Chapter 113: Chapter 113

113 Chapter 113 : Don’t interfere with fate

Aiden walked slowly through the crowds that were filled with people hugging and crying tears of joy. It had been almost a month now and to some extent he had almost lost hope that he would ever see any of these people again. He smiled softly as he passed by Estel who crying and hugging her father, she had mentioned to him how closer she was to her father than her mother, and after the incident in the woods, Aiden could see why.

His heart was thumping in his chest as he inched closer the the two large tents that were set up for them and saw that a lamp was lit in one of the tents. When he reached the entrance he heard the voice of his mother crying and instantly froze. Why was she crying? Had something happened to his father?

Aiden rushed into the tent with his heart lodged in his throat, “Mother!” He yelled. But to his relief, he saw Marceline cradled in his father’s arms crying like an infant.

“Father...” Aiden rasped. He could feel tears threatening to pour out of his own eyes. He ran towards the man and wrapped his arms around both him and the woman he was embracing. “You made it back!”

Kaiser Stefan ruffed Aiden’s hair and smiled softly at him, “we did, and it’s good to see you took good care of your mother while I was away. You will make a great king one day.”

Marceline wiped her tears and looked up at her husband, “gods you’ve lost so much weight, have you not been feeding?”

“Don’t worry about me darling,” Stefan responded as he wiped the tears from his wife’s rosy cheeks, “what’s important is we managed to escape with only a few casualties.”

After everyone exchanged hugs and pleasantries, the whole family sat down in a circle to catch up. The nosferatu royal family at the time comprised of Kaiser Stefan and his wife Marceline, their son Aiden and their niece Vivian, the Kaiser’s brother who was also his right hand Damien, Damien’s wife Loretta and their three sons Emmett, Jasper and Cassias.

“So what happens now?” Aiden questioned his father after listening to the story of how they fought off the humans and journeyed to find them. “Do we just forget about our home, our people who were captured? Is this how our legacy falls at the hands of humans?”

.....

“We cannot win in a battle against the humans as we are now,” Stefan spoke as he sipped on his cup of fresh baby dear blood. “The humans already outnumbered us before, but now that they have captured some of our brothers our number is almost half what it was before. Waging war would be suicide.”

“So we just sit around and watch them enjoy everything we worked hard to build?” This time it was Vivian who spoke. After hearing the details of what had happened the night of the attack, she had developed a resentment towards humans.

“Of course not,” the Kaiser responded, “we will take back our land and save our brothers. But we need to replenish our strength first. After which we will strategize a way to defeat the human race despite their strength in numbers.”

The Kaiser finished his drink and put down his cup, “for now we will rebuild. We will start anew without the humans and begin a new peaceful existence here. Anyway enough about me and my sad war stories.” Stefan’s demeanor relaxed, he was glad to be sitting in front of his family like this. “What’s have all of you been up to, anything interesting?”

“I got my wings!” Jasper responded and flashed his matte black wings proudly.

“Ah, those are some fine wings my boy,” Stefan commented, “they will serve you well if you take good care of them.”

“What can I say, he takes after his old man,” Damien spoke as he flashed his own beautiful black wings.

“I learnt how to use mine too,” Vivian spoke excitedly.

“That’s wonderful Vivian my dear,” the Kaiser commented, “but do be careful, purple wings can be quite lethal.”

“I know.. I’m incredibly careful now.”

Among the nosferatu gifted with flight, there were three main types of wings; black ones that were known for strength and could carry their bearer for miles, brown ones that were know for their flexibility, they we’re almost like a second pair of arms for the bearer , and purple wings known for their lethal poison. Someone wounded by a pair of purple wings usually died within twenty four hours.

Other than these three, there was a rare type that was almost impossible to have, the red wings. They were like all the other three types of wings combined and more, they were powerful, flexible, lethal and could also camouflage the bearer when covered with them. The only known nosferatu who had a pair of red wings was Marceline, the queen of the nosferatu. It was no wonder so many respected her so much, many believed it was a divine sign that she was meant to lead.

“Oh and Aiden got a girlfrie-”

Aiden quickly covered Vivian’s mouth and glared angrily and her. He pulled away and gagged when he felt something wet slithering on his palm. “Vivian did you just lick me?! You’re disgusting!”

