"I am sorry for being an ingrate. I just don't want to be trapped here." Diamond said, standing beside Arya who was boiling different herbs in a large pot.
"No one is trapping you. It's just not safe for you to go out." Arya said
"Why? Where is this place?"
"You can call it the land of werewolves." Arya said plainly.
"Werewolves?" Diamond snap, with a chuckle.
"Do they even exist? Who the fuck are you, huh? A delusional girl living in the world of Twilight and vampire diaries? Girl, werewolves, vampires, and witches don't exist. They only exist in one's fantasy or on the television screen, that's if you have any cause I haven't seen any since I got here. Also the actors who play such characters are humans. Grow up and get a job." Diamond pause and clear her throat again.
"Well... You do have a job. You are an herbalist then focus on that rather than trying to scare people because you won't do that thing any better." She added.
"I am not an herbalist." Arya corrected.
"Then why do you keep boiling different kinds of leafs and producing medicine?"
"You don't believe in them, do you?" Arya snorts, with a certain smugness.
Diamond roll her eyes "Nope." dragging the "P"
A knock suddenly came from the door and Diamond tore her gaze away from Arya.
"I will go get it." She said as she started towards the door.
"No!" Arya said making Diamond stop on her tracks
"No one must see you. Stay right here." She added and made her way to the door. As soon as she opened the door, she came face to face with Yandel.
"Greetings beta Yandel." Arya said with a light bow, but Yandel was mute. He didn't know what was wrong, but he felt something about her presence.
"Is it because she's a witch?" He thought.
"Beta Yandel!" She called breaking into his thoughts
"Erm..ya...." He clear his throat. "Your presence is required at the royal house right now." He said.
"Alright. I will just go grab my things." She said and shut the door.
"Who was that?" Diamond ask sitting on a stool.
"No one you know." Arya reply picking up an old side bag and shoving some other things into it.
"Are you leaving?" She ask anxiously.
"Yes, but I will be back soon. Do not leave the house if you love yourself." Arya warn.
"What if someone comes to look for you?"
"Don't open, don't answer. I am going to lock the door on my way out, so when I come I will let myself in. Everything you will need is in the house."
"Alright. Bye." Diamond said and Arya walked out shutting the door behind her.
*************
Yandel and Arya walked into the royal court, and greeted the two princes and the royal adviser.
"Greetings." They said simultaneously with a bow and Yandel walk to an empty chair and sat on it.
"Arya, you are the only thing your father left us with so you need to provide us with a solution to our problem." Aziel, the royal adviser said.
"A thing? Really?" Arya thought.
"How may I be of help Sir Aziel?" She ask anyways.
"Just tell us where our Alpha prince is" Aziel said and Draven just took a quick glance at him, smirking.
"Your Alpha prince is right here." Draven mumbled inaudibly.
Arya bend her legs and sat on the floor, sitting on her crossed legs as usual. She brought out a brown hand bead, some other separate rolling beads and some powder from her bag. Wearing the bead on her right hand, she brought her head down a little and dive into work- mumbling some incarnations.
For the next five minutes, there was a total silence, until Arya lifted up her head and spoke.
"He is very close to us." She said and they all shared surprised looks.
"What do you mean by he is very close?" Draven ask, his heart beating very fast now.
"He is here with us, here in moon stone Park." Arya said.
"Then why haven't the guards still able to find him?"Zavier ask.
"Young lady, just stop with all the riddles and tell us our fate. Is he still alive?" Aziel ask impatiently.
"No." Arya blunted out.
"What do you mean by no?" Yandel wanted to chip in, but then he remembered that he wasn't allowed to interfere anytime the Royal house was discussing.
"No? No what?" Zavier ask his heart beat increasing.
"Alpha prince Xander is dead!" Arya said and Draven smirked widely.
* * *
Diamond sat on a stool, supporting her jaw with her hand. She has no idea what to do. All she kept thinking about was Xander.
"Where is he? Why did he decide to leave me? Was he because I asked him to take me to his place? How could he do something like this to me after professing his undying love for me?" Were the questions that kept roaming her head.
