“Your Majesty, Your Highness.” I curtsied, looking for Ella, but she wasn’t around. Was I late or was Ella? She was never late!“Ariana, right on time as usual. Ella won’t be joining us tonight. She is having dinner with her new family, but look, Lorenzo decided to surprise me.” As if reading my mind, the queen answered all my questions and I smiled.“Actually, I have some news for the two of you.” Lorenzo held out his mother’s chair while one of the servants helped me to take a seat. I was almost too scared to ask what the news was and, thanks to the queen’s curiosity, she jumped in.“Oh?” She raised a brow.“I’ve decided to release Father. That is if it’s okay with Ariana.” The queen was about to ask Lorenzo something, but she closed her mouth and looked a little confused. Both sets of eyes turned to me just as I had stuffed a piece of meat into my mouth and I tried my best to get it down so I could answer them.“It is not my place to make such a decision, Your Majesty.” I smiled at

It literally took all morning to go through all the horrors of what Ariana experienced with the slave traders. I had to agree with her that it sounded as if her pack sold the omegas into slavery. They were orphans mostly and not linked to any family which made them the perfect assets, so to speak. I was slowly forming a plan on how to take care of the slave traders and perhaps get the pixie queen onboard at the same time.In between our discussions, my councillors kept me up to date on what was happening with my father, and just before Ariana left for lunch with my mother, I realized that I hadn’t even spoken to my mother about my plans. If I was going to hijack her lady-in-waiting until this problem was sorted out, it would be the decent thing to do to discuss the situation with her.On the spur of the moment, I decided to join the ladies for lunch. My mother was still looking defeated, but as soon as she saw Ariana walking in with me, she lit up like a Christmas tree! That might be

I arrived after everyone had taken their seats and stood waiting outside the enormous double doors of the throne room. I knew that Lorenzo would be sitting on the throne with his mother at his side and Ella beside her. Since I was one of the witnesses, I had to wait outside in the passage until I was called. Lorenzo made very sure that I knew I couldn’t talk to anyone until after I had given my testimony.There were three of us waiting to be called and I could see that the two gentlemen were looking as nervous as I felt. I was going to be up first and I had just gotten up to start pacing when one of the palace guards called me.As I walked into the throne room, all eyes turned to me and I could hear whispers in the background. It was the most terrified I had ever been in my entire life! I made my way down the aisle and was sworn in, to tell the truth. Taking my spot at the small podium, I waited to be bombarded by questions. I could actually feel the hatred radiating off from the old

I hardly slept a wink and when Lesley woke me in the morning, I could actually see the dark circles under my eyes. The poor girl tried her best to hide it with makeup, but there was no hiding the fact that all of this was getting to me. I wasn’t finished with my damn testimony. The old king and his representative still had the opportunity to ask me some questions.Lesley, my new guard, and I made our way down the passage to the throne room and all along the way, people were telling me how sorry they were for what I had gone through. It was nauseating, to say the least! Why, if they were so damn sorry, hadn’t any of them do anything to protect their property?! Thankfully, my new guard noticed my irritation and he started stopping people from talking to me. We reached the throne room and Lesley went inside while I waited to be called.“Everything is going to be okay, miss. You will finish today and then you will be able to relax and I will be here to stop anyone from bothering you.” He

Thankfully, Lorenzo understood that I didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to relive the experience. The queen was so preoccupied in the early hours of the morning that she didn’t notice as I sneaked out of her morning room and made my way outside. I crossed the clearing without thinking of who might be seeing me and ran into the forest.I felt as if I wasn’t able to breathe. The dress was strangling me and I started to rip at it while I ran. I had lost my shoes somewhere along the way. I couldn’t even remember shifting, but as I did, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. My paws dug deep into the soft ground of the forest as the wind caressed my fur.I ran and ran, not looking which way I was going and honestly not caring until I caught a strange scent and before I could figure out what it was, a sparkling creature appeared in front of me. Trying to stop so I wouldn’t run her over, I came to a halt just a short distance from where she was standing.I sniffed the