~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Roses are red

A rose can be so red that it puts the color of ones lips to shame.
So beautiful but dangerous, because of the prickly thorns adorn its stem.

Roses are red but so is blood.
                                                                     -MC
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Kiara slipped out the room with a small smile on her face.
She felt good about this.

She walked out into the hall leading to her parents quarters and knocked on the bedroom door.

"Mother? Father?"

No answer

She opens the door to see the room completely empty of their presence and decides to move onto another room.

She reaches their study, doing the same but still there is no sigh on them.

"Princess?"

The whisper her title from someone's lips reaches her ears from behind and she turns around coming eye to eye with the guard.

"Oh my Princess, thank Goddess you're safe!"

"Thank you for your positive wishes. I'm quite well uh..."

"Grant."

"Ok Grant. Do you possibly have an idea of where my parents are?"

"Why yes, they're in the throne room. May I take you to them?"

"Please."

Kiara takes the guards hand, following him to the throne room and to her parents.

"Alpha, Luna, may I present the princess."

Loud gasps could be heard from the maids and other wolves in the room, and the shock could be seen on her parents' faces.

"Oh my Goddess!"
Her mother was the first one to rise from her seat, rushing over to embrace her only daughter.

"Oh my sweet Kiara."

Her father comes over to hug the messy pile of tears and hugs on the floor as he sees that his daughter is finally found.

Most of the wolves had long exited the room to give them privacy and Kiara's parents were still fussing over her. Especially her mother who didn't want to let her go.

"Thank goddess you're home. Grant are you the one that found her?"

"No he didn't mother I came back."

"Where have you been all this time?"

For a moment the thought of telling them what really happened came to her mind but she quickly shook it away.
That would not end well, for anyone.

"Mom that doesn't matter I'm fine, I just needed some time to cool off and I did."

"Kiara it's been almost two weeks since you have gone, we thought you were hurt. We were searching everywhere for you and we couldn't find you."

"I know father, that's why I came home."

"So if we weren't looking for you, you wouldn't have come home? You can't just run off like that every time you disagreed with what we are saying. You need a mate!"

Her mother has now gone quiet, seeing as her father had taken over all conversations.
The Luna stood quietly beside her Alpha like a weak, broken wolf and Kiara had never seen anything in her life that upset her more.

"Is this how I'm supposed to be? Marry someone whom I clearly am miserable in being with and just stand beside him like a mute?"

"How dare you speak to me like that little girl! And about your mother at that!"

"I'm not a little girl! I'm a young lady, actually no I'm a woman! A strong, intelligent one at that and I won't just stand here and accept this!"

"Is that what you think now? That you're too good for a mate? For Draco? He's a powerful worrier that-"

"I have a mate."

Kiara cuts off her father and the entire room goes silent at what she said. She wasn't ready to tell him yet because she didn't want them to meet Marquése so soon but she couldn't just hold it in, not when he was still trying to marry her off to Draco.

She had just stepped back foot into this territory and this was they first thing on her father's mind.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me father, I didn't falter."

"Wait, is that why I cant smell you, because you were off with someone you think is your mate? Did you dishonor yourself Kiara?!"

Shock engulfed her at that moment and her eyes quickly flashed up to meet his.

"What? No I did not!"

"And why are you dressed like that? In scraps."

Kiara looks down at her attire, seeing what she was dressed in.

She wore one of her skirts that she had carried and a shirt, she didn't think she was wearing scraps. These are her clothes, they were just a little ragged from her time in the woods.

"I'm not wearing scraps father."

"Where have you been?"

"I don't have to tell you that. I'm here now and I'm trying to talk to you, both of you. Can't you just listen to me for once?"

She can still see slight anger in his eyes so she goes for another try.

"Please."

"Fine, we will speak about everything because I want to hear all that you have to say."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile Marquése was lightly walking around her room. He didn't even realize that he was browsing through all the little things that made her, her but then again it was like a second instinct.

A slight knock came to her door and he froze

"Hey buddy it's us."

Marquése sighs with relief as he recognizes the voice and walks over to the door, opening it slightly to let them in.

"Hey Hailey, nice save out there."

"Haha, thanks."

"So it really worked huh, we pulled it off. Is she talking to them right now?"

"Uh yes. I've just been in here waiting. I hope this oil of yours will last."

"Oh it will. We just have to wait for her to get back. I'm sure she's convincing them as we speak. It won't be long now."

"I sure hope so, or else I don't know what would happen. I mean, I don't want to be thrown in y'all's fancy dungeon you know. I tried to avoid that last time."

