Chapter 68: Chapter 68

68 Chapter 68 : Keeping her alive

Over the next few weeks, the kingdom of Meria had changed a great deal, the status quo had completely flipped and transformed. Top generals and council men positions were reserved for those of lycan blood, with a few exceptions of vampires and elves. The heads of defense and warfare were mostly dwarves and elves, while humans who were loyal to the king were given lower but significant positions.

Other humans were only allowed small jobs like maids, butlers, field workers or merchants. The kingdom had been taken over by the once banished races, placing them above humans in every way. Word of the situation in Meria soon started spreading throughout the continent of Robia Cresus, and many other folk flocked to the kingdom which seemed to be a safe haven for them, especially considering that the king was a lycan.

On one particularly afternoon, Theo, who had now been promoted as the king’s royal adviser, walked into the throne room and bowed respectfully at the silver haired king, Elric.

“Your majesty, the Gavarian army has arrived within our borders, preparations to pursue and recover your queen, Ella, are well underway.”

Elric put down the small portrait painting of Ella he had been looking at and sat up straight in his throne, “and what about James Burchard? Is he finally ready to meet with me and discuss the terms of his cooperation?”

“Him, his wife and a lord Boleyn who claims to be Julia’s father are waiting for you in royal library your majesty,” Theo responded.

Elric stood up and walked down the three steps of his throne and pat Theo on the shoulder, “everything is falling into place, even the elven army of Ervelon will have to buckle up to stand in the same battle field as me.”

“That is true your majesty, but if i may air out my concern...”

Elric turned to face the slender man and gave him a ‘go ahead’ nod.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

.....

“You have the umm, ‘rouge’ races on your side your majesty,” Theo explained, “which is great because the numbers keep growing everyday. And I’m assuming the lycan silver pack will side with you as well, naturally of course, but then there the issues of the others, the pure breed nosferatu and dwarves. Don’t you think it’s likely that they too will side with the elves of Ervelon, especially considering that we know that Ella is a princess of the nosferatu.”

“Aye,” Elric spoke in response, “I have considered that Theo, and that’s why I asked you to send word to my father, my real father in the snowlands. You did send the letter didn’t you?”

“Yes your majesty, by raven,” Theo explained, “it will reach your father most likely in the next two days... but if I may ask my king, what does the letter say? Will it’s contents turn the tables in our favor?”

Elric smiled lightly at himself. Ever since he learnt of his true identity, he spent hours reading every peice of literature on lycans he could find. Their abilities, weaknesses, strengths and even their mating tendencies. He was especially pleased when he found a whole book explaining how sacred the mating rituals of a lycan, especially an alpha or one who is to be an alpha male, were.

It was written that once a young lycan came of age, he would sought out a mate within the pack, though there were some exceptions when one would find a mate outside the pack. Once a female was identified, the lycan would mate with her and mark her, claiming her as his own. After this, the two would be mates for life, a bond that was sacred and highly respected even by the other races. That information right there was Elric’s loophole.

He had sought out Ella, he had mated with her, heck he had even married her. Their union was legally binding by both human and lycan law, Ella was his mate and Adam had no place in their union.

The letter that Elric had sent to his father in the snowlands had explained this in great detail, and the silver haired prince had no doubt in his mind that this would be his trump card against that elven bastard Adam. Ella would never be his, not in this life and not in any other life.

“Don’t worry about it Theo,” Elric spoke with a satisfied smirk on his face, “everything is part of the plan. Now, shall we go and see our guests, I’m sure they’re tired of waiting on us. And please do fetch lady Julia, I’m sure her father misses her dearly.”

“Of course your majesty,” Theo spoke with a respectful bow before leaving the room, leaving Elric alone.

The lycan prince picked up Ella’s portrait and gave it a kiss before tucking it into his inside coat pocket, “I swore never to leave you my love,” he murmured to himself, “and I intended to keep that promise.”

*

“We should stop and water the horses,” Zander suggested, “once we leave the forest we will enter a plain filled with only tall grass and rocks, we won’t have a source of water for about two days. After the plain, is the entrance to the first portion enchanted forest, Lenora, the dwarve kingdom.”

The caravan had been on the road for almost three weeks now, and luckily so far they had not encountered any trouble. They had long left civilization behind and taken the long way around Gavaria, moving along the roads of the outer shires towards the enchanted forest. Hopefully the journey would continue being smooth and they would reach the elven kingdom of Ervelon in roughly two weeks.

The men dismounted their horses and led them

towards the flowing creek. Adam jumped off his horse as well and helped Ella down.

“You can take a rest while we refill the water canteens and water the horses,” Adam spoke to the blue eyed woman. He pulled the sweater she was wearing tightly around her form, he then took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck.

The weather was changing, it was deep into the fall and temperatures were dropping drastically, especially during the night and early in the morning. Luckily, the team had managed to secure some warm clothes and thicker furs for their journey forward.

“Are you hungry?” Adam asked Ella who shook her head in response.

“I’m fine,” Ella responded in a low tone.

“Are you sure? You look paler than usual Ella,” Adam spoke as he stroked her cold cheek, “and you’ve lost a bit of weight, I’m starting to worry about you.”

Adam was right, over the weeks Ella had gotten a little thinner. Her bright and brilliant aura was slowly turning gloomy and dark, she didn’t speak as much and she was constantly tired and weak.

“I think it’s just the journey taking a tow on me,” Ella responded with a small smile, in hopes of calming the dark haired prince down.

“Okay, but I’m going to go ahead and heat up some of the left over soup for you alright?” He gently rubbed her small chin with his thumb before getting up to gather wood for a fire.

Zander got up as well and followed Adam, when they were a noticeable distance away from the red head, the blond haired man cornered Adam and eyed him.

“What is it?”

“Your grace, you can feed her soups and worried words all you want,” Zander spoke in a hushed tone, “but we all know why her health is deteriorating like that.”

“Zander I’m not having this conversation again with you,” Adam responded as he broke a large branch in half.

“Your grace you can’t run away from what she is, she needs to feed,” Zander reminded Adam, “and not on rabbit stew or mushroom soup.”

“So what do you expect me do Zander huh?” Adam responded curtly, “you want me to capture an innocent human and drag them to Ella so she can suck their blood out. You and I both know she would never agree, she can’t even stand the smell of blood.”

“Only because she’s trying to resist her urges,” Zander spoke, “blood to her is what food is to you, we can’t keep her like this.”

Adam creased his brows and continued picking pieces of wood, he was well aware of Ella’s situation, but what could he do?

“We have to take her back to Meria, her people are probably expecting to find her there, they’ll be better suited to tend to her needs your grace.”

“And lead her right back into that bastard Nathaniel’s arms?!” Adam roared, “over my dead body!”

“My prince be logical,” the blonde elf urged Adam. He understood that he was in love with Ella, and letting her go again was not something that he wanted to do, but it was the best thing for everyone. “If we keep this up she’ll die.”

Adam’s body shuddered at the thought, letting Ella die would mean everything they had done till this point would be in vein. She would be reborn in another land God knows where, and he’d have to navigate his way through another lifetime until he would be reunited with her, given that Nathaniel didn’t find her first. That sounded like too much of a hustle and risk, but taking Ella back to Meria wasn’t something Adam wanted to do either, he was going to keep Ella alive somehow, without letting her go.

Before Adam could respond to Zander, Beric came running towards them, a look of dread in his eyes. “It’s Ella,” the man spoke breathlessly, “S- she’s not breathing!”