A Deal With Frey

"Baldwin, I am sorry..."

Alorea said with the distress of failure printed in her voice. They were both by their horses, ready for departure.

"Your apology is not to me, princess. It is to the rest of us who came here together, and who could not return with us."

The old man climbed on his horse, ready to depart at anytime soon. Alorea could see that he had no desire to spend one more minute in that place.

Meanwhile, her thoughts were full of doubts and recounts. She could not leave the claws in the possession of Daemon just like that, not after what he had done to her people.

With the box in his possession, he would do worse things. Evil and despicable things. She had to do something.

"Go, Baldwin. I will not come with you". She declared, ready to set things right. I'd she left like that, it would just mean defeat and there would be no point in her journey to this land.

The old man turned at her in anguish, what was she planning this time? "No, princess. I promised your parents that nothing would happen to you. While I have not been actively able to secure my promise, this time, I can actually do something. And I can not allow to play with fire anymore. We have to return now!"

"If we return, Baldwin. We will only have the army of the giants at our back, with the claws of power in hand, seeking to destroy our pack. Now that Daemon has such power, I am assured he does not fear anyone. He will go to war the moment he feels like it. I have to prevent that."

"But how?" Baldwin questioned, totally sure that she could not have a good plan for a situation as bad and impossible as this.

"I will steal the box from him. Tonight." Her words landed shock in Baldwin's heart. He did not believe what she had just said.

"What happened to you, princess? You are changed a lot".

Alorea did not respond to that. Perhaps that was what happened when you know how bad your future would be if you did not make some difficult decisions. She was ready to make those difficult decisions even if it would mean her life would be at risk.

"Princess, this is a death sentence..."

"I know something is going on with Shereena and Clingy. I see them colluding in the dark and making out behind everyone else's backs. They are planning something. Today, I saw someone that brought back one of my most terrible nightmares. And he reminded me of someone, whom I would never want to meet again under the same circumstances. Never."

"Who are you talking about...?"

It was Nathan... She still had doubts about Clingy. He betrayed her. And now, Demeatris thinks he was the same Nathan who would marry and torture her in the future. While Demeatris was never able to prove himself, some part of Alorea believed what he said. She could remember what happened to Siarra, one of the red ladies on the mysterious hill.

The red ladies were the agents of darkness who served Nathan only in the future. They went to wars for him, they killed for him and in the end, they lost their lives for him.

It was the same way she was submissive to Nathan in the future, she was submissive to Clingy the same way. Did this mean that they were the same person?

Okrapticuiz had said that he was planning something with Shereena. He also said that the future had changed, but he did not know if it changed for the better or for the worse.

What if Clingy was Nathan? Did this mean that her future was coming back all over again? In a different way? She had to do something.

Just at that moment, a group of horses came in from the distance, carrying solders and carts.

"The giant foxes are finally here..." She hissed.

Captain Frey with his scarred face could be singled out from among his men, partly due to his difference in status and also because of his infamous scar that almost took the entirety of the left part of his face. He had a sinister look, still unsure of the reason for which he was summoned.

"We have to leave now, princess..." Baldwin's voice called at her again.

"Sure... We have to leave. But first, I need to do something."

Alorea went towards the approaching party. Standing in front of them, blocking their path, she evoked a stunned reaction from the coming group.

"That is the princess!" Someone from the crew screamed, shocked to meet Alorea in the palace ahead of them.

Beside the leader of the foxes was the old vampire who worked for Demeatris in the future. Alorea saw him whisper something into the ears of Frey.

When they stopped in front of her, Frey ordered to get her.

"Capture her! Before she escapes again!!"

As the men hurriedly formed a circle around her, Alorea shook her head, frustrated by their relentless effort to always attack her. She was no even trying to run away, yet they felt the need to always be at alert at the very sight of her.

Baldwin stepped away from his horse to protect her.

"Alpha Daemon has set me free, and the princess is no longer wanted." He declared.

"How do I believe that?"

"Do you have another explanation for this? I was in the prison cells for all the times the princess went to find the box of power. The only reason I am here now is because she succeeded".

The leader of the fox wolves thought for a while. There was no doubt that it was true.

"So what is this? Why have you stopped us if you are now free to go?"

She proposed a negotiation. "I would like to speak with you alone."

Frey frowned at the request. He was not the type of person interested in conversations and peaceful negotiations. All he ever wanted was war and war. But another whisper from the old vampire seemed to convince him.

"Very well, princess. What do you have to say?"

"I said alone." She hammered on the point. In a matter of minutes, she was in the same room with Frey, with nobody else to listen in on their conversation. The same room where he had met with the old vampire the other night while she spied on them.

But this time, it was her in the position of the old man, discussing with the same man who had been hunting her for weeks, and that too in secret.

"Now that we are alone, what do you have to tell me?" He asked, uncomfortable with the situation playing out at hand.

"Well, it is a secret. And it is a treasonous one."

"What are you saying, foreign princess? Go straight to the point!"

Alorea breathed in slowly. What she was about to say, she had no assurance of it. But she had seen enough evidence to assume that it was truth. She knew Okrapticuiz was not crazy when he said it. He must surely had realized something.

"The princess Shereena." Alorea began. "It is about her..."

"And what about her?" Frey cut in again. He did not have time to waste. He needed her to be as quick as possible as he did not feel the least comfotable speaking to her.

"She plots to kill the alpha." She muttered and waited for his reaction.

It was anger. Sudden anger brewing out of his head in response to the unbelievable accusation.

"How dare you?" His eyes glowed in annoyance as he directed his anger at her. How dare you spill lies about our princess!

"It is no lie. She wants the claws of power to herself. And she has Clingy, prince Scorpio's old servant as her puppet. She would do anything through him."

"The same man who was working with you earlier...?"

"You have seen him. You have seen what he can do. Even if he looks weak, he is one of the smartest men I have known. He tricked me into believing that he cared for me. He had always worked for Shereena, and I know the kind of evil thoughts he has towards your alpha..."

The anger in Frey's eyes had not subsided. He still could not believe what she was saying and it was evident from the way he glared.

Meanwhile, right behind that room, a few metres away, another ear was listening in on their conversation. Using his vampire hearing senses, the old man sighed at what Alorea had said. How true could it be?