C4 The Vow

I frown at him but he looks serious. He’s changing a bit on the vow, I wonder if that will be alright? Will the moon goddess accept it?

“Is there something wrong with my vow?” he asks.

I shake my head. “It’s just… different.”

“You don’t like different?” he asks, a sheepish grin forming on his face.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “It depends on what kind of different.”

“Shouldn’t we seal the vow with a kiss or something?”

Ah! Embarrassed, I look around. More than half of the humans on the deck are men. In truth, the vow is followed by a kiss, but doing it here, even if he is my mate…

I turn my attention back to him and admit, “It is followed by a kiss.”

A pleased smile appears on his face. He leans over to me and plants a quick kiss on my lips. “There. The vow is made. You are now officially my lover.”

I nod, with my hands still on his. Nowra says that progress with mates is fast. Does she mean something like this? Nowra and her mate copulate on the first day they met. And it continued until she lost him. They never had a kid, though. Birth between werewolves had been in decline. It’s as if nature is warning us of our race’s impending extinction. It’s also the reason we start to mate with humans. After the war, there is only one percent of us in the world, probably less, due to the kind of life we lead.

Someone clears his throat. I look up to see a middle-aged man looking at our entwined fingers. Food is placed on our table and the man sits with us.

“This is Harbin Dionne. My Kingdom’s librarian. He’s here to teach you the basics of living in the outside world,” Theo says.

I look back and forth between the two men.

“Currency. Life in the palace. Literature. Everything,” Harbin offers.

My brows knit.

“When I told them I plan to make you my lover, they only allowed it if they can teach you those things,” Theo supplies.

Something pricks at my chest. My hand turns cold as I look at Harbin who is scrutinizing me. I pull back from Theo. When he told me he is a king, I know already that in another human’s eyes, I would never measure up. But it doesn’t matter, as long as he accepts me as I am, like how I accept him as he is.

“The Weiller merchant family, do you know them?” Harbin suddenly asks.

I look at him. Theo is looking at Harbin as if trying to silence him.

“They own the park where I came from,” I answer.

Then, he points at Klevon and asks, “The Owusu family?”

“A family of mage hunters who owns the twelve original silver whips.”

Are we already starting with the lessons? I ask myself.

“And magic?” he asks.

“Can be taught to both humans and werewolves, but humans learn it faster. It’s the ability to use different elements around us.”

Harbin shifts his focus to Theo and says, “King Eugene Theo Pitchford, I can teach her.”

After that, he stands up and says to me, “I will meet you in room 23 tomorrow morning. We can start our lessons then.”

Then, Harbin leaves. I look at Theo and he just shrugs his shoulders. “Let’s eat,” he says.

“Is that a test?” I ask.

“Uh-ha,” Theo mutters. “He doesn’t like to accept students who can’t be taught. Says it's a waste of his time.”

“Does he test all his students?”

“Nope, only you.”

“Because I am a barbaric werewolf?” I ask.

“Kaiya, you know you’re not.”

“Then why?”

“It’s because you will be my woman. There’s a certain expectation on being a King’s lover.”

I sigh. This is exactly the reason why I wish he was an ordinary man instead. And I am certain this is not the first time I will be tested.

*******************************************

The entire week passes uneventfully. I spent it in the study room of the ship, from morning to night. Being Theo’s lover, I share a room with him, but I am always too exhausted that the instant my body touches the bed, I fall asleep. Worse, in the morning, incessant knocking on the door will wake me up. The breakfast and bath will come in and I will be ushered back to the study room where there is too much to read and study. There are even times that I won’t notice the rain and wind pattering against the ship—until a worse weather shakes it.

“After the war and the werewolves lost the battle, what happened to human society?” Harbin asks, taking me away from my own thoughts. It’s almost dark, and he is doing his usual end-of-day checking of the things I have learned.

“All the human families who served and gained recognition during the war are given their own kingdoms to rule. So, from a single Kingdom, humans are divided into different lands. And the Pitchford is the thirteenth Kingdom founded after the war a hundred years ago.”

“And the name of the original Kingdom?”

“Orttenburg.”

“Correct, tomorrow, we will—”

“Harbin!”

I look at the owner of the voice. It’s Theo.

“King Eugene Theo Pitchford,” Harbin starts. “You are not allowed in this room. You have other documents that you need to finish right?”

Theo groans and looks at me. “It’s Sunday! Why is she here?! It’s supposed to be a rest day!”

Harbin just shrugs his shoulders. “She’s a delight to teach. She’s like a sponge.”

Theo groans and walks towards me. He pulls me up from the chair. “I will take one day from you, for using up her Sunday!”

“Wait,” I say. I try to close off the books and take one—perhaps, to read over later. But Theo slams his hand on it.

“There’s no need for books! We are going to relax!” he roars.

“Relax?” He doesn’t look as if he is thinking of relaxing in the way he growls at Harbin and me.

“Yes, relax!”

And for the first time, I see the bags under his eyes. I reach up to him and touch his face. “Are you okay? You look tired.”

“No! Thanks to you!”

This time, his voice is calmer. I continue to touch his face and then massage the part between his eyes. He calms down and before long, the anger on his face disappears.

“Maybe your servants can bring some tea to our room?” I suggest.

Without looking away from my face, he says, “Harbin, you heard her. Order the servants to bring tea to our room. And some snacks too.”