“Oh so you found someone you like?” Stefan questioned his son with an intrigued smile.

“He did,” Vivian added on, “to be honest we were all surprised considering he is really awkward and terrible with women.”

“Well who is the lucky woman?” Kaiser Stefan inquired, “do we know her? Does she come from a good family?”

All eyes fell on Aiden who was sweating bullets. He cleared his throat and averted his father’s gaze before speaking, “well umm, she’s a little different from us.”

“Different?” The Kaiser became even more intrigued, “different how? Is she not from a noble family? Because if that’s the case there’s no need to worry Aiden, love doesn’t care about titles and-”

“She’s an elf..” Aiden blurted out.

His father looked at him in shock. Had he heard his son right? “She’s an elf?”

“And not just any elf,” Vivian added on, “she’s princess Estel.”

“Oh my..”

Marceline placed a gentle hand on her husband’s shoulder and smiled at him, “she’s a good girl Stefan,” she spoke, “you should see them together they’re so happy. They remind me of us when we first met.”

“Well it’s quite unusual,” the Kaiser spoke nervously, “it’s the first I’m hearing of an interracial relationship. What if there are consequences-”

“She’s his blood half Stefan,” Marceline interrupted her husband, “and you know what that means.”

“What?!” The Kaiser was absolutely shocked, “Marceline are you sure of what you’re saying?!”

“I’ve never been wrong about this kind of thing, trust me Stefan, she’s the one.”

“Well if that’s the case, no matter what I say I cannot pull you two apart,” the Kaiser spoke still in shock. He had never heard of blood halves from different races before. “Fate has spoken and no one can go against it.”

“Well actually..” Aiden spoke with a sigh, “It doesn’t look like her mother is for the idea of me and her being together. She said she never wants to see me near her daughter ever again.”

The Kaiser ran his hand over his face and sighed heavily, “Tauriel has always been a hard knob to turn. But don’t worry my son, I will speak to king Aragon about it. We cannot go against fate, it will lead to dire consequences, they know that.” Stefan pat his son’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile, “worry not, you will be with your beloved.”

“Thank you father,” Aiden responded with a grateful bow.

*

On the other side of the camp in the tents designated for the elven royal family, queen Tauriel was raving about Estel’s relationship with Aiden.

“It’s unheard of!” She yelled, “what will people say when they find out the princess is frolicking around with a nosferatu man?! There are hundreds of handsome elven men from noble families around camp to choose from, so why would she go for a nosferatu?!”

King Aragon, a tall, well built, handsome elf with blond hair and deep hooded brown eyes nodded attentively as he listened to his wife making points about why his daughter and the nosferatu prince should not be together. When she was finished he cleared his throat and looked at his daughter who had her head down and was twirling her hair in her fingers.

“So what you’re saying is they shouldn’t be together because prince Aiden is not an elf?” the king questioned his wife.

“Exactly!” Tauriel responded, “I mean we don’t even know if they’ll be able to shire heirs.”

“I see,” the king spoke with a nod. He then turned to his daughter and called to her. “Estel, my beautiful little princess.”

“Yes father,” she responded in a low voice. She steeled her heart and prepared herself for the heartbreaking words her father was about to deliver.

“Are you in love with prince Aiden?” Aragon questioned the blonde woman.

“I am..” she whispered in response.

“My princess look at me when you speak,” Aragon spoke, “you are a princess and must always speak with confidence.”

Estel lifted her head and looked into her father’s eyes. She drew a deep breath and pursed her lips to stop them from trembling before speaking. “Father, I love Aiden with all my heart. And I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with him!”

Tauriel rolled her eyes and the other occupants of the tent braced themselves for what was to come. King Aragon loved his daughter to bits but there was no chance in hell he would let her-

“Then it’s settled,” Aragon spoke, “Estel loves Aiden, and he loves her. Let them be together.”

“What?!” Everyone gasped in unison.

“But darling-”

“Enough Tauriel,” Aragon shushed his wife, “nothing good ever comes out of interfering with fate. Let the children be.”