Chapter Nine - Apple of His Eye

King Alexander's POV

I was wondering about the palace gardens with my mate, my queen like we did every night. Something we started to do after our little angel had been taken from us. Yes, it had been fifty years, and I don't even know if she is alive. Her bond with us never broke, but if just disappeared. Something I had never experienced in my 97 years of life. Normally, when a pack member dies, it feels like a piece of elastic being pulled so taught that it suddenly snaps, and if they are alive, you can constantly feel it thrumming away, it's the same with a family member or a mate connection, but this, it just disappeared.

"Do you think we will ever see her again?" My wife asked me.

"I hold out hope," I said with a sad smile as we looked at the rose bush that was planted in her memory a year after she was taken. It had the most beautiful purple petals. I patted my mate's hand which was linked through my arm. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I put my lips to her soft blond h