How To Rule ✅COMPLETE

The King's Appearance

It was time for Arion to bring his daughter back home. Before she too turned against him. It had been a whole day since she had left and just as dusk begun to set he went to fetch his only child.

Rowan had spent the entire part of the afternoon preparing for a counsel meeting to deal with their current situation when Callum walked in. By the look on his face he knew Callum was here to talk about Tenen and his mate. He had talked about them alot lately and it tired him. It needed to end. That was a major part of the meeting he was preparing for.

'Rowan we need to talk about Tenen and her. I don't like this. She is his daughter.'

Predictable.

'Don't worry about him. He is not the type to lose his head because of a girl. I trust him and so should you.'

Callum knew he should put his trust in Tenen as he was sure Tenen would have if the roles had been reversed but he was still skeptical. Tenen he trusted. It was his mate that was the problem.

'Rowan this is not just any girl. It's his mate. He might have already lost his head as I am sure he has lost his heart'

Rowan was about to argue when the intruder alarms went off and for the second time in under twenty four hours Rowan's heart sped up. Who would it be this time. At the back of his mind he had an inkling of who it might be but he feared even voicing his thoughts for fear of them being realised. As he got to the gates with Callum in tow he saw a person he had never expected or wanted to set foot in the camp.

Arion.

The Mad King.

'Why are you here. Who told you about this place. It is shrouded in so many spells to make it hard for just anyone to find it unless you have been here before.'

Callum was the first to break the silence his shock being the first to dissipate. Never in his life had he imagined the Mad King to be standing in their camp much less in a royal robe and sandals to match and not in his royal armor ready for battle. What angered him even more though was he had now started to doubt the barrier spells or had Arion been there before? He was an enigma; one Callum would not bother with.

'You must be fools if you are surprised I know about your hideout. I have known about it for months; but not to worry I am not here for war.'

Tenen didn't quite know how to feel about Arion's confession. Everyone had heard the alarms so most of his people were witness to the Mad King's arrival. He felt partly to blame since he did lead Rin there and Arion was bound to find out about the place; though what puzzled him was he said he had known about it for months; but how, he must have had spies. Only Arion was capable of holding spies who feared yet hated him enough to be a part of the rebellion without being detected.

'If you aren't here to destroy us, then what do you want'

Rowan was still skeptical on the Mad King's intentions. On one hand he did not look ready for battle, on the other Arion always prided himself on the element of surprise so it may all just be a carefully plotted ruse to attack with their defenses down.

'I only came to bring my daughter home where she belongs of course.'

Rin had stayed silent through the whole encounter, but she saw it was right she spoke before things got out of hand. Maybe, her father would understand; he had been the one to teach her about the importance of mates so he might just understand.

' Father, I think I would like to stay.'

'Don't be a fool, Rin; don't you see why they want you to stay? The spy might genuinely want you to stay but that's because he is blinded by the mate bond, but what of the others huh, they only want you around so you can feed them information about me and when they are done they'll lock you up to use as leverage against me no doubt'

Arion rarely wanted to hurt his daughter but for now he needed to show here were she stood with the rebels. They would always be her enemies just for her bloodline alone and the only way she would see this was to tell her the blunt truth.

Rin's heart skipped a beat, her breath lodged itself in her throat. Her father had just confirmed her fears. His words and those of the girl who had failed to hide her dislike started to take root in her mind. Were they all right and she was just deluding herself in a made up fantacy where they could be together? There was only one way to find out. She turned to Tenen ready to have all her doubts cleared.

'Tell me to stay'

Tenen was torn. His mate was looking up at him with so much certainty in her eyes and he wanted to say yes to everything she wanted but he could not tell her to stay. Most of his friends had expressed their opinion on her being in the camp, being around the resistance. Her role in all of it. She was much safer with her father than those who disliked her; atleast with him no one would try to harm her. He could live with being apart from her, though his heart would not take it as easy as his mind, if it meant she would be safe. It took time before he saw her register his silence as an answer and her face fell and he almost went on his knees to ask for her forgiveness and that he would indeed do everything she wanted.

'Answer enough. Goodbye Tenen.'

Rin walked towards her father. Each step she took felt like lead and each time she wanted to turn around and run into his arms but he did not want her to stay. His lack of an answer was clear enough. When she was a step away from her father she grabbed his outstretched hand and he teleported them back home.

Home.

Why did the palace no longer feel like home to her? She knew why; because at the back of her mind something was gnawing at her that her home was the blue-eyed, black-haired boy who did not want her to stay and her heart broke even further.