Aurora''s POV


    "You know that you have to chew your food responsibly," u said to Alpha Bane, who was making some ufortable sounds as he chewed on his food. "I don''t know why you''re being unnecessarily aggressive."


    "Hey, stop that," my mom said, lightly hitting my right hand. "You don''t need to talk to him that way."


    "Don''t mind her," Alpha Bane interjected. "She''s always fond of saying such things to me. I guess I''m used to all of that by now. Besides, if the meal wasn''t so tasty, I''d have had no need to chew on it so fast."


    Everyoneughed, including my father. He seemed to have gotten the joke more than everyone else.


    "Since she came back here, she has taken over the job of cooking from the maids. I''m sure they''d be wishing she''d never go back with you," added my father.


    "Are you sure that you''re not speaking your mind, somehow?" Alpha Bane smirked. He must have noticed that my father did want me to stay back somehow, even though we all knew that it was only for the moment.


    We resumed our eating as I watched everyone dig into their meals with relish. I loved the sight. It was always a thing of joy whenever I saw people enjoying a meal that I had prepared. There were only a few things that I couldpare with that.


    "So tell me," began Alpha Bane. "What happened earlier today, Aurora? You told me that you''d be going to see a witch alongside the Luna Queen. What about it? How did it go?"


    I bit my lower lip in surprise. I knew he was going to ask that but I had thought it was going to be done inside; when we must have returned to the room.


    Besides, he had told me the previous night that he wasn''t going to believe a word from the witch so I wondered why he had to ask the question.


    "It went well," I quickly said, unwilling to go any further until we had gone back to the room. I didn''t feel sofortable having to talk about it with everyone else. I also wanted him to plead with me before I''d say a word to him. I wished my mom thought about it the same way.


    "Indeed, it did go well," she affirmed, smiling at Alpha Bane, which gave me the impression that she was about to go further.


    I pinched her from under the table but she quickly shook my hand off, ring at me, before turning back to Alpha Bane to continue her story.


    "The witch was very open to us," she began to exin, as I gave up trying to stop her. "She asked us to tell her everything concerning the dreams that we''d been having and we took turns doing just that. As soon as we got done, she began to mutter a few incantations as we waited patiently to hear what she had to say..."


    "I wish I could understand why she had to do all of that instead of simply telling us what we want to hear. It''s not like she or anyone she was addressing could understand those iprehensible words."


    "Careful, my child," my mother warned. "Some things are beyond you and this is one of them."


    I smirked in disbelief while she went on with her story. "She agreed with us that there was danger lurking around us. She said that the danger was imminent and there were a lot of things that we were to expect in no distant time. As we pondered on those words, she began to talk about the wedding..."


    "The wedding?" Alpha Bane asked. His eyes got slightly widened as he paid even more attention to what was being said.


    "Yes, the wedding," I answered, seeing the need to continue from where my mom had stopped. I turned to my mother who seemed pleased to let me continue and I did just that.


    "The witch asked us to go ahead with the wedding," I revealed. "She said it was of no use putting preparation in thend. She told us that it would hold something meaningful in our lives and we should not halt it for anyone at all."


    "That can''t be!" Yelled my father in disbelief. I could hear his breaths getting faster as he almost seemed to be fuming. "Things could go very wrong if we continued with the wedding because of the issues that we have at hand. We..."


    "We''re going to go through with it," Alpha Bane interrupted very coldly.


    I wasn''t surprised that he did that. It had always been his n. He never for once supported the idea of halting the ns and so I knew exactly what he was going to say.


    He reached out and held my left hand with his right, lightly squeezing it as he gazed into my eyes. "What do you want us to do?" He asked me. "Should we go with the wedding?"


    I paused a bit, just to make sure it was the right thing to do. "Yes," I finally said. "I want to go through with it. I just want to do this and be done with it."


    He nodded.


    Alpha Bane''s POV


    As we got done eating, I noticed that the Alpha king''s face wasn''t the brightest and I could understand why.


    He was very terrified and for good reason. Every father would be terrified to have his child in harm''s way but it wasn''t just his child that he was concerned about.


    If news of the wedding spread and either Sophia or Dn decided to attack us, then everyone''s life would be in danger; his, his wife''s and that of the entire Pack.


    But I wasn''t afraid of that. There was no need to fear. All that we needed to do in the face of danger was to be prepared for it. That way, we''d be more than ready to face it head-on and with the goddess on our side, victory was a sure thing.


    I turned to Aurora and noticed that she looked so worried again. She had been very cheerful until we had that discussion. All of a sudden, her mood changed and she looked so gloomy.


    "Hey, don''t be this way. You''re causing much harm to yourself by thinking too much," I said to her in a whisper, cing my hand on her back and moving it in a circr motion in a bid to get her to rx. "Take it easy, my love. Everything''s going to be alright. I need you to trust me on that. It''ll be fine."


    She stared at me as if to ask me if I was sure about what I was saying. I could read the unspoken words written all over her face and I nodded to reassure her that I meant every word that proceeded from my lips.


    "It''s almost time for us to get to the root of the matter at hand," said the Alpha King after clearing his throat. "We''re going to have a culprit by tomorrow or the next."


    "How, dad?" Aurora asked. "How are we possibly going to do that?"


    "Well, Alpha Bane here shared a very good n with me earlier today. I believe that it''s going to prove very effective in letting usy our hands on the bastard behind all of these. We can''t have a mole right inside this Castle, move freely and plot even more evil against us. This has to end. I have to put an end to all of this."


    "I agree," my mom concurred. "If we must have victory in the end, then we must take away every advantage that they have and an inside man is one of the greatest advantages that an opponent can have. It''s more difficult to defeat an enemy in friendly regalia."


    "We''re going to set a trap for the culprit," my father continued.


    "A trap?"


    "Yes. Some maids are going to gossip about a bounty being set on anyone who helped Princess Sophia escape from the dungeon. Any guard that reacts in a certain way would be apprehended. The culprit can''t afford to hide. It''ll be very clear that fear would grip him."


    "This is brilliant, dad. I love the idea," I smiled before turning to Alpha Bane. It was exactly the kind of news that I hoped to hear. "I''m so proud of you foring up with such a beautiful idea, my love."


    I hugged him very tightly and he did the same. Then I kissed him briefly on his lips. "Can we head back to the room now?" I asked him since we were done having dinner.


    "Sure."


    We stood, hand in hand, and said goodnight to my parents before retiring to our


    room.