King Adrian's men were so engrossed in talking that they did not notice when their King slipped out.
"Where's his majes…" Mason could not complete his question when they all heard a loud sound.
"What was that?"
They didn't bother to look through the balcony on the floor they stood and just rushed downstairs.
Mason saw the scene in front of him and was instantly worried about the King as he seemed to be at the center of the scene.
"Are you okay, your majesty?" Mason asked worriedly.
The other men rushed towards King Adrian to see if he was okay.
"Hmm." He hummed and didn't say anything further.
The men looked around and could roughly gauge what was going on. They stood behind their King not saying anything further.
••••••
Arielle went from shock to speechlessness to despair. She couldn't form proper sentences, she couldn't even think properly and her suspicions ended up coming through.
"Ch- child?? W- what d- do you mean?" Arielle struggles to say while stuttering.
"My child! How have you been? I am your father, my dear." King William said and looked at her with tears at the rim of his eyes while smiling.
Arielle shook her head in denial, fat tears dropping from her eyes like rain.
Adrian looked at her and he didn't like the way she was crying one bit. Wait… what was it to him?
Ugh! What was wrong with him?!
"Fa- father??"
"Dad, what is the King talking about? It's not true right?" She looked towards her father while cleaning her tears with the back of her palm.
"Mum, where are you?" She looked towards the guest's side and her eyes settled on her mother.
She walked towards her mother, "Please say something mum."
Victoria looked at the girl who she had been taking care of and had come to be the mother to her. She didn't know what to say either.
"I'm sorry, Ari." Victoria apologized tearfully. She held her daughter's hand in hopes of comforting her.
She understood what Arielle was feeling, finding out that your family is not your family especially when you have had good memories with them.
"She was with you all this time."
King William turned to Arielle's father, Edmund, and said to him with a matter of fact.
"I didn't know she was your daughter, your majesty." Edmund said truthfully.
The guests could not keep up with all that was happening and just continued watching. The ceremony was completely forgotten.
"So, the King had a mistress?" A woman whispered to the people beside her.
"Well… I guess that's how it is." Another woman murmured.
"So, the King mated with a witch? While knowing that witches are not accepted in this kingdom?" Another woman asked, puzzled.
"He might not have known." The first woman responded.
"Quiet! Let's see where this leads to." The last woman hushed them.
•••••
Chloe sauntered to where Davis was standing, finally standing beside him she whispered and chuckled with mirth, "Would you look at that?"
"Arielle's your cousin?!" Chloe said in between her laughter.
Davis clenched his fists tightly and his jaw ticked, he was exercising all his self-control right there not to slap Chloe, right now.
He didn't say anything and continued to observe the situation. He didn't know what to think of this situation at all.
•••••
King William looked at his daughter. Her features were just like her mother's. Her white hair and sparkling emerald eyes reminded him of her biological mother, Cecelia.
"So, this is the girl you had with that woman?"
A sharp voice rang through the hall, halting everyone's train of thought.
"Watch your mouth, Layla!" King William warned with a low voice.
"And if I don't?! What will you do if I don't?! What wife would be happy that her husband slept with another woman?! Answer me!" Queen Layla was beyond livid.
"Calm down, my Queen." Her lady in waiting whispered.
King William frowned at his queen and did not say anything. He turned towards the guests and informed them.
"The night is far spent, luckily, we have completed the ceremony. The girl's marriage would take place in a fortnight to come. The guards will help you all to your respective carriages."
Immediately, the guests were led out of the hall and it remained, King William and the Queen, Arielle's family, King Adrian and his men.
Anna, Belle, and Emma also excused themselves but not without informing Arielle that they would be waiting for her.
"We are waiting for you, Ari." Anna said and squeezed Arielle's hand in silent comfort.
Arielle nodded in gratitude and patted the back of Anna's palm and the trio left the hall.
"If you would excuse us, King Adrian." King William informed.
"I would have liked that, but… I can't" King Adrian replied emotionlessly.
"Why is that?" King William questioned, utterly confused.
"She.." King Adrian paused and pointed at Arielle with his index finger and Arielle could not help but tense up, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
"… is my mate."
The hall was deadly quiet after that revelation.
King Adrian didn't mind that and continued his speech calmly as if what he had said was as simple as taking a walk in the garden.
