Eero's perspective
A pair of ladies in waiting were flocking at my head, ensuring that they were perfect for occasion.
I breathed deeply, and my world stopped spinning for a moment.
“Claudius?” I whispered my mate's name. Standing up from my chair, the shifters halted their hands.
“What's wrong, Princess Eero?” They asked.
“Did you smell it?”
“Smell what, Princess Eero?” My eyes found Aelice who just made her way to my room.
“A musky scent,” I said. The wind brought up his faint scent to me again.
“I'll take it from here. You may all go,” Aelice told the lady in waiting.
“Princess Eero will be ready just in time for her coronation if that's what you guys worry about,” she assured them.
I watched them close the door and I inched the space between us.
“I think he's here. His scent. I smelled it.”
“We never really had a chance to talk about your mate, Princess Eero.”
“Eero. Please call me Eero. Everyone else in this place will be required to address me by my title.”
“That includes me, your grace.”
“You said that you are my friend. I'd be comfortable if you'd just call me by my name.”
“Eero, but only if it's just the two of us.” I groaned in disagreement, but the look on her face said that Aelice wouldn't change her mind anymore.
“Going back to your mate. To what family did he come from? If he's from an influential one, then there's a chance that he's here.”
Aelice guided me to sit back on my vanity, and she was way gentler with pinning the headdress on.
“He is from an influential family. He's a powerful shifter of his own, too. H-He is an Alpha.”
“Alpha? Of what pack?” She asked.
No one knew that I have mated with Claudius already and even if she's my friend, I felt uneasy telling her about Claudius that my second chance mate was a threat to the realm.
“There is no way he'd be here. For some reason, the realm will never welcome him,” I said and started playing with my fingers.
“The men of the realm will also do the same thing to me,” I said to her, voicing out my concern.
Aeilice placed her hand on top of my shoulder, and then she rested her chin on top of it. The two of us gazed at our reflection.
“You are nervous, and you are yearning for the comfort of your mate and that is why your head is giving you this delusion that he is just around the corner even when he is not.”
“I guess, I have all the right to feel this way,” I mumbled.
“Not too long ago. The rightful heir of the realm was stripped of her right to become the next ruler just because she was a woman.”
“You know about Princess Onora?” Aelice sounded surprised.
“She'll be here together with her husband to swear her loyalty, besides… the two of you are an entirely different case.”
“How so?” I pivoted.
“Back then, it was her father who hated the idea that the realm will be owned by a woman. Alpha King Codrus is giving it to you wholeheartedly.” Aelice took my hand, her finger tracing the golden rings on mine.
“You have the Sun God and the Moon Goddesses' blessing. You don't have to fear the opinion of men in the realm. You have the Alpha King and all the Gods, blessing this claim.”
I opened my arm to hug her. Aelice giggled, and she ran her palm against my back.
“You're such a sweet thing, Aelice. I hope to have you by my side forever.”
She laughed softly once again.
“I won't go anywhere, Eero.”
The internal affairs officer walked into my room.
“The princess must be on stand by. Her coronation will start any moment from now,” he said, and Aelice finally let go of my hand.
“I'll be waiting at the Harren Hall. You don't have to be nervous anymore,” she reminded me before she turned her back and slowly vanished from my eyes.
“How many of them are waiting for me in the hall?” I asked Jack.
“Hundreds for sure, your grace, but if you want the exact count, then I am not sure.”
“And every single shifter in that hall is an ally and powerful?”
“Yes, your grace. Why do you ask.”
“Nothing. I just want to get a demographic of those who'll criticize me the moment I made it inside the Harren Hall.”
“But their opinions wouldn't matter. It won't change the pack, that in a few years, you'll be their Alpha.”
I chuckled bitterly, which made him glance at me.
“We know that soon. It will. When their murmurs of opinion become clamors, it will matter.”
The double door of the Harren Hall finally opened, and my heart clenched in fear as it felt like everyone in the hall gasped at the sight of me.
“The heir of the pack should have been the one standing there by now, right?” A female shifter asked.
“Yes, there must have been a mistake. I'm convinced that the she-wolf is an esteemed guest and the Alpha King's heir—” Their voices were soon muffled by the sound of the cello and the beat of the drums.
The only sound was that I heard from the music box that Cielo gifted to me. I am finally hearing it now. It's playing while I slowly ascend to my spot next to the Alpha King.
“The Alpha's heir is a woman?”
“Is this a joke?”
“Look at her hair. Is she a Xerxes?”
I continued to walk down the hall until my eyes caught a figure of a familiar man who was just as shocked as I was.
“What is going on?” Claudius tried to communicate to me through mind link.
“Fuck,” I cursed, ignoring him. “He's really here. I wasn't just imagining it.”
Next to Claudius stood Aelice who was smiling at me.
The choir stopped playing as I reached my final step.
Codrus came forwards. He kissed my cheeks and I smiled at him since everyone was watching us.
“F-Father, what is he doing here?”
“Who?”
“Claudius Cormac?”
“Let us talk about him once we are done with your coronation.”
“No, father. As if the opinions of men in the realm aren't enough to scare me, you invited a shifter that would kill me without bating his eye if it meant he'll have the pack and your throne.”
“Claudius won't harm you nor your claim. A deal between us has been made. You'll be fine, sweetling.”