Chapter 12

Recovering from her shock, Rayena followed Morvan as he marched ahead. As she walked down the hallway, she noticed other members of the harem walking out of their rooms and watching her. Perhaps they must have overheard her conversation with Morvan, or they were just plain curious. They murmured among themselves, throwing her snide glances.

But only one person’s glare stood out to her out of all, and that was Lady Ysolde. She stood in a corner near one of the pillar columns, watching her with those haughty eyes of hers, anger radiating off her in waves. Rayena was baffled by the expression and immediately averted her gaze, wondering what was wrong with her.

Morvan guided her through the gardens, past the demarcation of trees where she was almost attacked by a wolf weeks past, and towards the main palace. His strides were long and fast, and occasionally she had to run to catch up with him, but soon the main palace building came into view. Rayena’s mouth widened in a gasp as she stared at the large building in front of her, stunned by its grandness, especially from this angle. She really hadn’t appreciated it much when she first arrived at the castle, but now, she took out time to admire its beauty.

They finally entered its walls, and just as Rayena had expected, the interior was even more breathtaking than the outside.

“Wow...” she gasped, awed.

Red velvet curtains lined the grand floor-to-ceiling windows, and the huge hall situated on the ground floor had a pristine chandelier hanging over it, glittering like a million crystals. The rug felt soft and smooth, and Rayena wanted to run her bare legs through it, but Morvan was already walking ahead, directing her to one of the many corridors. Shoving away her need to sightsee, she immediately followed after him.

He led her through so many winding corridors she was forced to speak up, already out of breath with how fast he was taking her. “Where is the tour beginning, exactly?” she asked, and he stopped, turning to look at her.

Morvan seemed conflicted, but then his face hardened. “Wait here, I’ll be back,” he said, and before she could protest, sped away.

Rayena watched him go, puzzled. She looked around her, noticing how strange it was that there were no other palace workers around. Everywhere was just too silent and empty, and it made her uncomfortable.

When Morvan didn’t return as quickly as she would like him to, she began to wander, looking at the decorations used to line the large corridors. Occasionally checking for passersby, she studied the details of the flower pots, subconsciously humming a tune to herself.

Eventually, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She looked up and, to her surprise, saw Lylall coming her direction. A smile hit her lips.

“Lylall!” she called out excitedly, waving her hands. Closing the rest of the distance, she glanced at him, a huge grin on her face. “How are you?”

“Fine...” he answered, his voice strained. Rayena caught the cut above his brows and froze.

“What happened? Did you hurt yourself?” she asked, reaching to touch it. Xenon stiffened when her fingers made contact with his skin, feeling like cool water on a hot summer breeze. Suppressing a satisfied grunt, he touched the area her fingers had brushed and noticed the cut. That definitely happened while he was trying to resist a shift.

“Oh... it must have happened while I was working,” he lied, sneakily drowning his lungs with her scent.

“Really? You should be more careful next time,” she mumbled, a displeased expression on her face.

“I will...” he muttered, a part of him glad she was concerned. “What are you doing here?” he asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know either," she answered with a chuckle. Moving closer, she spoke as if trying to reveal a secret. "General Mavron just called on me and said he wanted to take me on a tour of the palace and ordered me to follow him. Now I'm here, and he's nowhere to be seen."

Xenon held back a scoff, rolling his eyes. Trust his right-hand man to be completely clueless when it came to matters like this.

"Well, I don't know where he is, but do you want me to take you around?"

"I would love it if you can do that!" she exclaimed, her eyes glittering with happiness.

"Where should we start?" he asked, falling into step with her.

"Anywhere you'd like," she answered, smiling up at him. Then her brows furrowed. "Actually, how about you tell me all about the weretigers and werewolves and how they came to be? I went to the market today with Soraya and noticed a lot of things. Why don't we start with that?"

Xenon paused, thinking through what she had just said. "We can start with that..." he muttered slowly, his voice deepened with thought. Looking around him, he let out a breath. "Come with me," he said.

Rayena followed him as he led her through another set of winding corridors, but unlike Mavron, his pace was much slower, and it was easier to walk with him. They kept walking till they reached the end of a huge hallway, covered completely with a large curtain.

Rayena held back from asking why they stopped there, watching as Lylall pulled back the curtain, revealing a huge portrait that covered the entirety of the wall. Rayena looked up, a soft gasp escaping her lips as she stared at the painting of what had to be the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

"She's beautiful... Who is this?" Rayena asked, glancing at Lylall, who stood beside her.

Xenon stared at the picture in front of him, feeling emotions clog his throat. But he swallowed them down, willing himself to sound as impersonal as possible. "This is Princess Annette Valtherion, the current king's mother," he announced, his voice surprisingly firm despite the storm in his heart.

