May Death Do Us Part

63 Chapter 63 : Prince Gareth

Nathan walked towards his father’s chambers and knocked lightly at his door. The poor man had been cooped up in there for days on end, drowning himself in wine surrounded by his late wife’s clothing, jewelry pieces and paintings. Nathan did feel bad for the man, but this wasn’t the time to get sentimental, he had bigger agendas to tend to. He wasn’t about to let anything delay or distract him.

After the third knock Nathaniel decided to let himself in, and as usual the king was sitting at his table, a picture of his wife in one hand and a cup of wine in the other. He looked ten years older and drained of all emotion.

“Father,” Nathaniel spoke softly as he put a gentle hand on his father’s shoulder, ” I know you’re not feeling quite like yourself right now, but the coronation is supposed to take place today.”

The silver haired prince pulled a chair and sat next to his father, “the kingdom needs a leader father, lest anarchy falls upon us.”

King Bradley put down his cup and held his wife’s portrait with both his hands and stroked it lovingly, “I relieved myself of duties to the crown the day Juliet died,” he spoke, from the cracking in his voice Nathaniel could tell that the man was far from pulling himself out of grief, “I was a whole king, but failed to keep my wife alive and my daughter in law was kidnapped from right under my nose. What kind of king is that?”

Ah Ella, Nathaniel had avoided thinking about her because the thought of his wife in the arms of that Gavarian bastard Adam Burchard sparked an anger in him that he feared would devour him whole. His end game was to get his wife back, but first he’d have to make Meria and the entire continent of Ronia Cresus a place worthy of her return. He was going to tear down the entire continent and rebuild it from the ground up for her. Then she would see how deeply his love for her run. He would mold a world where she would live freely, as her true self, a beautiful nosferatu goddess who would rule the new world by his side.

“Forgive me my son,” king Bradley added on, “you must miss her terribly.”

Nathaniel looked to his lap and balled his fist, “I do,” he responded, “but I will get my wife back father, you can count on that. Once I’m king, I’ll have all the resources at my disposal to turn this entire kingdom upside down in search of her if I have to.”

The king nodded weakly and pat his son on the shoulder, “do what you must, I’ve lost my soul mate, don’t lose yours.”

.....

After Nathaniel left his father with a few more words of comfort, he exited the room. He turned to the guard who was standing outside the door and instructed him to lock his father in.

“He has no idea of what is going on on the outside,” Nathan spoke to the gaurd, “let’s keep it that way. Make sure he has everything he needs and keep him alive and well.”

“Yes your grace..” the man responded. He too had glowing yellow eyes and fanged teeth.

Nathaniel turned and walked down the hall to where Theo, his butler, was waiting for him, “have you gathered the royal guards?” He asked Theo.

“I have my prince,” Theo responded, “and as expected, after the awakening and telling them of your true identity and motives, they are more devoted to your cause than ever.”

“Excellent,” Nathaniel responded with a pleased smile, “and my brothers?”

“Both still in shock,” Theo explained, “I have to admit, I was surprised to know that the queen was of lycan blood. So the rumors of one of the Merian kings taking other races as slave wives were true.”

“That must explain why my mother was so terrified of me and disliked my brothers,” Nathaniel added on, “she must have known what we were for a long time.”

“Quite the conundrum given she was also a descendant of Merian blood, the same people responsible for the mass genocide of our people.”

Nathaniel stood at the door that led to the balcony that faced the massive palace courtyard and smiled slyly, “it’s a sign Theo, we were made to rule all along.” And with that he opened the doors, looking down at the guards who stood in the courtyard. There were lycans, nosferatu, a few dwarves and even fewer elves. Nathan was even surprised to see some humans who were among them.

“And them?..” Nathaniel questioned Theo

“They say their loyalty is to you and has been from the beginning,” Theo explained, “despite what you are.”

Nathaniel’s smile grew broader, he was glad he had taken time to win the loyalty of the royal guard unit before hand. This was making his job a lot easier.

*

“Yes!” Ivan exclaimed happily, he was practically dancing around after he’d looked at his reflection in the mirror several times. His chestnut brown hair had lengthened and sleeked down, his cheekbones heightened, his shoulders broadened and he was sure his teeth whitened somehow. He was drop dead gorgeous. “I knew there was something more to me than just my charm and my wit, good gods look at me, I might even hold a candle to prince Adam now.”

Ella begged to differ, Adam was already very handsome before but now, lord, this man was nothing short of immaculate. His brown wavy locs of hair danced with every turn of his head, his eyes that changed hue between brown and a deep purple were mesmerizing, his jawline and cheekbones looked like they were curved by angels, and his lips, pink and full like a lotus flower in bloom.

“Zander, Roland do you know anything about what’s going on with us?” Odran asked his friends skeptically.

“Actually we do,” Roland responded.

“Then tell us? Are we cursed?” Ozias spoke panickingly as he pinched his pointy ears.

“Who cares I am gorgeous!” Ivan screamed from the background, still admiring himself in the mirror.

“It’s highly likely that all of you are of elven decent,” Zander explained, “because of the vicious experiments done to your ancestors, your elven genes were suppressed making you look more human.”

“Adam’s awakening, accompanied with lady Ella’s and the other two choosen ones must have reset all of you to your true selves,” Roland added on.

Ozias rubbed his head with both hands, “this is all too confusing.”

“That is why we have to make it to the enchanted forest, that is where our brethren reside, our people..” Zander turned to Adam, “your kingdom.”

“My kingdom?” Adam mattered, he knew that there was something different about him, and Ella and Nathaniel as well, but this was more than he’d bargained for.

“You are the oldest son of queen Tauriel,” Roland added on, “the sole heir of the elven throne, prince Gareth, first of his name.”

“That’s why I kept insisting we’d be safe in the enchanted forest,” Zander explained, “if you’ve awoken my prince, so has Nathaniel. He’s the lycan prince of the silver pack. Lycans have tremendous power and keen tracking instincts, I highly doubt he’ll let you take his bride without a fight. We need to move, now.”

Adam turned to Ella, “but she’s not an elf, what if the others reject her?”

“Thats a chance we should take my prince, at the end of the day we can’t sit around and wait to have our necks torn off by a pair of lycan claws.”

“Okay,” Adam responded, “let’s gather supplies in the town for our journey and then we can leave. You can tell us the details about this whole thing as we move.”

After two hours of gathering food, water canteens, sleeping furs and new clothes, the group was ready to proceed.

Ella walked down the stairs to where the men were waiting for her after changing out of her wedding dress. She was was now wearing black leather slacks, a white blouse with a black corset and boots. All the men, especially Ivan, looked at her in awe, it wasn’t every day they saw a woman in something other than a dress, she looked stunning.

“I figured it would be better for travel than some stupid dress,” she spoke happily, she felt so comfortable. Being the daughter of a lord in this life, even the mere mention of slacks was forbidden, so this felt very liberating.

Adam walked up to her and stared at her from head to toe, now this was the woman he had fallen in love with, seeing her now brought back so many memories. He pulled her close and turned her around, he then untied her bun and let her hair drop down her back to her bum.

“Now you look perfect,” Adam spoke lovingly.

“But a noble woman should always have her hair tied, it would distract her-”

“A noble woman can do whatever the fuck she wants,” Adam spoke as he traced his finger through her bouncy ginger hair, “and the only one who’s getting distracted around here is me.”

Ella looked away and blushed lightly.

Ivan cleared his throat loudly to get the pair’s attention, “if you two are finished we have a werewolf on our tail and need to get moving!”

Ella chuckled while Adam rolled his eyes, “you heard the man,” he spoke softly to the blue eyed beauty, “let’s get going.”