Chapter 25:

"Welcome home, my King." A scruff voice from behind us spoke, it broke the little moment we had. Dmitry immediately let go of me and turned around to the man. The old man stood proud, his shoulder stretched upright. His face held many years on them, wrinkles carved around his eyes, mouth, and forehead. He bore no smile, his eyes snapping sharp at me with interest. He had dark grey hair that was neatly cut and earthy eyes. He was clothed in a crisp, grey suit and light blue tie.

"Yerik," Dmitry spoke with
irritation clouding his eyes, Yerik also sensing Dmitry's mood, quickly bowed.

"The council is waiting inside, if we knew you'd be here now, we would have welcomed you much better..." his scruff voice spoke directly to Dmitry, but his eyes still bore into me. "Should I warm a room on the west side, my King?"

"No. She will be staying in the white room." Shock shook Yerik's frame, his body went still, his skin paled and his eyes grew in size.

"Yes, my King. Who might our respected guest be?"

"You'll find out soon enough, Yerik." Yerik bowed his head again and saluted up the stairs with his hand. During that uncomfortable meeting, Alek stood to the side, watching their discussion with amusement. His right foot tapped impatiently though, he was apparently bemused by the scene playing out in front of him, yet still longed to be somewhere else. "Aleksandr, you may go, but meet us in the Council Room in 10 sharp," Dmitry noted his impatient body language too. Alek did not wait a minute longer, for in a blink of an eye, he was gone with a big smile. I blinked my eyes a few times, still getting used to their abilities. Although I knew that they were different and stronger than me, I still had to get a full grasp of how much they differ from me. I still had to understand the amount of power they had over me; the strength, speed, agility. How was I to be their Queen, when I was so weak among them all.

Dmitry took my hand into his and led me to through the gigantic front door. The castle was magnificent inside, exactly how I would have imagined one to be. It had white marbled flooring; great white pillars surrounded the grand entrance with a big glass chandelier hanging in the middle. The room was big and empty, a few chairs and pot plants were scattered around, but other than that it was a vast, clean space. As we walked through the room, I swear I had heard our footsteps echoed. The more we moved inside the castle, the more it took my breath away. The walls were all decorated with golden trimmed patterns and a grant staircase that walked up two stairs right in the middle. The staircase too looked to be made out of marble and gold-rimmed, with a blood-red carpet running down in the middle. We passed the staircase to an opening on its left, a passageway with decretive marble statues and two entrances leading to what seemed to be relaxing areas. The passageway led to another big open space, to the right big glass windows stood proud, capturing the gorgeous mountains and woods as royal paintings. Dmitry tugged on my hand to the left.

"The mountains are quite gorgeous this time of day." He declared as a fact, "Before we go any further, I need you to listen carefully. I am going to introduce you to my Elders, they are specifically chosen werewolves to help me make big decisions. They have a lot of power in my pack and hence a lot of respect, but don't be frightened of them. Okay?" he spoke, his tone was warning me of something.

"Okay."

"Yerik here is one of them." He motioned his head to the old man who has been waiting patiently for us. He had a stoic look still on his face, but I saw a softer look in his eyes.

"Yerik," I acknowledge, "It is nice to meet you." I left Dmitry's hand and hugged a stoic Yerik. His body went rigged as I threw my arms around him, he did not move. After a few awkward seconds, I moved back to Dmitry and for the first time took his hand into my own. Dmitry stared intensely at me with admiration which made me smile big. Yerik cleared his throat and bowed a little to me.

"It is a pleasure to meet, My Lady, too." His once stoic face seemed to be friendlier. "Let's move to the courtroom, My King. My Lady." Dmitry and Yerik led me to another staircase that led again into a vast space, that space was bigger than the previous rooms. It had three candle lid chandeliers with big pillars. Three ladies were busy dusting the pillars when they noticed us. They immediately stopped with big smiles on their faces, bowing to us. They seemed friendly.

"Ladies." Dmitry acknowledged them which made me smile. He was truly a kind King. Yerik walked in front of us and walked through another opening, but this time I knew what the room was. Right in front of me was a massive marble chair with red drapes behind it. It stood on its own little marble podium, the step carved with solid gold roses. The chair was magnificent, even though I was far, I saw that it held many detail patterns. The throne too had golden engravings with a red cushion to sit on. The throne was big enough for two, but clearly, Dmitry could make it seem smaller. I got breathless with just the thought of Dmitry on that throne, a golden crown on his head and his people bowing in front of him. It felt like a fairytale.

"Come, this way." Dmitry led me away to an oak door to the right. Squishing my hand harder in reassurance, Yerik opened the doors and announced our presence.

"Tsar Dmitry I drug." (King Dmitry and friend.) the whole room went quiet. Looking through the room, I saw many elderly people in fancy clothes. They were all sitting at benches that surrounded a big wooden chair. It looked similar to a parliament house. Dmitry moved to the middle with me behind him. He went and stood behind the main chair with me next to him. The Elders were staring intensely at us, me in particular.

"Elders. A few weeks ago, on my trip to America, I met someone..." he stretched out his hand towards me to take, "I met a miracle, this here is Hope Fitrei. You're soon to be Queen." Chaos broke out amongst the Elders, some whispered with distress expressions to each other, but others were much more open and expressive. A few where aggressively asking questions of how something like this could happen, but the comment that got me was from an older lady accusing me of a witch who has charmed him. As the mean lady finished her sentence, Dmitry vibrated with anger, growling out to them all, "Enough!" On instinct, my hand grabbed for his and he immediately relaxed. "What I am about to tell you, shall be kept in confidence, till I know what to do and say to our people." That sentence did not sit well with me, for some reason it felt cold and impersonal, I felt like a burden, not a so-called soulmate. It arose a question in me, if he truly wanted me as his mate and if he is ashamed of me, but I tried to keep positive thoughts, maybe there was something else that he did not tell me. "Hope is... she is my mate." He seemed restricted to say those words, which did not help with my initial thoughts of that time. "And you shall respect her as you do me. Her safety is at utmost importance, while I was at Fortbridge she was under attack by rouges... and a witch." Murmurs sliced the deafening silence, "We have been at peace with the witches for centuries now and therefore I shall speak with Leviathan on this matter, hence I want to keep this development under wraps. Hope's safety comes first until I have answers. The circumstances around our meeting are at best complicated and... suspicious. I shall brief you all later. The meeting is adjourned till after lunch." Dmitry took my hand and led me back out of the room, everyone waited patiently for us to leave, before I heard loud arguments again.

"Hope," Dmitry started to speak before I interrupted.

"You said our meeting was suspicious, why?" Dmitry signed and looked away, he took my other hand and connected it in pairs.

"There are many secrets in these walls, some with the time you'll get to know. Some time I shall tell you them all. Rest, for all you have to know is that you are safe." He seemed to be speaking in riddles, not answering my question, leaving me once again in the dark. It seemed to be a theme with them all, thrusting me into dark rooms about my life and leaving me there till they feel it was time for me to be let out. It pained me, not to know anything, that strange things were happening around me, yet I was not to know what they were.

"Why?" my question was not for my previous one, but rather the reason why I may not know. All had to say was one word and he understood. He knew what he was doing, he knew he was leaving me in that dark room.

"' Cause when I saw you for the first time," he paused, nervous about his next words. He was guarding me from himself; I, his captive in a dark room. "I felt... human ." My heart felt as if it stood still and all the air was displaced out of my lungs. He gave me a little torch to light and me, his Stockholm syndrome prey. 

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