127 Chapter 127 : Not again

The Morrell brothers moved extremely cautiously as they approached the gates of the Merian palace. It was insane how their home town now felt like enemy territory, is this how quickly things could change?

A tall man with black hair and silver eyes who was standing gaurd at the gate with his friend, approached the brothers. “The Morrells?” He asked in a deep raspy voice.

Bahram nodded at the silver eyed man, “Aye, we received word from the prince.. umm king.. that our sister was returned here.”

The tall gaurd stared at Bahram’s face before turning around and giving his friend a signal to open the gates for them. The four brothers rode their horses slowly passed the open gate and into the palace grounds, so much had changed over the past few months, the place looked completely foreign to them.

“They are expecting you inside,” the gaurd spoke to the four men as he closed the gate behind him.

When they were a few meters away from the gate, William moved to bahram’s side and whispered, “something feels off,” he spoke, “why do I get the feeling this is too easy.”

“Calm yourself brother,” Bahram responded, “let’s go in and asses the situation first.”

They reached the palace entrance, dismounted their horses and were greeted by one of the gaurds who were stationed at the door. “Sir William, lord Bahram, Sirs Alexander and Jonathan, pleasure to meet you all.” The man bowed and gestured them to follow him, “we have been expecting you.”

“Have you now..” William responded sarcastically as they followed the gaurd into the palace.

.....

“Yes, the king will be extremely happy you made it.”

“With all due respect,” Bahram spoke as the approached the palace library, “we didn’t come here because of your ‘king’, we were told our sister would be here.”

“You will meet with his majesty’s wife momentarily,” a voice echoed from the library. Theo walked out and gave the four men a respectful node, “welcome, please come this way.”

Hearing Theo speak of their sister as Elric’s wife left a bitter taste in their mouths, the audacity that man had to even wed Melissa was shocking.

“His majesty and your sister left for their long awaited honeymoon a few days back, we are expecting them to return in a few days time,” Theo explained.

“Honeymoon?” William was a bit taken aback by this string of events, “our sister was taken on her wedding day by prince-”

“I assure you the king was able to retrieve his wife not long after that unfortunate incident transpired” Theo interrupted, “after they reconciled they decided to go for their honeymoon and will be back in a few days.” The tall man turned and continued walking into the library, “if you’ll please come this way, we have tea ready for you. And I should mention that your parents are here as well.”

*

As Melissa was dancing with Finwe, she could see Gareth stealing glances at her as he danced with Ronda.

“It’s probably killing him that people think you and I are together,” Finwe whispered, “he probably can’t wait for the music to change so he can walk over here and take my place.”

Melissa smiled slightly, it was really adorable how Gareth was so possessive of her. Speaking of which, she remembered that Finwe had asked her to come to the ball with him because of something that Gareth was planning on doing. “What is he planning?” She asked the blonde man as he span her around and pulled her back into his embrace.

“What is who planning?”

“Gareth,” she answered as she positioned her hands back over his shoulders, “you said i wouldn’t want to miss what he’s planning to

do.”

“Oh of course,” Finwe responded, “well I’m not entirely sure he will do it, but considering the situation you are in and how much I’ve learnt of my brother, it seems like the only logical thing he would do to ensure you’re his completely.”

“The situation I’m in..?”

Finwe looked down at Melissa and gazed at her beautiful blue eyes that looked completely clueless. “Well yes,” he spoke, “I mean the current state you’re in. He may not know it yet but elves have a sixth sense for these things, it explains why he’s so overprotective of you all of a sudden.”

Melissa flattered her long lashes in confusion, what in the world was Finwe talking about? Sixth sense for what?

Finwe was in shock, so even she didn’t know that she was carrying Gareth’s child? Well this was going to be interesting. From the very moment he had set eyes on Melissa, Finwe knew she was pregnant and his suspicions were only confirmed further when they reached Ervelon and the pixies made offerings to her in the form of tiny flowers that they planted in her hair. It was a known fact that pixies would do this to women who were pregnant with children of royal blood, children who would one day sit on the Ervelon throne.

Finwe leaned forward and was about to tell Melissa she was pregnant when he noticed her gaze fixated at the ballroom door. He followed her gaze and saw Zander walking in, hand in hand with Melissa’s cousin Vivian.

“Do your kind have some kind of nosferatu fetish,” she asked Finwe tauntingly. Seeing how Zander was holding Vivian it was clear that they had become more than friends.

