Eero's perspective
Silence filled the Harren Hall. Everyone was waiting for the Alpha King to take those words back.
“Alpha King, what is this nonsense that you're talking about?” Octavio was the first to say something that made me gaze up in his direction.
He stepped near me. “Tell the Masters to bring back the Alpha King to his room. I think he had too much of wine and drank.”
“My Lady, apology for the misunderstanding. He does not mean any of that. The Alpha King just lost his mate to a childbirth, and their son, a still born.”
“Are you telling me that I have gone mad, Octavio?” Codrus rose to his feet and walked forward.
“No, Alpha. Not at all, but adopting a woman that you're not even related to at all? From the family of your enemy on top of that?”
My forehead crumpled in confusion. Aelice was just as confused as I was.
“Leave me and Eero alone,” Codrus demanded.
“Alpha, I'm your beta, and I'm only preventing you from committing a mistake that we won't be able to undo later on. Adopting her means giving her privileges and access to the whole realm,” Octavio emphasized.
“Lady Aelice, please bring your father with you on your way out of the Harren Hall,” Codrus dismissed him and I watched the two leave, confusion swirling in my head.
Codrus smiled at me, “Would you mind going on a walk with me?” He asked me and I nodded my head.
Every single shifter that we walked past through bowed their head and moved out of the way, and they were giving me the same respect.
“This is a sacred temple where we offer prayers to the Sun God, and his wife the Moon Goddess. It was one night, while I was questioning Sorin when I fell asleep in this very same place and dreamed about you.”
I tore my eyes off the statue of the Sun God and the Moon Goddess after I heard those.
“And from that night forward, you never left my dream, until my priestess started dreaming of you too.” He stepped away from the marble basin filled with hundreds of candles glowing with fire.
“You can't stop her from ascending the throne, but you can prevent her from spilling your blood all over the realm.”
“Huh?” My eyebrow shot up.
“Take her in. Consider her your pup, and then she'll honor you, and you'll never suffer an ungraceful death. Those were the words that the head priestess of this temple always reminded me.”
“I'm sorry, but I can't quite understand what you're talking about.”
He smiled at me, “You're the last of your family. The one I failed to get rid of and now you're back here to take what's yours.”
“I'm taking back what from you?” I asked, but he only looked at me and lightly shook his head.
“The realm and the Regulus pack. I had usurped it from your family, and now I'm handing it back to you to prevent the great war from unfolding.”
I chuckled nervously and shook my head.
“I think you got it all wrong. It's not me who came here to take all of this, but Claudius. He was the baby that you failed to get rid of, the only son of Luzeres Cormac?” Codrus eyed my hair and I remembered something.
“Is it because of my hair? You think I am a long-lost member of Xerxes because of this? Cielo once told me that this color was unique to the member of the said family, but in the place where I was born, there are tons of shifters who were born with a hair like this—” My tongue felt numb, and I slowly went silent.
Codrus stood there, staring at me bemusedly.
“Give me your hand. Let me show you something,” he said.
He closed his eyes, and I found myself doing the same thing. I saw flashes of war breaking out and me coming out for him with a sword in my hand, and then there's another flashes of the past.
“That man is your father and your mother. You're the only daughter of Aramis, the ousted heir of the realm and Regulus, which means that you are, in fact, a Xerxes.”
I pulled my hand from his hold of me.
“Is that the reason I am drawn to that music box from Cielo and why I dreamed of the Harren Hall?” I whispered to myself.
“Does Cielo already know that I am a Xerxes and the riddles that she speaks to me hint this?”
“Eero, I will wholeheartedly offer you this place, but you have to let me adopt you first and when the time comes that I die, then you can tell everyone who you really are.”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.
“You once tried to kill everyone in my family. I heard stories of how you become an Alpha. You went as far as killing a baby in his cradle. Why will I trust that you aren't doing this to win me over for a while?” I took a step back.
“And then you'll have me killed in my sleep while I was staying here?”
“I am not doing this for you, but for myself. I need to save myself from you, and the only way for me to do that is not to make you my enemy.”
“Adopting you will unite us and it will ensure my safety. This is a guidance from the Sun God, himself. Make the last Xerxes, you… my heir and the next Alpha of the Regulus, and I'll be safe.”
“I'll be your what and the future, what of Regulus?”
“I thought that you only wanted to adopt me and make the princess of the realm, but you wanted me to be your heir too? But I am a woman… a-and there's Claudius too.”
“You don't have to worry about him, Eero. I prepared an offer for Luzeres' son that he won't be able to refuse. I hope so.” Codrus took my hand and smiled warmly at me.
I shook my head at him. “No. I know him. He won't take any bait. Claudius will never settle for less. If you make me your heir, it will make me his enemy—”
“Your enemy is Regulus and the realm's enemy too, Eero. He's just a speck of dust compared to a power and authority that you now have.”
“Claudius should have this. All his life, this is all he wanted—”
“If you're not the heir and the next Alpha of the pack, it will start the fall of the whole realm, for all the Gods and Goddesses will soon turn their back at us if their wish to see another Xerxes rule again won't happen.”