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Chapter 67 Derek Again!
“You almost bought the entire store. That‘s too much!”
lexited the store following Soren, who had insisted on buying anything and everything that I looked at
for more than three seconds.
“This is just the right amount.” Soren smiled. “I feel good about myself today. Very wise choice.”
“I‘m sorry?” I said, honestly not understanding.
“The best thing
I did today was making these purchases. First of all, you are happy. Secondly, the old lady behind the co
unter made enough to call it a day early,
so she is happy. I made two ladies happy in one day, nothing beats that!”
He thought for a moment before happily continuing, “Even the baby will thank me when it gets the new
things created by its mother.”
I chuckled at his words, and my hand gently moved to my belly. I shook my head with a smile.
“Thank you, Mr. Wiseman Soren. I promise I‘ll pay you back once I find a job.”
He slowed down to look at me, ignoring half of what I said. “You‘re welcome.” He glanced
at his watch. “It‘s still early. Ro, do you still have energy to check out the rest of the marketplace?”
It was the first time in a long while that I had a chance to enjoy crowds and
shops like this, and there was still a lot to see.
I nodded. “Yes, that would be lovely.”
The marketplace stretched from the cobbled stone streets near the port
all the way down to the bakery on the corner. Stalls were lined up in the streets with farmers
selling their fresh produce out in the open fresh air. The cheerful shops on either side
attracted customers with food, jewelry, and apparel.
Exciting scents and sounds surrounded
me- the sweet earthy smells of roasting chestnuts and mouth watering baked goods; the chatter of adults
and laughing shrieks of children amidst the loud calls
and haggling of the vendors. Somewhere down an alley, a fiddler was playing a cheerful folk tune.
It was almost like I had been dropped into another universe. The
clothes, the accents, the atmosphere everything was so different from what I was used to on the
mainland.
“So are you enjoying the shops here?” Soren asked with a smile.
Caught up in the bliss of beauty that was Avondale, I found it hard to take my eyes off everything around
me. “Yes, I can‘t get over how lively this place is. It‘s so different from what I‘m used to.”
His chuckle was light.
“It is spectacular, in its own way. Avondale is the biggest port of trade in the Denali Isles. I suppose I don‘
t notice the beauty of it much anymore since I‘ve been here for a while.”
I watched the interactions of the people around me, and the children
who laughed and played in the street. I could picture myself and my child walking along these streets, enj
oying a carefree afternoon walk in the warm sun.
“Hey Ro, I want to check out something over there,” Soren said beside me. “Do
you mind checking out the next
couple stalls by yourself?”
“Of course. Please go ahead.”
“Alright, be a good girl and don‘t cause any trouble, okay?” he joked. “I‘ll be right back.”
ausea
“I promise I‘ll be here when you‘re back.” I smiled as he took off to go to the other side of the street.
I was standing in front of a clothing store. My belly was growing bigger every day, and I was in need of m
ore comfortable items to wear. I felt a strong urge to see what the store had to offer, and ventured closer i
n hopes of finding something. The beautiful array of fabric and the variety of colors were eye–
catching, making it difficult to pick out what I might need the most.
As I was checking out a set of clothes on the rack just outside the shop door, I suddenly froze.
On the other side of the street, I caught a glimpse of someone from my nightmares of long ago–
a dark shadow of my past I thought I had escaped from.
He wasn‘t facing the store, and I could only see his profile, but I couldn‘t mistake him.
“That isn‘t possible…” The whisper barely left my lips. “Derek…”
I wasn‘t sure if he had seen me, but that wasn‘t a risk I was willing to take.
T headed into the shop as quickly as
I could without drawing attention to myself, and pushing past a few people in order to meander toward th
e back. Luckily, with the bright sunshine outside, it
would be hard for anyone to see into the store. I moved behind racks of clothing and prayed that Derek
wouldn‘t see me.
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My heart was beating fast. What should I do?
I thought of Soren. He hadn‘t returned yet, and even if he did, how would he know I was here?
As I was trying to figure out my next move, someone blocked the store‘s entrance.
“Ro,” Soren‘s voice called out, causing me to jump.
I let out a breath. I had never been so happy that he was around.
As soon as he saw me, his look of happiness quickly turned into one of concern. “You‘re here! Is everythi
ng
okay?”
I found myself speechless for a moment, and forced a smile onto my face.
“Uh–yes. Sorry, I should‘ve waited outside. How did you find me?”
“Not a problem at all. I would be able to find you anywhere,” he replied
jokingly. “In all honesty, you, my lady, have definitely made some good impressions, so it wasn‘t too diffic
ult for the stall owners to tell me which way you went. So, did you find anything?”
Flattered by his compliment, I shyly said. “You are far too kind.” Then I
cleared my throat quickly, trying to pretend nothing had happened, and answered, “Yes, but I was having
difficulties deciding which one of these two dresses I should buy.”
“That‘s easy.” He smiled, and I had a feeling that he would say,
“Both of them, of course. One moment– let me check them out.”
I sighed. Just as expected.
However, I didn‘t argue with him.
I glanced outside again. Thank the Moon Goddess, Derek was gone.