“Now that I think about it,” Finwe responded with a chuckle, “I think we do, but I think it’s more of a family problem than an elf problem.”

Melissa looked up at Finwe with a questioning gaze, “family..?”

“Yes, did you not know? Zander’s father and my father were brothers.”

The music stopped and Finwe let Melissa go and took a step back. “Here he comes,”

Finwe spoke with a chuckle.

Before Melissa could process what was happening, an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into a tight very possessive embrace. She looked up and locked eyes with Gareth who was breathing heavily and reeked of jealousy.

“May I have this dance?” He asked calmly, though the intense look in his eyes didn’t give her an option to refuse.

Melissa nodded and Gareth wrapped both his arms around her waist while her hands went over his broad shoulders and locked at the back of his neck. He pressed his forehead against hers and breathed a relieved sigh as he swayed back and forth gently to the music.

“I don’t think I want you dancing with anyone ever again,” he spoke in a raspy voice.

The beautiful redhead giggled, “and whose going to stop me? You? Weren’t you busy waltzing around with your little elven maid over there with your matching outfits?”

“Are you jealous Mel?” The handsome prince asked with an amused smirk painting his face.

Melissa rolled her eyes and slid her hands down to his shoulders, “maybe a little bit.. are you?”

“As jealous as a Barbary cock pigeon over his hen.” He responded without hesitation. He removed his forehead from hers and gazed longingly at her red lips, “gods i want to kiss you so bad.”

“Calm yourself Gary, people are watching”

“Let them watch,” he whispered with a mischievous smile, “I want everyone to know that you have me wrapped around your pretty little finger.”

Ronda who had been watching the couple for a couple of minutes had had enough, she was about to walk up to them and break the whole thing up when a hand yanked her backwards. Finwe wrapped his arm around her waist aggressively and forced her into a dance, “no matter what you do Ronda, no matter what you have planned, Gareth is in too deep right now for someone like you to pull them apart. So I suggest you not waste your energy.”

On the other end of the dance floor, Melissa was blushing at Gareth’s words, “your people would never approve of me,” she spoke, “especially your mother.”

“That’s why I need to do this...”

The eleven prince let go of the nosferatu princess, took a step back and got down on one knee.

Everyone on the dance floor froze and circled Melissa and Gareth. There was a wave of different emotions that filled the room when Gareth dug into his pocket and pulled out a golden ring with a large aquamarine gemstone fitted on to it.

“Gareth what are you doing..?” Melissa stammered.

“Something I should have done a long time ago..”

*

Elric walked slowly passed the massacred bodies of the eleven gaurds who were once stationed at the borders of Ervelon. He drew in a deep breath and lightly licked his upper lip, his wife’s scent was so strong he could almost taste her.

“Your majesty, we have pinpointed the location of the palace where we believe your wife is,” the lycan general spoke. “Our men are clearing the way as we speak.”

“Good,” Elric spoke, “spare the civilians, only kill those who try to get in our way, today I will take my wife back weather it’s the last thing I do.”

“Yes your majesty..” the general spoke before yelling out instructions to the men. “Clear a path for his majesty! Kill any elven soldier who comes in our way but spare the civilians!”

*

Queen Tauriel rose from her seat in fury, she was about to walk to her son and slap some senses into his head when the note she had shoved into her pocket fell onto the table. She picked it up and was about to shove it back when something written on it caught her eye. Tauriel unfolded it and trailed her eyes over the contents of the note and growled angrily.

“Melissa, crowned princess of the nosferatu...” Gareth spoke as he presented the ring to the blue eyed woman.

The people around the couple gasped and began whispering among themselves.

“Did he say princess of the nosferatu?..”

“Wait isn’t that prince Gareth, the crowned prince of Ervelon?!”

“He is! He looks just like his father did, but why would he want to marry a nosferatu??”

The queen moved from her table and walked briskly towards her son, she could not let this happen! She couldn’t let her son marry that girl not while she lived, this was history repeating itself all over again, she wasn’t going to lose her children because of the ridiculous notion that they were in love.

Gareth took Melissa’s hand in his, “will you make me complete by spending the rest of your life with me by your side?”

“Gareth!-”

Queen Tauriel was interrupted when one of the soldiers ran into the ballroom, he was bruised and bloodied and was gasping for air. “Your majesty!” He rasped, “the kingdom, it’s under attack!”

“Gods no..” Tauriel gasped, “not again.”historical