"Wow, she's beautiful," Rayena muttered, still gawking at the painting. "But what has she got to do with the history of the werewolves and weretigers?"

"Well, because she's the reason all of this came to be." He answered, glancing at her.

He answered, glancing at her. "When she was much younger, she lived here with her brothers and father, King Rowan, in the palace. Being his favorite, he always doted on her and was very secretive about her too. Since she was a werewolf, it was expected that once she turned eighteen, she would experience her first shift and now be eligible to find a mate, but none of those things happened."

"Really?" Rayena asked, moving closer to study the portrait.

Xenon nodded. "Well, none of those things happened. Her family didn't think it strange; they accepted her the way she was and let her live freely until she caught the eye of the weretiger king, Aeron."

"What did he do?" Rayena asked, engrossed in his tale.

"It is believed he caught a glimpse of her when he came visiting and decided he wanted her for himself. So he kidnapped her."

"What!?"

"Yeah..." Xenon murmured, grimacing slightly.

"Why would he do that!?"

"Nobody knows for sure. Many suspected he did that to spite her father. Others speculated his desperation for a child caused him to make that decision. However, she was taken to his territory and made to live there."

Xenon's expression darkened as he continued recounting the tale, grief and anger mixing to become a maelstrom of destructive energy within him. "During that period, her family did everything they could to get her back. Fights, ambushes, threats, you name it. But when she returned, she had already been defiled and was pregnant."

Rayena gasped in horror. "No way!" she mumbled, shocked. "That must have been devastating."

"It made her father, King Rowan, very furious. He disregarded the peace treaty they had signed just years prior and attacked the weretigers, killing thousands. The rest he couldn't kill, he captured and enslaved. Aeron was killed during that battle as well," he growled, his voice thick with pain.

When he glanced at Rayena, he saw she had tears in her eyes, her lower lip already trembling. "Why are you crying?"

She sniffed, hurriedly blinking them back. "That must have been horrific. So many innocent lives..." She trailed off, choking on a sob.

Torn on what to do, Xenon shrugged and continued with his story. "Just like that, the weretiger kingdom was wiped out. But Annette here was still pregnant with his child and was too far gone in the pregnancy to have it removed, so she had to deliver the child. But a shifter's pregnancy is a very delicate and dangerous situation to be in, and since she didn't get the regular assistance she would have received if Aeron was still alive, it led to complications during childbirth. She lost her life, but her child survived. The child being the king now," he finished.

"That's so tragic. I'm so devastated for him," Rayena muttered, cleaning away a stray tear. She let out a breath and glanced at him. "But, how did he become king? I'm sure it wasn't easy."

Xenon gave a dry chuckle even though his body was already trembling with fury. "Yeah, it wasn't. He had to lead a rebellion for that." He heard another horrified gasp from Rayena but didn't turn to look at her.

"He was treated like an outcast for so many years within the royal family, and when he had his first shift, unfortunately for him, he turned into a tiger. He was then labeled a traitor and sentenced to be killed."

"Did they succeed?" Rayena asked with dread.

"No, of course not," Xenon grumbled with a scoff. "He escaped and managed to free other weretigers while at it too. They went into hiding and returned a decade later to fight the retaliation war, killing every existing royal werewolf and finally freeing the rest of the weretigers."

A heavy sigh escaped Xenon's lips then. "But that left him as the only surviving royal from both the werewolf and weretiger clan. With no one else to fight a claim to the throne, he was crowned king and has been ruling ever since. He was the one who united both clans under his rule, but they still haven't gotten along yet."

"Hmm... That sounds tragic," Rayena muttered quietly.

"It does?" Xenon asked, glancing at her.

"Yes. All of that bloodshed so they could have a shot at freedom, and even now he's still running into problems," she muttered, looking at the portrait with a forlorn expression.

Xenon glanced at it as well, a wave of sadness crashing over him. "I suppose that's tragic."

"I never thought that the king's history would be coated in that much bloodshed. It must be weighing so heavily on him. I wish I could give him a hug," she muttered gently.

He's standing next to you right now.

Eventually, she sobered up, managing a small smile as she glanced at him. "Is there more you would like to show me?" she asked, staring at Xenon.

Xenon shrugged, thinking it through. "There isn't much history anywhere else because this palace was just recently rebuilt with more wings added, and most of them still sit empty. So I think this is all I can show you for now."

“I see…” she murmured, her gaze lingering on him longer than it should have.

He caught the look. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

A faint blush stained her cheeks as she fiddled with her fingers, looking back at the portrait. "It's just, you have the same eyes as the werewolf princess," she mumbled.

Xenon's heart stuttered. In disbelief, he pointed to himself. "I do?"

"Yeah, it's really beautiful. Really catches the sunlight." She muttered softly, her fingers inching upward to touch his face. She stopped herself just in time, immediately clasping them behind her back.

