"Mother?"
"Moon Mother." She corrected him, watching as his confusion is written plainly on his face. "It means I am going to be there when the twins come of age. During their first Transformation, I will be the one to guide them during the ceremony."
Sam pondered her words, taking them in and chewing on them slowly as he sat down on one of the garden chairs.
"What does the first Transformation ceremony entail?"
Kiera smiled at his inquisitiveness. Talking about the first Transformation wouldn't do any harm so she went over and sat herself down on the adjacent garden chair. She then began explaining.
"It's a beautiful ceremony, it's also one of our oldest traditions." An easygoing smile spread across her lips when she thought of her own first Transformation ceremony. Despite the absence of her parents, her mentor took great care in preparation for her ceremony.
"The ceremony begins three nights before the peak of the full moon. On the first night, the Beast child goes into the Forest, accompanied by their parents of course, and they all pay their respects to the spirits. Then it's followed by a spectacular feast. The next night is the same as the first except the child's moon mother or father is presented at the feast."
For Kiera, she had to enter the Forest to pay her respects to the spirits alone for the first two nights. While all the other children had parents that stood by them while they paid their respects, Kiera stood tall all by her lonesome, but once the feast of the second night began, Kiera knew no other child present had a moon mother as distinguished as hers. Her mentor, a former Beast General, had taken up the mantle of also being her moon mother.
"On the third night, the child, along with their moon mother or father, is guided through the Forest to a designated spot of their choosing. Although it won't be the child's first ever transformation into their Beast self, it will be the first transformation in which it will hurt the most. In other words, it marks the beginning of their adult life."
She looked over at him, observing him as he displayed a leisurely smile that warmed up her insides.
"That does sound like a very beautiful ceremony." At that moment she yearned to take him to the Forest so he could experience everything firsthand. She wanted to watch as his emerald green eyes took in every inch of the lush green of Wolfcyre Forest, her home.
She cleared her throat, banishing away the thoughts she didn't dare let herself delve into any further. Instead, she nodded at him in agreement.
"It is."
"Do you remember your First Transformation ceremony?" Oblivious to inner turmoil, Sam leaned forward while resting his arms on top of his legs. His radiant smile of his pulled her in.
"Of course." She rose to his provocation almost immediately, recounting the memories of her first Transformation ceremony to the attentive prince. She enjoyed how his lips tugged at the corners every so often as he listened to her story.
"Your Highness." At the sound of his aide's voice, Sam's jaw tensed. She recognized the hard glint in his eyes when he spun his head to regard the man.
"Hello Beast General Kiera." Adept at ignoring the glare from his employer, Kepler bowed his head to her in greeting.
"Good day to you Kepler." She greeted him back, interested in why he had appeared so suddenly.
"What is it Kepler?" Sam also wanted to know why his aide interjected himself into their conversation, and he did not bother to hide his displeasure. Kiera wanted to laugh at his expression.
"Believe me when I say I also did not want to interrupt your time with the Beast General," Kepler began, "but something has come up that requires your attention sire."
Sam expressed himself by releasing a deep sigh.
"Alright then. You may wait for me at my office Kepler." Once dismissed, Kepler left the palace's gardens as Sam turned to Kiera.
"Please forgive me Kiera."
"Don't worry," she smiled as he pouted, "I understand." Then she motioned towards his palace. "You have work to do."
At her words, he rose from his seat. Her heart thudded inside her chest as he approached her, placing his hands on the armrests on either side of her. She smelled his scent as his face came closer to hers.
"You are more important than work." Her nose picked up the sweet smell of his breath from the grapes they had eaten before.
Kiera looked into his eyes, amused.
"I am more important than the Third Prince's duties to his family's kingdom?"
"Yes." He replied without a moment's hesitation. She was so surprised that it caught her off guard and she did not know how to respond.
"Kiera, if you asked for it, I would give-"
His next words were muffled by her as she pressed her lips onto his, tasting the lasting sweetness of the fruits he had eaten. His mouth did not resist her whims and she felt as his lips quickly parted, deepening their kiss.
She was the first to pull away. Gently, she put her hand onto his chest and pushed him to make enough room for her to peer up into his eyes.
"You should leave now. Unless you want Kepler to come and drag you away."
His lips twisted into a smug smile.
"I'd like to see him try." Then he pushed back on her hand, kissing her again.
"Sam." Her voice leaked from her mouth, breathless as she did her best to avoid another one of his kisses without using force. They had been kissing for the past few minutes and somehow Kiera couldn't help the growing suspicion that Kepler was on his way to force the prince away. "You really need to go now." She also did not want to stop kissing him, but her steadily rising body temperature meant she was getting dangerously close to a point of no return.
"Why?" He said, the small voice he used which was followed by a kiss on her neck, made a strange sensation flutter inside her stomach.
"What will Kepler think if he comes again and sees us intertwined together like this?"
"What does it matter what he thinks? There isn't a single person here that would dare utter a single word about this." His breath tickled her skin as he spoke. She had been doing her best to keep her Wolf from rearing her head, but she was getting impatient. Kiera wondered if the prince knew what her flushed face meant. With every kiss and every little gesture Sam made, she was falling deeper into temptation.
"Sam," she tried again, but her voice came out airy as his face burrowed into the crook of her neck. His lips were soft as they made their mark on her skin. "I can't."
"You can't what?" He could sense him smiling as he rained kisses down on her. It was then that Kiera heard the sound of approaching footsteps and then she panicked.
In a flash she regained her strength, pushing the prince off of her and standing up abruptly from her garden chair. Sam looked disheveled as he watched her from the grassy ground in front of her where he had been pushed. He blinked his emerald eyes up at her in surprise.
"Forgive me Kiera. I could not stop myself." He brushed himself up from the ground, looking apologetically at her. "Are you upset?"
How could the prince take the visage of the flushed Beast General with kissed raw lips and infer she was angry with him was beyond her. She wanted to dispel any misconceptions but she heard the footsteps getting closer. Kepler was coming, and she wanted to avoid him seeing her in her current state.
She turned and escaped from the prince's garden, like a thief slipping into the night, she managed to slip away just as Kepler entered the garden.
"Sire you truly need to come now." Hiding behind a shrub, she heard him tell Sam.
Sam sighed in response.
"You have terrible timing Kepler."
"Do you think I want to get in between you two passionate lovebirds? I would rather be doing anything else, but this is an urgent matter."
"What is it?"
"It's your father. He has released a statement to the public about the monster attack in Farrington." Kiera's heartbeat quickened when she heard the name of the town come out from Kepler's lips.
"That was certainly fast. I thought he would hold off on releasing any information to the public until much later. You know how much he despises answering people's questions. He rather keep them in the dark for as long as he can."
"Apparently not this time Your Highness. He decided this time it was best not to try to cover what happened in Farrington."
"I am not going to like this am I Kepler?"
"The King has said the monster that has attacked Farrington was an omen for the things that will come. He believes dark times are upon us."