"And why is everyone suddenly referring to me as human? They don't look like animals to me. Oh God! If this is a dream, I want to wake up. I am tired of all the recent weird happenings. Why can't I just live a normal life without going through all this?" She thought.
"And that Arya girl, she acts in such a strange manner. I just...." A noise from the door broke into her thought, making her leap up from the stool she was sitting on.
The door opened and Arya walked in, making her heave a deep sigh of relief.
"Where did you go?" Diamond ask as Arya close the door.
"The royal house." Arya said plainly.
"You are allowed to visit the palace?" She ask in surprise.
"You must be some important person. But why then are you staying in a place as scuzzy as this?" Diamond asked in disgust, making Arya frown.
"Do not call my place names. If you are not comfortable staying here then you should leave." Arya said angrily tossing her bag on the already filled table.
"But you said it's not safe outside." She said, but Arya just sat on the chair facing the table and picked up a dusty book with a brown cover.
"I'm sorry." Diamond mumbled after a short while, but Arya still didn't say anything to her.
"I am sorry." She said again, this time louder.
"Apology accepted." Arya mumbled out.
"Can I ask you a question?" Diamond ask
"Shoot."
"Do you by any chance know anyone called...."
"Xander?" Arya cut her short, knowing that was were she was heading. She had decided already that she won't act suspicious again since Diamond has no idea who they are, but Arya finds Diamond just too slow in speaking
"How did you know that?" Diamond ask wide-eyed.
"Because you are always mumbling the name in your sleep." She shrugged, using that as an excuse. Nevertheless she wasn't telling a lie, because she has heard Diamond mumble Xander's name in her sleep multiple times.
"Seriously?" Diamond ask, itching her nape in embarrassment.
"Yeah."
"Okay.... So, do you know him?"
"Of course, who won't know his prince?" Arya said, but immediately wish she didn't.
"Your prince? That's what some women call their husbands. Is he your husband? Wait a minute... Xander has been married all these while?" She ask, feeling so much hurt in her heart.
"Gosh! This girl is just so dumb. Undermining the fact that I have been spilling the truth to her face recklessly, she still just can't connect the dots. Anyways, it's a good thing she didn't figure out what I meant." Arya thought.
"Who is he to you?" Arya ask placing the book back on the table.
"Nobody." Diamond said and turned away from her, making her heave a sigh.
*************
"How could the both of you not inform me about this when it happened? The Alpha prince went missing for good three days and none of you dimmed it fit to let me know?" Aziel ask the two princes in disappointment as they were now the only persons in the throne room aside from the royal guards.
"I thought it was a minor thing that we could handle, I never knew it will lead to this." Zavier said with a broken heart. He was crying inside of him already, as he couldn't give himself to crying openly. He just couldn't believe that Xander is gone. The Xander he knows can't just die like that.
"Now we will never know what actually killed him, because even the witch said that his death is unknown." Aziel said.
"I will not just let this slide, the person behind my brother's death must be found." Draven said with gritted teeth, faking anger.
"You." He pointed to a guard, one of his personal guards. "Take two other guards with you and go in search of the prince's corpse. Make sure not to come back without it." He added.
"Yes my prince." The guard bow and left.
"And you, send a message to the messager, telling him to announce to everyone in the pack, that whoever finds prince Xander's body to bring it to the royal palace. The reward will be huge." Aziel said to Rowan, and he also bowed and left.
*************
Few hours later, the guards which Draven had sent out walked into the palace, and his personal guard started towards the garden when he sighted Draven having a drink in the garden alone.
"Greetings my prince." He bow when he got to where Draven was.
"Where is he?" Draven ask plainly.
"We could not find him." He said and Draven turned to face him sharply.
"What do you mean by you could not find him?"
"We went to the place where we had left him yesterday, but we couldn't find his body. We presume that maybe the wild animals must have feasted on him."
"Wild animals huh?" Draven smirked. "That's much better for us."