Chapter 93
“What in the world are you talking about?!” Damien suddenly cut in, looking serious. “I am to marry who? So, my opinions here do not matter anymore? I am to marry her? How are we even sure she did not fake the results she brought home and claimed the son is mine? And besides, I am not ready to marry any other woman other than my Delphine! Not in my lifetime!” He turned to face Kate. “So, you better find something to do about yourself and the child because that marriage can never work out! Never! And if you feel you have no other decision or you have no idea what else to do, then follow the second option given to you! But for marriage, I won’t have anything to do with that and I stand firmly on my words!” Damien finished and stood up from his chair and walked out of the dining room.
“Damien! Damien, would you come back here!” the king shouted as soon as he walked away, but he did not come back. Damien had always been like that and everyone knew him for it. Whenever he said he wasn’t going to do something, he would not do it and there was nothing anyone would do about that. The queen immediately stood up and ran after her son.
Immediately Damien left, the king tried calling him back but he didn’t answer, and his mum ran after him. Ryan decided to use that opportunity to speak in Damien’s favor. “For me, I think Damien is actually right. You cannot just decide for him what to do over some tradition that has been in existence since whenever. If he says he will not marry her, then he would not. Besides, your highness, have you even thought about how Delphine would feel about this? You did not even have a discussion with her beforehand or anything and you just brought this up and really, I actually feel it is so unfair on her part, even if she would not voice out her thoughts about it.”
“Ryan, just shut it!” the king exclaimed as he turned to face Ryan. “You have no say in this, Ryan! This is what is right and there’s nothing anyone can do to change my mind about this decision!”
“Oh really? Now you make decisions for your own alpha and your own child? Then why is he an adult if he cannot make decisions for himself?”
“Ryan,” Ruby called her mate, and she nudged him slightly where she sat beside him on the table, motioning for him to keep the argument down.
“No, Ruby! I won’t end this argument until they realize that I am actually right and I would support Damien’s views about not accepting to marry her! Besides, if it were to be someone with manners, I would have even tried to be more polite, but when the so-called person isn’t even polite in the tiniest bit, then why should I be any polite to her either, when she does not deserve it!” Ryan finished his statement and stood up immediately, anger obvious in his expression as he glared at the king and back to Katherine before leaving the dining room for them. Immediately he left, Luca stood up, bowed his head a bit to the king and immediately rushed after him.
“I apologize duly on his behalf, your highness.” Ruby said as soon as Luca followed Ryan out of the dining room.
“It’s okay,” the king simply said and then turned to face Katherine again. “But are you sure the child is his? You’re a hundred percent sure he is?”
“Of course, My Lord. I could fetch you the results right away to look at. I mean, why would I even lie and forge one? I cannot just lie that I bore a child for him, can I?” Katherine said and the king shook his head, seeing that really, it made no sense why she would lie about having a child for him, which only meant that she was right and was only trying to deny the child due to defamation.
“I’m quite sure he’s only avoiding shame and defamation, but if he really was trying to prevent that in the first place, he would not have tried doing anything like that with you to even have a child,” the king replied, as his thoughts were still in the same route with Katherine’s. “Or, what do you think, Ruby?” he asked as he turned to face Ruby who had been silent all along about the whole issue as she just kept on eating her food.
“Actually,” Ruby said and paused. “If Katherine keeps saying the child is his, and Damien himself says it isn’t, then, I feel a new DNA test should be done. If it tallies, then it really is his, but if it does not, then, we would all know Damien was right after all.”
“That is actually a beautiful idea, Ruby!” the king commended her as he thought about the idea she just brought up. “Or Kate, don’t you go with that too?”
“Uhm, the thing is—” She was about speaking when a voice cut her short.
“The thing is that you have no point where, Katherine. That is the thing.” All heads turned to the direction the door came from, and they all sighted Daciana as she walked into the dining room with a paper on her right hand.
“And where have you been, Daciana? We were having lunch together and a very important family meeting and you decided to not be around at such important moment?” he asked.
“Well, maybe because I was only trying to find out the truth and not just sit around and force my son to do what is not right!” Daciana blurted out.
“What… What are you saying?” Katherine said as she eyed her.
“What do you mean, Dal?” Ruby also asked anxiously, as she tried to process what she said.
“Here is the actual and true result of the DNA test to show if really, Damien is the father of that boy. And believe me when I tell you that, this woman right here forged the result she brought here!” Daciana dropped the bombshell to the three of them who were the only ones left on the table, as she dropped the actual result of the test, which she had just gone to the hospital to collect, and she dropped it on the table, directly in front of the king. “Go ahead, father. Take a look.”