Soren returned with yet another bag in hand.
“Thank you so much,” I said with a smile–
but my happy expression faltered quickly as my eyes instinctively darted around.
My mind was drifting back to Derek. Would he also be able to track me down easily if he saw me?
Soren, observant as he was, didn‘t miss my nervousness. “You seem uncomfortable. Would you like to h
ead back?”
Nodding my head, I gave a weak smile. “I‘m sorry, just a bit tired now. I‘m looking forward
to sitting down once we get back.”
“You don‘t have to apologize, Ro. Growing a child can‘t be an easy thing to do.”
I followed him back to his limousine. His Beta, Thomas, was already waiting for us. Fortunately, Derek w
as still nowhere to be seen.
Once we got in the car, I let out a breath and tried to calm myself down.
Noticing Soren was looking at me, I cleared my throat. “So did
you find what you were looking for earlier?”
“It‘s a secret.” He blinked twice at me, and successfully lightened my mood.
But before I replied, he said, “ gosh, I‘m just so bad at keeping secrets! So I got
something for you-” I watched him reaching into a large white bag, “well something for your baby, to
be accurate.”
My eyes widened at the sight of an elegant black toy ship that Soren had presented in his hand. It was a
bout the length of my forearm, fairly large compared to most of the toy ships, but was sophisticatedly dec
orated in the most realistic way.
On its body, there were engraved letters reading “Avondale”.
“Soren, it‘s beautiful,” I whispered as he placed it in my hands. “You didn‘t–”
“I know, I know. I didn‘t have to, but I wanted to. I figured that, since you are living on the island, a ship n
amed after it would be a great representation of where your child will be growing up.”
I forced a smile and thanked him. “You are too generous. Thank you!”
Soren‘s gift was heartwarming.
However, knowing Derek was also here made Avondale no longer
an option for me to settle down long term.
I was the reason he‘d lost his hand. If he ever found me, I couldn‘t imagine what he would do to me and
my child for revenge. An overwhelming fear flooded me at the thought.
Soren asked all of a sudden, “Ro, something happened back at the market, didn‘t it?”
I sighed. I was a little taken aback by his question, but then I wasn‘t too surprised that he came to that co
nclusion– he was extremely good at reading people.
However, I didn‘t want to burden Soren with my troubles. And I couldn‘t let him find out who I was.
“Soren.. no, nothing. You have been
amazing with everything, but now that I am fully healed, I think it‘s time for me to find a place to settle do
wn.”
It took Soren a moment, but he said in an even tone, “I actually was thinking about that these couple day
s. I
promised you we‘ll figure out a solid plan for you. Let‘s get inside, and we can talk it through.”
As we spoke, the limousine pulled up to the house. Soren opened the car door for me and led me to the l
iving room.
After pouring me a coup of of warm water, he sat down next to me to explain his proposal in detail.
“I have a property on a different island within the Isles of Denali. As you know, I go on business trips a lot
, so I‘m not there most of the time. I‘m looking for someone to look after it. Someone I could trust.”
He gave me a minute to digest the information.
“It‘s a small island, not as busy as Avondale, so I wasn‘t sure whether you‘d like it there. But I figured I‘dl
at least ask you and see if you had any interest.”
To make the
offer even more appealing, he added with a smile and a wink, “Also, I pay well. You can be assured of th
at.”
My eyes widened. It seemed like a perfect solution to my problem.
“If you accept, it would be a huge favor to me.” Soren gave me a sincere look.
I didn‘t want to jump on the opportunity
just yet. Even though everything had seemed to work out really well so far, I just had an uneasy feeling.
“Thank you so much for the offer. May I think about it?”
“Absolutely!” Soren seemed to be happy that I didn‘t turn him down immediately. I realized I forgot to ask
for a piece of important information. “What‘s the name of the island?” “It‘s Papeno.”
Which Island is being used by Our Enemy?
The river was running particularly fast that night as I stood there gazing out at it under the moonlight.
I knew I didn‘t have long. I needed to get back soon. But I had snuck out to catch some fresh air.
At least, that‘s what I had told everyone.
I had fully intended to do just that, but now I found myself here–
standing on the cliff‘s edge, staring down at the water. I watched it run over the top of the jagged rocks,
white caps violently cascading over the brink before they disappeared on the other side.
Sometimes a branch would fly up into the air, smash into a boulder, and then fall beneath the surface, fa
ding away, never to be seen again.
I couldn‘t let myself think of her that –
way.
I couldn‘t let my mind go there… to the images of what it would be like for her body to hit those rocks and
break apart like those sticks.
It had been days, and still nothing. As I looked down at the water and saw how vicious it was, the idea
that it could destroy all traces of her made it easier to accept.
ΑΙΓΙΝΑ!
Talon‘s voice cut through my thoughts, and I turned to see him hurrying toward me.
“The King needs us in the war room right away!”
Ever since we counterattacked against the rogues and evacuated the northern villages, the situation alon
g the northern forest had been stabilized. We had now focused back on the west coast war
against the West King, Alpha Kal.
Talon‘s voice told me, though, that this was more urgent than usual.