"Umm..." Xenon coughed, scratching his neck. "Thank you," he mumbled, still flustered by the compliment. An awkward silence settled, and Rayena cleared her throat to dispel it.

"So, there aren’t any other places?"

Xenon thought hard. "To be honest, even I don't know my way around the palace. There are too many corridors," he whispered, and Rayena giggled, shaking her head.

"That's a valid statement. I think we should stop here for today. I'm trying not to bump into the king either," she said as she started walking away.

"Huh, why?"

"Can you believe it, I've been here for close to a month now and I haven't laid my eyes on him? What if he's a scary man who hates to be disturbed?" A slight shiver overtook her. "Even thinking about it makes me frightened. Come on, let's go!"

Suppressing a chuckle, Xenon followed her, and they checked out other places in the palace. He soon noticed the more time he spent in her presence, the more his restlessness and agitation lessened, until all that was left was that simmering lust that needed to be dealt with.

Peering at her neck, his traitorous eyes slid to the ample bosom accentuated by the gown she was wearing, and his wolf purred with lust. Xenon swallowed the saliva in his mouth, trying to put a clamp on his desires. It was best if she returned now.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so tired of walking!" she announced suddenly, flailing her hands. He forced himself to look at her eyes, his senses slowly returning.

"It's past lunchtime too," he growled, his voice huskier than normal. "I think it would be better for you to return to the harem."

Rayena seemed disappointed. "Is the tour over already?"

"Well, you have seen all there is to see," he murmured, raising a brow.

"Everything except the king."

That again.

"I'll be going back now, then. I had fun, Lylall. We should do this again sometime," she said, smiling at him. Xenon stared dazedly at her, unsure of how to respond. Something in his chest unfurled at the sight of that smile.

"Hold on," he groaned, reaching for his pocket and pulling out the handkerchief. "I meant to return this to you."

"Oh, I can't have that anymore. It's yours now," she said, pushing the handkerchief back to him. Xenon didn't seem pleased with that. Her scent from the fabric was already fading, and he didn’t have much use for it anymore.

"Since you won’t accept this, do you have another one then?" he blurted out.

"Well, yes, I do. I never leave my room without one. Why do you ask?" A sly smile grew on her lips. "Do you perhaps want it?"

He nodded before he could think himself out of it. He watched as she brought out a neatly folded handkerchief with beautiful embroidery at the ends and handed it to him. His fingers trembling slightly, he accepted it from her and shoved it into his pocket.

"Thank you," he murmured, tone gruff, but his cheeks heated up. Rayena chuckled. Tilting her head to the side, she continued more softly, her tone hesitant.

"If you want, I can make you a blanket. I'm quite good at embroidery, and I recently purchased some fabrics from the market. Would you like that?"

"I'd like it very much. Please make it." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Hades, he sounded like a needy child.

"I will," she promised, and they began walking out of the palace. Her scent had begun to truly mess with his head, but he didn't want to part from her just yet. He also knew he couldn't follow her all the way to the harem—he didn't want the rest of the women to spot him with her.

His other halves had begun to claw at his chest, craving more closeness with this lady beside him. And for once, he really didn't want to resist.

“Can I…” His voice faltered. He swallowed. “Can I get a hug?” Gods, why was he so out of sorts with her? Rayena looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face, her steps faltering.

She blinked, startled by his request. “You want a hug?”

“Yes,” he said, low and urgent.

Her arms opened hesitantly. “Here…”

The words had barely left her lips when he swooped between those hands, burying his nose in the crook of her neck. A startled gasp escaped her lips, but he ignored it.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he took in a deep inhale. Hell, she smelled even sweeter right from the source. His fingers transformed into claws as he held her, but with a serious gnash of his teeth, he suppressed the urge and continued to breathe her in, filling his entire system with her incense.

By the time he pulled away, she was already flustered, her face a bright shade of pink and swaying on her feet, an indecipherable expression on her face. Embarrassed, he sought to steady her. "Sorry for hugging too hard."

"It's... It's okay," she stammered, her voice breathless.

Morvan returned then, and he seemed surprised to see them together.

"Is anything the matter?" he asked as he moved closer.

Rayena spoke first. "Yeah, I was heading back to the harem. Lylall here already helped me with the tour."

"Lylall?!" Morvan repeated, glancing at the king.

Xenon moved behind Rayena so she wouldn't see him. "Don't say anything," he mouthed.

"In that case, let me walk you back," Morvan offered. Rayena turned to Xenon, waving him goodbye. "See you later, Lylall!" she called out, her hair bouncing around in the wind before following Morvan.

Xenon watched her go, bringing out the handkerchief she had just given to him. He pressed it against his nose, sniffing it, allowing the scent to wash over him, his body still reacting to her even as the distance between them widened.

His tiger growled with desire for the first time, saying a word that rattled him to the core.