*Third person PoV*

Selene and Fang went back in the carriage with the man who Fang had put on a slave contract, guided it back into the tourist city. Exhausted, Selene had fallen asleep while Fang looked outside the window. He dragged in a deep breath before turning back to look at Selene. 

A pang of pain clutched his heart, knowing how her wolf had withdrawn as well. His eyes traced the soft features on her face. 

He reached his fingers out to touch her cheek with the back of his knuckle when he stopped, and determination clouded his eyes. There was no way he was just letting go. The problem was, even if she made her fail her mission, she was bound to marry that vampire bastard. He gritted his teeth, cursing himself for bringing that other person in her life between both of them. If only he had met her a little before he accepted that proposal.

He was always looking for a chance to get back the queen and her daughter for what they had done to his father.

When the Dominicks had extended the marriage proposal to Adalolpha, Fang had seen it as an opportunity, but now he cursed that decision of his. When he met Selene, he saw how much she went through. Even though she had a hand in his father’s demise, Selene was not the one directly responsible. 

Fang clenched his jaw as the muscle at the back of his jaw protruded in anger. His eyes came back to Selene as he slowly caressed her head.

His eyes shut and tried to do what he tried a while back when she was unconscious. His mind guided through hers and there were many memories he saw hidden even in her mind but what she had seen in the cave was not reachable at all. He breathed out heavily before gliding his fingers through her hair. 

“I won’t let you go, Selene,” Fang promised, while turning back to look outside the carriage. 

A carriage rode over the stone crafted road as it entered through the castle gates. It circled around the fountain before stopping in front of the main door. Even before its wheels could stop their motion, a man tumbled out while holding his cap with leaves stuck on his hat. His entire attire had leaves stuck on it and he almost discarded some amount of dirt on the castle marble flooring. The guards let him through the main hall to enter the throne room, where Cortonia Adalwolfa sat on the throne while reading a parchment. 

“My Queen, m-my queen,” the man stumbled inside the room and the two ministers scrunched their noses at him. 

Cortonia raised her eyes as she clicked her eyes, “We have an important matter to discuss here.” She took in the appearance of the person in front of her. It was one of the watchers she had kept on Selene’s tail. As much as she wanted to throw him out, she understood something was not right here. 

One of the old ministers in the court twisted his lips, “Have you no respect to present yourself like this in front of our queen?”

Cortonia raised her hand to stop the minister. She hated the number of lunatics around her, but they were all useful to her in some or the other way. Plastering a smile on her face, the queen turned to the elderly minister, “Minister Rautela, I believe the young man must be in a hurry. For now, I will read through the tax report and let you know about the expenses needed for the wedding. I am sure we don’t want to exhaust the treasury on my daughter when I still have my son’s marriage to plan.”

The aged man stood up, delighted to hear that. It was not that he cared about the queen’s son. Minister Rautela was well aware of his bedridden and malnourished condition. 

What actually interested him was his granddaughter’s wedding to the future ruler, “Yes, my queen, if there need to be more taxes collected I will arrange for it.” Cortonia’s son was not promised long life, and that was just an added bonus for Rautela’s granddaughter, Sylvie. That girl would easily rule the entire of Adalolfa and Minister Rautela could not wait to monopolise the market to his liking then. 

Cortonia smiled, “that wouldn’t be necessary yet, though I hope Sylvie got over her obsession with one of the other ministers not present here today.” 

When it came to playing the right game at the right time, Cortonia was smarter than most.

Minister Rautela faltered as he wrung his hands, “Y-yes, my queen. I have taken care of it. Sylvie has returned to the capital and hasn’t even thought about going back to Waterwoods.” Which was a plain lie. 

“That is great to hear,” Cortonia chimed, “Now please enjoy the rest of the day I have other matters to attend to.” 

Minister Rautela did not want to linger anymore and put out the lies, he had said. He was well aware that the queen was no fool. He bowed, “Thank you, my queen.” in the blink of an eye he left the room. The minister sitting did not have to be told twice and bowed before leaving the queen alone with the visitor he did not recognise. The door closed behind them and the watcher stepped forward to whisper his words. 

“It better be something worth my time,” the queen said in a cold tone as she glared at the man. She did not even remember the name of. “Rosalia please leave us alone,” Cortonia dismissed the royal guard and Rosalia followed suit. 

The man smeared in dirt walked forward, “My queen, the princess isn’t at her home.” 

“Is that it?” Cortonia growled as her voice boomed through the entire throne room, “You came here to tell me just that? The king has granted her another place to live. Have you checked it?” 

“N-no my queen-“

“Then how can you come with this news as something urgent?” Cortonia was furious. She was in the middle of discussing the taxes and the planning of the wedding for Selene when this man disturbed her. It wasn’t always that she had time to discuss such trivial matters and she postponed them to hear this supposedly false news. 

“My queen p-please hear me out,” the man pleaded for his life. 

The queen was no good with her patience. She got up from her throne, baring her nails as her eyes turned golden, “You have 10 seconds to explain.” 

The man shivered in his bones, seeing the queen this enraged. His life was on the line and with the way the queen looked, he knew he was losing his head today. He stuttered out of fear, “Q-q-queen, the princess, sh-she usually stays the h-house by the outskirts but she hasn’t returned i-in the past two days.” The queen did not stop her stride and it made the man sweat. She was getting closer and he could see blood in his eyes. “H-her maid is the o-o-only one living there-” 

The queen clicked her tongue before she rolled her eyes and rushed to kill the man.

It utterly feared the man at the sight of hell coming straight to him. He shut his eyes and shouted in the last attempt, “The princess left Winterwells two days back with a girl and it wasn’t with her maid.” He huffed heavily as he braced for the impact but it never came. Cortonia’s sharp and curved nails had stopped mere inches from his throat and as he opened his one eye to see the queen stop, he fell to the ground as his limbs went weak. 

“Who did she leave with?” Cortonia asked. 

The man shivered and sweated till he felt like he would melt on the ground, “it was nighttime, b-but the other girl had a silver collar around her neck and possibly white of pink hair.” 

Cortonia squinted her eyes before turning back to her throne, “Are you sure Selene did not return after that?” 

The man shook his head even though the queen could not see him do it, “Y-yes my queen. Also, the maid’s movements inside the house are unusual. She would deliberately keep the lights on so her shadow can be seen. At first, we thought it was the princess, but the princess had never been home this long before so we decide to check this morning. That was when we found it was the-” 

Cortonia turned back to look at him with a glare. Her nails dug into her palm as she understood the situation well. “Where did she head to?” she grunted. 

The man took sharp breaths, “I don’t know” 

“What do you mean you don’t,” the queen shouted. The man was about to piss his pants, knowing he had given the worst possible answer. “What do I pay you for?” Cortonia asked. 

Fear swam on that man’s face as he gulped down the blockage in his throat, “The princess was headed to the c-capital, that is all I saw.” 

Cortonia took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, “go back and tell me as soon as Selene returns.” The man bowed before scampering away in a run that started as a crawl. This was not what Cortonia had expected Selene to do. If that girl was tasting her freedom, it would be a huge problem. The queen had spent ten painful years showering Selene with love and bounded that little princess to her in an emotional bond.

The fourteen years that Cortonia had spent breaking Selene and her wolf would go to waste if Selene was to connect back with her wolf.

The queen was no Alpha but handling the king was enough of a hassle than having another full-grown Alpha added to the list of her troubles. Besides, she needed Selene to be a slave to her manipulation till the marriage.. “Rosalia,” the queen called and the royal guard was quick to appear, “It seems the princess has tried to flee, deploy some able people on the lookout of her.”