Chapter 34

King Arnold’s POV: Part 1

We were all still in cells when we felt the presence of people other than my younger brother Arthur and cousin Evan. They felt familiar, yet so unfamiliar, as we were half-conscious. Yesterday, being a full moon affected us badly. My mate Martha was in the opposite cell to me but, we still couldn’t be together. All five of us suffered the same as they held us in different cells.

The people didn’t get here by the stairs at our kingdom. They must have come from the side of shifter territory. It's been 18 years since we have seen our baby girl. She might have had her first transition into a hybrid, and we weren’t there to help her. We only saw her for a few days before we disappeared from her life.

We heard the hushed voices of 5 people, and one of them was very familiar. I could recognize that voice anywhere. She was Miss Silvia, our castle's head maid. We had given her the responsibility of caring for our daughter in our absence. She was here with four other people who seemed to be teenagers.

I could feel them coming near the cells we were trapped in, only to realize they needed keys to unlock us. They immediately began searching for the keys without any delay. A few minutes later, they were back with the keys. They retrieved Mr. Carlo and their son- and daughter-in-law first.

A girl about our daughter’s age came to my cell. Her scent seemed familiar to that of my daughter. At the same time, the boy who was with them helped Martha out of her cell. They hurt their hands while removing the silver chains and handcuffs on us. They carried us on their back out of the corridor to the room where they came from.

Suddenly, they were on high alert as they could feel Arthur and Evan’s presence. They tried to get out the same way, but the door was closed. They had to find the switch soon or they would have to fight them. Both of my brothers were closing in on us. The air grew tense as they confronted us.

My brother Arthur tried to stop us. It forced three of them to halt while two remained. The girl who retrieved me mustered up her courage to give them a command. That’s when they smirked, pushing a switch near the wall and it shot arrows our way. Unaffected once, they had to hurry and save the others. They didn’t stop at that; the next minute, the walls had turned spiky and were closing in on us.

The girl I thought was my daughter finally couldn’t take it anymore and commanded my brother and cousin to stop moving. They came to a halt. She was our daughter, the “Hybrid Princess”. They had to find a way to get out of here before the walls crushed us. She took the risk of pressing the button and found it was the one to open the door as they rushed outside. But strigoi were waiting for us and had to be dealt with. I lost my consciousness while they fought, unable to take it anymore.

They were tackling Strigois, but fresh blood attracted more of them. Halfway through, my conscience started to fade away. I cannot remember what happened after that.

When I woke up the next morning, I was in a room beside Martha, my Luna. But this room doesn't seem to be in "Werewolf Kingdom”. It might belong to 'Vampire Kingdom'. There were medics around in the room for our treatment. The moment my eyes met one, he had a huge smile. The next minute, Martha woke up, and the medics were overjoyed. One went out of the room to inform them about us immediately.

I don't know how much time has passed since our rescue, but I felt better. I could tell that Martha was feeling the same as we got up to sit. The medics immediately checked if we were feeling alright. Much to their surprise, our health was getting better than when we were brought here.

The person who went out to inform had returned to the room, followed by my good old friend and his wife, King Joshua, and Queen Selena. A few minutes later, Aunt Silvia was there as well. Others were waiting outside the door. I enquired Aunt Silvia about her family. They seemed well now and had regained their consciousness. She was happy to have her family back.

Martha asked her about her granddaughter and our daughter. Aunt Silvia told her that Blair and Aria were both doing fine. She had given Aria to her human friends to raise when we went missing. Our daughter grew up not knowing they weren’t her parents until her transformation started. Aria had turned 18 two days ago into a full hybrid. She was there to rescue you as well, Aunt informed us.

“Aunt, I want to meet the team that came to rescue us.” I told her that I wanted to meet them personally and thank them, and so did Martha.

Aunt Silvia saw them outside the room and invited them in. It excited us both to meet them. She introduced us to each one of them. The first one was my best friend's son Mason, his best friend Eon, her granddaughter Blair, Prince Caleb, herself, and lastly, our daughter Aria.

She informed me that Ethan and Blair are mates, and Prince Caleb has a human mate, Anna. Lastly, Prince Mason and Aria are mates as well. Ethan and Blair might be just like us. I remember Caleb as a child of my brother Arthur, it's good to know he found his mate as well. I am glad that Mason is our daughter's mate, and I am grateful that our daughter will be safe with him.

"What do you think, Martha?" I mind-linked her.

Arnold, I know that we can trust him with our beloved daughter. We also need to thank Mr. and Mrs. Woods for caring for our daughter all those years as their own. We also need to thank everyone else who was there to guide and protect her. She elaborated to me.

Sure, we will do that. We need to know what's going on after all these years from someone.

I can gladly agree with that, she told me with a smile lightening up her face. Martha told me.

After 18 years, I can see my wife smiling genuinely. Her smiles always brighten up my mood. We looked at our daughter, but she avoided eye contact. Aria was having mixed emotions about the situation. Suddenly, her face clouded over as she dashed out of the room. Mason went after her as well.

“What’s wrong? Why did she run away? I asked them.”

“Arnold, our daughter was having mixed emotions about meeting us. Let her take time to get accustomed to everything that’s been going on.”

“Queen is right, my King. She has been through a lot this whole month. A lot has happened in these past two days. She didn’t have enough time to take a good rest. She is recovering herself from all the overexertion of power and silver. Her transformation took a toll on her body and she has used an excess amount of power these days. Aunt Silvia told us.”

“I will take my leave at the moment and go check on her. My King.”

Aunt Silvia left to check up on Aria. Others in the room told us about the events happening these past two days. Attack on Aria’s birthday, kidnapping of Anna’s and Aria’s parents, Aria’s first full transformation, Quest to find the King and Queen, Strigoi attack, attack on the Vampire Kingdom as well as stopping the war.

King Joshua and Prince Caleb also explained the situation about the Kingdoms and people in short. I felt devastated after I heard what my younger brother and cousin had done to our kingdom. Martha was furious as well because not only did he separate families but also put the half-blood children in cells. He had even cut off connections with ‘The Vampire Kingdom’ and ‘Shifter’s territory’.

A few minutes later, nervous-looking Aria came in with Mason and Aunt Silvia.

“You are finally back. What’s wrong? Why did you run away like that? Is something bothering you? I enquired.”

“My King, she was feeling guilty as she held herself responsible for the situation you were in. Aunt Silvia spoke up for her.”

“Aria, you don’t have to feel responsible for what happened. We were not careful enough. It leads to our imprisonment. It is our own fault, not yours in any way. Martha responded.”

“Aria, you don’t have to blame yourself for anything that happened. We don’t regret that. The only thing we regret is not being able to see you grow up as parents. You have turned into a fine young woman now and we are proud of that. I told her.”

“Don’t you ever think like that, my dear? It will never be your fault. Martha insisted.”

“Thanks for telling me that. I won’t feel bad about all this now. She told us.”

“I am so happy to have my parents back after 18 years. Aria confessed happily.”

“We are just as happy to see you. We didn’t know if we could ever see you due to the circumstances we were in. I insisted.”

She embraced both of us for the first time in 18 years. We felt happy as our family reunited. We talked with each other before all of them left us to take a rest. The day went on with us, taking lots of rest and regaining our health. Aria and Mason came by to meet us before going to have dinner. Others also came to meet us as well.

We were resting after having a light dinner, enjoying the night. Martha was right by my side after a long time. We sat there talking casually about our daughter. We felt alarmed while we were speaking followed by someone's footsteps. Aura covered the area all around us making all the people alert.