"Your highness, Lord and Lady Ambrose have arrived," a butler announced entering the room with a bow.

"I see. Show them the renovated North Wing, I remember Lady Ambrose's interest in paintings from last summer. The new paintings should entertain them long enough for me to tend to my beloved," Adam said and the butler bowed and left.

"Wake up my beloved," the King whispered in the ear of the sleeping girl.

Her eyes slowly opened and he discretely smiled at her.

"Our first guests have arrived, the Lord and Lady Ambrose of Torington," he said as she rose from her slumber, rubbing her eyes.

"Can I go back to sleep? I'm tired and I think naps have become a personality trait for me," she mumbled yawning.

He wanted to laugh at her words however did not want to disappoint his guests.

His hands quickly ran through her hair, fixing it.

"We'll be going now," he said giving her no option of opposing and she got to her feet and slipped on some shoes and accompanied him to the foyer.

"Lord Ambrose, Lady Ambrose, I'm pleased you could come," he greeted the couple.

"Your highness," the greeted with a bow and a curtsey.

Sara found herself intimidated and shy, not enjoying meeting new people and she hid behind Adam to avoid them.

"Your highness who is the maiden with you?" Lord Ambrose inquired curiously.

"Introduce yourself," Adam coaxed her stepping aside.

"Uh I'm Sara," she said feeling completely out of place and not knowing how she was even expected to greet guests, not wanting to embarrass herself more than not wanting to embarrass him.

"Is she not adorable," Lady Ambrose commented making the poor girl want to hide. She was fine with the silent maids and the King who she often argued with but new people were not her favourite thing.

"Lady Sara," Adam corrected for his guests.

"Sara, this is Lord and Lady Ambrose of Torington," he continued and they greeted her formally.

"My your dress is so beautiful and your tiara, where did you get them, I must know," Lady Ambrose gushed taking Sara by the arm.

"I guess we might as well let the women lead for once," Lord Ambrose said with a laugh.

"I believe so, Xavier," Adam said walking beside Lord Ambrose.

"Where is James?"

"He shall meet us in the dining hall although I dare say the girls will meet him first at this rate," Adam replied.

"Lady Sara, I could not sense the scent of a wolf and she appears to be younger than I would have expected for your beloved also her introduction-"

"She is one of the few cases of different matings. She is a human and is not from here. The humans appear to have evolved their way of lives. Their language is informal, her description of the women seems to be that they are running wild and her clothes they resembled trousers," Adam said shaking his head.

"What lady would wear something as such?" Xavier remarked.

"I agree, however she appears to be making good progress," Adam said.

"My King, you must show Lady Sara the gallery. The paintings are so beautiful some were even painted by the royal highness himself. I believe it shall not be long before your beautiful is added to those walls," Lady Abrose said, making Sara blush, as soon as the men entered the dining hall

"Where is everyone else? The invite was for six o'clock was it not?" Lady Ambrose said.

"Jennifer, they often run late," Xavier said shaking his head.

"Honestly can they ever be punctual," Jennifer muttered.

"How are the knights doing? Are there any squires that I should be expecting to knight soon?" Adam inquired.

"Oh yes, Count Ingridson's boy. He has been doing very well, I believe he should become a knight by the time fall comes," Jennifer said.

"Is that not too soon? I believe summer would be more likely," Xavier scoffed.

"Why don't we take a seat, it should be a good hour until the entire party has graced us with their presence," Adam said and the servants pulled out their chairs and Sara watched as Xavier sat and Jennifer merrily took a seat on his lap and she glanced at the King and hesitantly seated herself across his lap, not wishing to argue and make a scene as that would only draw more attention to her, attention that she wished to avoid by being compliant with his wishes for the night.

The other guests eventually arrived although of all the women present she ended up preferring Jennifer or Lady Ambrose and Lady Bewel or Anastasia. Those were the two women who reminded her the most of how her people lived. They were not as submissive to their partners nor were they very snobbish and gossipy although Jennifer appeared to enjoy things that were beautiful such as beautiful jewellery, dresses and paintings and Anastasia happened to be interested in horse riding, something not many women did.

Sara had also found out that "females" were sometimes referred to as "she-wolves." The term was a little bit confusing for her at first however she assumed that some women just got very snappy when pregnant, forgetting about the fact that the people she was with were not even human as she internally had struggled to grasp the concept of anything, that could look and talk like a human, not being human.

When the food was served she instinctively reached for the knife and fork set out.

"Why are you reaching for the utensils? Does your mate not feed you?" Anastasia asked perplexed.

Sara froze, not liking being in the spotlight. She realized how right the King had been about his culture. The simple action of feeding herself, something that was expected of practically any able bodied person that was older than about two years old, was something she was expected not to do.

Her hands softly settled in her lap and she felt embarrassed by being called out on her actions yet still hated the fact that she was unable to do something like feed herself.

What she had been called out for made her overlook the word "mate" in the question. She was not focused on it even though she had never heard it in reference to what she deemed to be a person.

"You are most mistaken. I do feed her, she just sometimes likes to try and feed me instead since I find it cute when she does," Adam said replying calmly to Anastasia's remark and taking the utensils and cutting the food.

Sara had at first been hoping that someone like Anastasia or Jennifer, who appeared to not necessarily conform to her expectations of women that had been laid out by the King, would have fed themselves but was disappointed by it however was thankful that the King had managed to effortlessly rectify it for her.

"Oh I see. Remember when I once did that when you got injured after sparing against his highness. I spilled food all over you," the Lady Tillroy, also known as Maria, laughed to her partner.

After that Sara ate obediently when the King fed her.

"No thank you, I'm not thirsty," she said when a glass of wine was brought to her lips. She was actually thirsty but did not want wine since she preferred to follow laws and the laws stated that at her age it was illegal to consume alcohol and therefore she had no desire to drink it however she did not want to make another slip up. She had known about men feeding women since the night before, despite dismissing it, however she knew little else about their culture and was afraid to accidentally disrespect it and be thrust into the spotlight again. She had been there for two weeks, anyone who had known that would expect her to know at least the basics however they didn't need to know that she had been locked up in her chamber like a fairy tale princess in a tower.

"Just a sip. I want to make sure your thirst is quenched," Adam insisted not sure why his beloved mate would decline a drink.

She knew declining again would draw attention and she took a few small sips and decided that she did not like wine even if everyone else did.