“What?”
~~~
“So you want her powers?” The woman asked Malachi, but her eyes were on the glowing gem hanging from a thread around his neck.
Malachi rolled his eyes like a frustrated child. “Yes, that’s what I said. Or don’t you understand English, do I need to speak another language?”
“Don’t use that smart mouth on me. You obviously need our help, that’s why you traveled the whole way from Romulus. You better knock out that pride of your shoulders, if you want us to consider helping you.” She told him.
He paused to see if she was joking, but the hard look showed no play. “How dare you? Do you know who I am? One more word like that and I’ll kill you, then proceed to feed your old bones to my dog.”
“Malachi!” The old priestess who accompanied him whispered fiercely in his ears. “You really should mind the way you talk to them, know that your magic won’t work on them. They are in power here.” The woman who Malachi was about to begin a banter with shot a proud smile to Malachi as realization dawned on him. The arrogance on his face had disappeared in a flash.
“Uh…Have you— I’m s-sorry about that…” he stammered.
“Sorry about what, Malachi? Cat got your tongue?” the witch taunted.
“I said, let’s just forget about all that and move on,” he said, managing a smile though the anger in his eyes was very clear. He remembered clearly that the priestess had told him the people in that land, magic had no effect on them. But then he had thought she was joking or just trying to scare him back because she wasn’t in support of him going.
“Good. Go, come back, tomorrow come see us, we will have a conversation and decide on if we want to help or not.”
“If you want to help or not?” Malachi scoffed in disbelief. “I won’t accept this disrespect, I really shouldn’t have come here.”
“Then you can leave, we won’t stop or hold you back. " She told Malachi, eyeing him, but he didn’t move. “Fine, let’s get down to business.”
“If we give you what you desire, what do we get in return?” The man who has been quiet since, watching Malachi and his partner banter finally spoke.
Malachi let out a frustrated grunt. “Of course you want something in return,” he murmured. “Fine, you do this and you can get all the money you want.”
The duo shared a look, then joined heads together and whispered among-st themselves, minutes later they turned to face Malachi again. “We will take the money…and, I want that precious stone on your chest.”
“No.” Malachi said to her. “This is more precious to me than anything else in this world.”
“Really?” The witch asked. “That only makes me want it more. Why is the gem so precious to you, what is it capable of?”
“I don’t have to tell you,” he said simply. “Will you take the money or not? This is not the only land of witches, I’ll go to another, find the elders and have them make me what I need if you keep proving stubborn.”
“You should be grateful you’re even alive in our presence. You reek of blood, death, evil. The moment you tried to step foot in another Land of the witches, you will be striked to your death.”
He stared back at her in disbelief. “No, you’re only saying that because you need my money.” He laughed. “But I won’t leave, name your price and I’ll get it for you.”
She was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “We will discuss the price after the deed has been done. "
~~~
Daciana returned the next day, from the disappointed look on her face Delphine already knew that she couldn’t find the boy’s mother. “No, I couldn’t find her,” she said after Delphine asked. “But I do know where she went, back to the city.” Katherine had run away after the news and Daciana had gone after her.
“She left her son here and went back to the city?” Delphine asked in a whisper, like she was afraid someone would hear. “Why?”
“Do you ask? Because she’s crazy and her name is Katherine. But what you won’t even believe is the person she went with, Vivian.”
“Vivian is still alive?” Delphine’s eyes widened in shock. “I mean, that’s surprising, I’ve forgotten that she even existed. Where did you get this information?”
“From some old witch…she said Vivian told her she was heading to the city and apparently Katherine followed her. The good news is, Vivian has finally decided to move on with her life, but then, what do we tell Alex?”
Delphine signed, having nothing to say about that. “Well, at least you tried.” Daciana nodded. “I really wish things could go back to the way they once were, before Malachi and all, where the only problem we had was my fear of the new moon and Vivian.”
Daciana chuckled. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but compared to now, those days do seem like good days. This dark cloud will still be over our head, only till Malachi is defeated. Then we can live in peace. Where is Damien?”
“Remember they are trying to gather a weapon to break through the spell Malachi has on Romulus?” Daciana nodded. “Well, I woke up to him preparing for another journey. He left with the chief priest and…Luca. Luca left a note for you, he wanted to wait for you to be returned before he left, but they were in a hurry and had to leave.”
“I understand.” She looked up at the sky, placing a palm over her forehead as if to protect her eyes from the sunlight. “Well, we can’t stand here forever, let’s go in.