Arielle froze in her place. What was that supposed to mean?! With the little she had read about werewolves, she knew that they had fated wives and they didn't pick their wives themselves.
But never in her wildest dream had she imagined that she would be a werewolf's mate!
"So, I have to be here." He said as a matter of fact.
King William was too stunned to speak and he just decided to address that later and settle the one on ground first.
"You have explanations to do Edmund." King William turned to face Edmund.
"What does he have to explain, Your Majesty? My father's explanation won't change anything. Please, let's go home, dad." Arielle said with gritted teeth, trying not to sound rude to the king.
"You are the first child and princess of this kingdom, I have to know where and how you've been all these years." King William replied sternly.
"Nobody is going to leave this place until I hear the whole story and if you want to be stubborn, we can spend the whole night here."
Edmund glanced over at Arielle and gave her a nod. He cleared his throat and began speaking.
"We could not have any child since we got married, we tried all methods but it was to no avail and then we just decided to give up.
We went about our usuals that day and when we encountered a woman with a baby in her arms…"
Years ago…
Edmund and Victoria went to the market like any other day to sell their wares. They were through with the day's wares and journeyed back home.
"What did you think about that man today, Ed? I think he was quite pitiful." Victoria said with gentle concern.
"I don't know, V. We have come across men and women like that who use their children for personal gain and we don't know if this man is truthful or not."
"Mmm, You're right, Ed." Victoria said, her voice sounding unhappy.
Edmund noticed her unhappiness and drew her closer to himself.
"I believe we will have our child, V. Don't think too much about it, okay?"
"How can I not? How…"
"We have gone through this topic severally and I don't think now is a good time to talk about it, alright?" Edmund said sternly.
"Okay." Victoria said with discontentment.
The duo walked faster but quietly as it was getting darker.
"Ohh!" Victoria exclaimed in shock and patted her chest to calm her raging heart when a woman popped out of nowhere right in front of them.
"Please help me!" The woman cried out softly.
Edmund and Victoria looked at each other silently but tiny whimpers that seemed to belong to a baby broke the silence.
"Please! I can't let my child die." The woman begged again and began rocking the baby in her arms.
"Why should we trust you? For all we know you might be a witch." Edmund replied with narrowed eyes.
The woman looked behind them and her eyes widened in fear, "Please you have to help me!" She pleaded desperately.
The way the woman acted made Edmund suspicious, "Let's help her, Ed. She seems to be in trouble and the baby in her arms must be cold." Victoria said to her husband softly.
"Please hurry up!" The woman said agitated as she could not stop looking back.
"You are so kind, V. She is suspicious, and we can't just take her to our house, what if she's a witch?" Edmund said trying to knock some sense into his wife.
"Let's worry about that later but for now, let's help her." Victoria replied to her husband.
"Fine!" Edmund compromised.
"Thank you!" Victoria smiled at him gratefully and then turned to look at the woman, "This way."
Presently in the King's palace,
"What happened next? Did you happen to see the woman's face? Or the color of her hair?" King William asked impatiently when Edmund paused in his speech.
Arielle shook her head and rolled her eyes at the King's impatience.
"She had white hair and green eyes like, Arielle. She had asked us to take care of Arielle as our own as she didn't think she would be able to do that."
"We had asked her the reason then, but she gave us no response and just asked us to take care of her baby well."
"What happened to her after she dropped the baby with you?" King William asked grimly as he had a bad feeling about this.
"She…" Edmund paused as he used his thumb to wipe the little tear at the corner of his eyes.
"She what?" King William asked in a whisper.
"S- she died." Victoria said softly but everyone heard her.
King William staggered back but Bernard was quick to hold him right.
Arielle's eyes widened in shock and tears began to fall freely from her eyes.
"Victoria pretended to be pregnant so it would look as though we had a baby.
We didn't have any problems at first but as Arielle began to grow up, her hair became an issue. People began to label her a witch because the color of her hair was not common at all.
Arielle always felt insecure and could not make any friends because parents would always keep their children away from her and when the bullying became too much, we had to move to Buckswood.
We then got her a wig to blend with the people."
"Since today has been about revealing secrets, why don't I share mine also?" Queen Layla said with a smirk as everyone turned to look at her.