Baldwin Rages Again

King Micheal had just finished writing his response to Alorea. As he dropped the last stroke of ink on the spread paper, dropping the brush away by the side, the door opened, ushering in Baldwin.

"Your majesty." He bowed.

"Have you seen your family?" Micheal inquired as Baldwin approached his seat around the table of council.

"You have just returned from a terrible journey, Baldwin. You should at least get some rest." Marianne added, she was also seated around the table. Also, every single minister who belonged to that court was seated around, deliberating on the next steps forward.

"I have had enough rest, your majesty. My true rest can only come when the princess is finally able to leave that place and come back to us. Only then can I find the heart to seek for rest."

"Well, I reckon she be back soon." Micheal said, rising up from his seat and approaching the opening in the palace where raven birds were kept. "With what she has asked for, I hope this is enough to help her judgement. If it is, then I should be at rest that she will be back before we know it. If it isn't, then we should just hope."

"Hope?" Baldwin was surprised at that statement. "Your majesty, how can we just hope? Daemon has killed your subjects and held your daughter captive. That is enough reason to declare war on the giants!"

All Baldwin felt was rage, but he was shocked that nobody else in the room felt the same that he felt.

"We have been warned, Baldwin. We were warned not to go to war..."

"By who? A human wizard? What does he know of our world? His forefathers ran away many years ago!"

"He still has supernatural abilities. He can see what we cannot. The future."

Baldwin still did not concede to their ways. He searched around for a supporter. Looking at everyone's eyes, but nobody in that room held his opinion.

"Marianne..?" He stared at her. Her father had been killed by Daemon. Her daughter is trapped in that dreadful place. There was no way she would agree to seat back and do nothing.

But she did not look ready for war. She also wore the same soft look that everyone else had.

"Even you..."

"I'm sorry, Baldwin. I want to see that son of a bitch bite the dust harder than you do. But with what was shown to us, I do think this is our best chance."

"This is madness!" Like a wounded lion, he roared and found his way out of their midst. He could not believe that after everything he had faced, in the dark dungeons, watching his people get killed one after the other and waiting for his turn, watching Alorea make the terrible mistake of giving the claws of power to Daemon, after all the trauma and tragedy, joking that when he returned home, there would be plans for vengeance. After everything, this was all he got. Cowardice.

When he left, Micheal rolled the message and hung on the shoulder of the raven.

"Go in peace." He said, his eyes glowing. "And find my daughter."

The raven took flight in happiness, ready to deliver the message to the beautiful princess Alorea. Meanwhile, everyone else sat in silence, each person thinking of Baldwin's strong words.

*******************

Back in the giant kingdom, Alorea was confronted by Princess Shereena.

"You were rejected by my pet. Yet everyone thinks you are the most charming princess in all the lands. What a fraud you are."

Alorea might have denied in her heart that she still had any feelings left for Clingy after what he did to her.

She might have also thought that there was no way in this world that she would give Nathan a chance in her new life. After what he did in her past life, she had thought she would never forgive him.

But why did she feel so angry each time Shereena talked down on him, calling him her pet. It made her blood boil and it made her want to lose her cool and attack viciously. But she tried to control herself else all her plans would sink in the water.

"You should leave now princess, before your pet kills your father." She uttered, waiting for Shereena's reaction. And it was exactly as she predicted.

"If that ever happens," Shereena walked close enough that the space between their noses could barely fit a fly to pass across. "Then it would be under my command. Because he belongs to me. Clingy... No. Nathan... Belongs to me".

Following that was an evil smile. Shereena left Alorea rooted to the floor with that last statement. And as she disappeared from her sight, Alorea felt nothing but pain and anger streaming from her heart. The reason for this, she could not even tell. But she knew that her heart still longed for him.

As the name Nathan combined with Clingy in her memory, she slowly realized that they talked about the same person.

The memory blurred in her mind finally became clear and she could remember exactly in his words.

"Nathan was the name my mother used to me..."

"The palace servants would often ask while punishing me..."

"Why are you so clingy?"

"Scorpio used to be there... That was where he took the name from..."

Everything came back now, and she could finally connect the dots. Nathan in her past life... was Clingy in her present life.

"How..."

She fell on her knees, trying to comprehend.

All these time when she felt her heart racing due to his presence. The first time they met, he gave to her a feeling of nostalgia. A deep one. A very deep one.

The time he kissed her, it made her heart tremble in fear.

When he harnessed the power of the claws and used it on Siarra, she felt her knees tremble in submission to his might. All these while, all the feelings she had, it was all because of one reason. It was all because he was Nathan, the bastard son of the alpha of the rising sun!

And somehow Shereena had gotten to know about this. That was why she was intent on making Nathan hers and hers only. That was why she had rejected Scorpio, because she knew.

"There is only person who can harness the power of the claws without the need for the help of sages." She remembered what Okrapticuiz told her. "And you have met that person already."

"Clingy? He did it when we were on the hill with a forest wolf sprit..."

"That is not his name."

Now it made sense. In her past life, Nathan became the strongest alpha by harnessing the power of the claws. He rose above everyone else and became the alpha of the rising sun. He took the most beautiful princess as his wife and waged war on the giants. He took Daemon's head and became the greatest alpha of all the lands.

Then he waged war against the greatest lycan king, Demeatris. All using the power of the five claws.

Shereena must want him to repeat the same feat, but this time under her control.

Alorea made up her mind. She must see Nathan, and she must win him to her side. Shereena had proven that he could be controlled. She had to take that control away from her. She had to be the one in control. Only then can her future be secured.