𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞

6. Roses for him

The Bennet family occupied one of the tables set in a garden. Ariana was disappointed when they weren't escorted to the garden which she had visited the night before. Apparently, the royal palace had ten different gardens.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Persephone took a sip of tea while admiring topiary.

"It is, indeed." agreed Anwar, who was occupied by Naomi lately.

But not as much as the garden I had visited yesterday, Ariana thought.

"Hope you had a sound sleep?" Duchess Lily joined them.

"We did. Everything was wonderful yesterday." Persephone gave her a beaming smile.

"Yes m'Lady. Thank you for worrying about our comfort." Ariana said in the most polite tone she could come up with.

"No need to be so formal, dear." Duchess smiled.

**~~~**

After breakfast, the young ones, who hadn't been in the palace before, set out to explore. The group included Anwar, Persephone, Ariana, Naomi, Mary and Emma led by Christopher who had already been here once. To everyone's surprise, he took them to the training grounds.

"Why did you bring us here?" Anwar, who was already irritated by the arrogance shown by Christopher on the way, asked.

"Why do you think?"

Everyone continued staring at him.

"To check out your skills, of course." Christopher laughed. Everyone else groaned.

"Now, come on." He insisted.

Everyone returned in ten minutes after changing into suitable attire.

"Let us start with sword, shall we?"

Christopher dueled with Anwar whilst Persephone decided to challenge Naomi, leaving Ariana with Mary.Emma just watched.

"Let us see whether you've got what it takes to be Luna to our pack, shall we?" Persephone started circling as if she was about to pounce on her prey.

Meanwhile, Ariana and Mary too picked up swords and stood in alert postures.

"I am going to defeat you. You have no chance against me." Mary bluffed.

"Yeah. You don't have to do too much talking before the duel."

"If you hurt me, I will complain to Persephone and she will make sure you get punished." Mary said now in a scared voice.

"Shut up!" Ariana spat before attacking. She easily won against Mary.

Christopher and Anwar were busy fighting each other when Anwar felt pain of his mate. He rushed to Naomi, who had a cut on her arm.

"Why did you do that?" He scolded his sister

"This was meant to be a breezy duel, Persephone. Why did you injure her?" Christopher took Anwar's side.

"What? I was easy on her, okay? It's not my fault that she is not capable of handling a duel."

"It's fine. I'm fine." Naomi tried to assure everyone.

But Anwar was still angry. He took Ariana to side before whispering "Make sure she looses."

Ariana nodded before starting to duel with Persephone. Although Persephone was trained by Alpha Edward himself and Ariana was trained by her older brother, she still managed to win. This crushed Persephone's ego.

"Not bad, pup." Christopher ruffled Ariana's hair.

"I found out yesterday that you are only three years older than me, Christopher. So, do not call me a pup again."