VE
I turned and looked at him, his face illuminated by the moon‘s light, and took several hurried steps in his
direction. “What is it?”
“Kal‘s men have taken over three cities along the west coast,” he said.
I froze. “Sorry?”
“You heard me correctly.” Talon‘s expression could not have made
it more clear that the bad news was true.
I took a deep breath. “Why haven‘t we heard about this until now?”
Talon shook his head. “They were too fast,” he explained.
We rushed back to the war room.
“The last attack
happened a few hours ago,” Talon said, “Here.” He picked up a marker and made another X.
I looked at the pattern of Xs.
“The patrol didn‘t catch wind of them at all along the coast?” James asked, standing up
and surveying the map from a different angle. “It doesn‘t make any sense. Where could they possibly be
starting from to get to our mainland so quickly?”
We were all looking at the large map he had spread on
the table in the war room. It was the main map we used to chart movements of all kinds: troops, resource
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏms, attacks, withdrawals– everything.
“The closest point of Alpha Kal‘s territory is here,” Walter, James‘s advisor, said, touching
the map in one spot. “It‘s far enough away that we should have seen his forces coming, one would think.
He would have to use ships to get there, and we have ours in the open water
here.” He gestured toward our navy vessels indicated on the map.
James nodded. “Yes, I know, Walter,” He said it with less cynicism in his voice than I would‘ve been able t
enemy troops keep flooding into our territories without giving us any indication that they‘re coming.”
“Unless.”
I paused, studying the map.
A pang hit me in the stomach, one I didn‘t want to acknowledge, but it was there nonetheless. I didn‘t even
My cousin looked at me for a second, an eyebrow arched. “What is it, Ethan?” he asked.
I cleared my throat. Deciding it was better not to
say what I was thinking in the larger group, I changed track.
“Unless we figure out what he‘s doing.. we are going to continue to lose the battles.”
I saw James and the others deflate, as if they had hoped I was on to something.
“Yes, that‘s true,” James said.
We continued to study the map for several moments, but no one had any ideas.
The more I looked at it, the more I realized my gut instinct had to be right. There really was only one poss
be launching from.
The notion made a white–hot fire burn within me.
However, regardless of how I felt inside, I had to stay calm in front of everyone.
“It‘s getting late,” James finally said a bit after midnight. Our definitions of what “getting late” meant had ch
The others nodded and headed for the door. I hung back.
Once
the other leaders had all left the room, I turned to my cousin and said, “I hope that I‘m wrong, but I think I
James studied my face for a moment. “I thought you had an idea earlier. Why
didn‘t you share it with us?”
“I‘ll get to that in a moment,” | replied. Leaning over the map, I said, “What‘s the only place
on this map that‘s west of our naval patrols and east of the coast of the West Kingdom?”
I could see, in my cousin‘s face, the same betrayal and anger beginning
to well up inside of him as he pondered the possibility that what I was suggesting was true.
He stared at me for a moment before he replied, “The islands? But… aren‘t those part of Denali?”
I nodded. “Yes, they are.”
“But if Alpha Kal is actually launching attacks from these islands, part of
the Islands of Denali, he couldn‘t be doing that without permission. Without Alpha Romero knowing about
“That‘s right,” was all I could manage to spit out.
James was shaking his head. “But why–”
“Not that hard to guess.” Now that I‘d gotten a few minutes to sort through the information, I was able to p
From James‘s expression, I knew he had followed my logic. “It‘s not like we can force him to collaborate w
just like Kal can‘t force Romero, either.” James sighed. “So you think Romero is working with both sides?
“Or at war with both sides, depending on how you look at it. But the bottom line is, it
doesn‘t matter which side wins–his islands will be spared and kept safe.”
I paused,
“However, I believe that he prefers for us to win the war.”
dn t need to provide the reasoning behind my theory, because James already got it. He finished what I did
say: “…Otherwise, he wouldn‘t push for the marriage between you and Madalynn.”
“I‘ll need to figure out which island is being used by our enemy.” I tried to change the topic, but from Jame
No matter how hard I was trying to push it off, I knew he wouldn‘t allow me this time.
“I need you to move forward with marrying Madalynn.”
I pressed my lips tight and didn‘t answer.
His aging eyes turned to me, looking at me with pity. “Is this because of that girl… the breeder?”
I‘d forbidden everyone from mentioning her, including myself. However, at the same time, all I wanted
to hear was something, anything, about her. The conflicting feelings were making me lose my mind.
“I‘m too busy with everything going on to deal with a wedding right now,” I deflected. “This war, and our pe
“Is it so?” James looked at me quietly. “Ethan, don‘t lie to yourself. And please don‘t make me force you to
this.”
The truth was… I could not bring myself to face Madalynn. Not yet.
I didn‘t know how long it would take, but not yet– not right now.
Just like I couldn‘t bring myself to forget about Rosalie.
“Ethan, whether you are still upset about that girl or not… what happened already happened. It‘s a
sad situation for a lot of people. From what I heard, she was a sweet woman. But I must ask you to move
Before I could reply, he held up his hand, stopping me in my tracks, and left the room by himself.
The conversation was done.
My head was about to explode. Tonight would be another sleepless night for me.
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