Few weeks went by without anything extraordinary. The snow outside began to melt and few plants made their way to look up to the sun. Birds started to sing and Maeve loved the feeling of waking up in birds singing.

Everything was almost perfect expect the burning pain in her chest. Her entire body begged her to go see The King, but that was impossible because he had left a few days ago to deal with some barbarians or that is what Maeve heard him talking about to some short snaky man. The man was actually creepy by the way of his looks. His skin was almost grey with a huge abscess in his nose. His eyes were also as black as a starless night.

Chills went down in Maeve's spine even thinking about him. The worst part was that she had never seen him before, maybe he is new or something? 

When The King left with a small army behind him, Maeve stood in a frozen balcony looking at him as he left. It hurt her that he didn't inform her that he was leaving. She remembers the feeling of betrayal as he rode away from the castle and her. It seemed weird for him to leave just when they were starting to get close. 

Tears fell on the human girl's cheek. She watched as he jumped on his gorgeous stallion. His fur as black as a raven was shining against the sunlight. She wanted to feel what his fur would feel under her arm. She had never ride in her entire life and she was actually scared of horses but something in that gorgeous animal made her want to gallop on an empty meadow. But she knew she wasn't gorgeous enough to ride that horse but unlike her, the true rider of the horse was the perfect example who the rider could be.

The King landed perfectly in the stable and put his cape on a better position to make it warm him even more. He didn't look at the window she was at. He looked straight forward before muttering whew words to the beta standing next to the horse. Maeve wanted to scream at him to look at her to see that she was looking at him. She wanted to message him to not to go. He shouldn't leave her in the castle that despise her.

She wanted him to show a sign that he cares. That he would grieve after her. She waited for him to take the last look at the castle and for him to see her in the balcony that they kissed a long time ago. She remembered the feeling of his lips way too well. 

"Please look at m-me," Maeve whispered to the wind. She wanted to see his mesmerizing eyes for one more time before he left. Who knows when he comes back? As he could have heard her plead he turned to look straight towards her.

Her heart missed a beat.

They shared an eye contact that lasted for few seconds before he turned to look at his horse and trotted away from her with his men. 

If there were two things that warmed Maeve's heart a little, that is her little mouse friend and that Cato stayed behind. She wanted to talk to him and ask a few questions that have been burning a hole in her head. Unluckily for her Cato has always been busy when she has gone to meet him. The worst part is that Maeve didn't even know if he was truly busy or just avoiding her. After their last talk, Maeve felt like they might become friends in some point but these last days have changed her mind a lot. She wanted to be friends with him but he hasn't given her a response.

She found a new dress folded in her dresser that had once been broken. It was light blue with little hits of white and silver. The corset part was one size too little that made her waist look even smaller and her breathing harder. God, how much she hated these things that women call fashion. But apart from that she looked dashing with her hair in loose natural curls and her lips that she bit a little to make them look little redder. The eyes that were once vivid hazel color looked now tired and dull. Her cheeks had become paler and that highlighted her cheekbones. 

A barely eighteen years old boy was running his hands on his hair nervously. He had been given a very simple mission but he had heard rumors about the human girl and wanted nervously see if they were true. 

He took few deep breaths before knocking the door three times. As the last knock ended a melodic voice said inside and it almost made the boy's legs turn into a jelly. He opened the door and almost fell on his behind at the sight in front of him.

She looked like a fallen angel from Gods above. 

As the boy looked her with adoring eyes, Maeve felt very distressed. That boy, who was about the same age as her, looked her with big eyes that made her feel like he was undressing her with his eyes. She was scared that he would soon throw her over his shoulder and ran away. Something in his look made her feel very uneasy.

"Yes?" She asked.

The poor boy snapped out of his daydream, "Umm... H-he... no I mean the b-beta has asked for y-you to join him for a walk?"

"W-what?" She breathed. 

"The beta asked you to join him for a walk?" He said quickly not wanting to take his eyes off the gorgeous person in front of him. Why couldn't she be his mate?

Maeve was in a little shock. She couldn't understand why did Cato want to go on a walk with her. Last time she checked he was too busy to talk to her.

"When?" 

"In an hour."

"Tell him t-that I said yes," Maeve said and the boy nodded and walked away. Before he did that he took one last look at her and cursed that The King got her as a mate.

The Beta stood in front of a fountain. It showed that all the ice was melting down and the spring is finally showing signs of life. He heard steps coming closer to him before they finally stopped. He knew that the human was standing behind him even without turning around.

"You came."

"D-did you think otherw-wise?" 

Cato turned around and offered his arm to her, "No." he looked at her and there was something different in her than in the last time he saw her. Maybe it was the light blue dress and the white cape that made that impression. Her face was glowing even more than usual.

Maeve took his hand and they started to walk towards the village. The last time Maeve was in there she found her best friend with a knife in her heart. 

