Nugroth took a deep breath. He glanced at Bianca and then he gazed past her. "The Serpent Kingdom and some of the Faes…"

Daryn gritted his teeth. He knew that the Serpents were against Adrianna and Dmitri ever since their fallout with Rhys. And Faes… they were a different species. Rarely ever mingled with other Loreans and were too powerful. Even if a few of them allied with Sedora, she would be in a strong position. Besides there were rumors that Aed Ruad and his twin sister were some of the disgruntled Faes, which stayed in the background. He turned his gaze away and closed his eyes as if he was thinking deep. An exasperated sigh left his mouth.

​​

Bianca chipped in. "That's not much of an alliance. I am sure the Serpent people are going to stay in the water! So we need not go towards the water bodies."

Daryn opened his eyes and looked at his daughter with admiration. The way she was already strategizing – it was as if she was born to do that, as if it came naturally to her. "That's right Bia, but the problem is that if the Shadows decide to strike other water creatures, then the Serpent people are going to help them. And that is what is worrying me."

"Then we need to keep them engaged over the land," she said with a shrug.

Nusgroth shook his head. "It's not that easy, Your Highness." He rubbed his face with his palm. "You cannot kill the Shadows. In order to kill them—" he just couldn't utter anything else, and his eyes dropped to his lap where he was clasping his hands.

"In order to kill them, what do we have to do?" asked Darius. He was as curious as his sister.

"This discussion is going to take place tomorrow now!" said Brantley and he suddenly got up from his chair.

Bianca was stunned by his behavior. They were in the middle of an important conversation. How could he simply leave it? And why was his heart thudding so fast that she could hear it? She frowned. "Brantley?" she whispered.

His face remained curt. "It is very late in the night. We can't come up with a good plan so soon. Let us all go and sleep and we are going to come back here with a plan. You just can't keep on going talking about the difficulties. You have to tell a solution too, something, which is not inevitable! And that you can think only when you have rested well, your mind has rested well."

Everyone in the room was surprised by his sudden announcement. There was so much tension beneath their skin, so many apprehensions and anxiety that they all agreed to him. They needed rest, they needed to formulate a plan and they had to do it fast.

Brantley reached out for Bianca. She held his hand and without another word, he took her away from the meeting chamber. Bianca didn't say anything all the while but as soon as they reached their bedchamber, she said, "Brantley, why were you so curt over there? That was an important meeting. Mummy and Daddy were sitting. Nusgroth had come on an urgent basis. Uncle Caleb was here to meet you. That man hadn't come for our wedding but he had come for this— this situation! Do you realize the responsibility on our shoulders?"

A muscle feathered in his jaw, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he walked to his closet to change. When he came back, he saw that she was still in her gown. "You must change too, Bia," he said softly. "It's past midnight and you need good rest."

She glared at him. "You must answer my questions first!"

Brantley still didn't answer her. He went to his side of the bed and lied.

She walked up to him, placed her hands on her hips and in an exasperated tone said, "Is this how you are going to be with me?"

He looked at her face for a long time as if drinking her features, as if committing every line to his memory. All of a sudden he held her hand and tugged her towards him. Bianca fell on his chest and he gripped her in his vise like grip.

"Brantley!" she tried to push herself off him.

His eyes were glossy when he said, "How can I explain to you that I can't go back to how I lived… without you?"

"But Brantley—"

He placed a finger on her lips. "Do you know I maintained a harem of women before you? I had given up the hope of having a mate. I had given up hope on myself. I was lost as hell. And I found solace in drugs at one point of time. My life was shallow and if I weren't the king of Aztec, I would have taken my life. My existence was hollow, and I existed like that for two thousand fucking years."

A gasp escaped her lips. "H— harem?" But then what else could she expect of a king like him? It did fill her with a lot of jealousy— like a lot of it.

Brantley placed her gently beside him. He got up to open the zipper of her dress and took it off. After throwing it over his own shirt, he unclasped her bra. "I think you should remain like this with me for the rest of the night," he said in a husky voice. He covered them with blankets and pulled her closer to him. And Bianca… she was ensnared by the way he rubbed her back, her arms, by the way his body suffused her with his heat. She became heavy-lidded. The man owned her.

"I had a big harem and girls from across the Lore joined it. I tried to find love in those girls. I don't know if they loved me or not, but I could never give them an iota of my love. I had to drink heavily to remove my mind from my future mate and fuck them. There was no outlet for my emotions." He tucked her closer and rested his chin on her head. "I did that for very long…" his voice trailed off. "And then my hope came in my life… your mother, Dawn. With her, you came in." He pulled her over his chest. "As soon as you came, I disbanded my harem. I groomed myself to be your husband. I did everything possible to mend to your likes and dislikes… right from the day you were conceived. Ever since you turned sixteen, the two years were torture. I saw you almost every day possible, I heard your voice, but I stopped myself from talking to you or touching you. It was a torment everyday when I would imagine you touching me, loving me back." His voice broke. "And I will do it all again… I will live the torment of two thousand years all over again for you."

She gazed in his hazel eyes. "Brantley…" she choked. She stopped breathing trying to fathom what he just said. They were so beautifully matched.

"Do you know I had green hair prior to this?"

"What?" she asked, looking at his hair unbelievingly.

He chuckled. "Yes, love."

"Then how come they have become golden?" She curled her fingers in his soft curls. Oh, how she loved it.

"Because at some point of time during Dawn's pregnancy my body must have felt vibes from you that you liked these hair, and my body reacted to your wishes…"