That statement rises questions in Khal's mind and he expresses them cautiously.

"Yeah uh, Ive been wondering why they would do that. What happened between you?
I didn't think you were old enough to even have history with them that we wouldn't know about."

"You do know about it. It is history, quite literally so."

"What part of history?"

"The death and destruction part. The war that happened almost 6 years years ago. I don't know what you guys call it."

"That war? You were apart of that war?"

"Yes"

"We don't have a name for it but... how old were you even then? Twenty or something? Because you'd have to be to be apart of it."

"Sixteen. I was sixteen when I watched them murder my parents before me."

"What?!"

"Oh Goddess."

The two responses were ones of shock but Marquése didn't want to get into those emotions. Those emotions made him lethal

"Yeah so now you know how we haven't exactly gotten along well in the past."

"He did that? Alpha Alderman?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

"I don't-I really don't know Khal, ok, I didn't exactly stick around to ask him any questions.
You know what let's just leave this alone, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Ok I understand, but just one thing. Does Kiara know?"

"No. She doesn't and you can't tell her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As I already told you, I have a mate."

"How did you find him?"

"I don't wish to talk about that, we-"

Alpha Alderman starts laughing cynically and Kiara stops talking, staring at the man whom she called her father.

"Is something funny King?"

His laughing stops immediately as he stares down at her.

"There must be if you think I'm buying this story Kiara. You've been searching for your mate for more than two years now and he has not shown up. But then once you run away you miraculously find him somewhere I don't even know."

"I'm telling the truth. Why can't you just-"

"This isn't funny at all Princess, you have a duty to fulfill."

The king summons one of the maids from beside them with a gesture of his finger and the small woman rushes to his side eager to take his request. She nods her head enthusiastically and turns around exiting the room.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing of your concern, plus, I'm the one who should be asking the questions.
How do you even know that he's your mate?"

"Are you serious father? I can feel it."

"Feel it? So you engaged with him."

"Engaged with him? What are you talking about? A simple touch can tell me.
I know what I felt and you know it too.
Wasn't that how you knew you had found your mate when you met mom?"

The room goes silent and the king looks to his mate. Her head is down, not casting as much as a simple look towards him.

He clears his throat

"I still can't be sure that you know what you felt Kiara-"

"Surprise!"

Kiara whips around at the sound of Draco's rough voice in shock.

"What are you doing here?"

"Please forgive my manners."

He turns to her bowing lightly and presents a blood red rose to Kiara.

"I'm glad that you are back my queen."

"No, I am not your queen."

Kiara turns back around without accepting the rose and faces her father

"Father I just told you that I have a mate so there is no reason for me to be with Draco.
He doesn't need to be here so why did you call him?"

"Because I love you, my daughter and I haven't seen you in a very long while. I can't trust the words that are coming out of your mouth."

"Father what are you talking about?"

"Detain her Draco."

As soon as the words leave the lips of the king an iron-clad grip was clamped around Kiara; trapping her against Draco's hard body.

"What! Draco put me down this instant! You can't do this!"

"Take her somewhere that she can't escape please Draco, ensure that it's clean if it's the dungeons."

"Yes sir."

"What? No! Father please! Don't do this!"

"I need to know that you're safe Kiara."

"No! Mom do something!"

She screamed at her mother and clawed at Draco's hand in desperation but nothing was done to stop him.
He places the rose at her nose and she inhaled and just like that she was falling over her two feet.

She was as weak as ever as he dragged her away.

"Was that really necessary?"

Her mother finally spoke up and the king glanced at her,

"I think she's in denial, I'm just giving her some time to cool off."

"You just threw your only child in the dungeon because she said that she had found her mate. Like that was something so preposterous!"

The queen screamed at him but he didn't answer

"You should have been proud that she didn't react as disgustingly as you did when you found yours."

This is the first time that the Queen has ever spoken up to the King like this. She had always cowered away from him before and the revelation shocked him to the core.

"She didn't have someone before her mate so she could never understand what that felt like."

His anger boiled within him but she didn't care

"No she couldn't, but I do."

"Ciara stop."

"I really do hope she has found her mate and that he loves her. Hell, at least one of us in this family should at least get the chance to be happy."

"We don't know that's true."

"And you don't know it's a lie, you didn't even give her a chance to speak-"

"This is for her own good. We just found her back I can't just-"

"No it's not! This is not for her own good! We have just got her back because she decided to come home after running away from us!
And now because of you we are going to loose her all over again!"