I forget to breathe when "I look at the throne.

'We're meant for this...' Vesta's words echo the feelings inside me.

There's a separate throne for me sitting by his. He takes my hand before leading me up to the throne. I turn around to sit on it and see everyone bow as Arles sits on his. Everyone has their attention on us. All the faces are known to me.

The corner of Archander's lips curls up into a small smirk when my eyes meet his. I refrain from frowning. It's his way of pulling my leg. Haestus and Armelius are seated beside him. Both looking serious while Haestus seems consumed by his thoughts.

After some greetings, the session starts. Every minister gives important inputs to Arles while I sit quietly and see the whole process. Finally, it was Lyco Suilius's turn to give inputs related to his department. His demeanor and physic are enough to attract attention as he stands up from his seat.

"Your Highness..." Booms his gruff voice in the room as he continues, "The defense on the northern border has been increased as per your command. No commotion has been detected..." He is interrupted by the arrival of a soldier.

Arles nods as the soldier bows before he speaks, "The royal messenger is here,"

"Let him in," is Arles' order after a figure steps inside the courtroom. It's wearing a black cloak which seems to radiate darkness in the well-lit room. It's tall and lean, its moments swift and silent. I swear if I weren't listening carefully I'd have missed the faint sound of their footsteps. The figure seems to be floating in the air anyway.

The figure is wearing a black hat which covers its facial features. It takes its hat off before bowing low before Arles. I am met with a set of yellow golden eyes that have the intensity to stare past me.

"Your Highness," Speaks the owner of the eyes as I study his features. He has a pretty angular face with full lips and hard eyes, "I am Nadal, the Royal Messenger," His deep, velvety voice echoes in the silent courtroom. I lightly nod at him after some moments before he turns his attention to Arles.

I can't help but stare at him. His eyes fog as soon as they meet with Arles. They're mind linking. Shortly after, Nadal pulls out a golden scroll from under his cloak before climbing the steps to the throne. He steps before Arles' thrones and kneels down with his head bowed as he holds forward the golden scroll.

Arles takes the scroll from his hands before Nadal raises and climbs down the steps. Arles unrolls the scroll and reads it beside me as I study Nadal's moments. When he reaches the bottom of the steps, he stops before looking over his shoulder at me.

My heart leaps in my chest when his eyes swap colors. For a millisecond they turn red before turning back to their original color. Next, he walks away with the soldier as if nothing happened while I sit here transfixed. Was it my imagination?

The vibes that I got from him didn't feel right. Is there something wrong with him? I look at Arles to find him absorbed in the scroll. He didn't see Nadal. I look at the other ministers who are busy talking amongst each other. They didn't see it either.

I open my mouth to speak but I am interrupted.

"Yes, Lyco. Please continue," Arles speaks as he puts the scroll away. As Lyco continues with his inputs, I decide to talk to Arles later. After the session, Arles departed with some ministers to some place in the kingdom before bidding me goodbye.

I could feel the excitement in me rise like a high tide as I hear his voice drift away outside the corridor of his wing. I can go back to the well.

"Where are you going?" A voice stops me as I am about to enter the third door in Arles' wing. I turn around to meet Haestus stepping inside the wing.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him instead.

"I am here to keep you company," Haestus' answer has my eyebrows touching my hairline. "Oh, really?" I narrow my eyes at him to which, he nods. I sigh and realize that Arles has probably ordered him to keep an eye on me in his absence.

That man!

Annoyance takes over me as I see Haestus giving me a mocking smile as he leans by the wall. "You two seem to be getting along well together," He comments and I almost roll my eyes.

"Naice," He adds in a cocky way as he gives me a suggestive look.

"You seem jealous, why tho?" I cross my hands on my chest and tip my head at a side. He rolls his eyes and sighs deeply before he shakes his head.

"You've never been out of this place, have you?" He changes the topic. This has my interest and I nod. "Let's take you outside then,"

~

"This place is so empty," I comment as our carriage rolls into a small village. The small houses look empty and abandoned from outside.

"It's not, trust me," He speaks while looking out of the small window of the carriage. He seems so consumed in his thoughts all the time. I sigh as I continue to look out of the window. The sky is gray and the day looks gloomy. The trees are naked and the floor is covered with dirty snow.

The Carriage stops in the front of a big white building before we climb down.

"What's this place?"

"Come with me, you'll know," He speaks more to himself before leading me to the huge steps of the white building. I tip my head back as I take in the sight of the huge building. The ceiling is supported by five huge pillars which have strange inscriptions inscribed on them.

The head of the building is covered by gray clouds. Several crows sit here and there on the small statues and inscriptions while peering down at is.

"Watch your steps," His voice takes me by surprise. For the most part, he seems to be occupied with his own thoughts but at the same time, he seems to be giving attention to me as well. I silently follow him inside the building.

We enter the building through a set of humongous door. The walls inside are white and so is the floor. The place is mostly empty. The ceiling is so high that it disappears in the crowd of clouds while several rays of sunlight peek through them and illuminate the place.

