The Werewolf King's Bride

(Sixteen Years Later)

(From Demian's Perspective)

Being born into the royal family came with its bargains. There was the matter of the throne that neither I nor Dion cared about. But just to spite Bree, I acted like I wanted it. Bree wanted the throne, which I found rather stupid. I saw our father sitting there with all the power it offered. But then I saw our mother beside him with a completely different power.

If I had to choose, I would choose Mum's power. Among the three of us, only I had the potential to use the dark mana as I had more than the two of them. Perhaps one day I could surpass Mum.

"Where is your mother?" I turned hearing Father's voice. He rarely found me on his own if not to ask where Mum was.

"I don't know. With Bree, I guess," I said.

"And where is Bree?"

"How would I know that? I am not her nanny," I said. Well, Bree did not need a nanny anymore. She was twelve, born four years after me. Mum had a difficult birth with her and even more difficult pregnancy. I still remembered Father shouting angrily when Doctor Dimitri said Bree's arm was stuck while Mum was crying.

We were not allowed there, of course. I snuck in though. Father told me off about it.

Father walked over to the window of my room and looked out. It looked over the east side of the garden.

I watched my father silently. He was thirty-two and had remained so for twelve years. He did not age, thanks to Mum. Mum was even younger than him. She was not even ten years older than my current age. Benjamin asked me if it was weird.

To other people, it might seem so. But to me, it never felt that way. Mum had always been Mum. It did not matter how old she was. She said we would stop aging too at some point.

"How is your study going?" Father asked.

"Boring. I know all of it."

He raised a brow as he turned to face me. "Your mother assigned new tutors for you. You still know all the things they teach you?"

"I'm a prodigy."

He chuckled. "I suppose you got the photographic memory of your mother."

'That and more,' I thought.

"If you are bored, why don't you join Dion for swordsmanship lessons? As a Prince, you should know at least how to protect yourself, using some handy skills," he said.

"Please, Father. I know how to protect myself. Magic is much more interesting than moving your body too much. I am not fat either, okay? I am fit."

"Well, you do exercise."

"You force me to exercise."

"That's for your own good. I won't have a fat kid who can't run a mile without gasping," Father said. "Anyway, do you want to take a walk? I can see your mother in the garden. We can go to her and your sister."

I nodded. "Might as well tell her I don't like the history tutor."

Mum managed all our tutors. Mum took care of us and Father took care of Mum. He did not care much about us and neither Mum nor he tried to act otherwise. Mum accepted that part of him readily. I was not bothered by it, but Dion and Bree were.

"I heard you kidnapped Mum," I said as we made our way out of my room and down the stairs.

"When I married her? Well, partly, yes," he said.

"Do you regret it? Like, would you have done it differently if you could turn back time?" I asked. I was not even sure why I asked it. Perhaps I was just curious about what their lives had been like before they had me or Dion. We were only a year apart, so it was not like he had experienced many more things before I came along.

He shook his head. "I don't think it was possible at that moment to do things much differently." He did not elaborate. Father was not the type to have heart-to-heart talk with his children. He always talked with Mum. All the time. They were always in their own world.

Dion had a few friends, unlike me who had none. He said his friends always wondered why neither of our parents had concubines. It was not usual for Royals to be devoted to only one person.

But our parents were different. Unlike most royals, they loved each other. I actually liked that part about them, although in my mind, I knew that something was also rather peculiar about their relationship.

In the hall, there was a huge portrait of the five of us. I was between Mum and Father, both of whom were sitting on huge majestic-looking chairs. Dion was on Father's right side. In Mum's arms was Bree, who was only two months old. Mum had placed her index finger in Bree's mouth so she would not cry.

I looked at the portrait and not for the first time noticed how Father was gripping Mum's other hand as if she might run away. Perhaps they were just holding hands, but it truly looked like he was gripping her hand a little too hard.

We found Mum and Bree in the garden, sitting under a cherry blossom that Dion and Mum planted on my first birthday. Dion loved trees and flowers of all kinds and knew a lot about them. I did too, but that was just to taunt Dion that I knew more than him.

The cherry blossom was huge now, pink all over like a pink cloud. It was visible from Mum's office. Well, Father's too. But then again, Father's office was right beside Mum's. He hated to be away from her, even for a little while.

Now that I thought about it, I never saw them going away somewhere separately. They were always together.

Did they not get tired of each other?

It was not like they did not fight. In fact, I heard Mum telling Father that he was being awful to his sister. Aunt Evelyn hated us and hated Mum because of what happened to his daughter. She openly said nasty things to Mum even a few days ago. Mum never said anything back, which I found odd because what happened was not her fault. It was not like she told her father to do those things.

Our parents told us all about her father and what he did when we were old enough. They told me and Dion when we were ten and eleven. They told Bree two years ago when she was ten.

"I don't see why we should hide it from you when you will get to know about it soon enough. Besides, you should know about the danger all of you are in all the time," Mum had said and she looked at me for a brief moment when she said it. I knew she meant I was in the most danger because Azure wanted me when I was born.

"An interesting power," Father said. "He wants that power of yours, whatever it is." Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Mum smiled when she saw us. She was braiding Bree's hair which barely reached her shoulder. Mum was making small braids here and there and decorating them with cherry blossoms.

"I thought you were sleeping, Demian," Mum said.

"I woke up a while ago," I said. "I was reading."

"Mum, don't pull my hair like that!" Bree groaned. She looked too much like Mum. However, she had a completely different personality. She was more like Father. Although she looked like Mum and grew up to be an exact copy of her, it would still be obvious who was Mum and who was Bree. As I said, Bree was more like Father.

She was feisty and crazy and way too demanding.

"I'm not pulling your hair, love," Mum said. "I just have to do two more braids and you will be good to go."@@novelbin@@

"I have a swordsmanship lesson after this. Don't you think I will look weird with these flowers? A flower fairy wielding a sword?"

"Fairy? More like a flower thief," I said.

"Ass," Bree said.

I said something worse, but both Mum and Father ignored it. I noticed that they did not care whether our language was bad or if we fought. They let us be usually.

Father had already sat down next to Mum. He kissed her on the forehead and fixed her earring that was entangled with her hair.

"Father, do you think I am better than Dion at swordsmanship?" Bree asked cooingly. She loved Father and it was obvious she preferred Father to Mum. It was the exact opposite with Dion and me.

"Dion is seventeen, Briana. You need to practice more to surpass him," Father said.

"But I'm better than how he was at this age, right?"

"That's true," he said and Bree beamed. One thing about Father was that he had no illusion about any of his kids' abilities and never lied to make any of us feel better.

"Come and sit with us, Demian," Mum said. She was done with Bree's hair who was pulling a braid to loosen it.

"No, thank you. I don't like sitting on grass," I said. "I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

Father put his arm around Mum and pulled her closer.

"I don't like Master Jaheem," I said.

"Why not? I thought he was good?"

"He is not bad, Mum. But he says I'm overconfident and I don't like to be told that."

"Well, baby, I don't think you are overconfident," Mum said.

"He is not a baby, Mum," Bree said like the brat she was.

"He is my baby, Bree, just like you are," Mum said and looked back at me. "Come here, Demian. Why don't you tell me more about it? I can talk to Master Jaheem."

"No. Can't you change him?"

She glanced at Father who shrugged. He did not care what she did about my tutors. He was more of Mum's husband than he ever was our father.

"Well, if you say so."

I could not tell Mum the real reason I wanted her to change my tutor. It was true that Master Jaheem said I was overconfident. But he said something more.

He said I was obsessed about something and that it would kill me if I pursued it.

But he had no idea. He could not have any idea, could he?