"Where a-are we going?" She wanted to know if he is going to throw her off the cliff and leave with a smiling face. 

"You'll see," He muttered and continued to lead her until they were standing in the middle of the market square.

"You recognize this place?" He asked knowing that she remembers this place better than many other. "I remember the day you ran to Caspian screaming like a maniac," He huffed. "You should have seen The King's face when he saw you running through a mass of people and screaming as something terrible will happen."

"You think C-Caspians execution wasn't t-terrible?" 

"Yes and no, he knew what he was doing when he said the words that sealed his faith. I warned him but as usual, he didn't listen and now I have you to look after."

"Oh"

"In that day I noticed that you weren't the person who I thought you were," He said as they continued their journey. The darkness had settled in and Maeve had a hard time seeing in front. "You weren't afraid to fight for the person you cared. Not that I understood why you liked him in the first place but you wanted to save him when it was clearly impossible."

"L-liked?" 

Cato looked at the young woman clinging in his right arm, "Yeah, we know all about your crush to each other."

Maeve stopped. "What? We were friends, I never liked h-him in that way." 

"You may have not, but the executed bastard had a thing for you. Don't try to deny it Caspian changed since the first time he saw you and you could literally find him daydreaming about you. I have known since the first time he walked and he had never been like he was after meeting you. he just sucked at showing his feelings and that ended up good for him."

Everything Maeve has thought about her first weeks in the castle where just a lie. "What do you mean by w-we?" Did Dominic know about Caspians crush on her?

"Me, your mate, the servants, maids, Ezekiel, and well many others." Her face paled at the thought that came into her mind. "Why did he execute Caspian?"

Cato smirked and started to walk towards the cottage he know she knew. "Use your own brain to think that trough, but he also said a thing he shouldn't have."

A tear fell on her cheek, "He's d-dead because of me?"

"No, it was not completely your fault." That didn't help Maeve's emotional breakdown a much. She blamed herself from the ax that sliced Caspian's head away from the rest of his body. Maeve couldn't say anything. Her mind was racing too fast on different kind of thoughts.

"You remember this house?" He said as they stopped in front of a small cottage.

"T-that is Elinor's home."

"I doubt that she told you anything from her past," He turned to look at the girl and noticed the look of confusion so he continued to his story, "Her mate was abusive and impregnated her with his child that he killed after letting the child lay on her hands for a minute. After that, she ran away and The King found her lying in the border. He saved her life and gave her an apartment to live in." He pointed at the cottage. "Our former king found out what he had done and well... did what he thought was right."

Not letting her stay looking at the rickety house he dragged her behind him to continue their walk towards the forest. 

"Why a-are going in there?" Maeve complained. She hated that forest, especially in the night time. It brought back too many memories.

Cato didn't bother to answer and continued to drag her behind him before finally stopping in front of a large tree. Or that is what Maeve at least thought was in front of her.

"That tree is the oldest one in our kingdom. My brother hanged himself on it."

"Don't say anything!" He snapped before she had the change to give him her apologies. But Maeve did not say anything, she hugged him.

She didn't know if he wanted to snap her neck at that moment, but she did know that when her entire family died she could really need someone to hug her. He froze but as minutes went by he relaxed a little. And that little thing showed her that he was an actual living being and not a walking mountain.

"How old a-are you?" She whispered.

"Thirty." 

A smell that he hadn't smelt before hovered in his nose. "We should go back." He said and started to drag her away from the large tree faster than when they walked in there. Cato looked around them and started to curse aloud. He knew it was a bad idea to bring her here and now her's and his lives may be at risk. He saw a pair of eyes staring at them.

"Fuck," He muttered before throwing without a warning on his shoulder. Maeve started to whine in pain but Cato shut her down quickly and started to run towards the castle. Why did the tree have to be so far away from the castle?

Maeve's stomach started to hurt and it made her want to throw up. A dizziness was taking control of her head. Cato kept cursing before putting her on the ground.

"Run! We'll see each other in the castle."

"What are you waiting for?! RUN!" He yelled and Maeve started to run as fast as she could in her current state. She couldn't see correctly and the dizziness was making it even worse. She kept running for a while before dripping down and hitting her knee on a rock making her bleed. 

She wanted to stay in that place and sleep for a while but Cato's command was rotating in her head. She had to run away from the danger.

A step after another she made her way away from Cato and towards the castle. Her feet started to hurt and her knee was numb. She couldn't keep doing this for a long time. She will pass out sooner or later and Maeve didn't know which one was better.

The human sank down and tried to control the spinning world around her. Then a growl interrupted her.

A grey wolf was walking towards her showing its fangs. Is that thing the danger Cato was talking about? He walked closer to the human girls showing her it's eyes.

Maeve gasped. She could recognize those eyes everywhere.

"Will?"

***