There's a huge pool in the middle of the room. It's round and when I peer inside it, it seems bottomless. A gasp leaves my mouth when I am able to see the whole galaxy to see inside it.

"It's a well," Haestus' voice echoes behind me. I turn around to find him watching me closely.

"What?"

"It's a well. It's one of the whispering wells we have here."

"The whispering well?" I ask as a crease forms between my eyebrows. He nods, "Listen..." He trails off before I hear voices whispering things that I cannot understand. They seem to be coming from inside the so-called well. Suddenly, it reminds me of the well where I saw Arles' past.

"What does it do?" I ask, feeling my curiosity reaching the moon.

"It shows you what you want to know the most," He speaks as he steps beside me and peers into the well. His blue eyes look so unfocused and lost as he looks down into the water and sinks deeper into his own pool of thoughts.

"It doesn't really look like a well though," I comment and he sighs before he leads me to the other side of the room where I notice a huge door which I somehow I failed to notice before.

As I am led through the door and we walk down a long corridor, I look around fascinatingly. There are so many statues here and so many symbols inscribed on the walls, I want to know what they mean. I try to ask Haestus but he is too much occupied with his own thoughts. It's annoying me more every passing moment.

When we step out of the corridor into another huge room, my jaw hits the ground. A huge statue of the moon goddess stands in the center of the room. She looks much more beautiful here than the statues present back at Arles' place.

She looks down at us with benevolent eyes as she pets a big wolf standing by her side while her other hand is up in the air, holding a crescent moon. Her hair flows down to her waist while the white cloth wrapped around her body covers her skin but at the same time doesn't fail to flaunt the curves of her body.

There's something inside me telling me to bow in front of her. I feel a chill run down my spine when a surge of power washes over me.

"Luna..." Haestus mutters beside me, reminding me of his presence which I had forgotten as I was too busy staring at her statue and admiring the beauty of it. Haestus starts to chant in a langue which I cannot understand. I watch him with curiosity as he pulls out his sword and kneels down. He balances the blade on the floor while both of his wrists rest on its handle as he closes his eyes and continues chanting.

Shortly after that he rises and puts his sword back before turning to me. "Let's get you back,"

"What was that place?" I ask him as I climb the carriage before him.

"Luna's temple," He answers as he climbs after me and takes a seat opposite me. "What did you pray for?" I ask him as the carriage starts moving.

"Someone I never had,"

~

I feel tired as soon as I step inside Arles' bedroom. He is not here so I decided to take a bath and change into my night clothes. I dim the lights of the room and read by my side of the bed when he finally enters the bedroom.

I give him a glance before continuing to read the book I've been reading before. I hear him sigh before he goes inside the bathroom.

"How long has it been on earth?" I ask him as soon as he steps out. He cocks an eyebrow at me while I wait for him to answer my question.

"Why are you asking this?"

"Because I want to know,"

"Why do you want to know?" I roll my eyes at him before I decide to abandon the question and continue reading my book. The bed dips beside me shortly after he climbs on it and looks at the book I have been reading.

"More than thousand years have passed there since I bought you here," He finally answers my question.

"Then five years on earth would have been just a few seconds here?" I ask further and see his eyebrows shoot to his hairline as he gets the context behind my question.

He shakes his head before he answers, "The time frame of earth and Zaeris are entirely different. The five years you spent on earth after I found out we're mates was the same for me too."

"But how?"

"Archander was there with you, remember?"

"Yes,"

"Well, Archander never belonged to that mortal realm. He's attached to this realm solely. For Archander to exist on earth, I had to match the time frames of earth and Zaeris otherwise he would have been lost in the void," Arles explains.

"That means it was five years on your side too?"

"Yes," He answers as he looks down at me fervently, "Why are you asking this?" He asks.

"I don't know, Arles. When I went there and found everything has changed, I got scared. I-"

"I was scared too," He interrupts me before I look at him in wonder. "I was scared that you'll be lost and I won't be able to see you again. You were the first one to travel between two realms without using portals. Portals are important to swap realms as they help to adjust the time frames and dimensions but you didn't require that. You just used traveling sand. I think it was possible for you because you were there initially," He explains while I continue looking at him.

"I never thought that,"

"Of course you didn't."

"Well, it's not my fault. You've been tight-lipped from the beginning," I comment as I close the book and roll away from him.

"Goodnight," I mutter as I place the book on the nightstand and turn off the lights.

"But you didn't kiss me goodnight," Speaks his husky voice closer to my ear and I shiver. "Because you didn't earn it today," My mouth speaks on its own.

"So I am supposed to earn my goodnight kisses? What do I have to do to earn them?" His breath tickles the back of my neck as he speaks behind me. I feel his arm going around my waist. I am so tired today, I want to sleep already.

"By taking my nightmares away,"

"What are they about?" His voice deepens as he asks and I feel a lump building in my throat as unwanted tears pool my eyes.

"You,"