thing I had missed when I had moved from Lycaon to Santorini as a child. So to be back in one was almost surreal and I savoured every moment, enjoying the sounds of a rabbit scampering across the earth and a bird's wings flapping above our heads. 

Glancing at him with surprise as he suddenly pulled me off the trail, I peered down the overgrown track we had veered onto to figure out where we were heading. Unlike before, this track was almost empty of the scent of wolves, except for his heavenly scent which hung thick in the air around us. 

"Where are we going," I asked softly.

He smiled at me. "You said you wanted to get to know me. So I am taking you to my Heleus' favourite place."

"Heleus?"

"My wolf," he smiled, enjoying the way the name sounded in my voice. "What is your wolf's name?"

It shocked me how long it took me to try and recall her name. It had been so long since she was a part of my life and I had almost forgotten she was a part of me. "Philomela," I finally came out with. "Her name is Philomela."

Another smile graced his lips and it was echoed on my own face. "That is a beautiful name, just like yours. Heleus and I cannot wait to meet her."

I did not know how to reply to that so I just nodded, turning back to the scene in front of us and we entered a clearing. Gasping was the only way I could communicate my thoughts as I looked at the stunning sight in front of us. 

The wild, overgrown spread of grass and wildflowers stopped several paces in front of us and fell away to a sheer rocky slope that lead down to a valley filled with trees. From here, we could see across the entire valley, including the river that crawled through it, almost at the end of its journey. Further on was the faint shapes of a small village, nestled in the woods, that seemed as though it had always belonged there.

"Do you like it?" I heard his voice.

Tearing my eyes away from the stunning landscape, I saw he had placed himself on a large rock and so sat myself down beside him. "It is beautiful."

I shivered slightly as I felt his finger tracing the edge of my face and tucking a stray hair behind my ear. "I come here when things become too much at the palace. It helps me think and make me decisions without the pressure of my father overwhelming me. You see, he has been waiting a long time for you so he can finally give the throne to me. And now that you are here, it is time for me to become the Alpha King."

His soft fingers gently gripped my chin and tilted my head towards him. "I want you to be coronated beside me, as my Luna Queen. But for that to happen, you have to accept me. So, what do you want to know?"

I blinked, unscrambling my brain as questions bombarded my mind. "Well, you could start with your likes and dislikes. You could tell me about your childhood or about your family. Or your ambitions. I doubt you are anything like the Prince everyone thinks you are. I know Princess Octavia is not as stone-hearted as she pretends to be." 

His eyes flickered upwards as he began to speak and I allowed him to pull me into his warm embrace, succumbing to the irresistible comfort he brought me. 

"I supposed my childhood was unusual. As the eldest son, I grew up close to my father who made sure to teach me everything he could about abut being King. When I was not with him, I was training with my brothers, Castor and Icarus, or sat in lessons with Master Samaras, a nasty man with a short temper who hated Icarus with a passion."

"You have a second brother? How could I not know that?" I interrupted.

"Icarus is a radical, who detests royal life and has spent his whole life trying to separate himself from us. He left as soon as he turned eighteen to travel the world and has not been back since. The only word we get from him are his letters which make me rather jealous, actually." His gaze shifts to the horizon and I move my hand downwards to grip his hand, my confidence surprising even myself. 

"Go on," I encourage him, sensing his hesitance. 

"His was the first of us to find his promised when visiting Tierra - a wolf called Matthias. I have often wondered if, had I been allowed to travel like him and have the freedoms my father granted him, I would have found you much sooner. But, I am rarely ever allowed to leave Oudeter, let alone Lycaon. I am too precious to lose."

The last sentence is said with bitter disdain and I interrupt him again to change the subject before the light and friendly atmosphere darkened into something more depressing that would echo the guilt-ridden state of my nightmares. 

"What about your mother and your sister. You have not mentioned them at all." 

He sighed. "I barely know my mother. My father kept us apart once I was old enough to support myself so I would not 'be tainted by her womanly ways', as he put it. Now, she will always be the Queen to me, rather than my mother."

"That's horrible," I gasped.

"That is my father. He believes that all women are lesser than men. And I would probably believe that too, had Icarus not shown me differently. In the letters he wrote, he told me of his visits to Santorini and the way women were treated as not only equal but the same as a man, recounting tales of him being beaten up by a female warrior he once offended. I laughed at his words at first but, after seeing you, I realised them to be true. And I will treat you as my equal because I know that will make you happy."

My heart fluttered inside me as I realised how perfect this man in front of me really was. And, without thinking, I leant forwards and placed a soft kiss on his lips, enjoying the surprise that twinkled through his gorgeous eyes. 

"Tell me about your sister."

His jaw tightened and the grip on my hand tensed slightly. "My relationship with Isadora is complicated, to say the least. I barely know her at all, as we spent so little time together growing up. And she hates me for being father's favourite and the heir to the throne. As the eldest child, she believes it is her right to rule, but the only way our father would let that happen is if my brothers and I were all dead and there was no one else left to take the throne. Still, she tries her hardest to undermine me and get in father's favour, no matter the damage."

Neither of us could think of what to say next and so a silence fell over the clearing, interrupted only by the calling of birds and the whistling of the wind which had grown wilder since we had arrived here. I was content to lean into him and be enveloped by his warmth and I think he was too as his arm came around my shoulders and pulled me into a tighter embrace, inhaling deeply to take in my scent.

"What about your family," he finally spoke. "I know nothing about you."

Lifting my head up to meet his curious gaze, I felt the smile fall from my lips and found myself replacing my once carefree expression with a carefully constructed mask. 

"I am an only child," I told him softly, purposely vague and hoping he would be satisfied with that much. But he was more interested in me than I thought.

"What about your parents?"

Subconsciously, my hand drifted upwards to touch the scar on my face and I winced with the memory. "They are both dead," I murmured, truthfully. "But they were from Lycaon. I grew up here."

He squeezed my hand. "I am sorry. I can imagine how hard it is to lose a parent."

I did not reply, because I did not know what to say to him. It was easier if I did not talk about them than if I let everything out. 

"Can I ask one more question?" he murmured, sensing that I was closing myself off from him. "How did you get the scar?"

My breath was shaky as I broke away from his hold and rose to my feet. "We should get back," I stated, resting a hand on the hilt of my sword as I took a few steps towards the forest. "They will be missing us."

I did not look at him as we walked back down the same path in absolute silence. I could not bear to see whatever expression was on his face, whether it be pity or something else. But I also could not get myself to leave him and walk back on my own. Something kept me by his side and I was not strong enough to resist it.

Though perhaps I did not want to.