<h4>Chapter 713: RETURN</h4>
Hello. My sweet sweet and amazing readers. I have been terribly ill. Started this month and year with such high hopes until I fell ill. For a while now I had experienced my eyes burning. But I ignored it.
The day I went off my eyes burned so bad. Water kept oning out and reflection of light made it worse.
I almost went blind. I had to stay inpletely dark rooms and avoid any stream of light.
The doctors said my cornea had been infected by a virus and by avoiding the signs made it worse.
I’m lucky or I would have been blind in one eye worst case scenario.
It was a terrible month for me and as you know my work is online.
I’m on drugs, have a new pair of sses and eye drops and I can now face the screen.
This month I’ll run four Chapters daily.
To make up for what I lost.
No I won’t leave you hanging. Not in such a way. I genuinely apologize for my silence and I can understand the pain you must have felt.
I would never abandon you.
You’ve given me so much and I can’t exin how grateful I am.
Furthermore I have created a discord server to update my readers on anything that goes on with the books and myself.
Get updates and sneak peaks on the books.
And yes I will be continuing all my books.
Thank you for being patient and I wee you back.
Stephanie King would be nowhere without you!
I want to mention names but I don’t want to make anyone jealous. *Wink*
But you are all dear to me
Click the link in my Bio for the link.
And I ASSURE YOU! THESE ChapterS ARE HIT AFTER HIT!
WELCOME TO VOLUME II
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<strong>TO UNDERSTAND JASMINE’S STORY AND EXPLAIN QUESTIONS THAT ALL NEED ANSWERS, WE NEED TO GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING </strong>
<strong><i>ONE</i></strong>
<strong><i>SCARLETT’S POV</i></strong>
"Come here darling. What happened to your arm?" My mother asked me as she looked down at the arm I had been expertly hiding for a very long time.
Or so I had thought.
I swallowed hard and she caught my arm behind my back and pulled it forward to look at it.
She gasped when she saw therge gash of wound on it.
It had happened just recently and so my wolf hadn’t healed it yet.
Mother’s face fell in disappointment. "Scarlett. Again? What has been going on? You keep on falling all the time?"
I looked down at the floor.
And then I heard familiar footsteps approaching.
"What’s wrong Rose?" Aunty Hildegard’s voice echoed behind.
I wanted the ground to open and swallow me whole.
My mother sighed and her face was written with worry and disappointment.
"Scarlett has another injury. Again."
Aunty Hildegard turned around and inspected the arm herself.
"This is the seventh time this month." Mother said looking very displeased.
"Eight I believe." Hildegard added with a sad voice.
"Eight!" Mother gasped in horror.
And then she turned to look at me. "Sweetie what’s going on? How do you keep on getting these injuries."
"I’ve just been careless mum." I exined hoping that she would understand.
Mother looked like she didn’t know what to believe anymore.
"You could hurt yourself more than this." Mother said as she gently cupped my cheek.
"I’ll try do better mum." I assured even though it wasn’t up to me.
Mother looked hopeless and I didn’t me her.
But if she knew the truth, she was going to be furious and that meant putting my sister Coral in trouble.
Whenever we yed, Coral always mistakenly pushed me or caused an injury.
If I told mother, then I had no idea how she was going to react.
Coral was younger sister as I had grown to understand.
We were just seven years old and as the older one, I was supposed to shield.
As the future heir to the throne, mother had exined that I need to bear the blunt end of things sometimes.
At that moment Aunt Cherry waltzed in, none other than Coral trolling behind her.
"Sister sister." Aunty Cherry said in a sing son voice. "Why the strange air of tension in here."
Aunt Hildegard’s face screwed up immediately she sighted Aunt Cherry.
I suspected Aunt Hildegard didn’t like Aunt Cherry at all.
She was my aunt, but sometimes I felt she was strange.
But I kept it to myself.
Mother sighed and waved her hand off and then turned to Coral.
"Haven’t you been seeing your sister hurt yourself?" Mum asked Coral sternly.
Coral turned to look at me, and we maintained eye contact for a brief second before she turned away.
We had been ying hide and seek in the garden again a few hours ago and when I was hiding, Coral had jumped up on me from behind and I hadnded on my arm against a bush of thorns.
She had screamed. "Found you!"
Laughed and run off.
She hasn’t noticed that I had injured, simply left.
"I didn’t notice mum." Coral said inly.
"She is your sister!" Mother snapped sternly. "Whether older or not, you two are meant to look out for each other."
Coral pouted and I quickly intervened.
"Mum it wasn’t her fault. It was merely mine. I won’t fall again." I said in a bid to quickly save my sister from the wrath of our mother.
"They are kids Rose." Cherry said as she smiled. "These things happen. Don’t make a big issue out of it."
"Eight falls in a month isn’t a thing that just happens." Mother eximed.
It hurt me to see mother mad at me, it also hurt me to know that I could put my sister in trouble.
So I took the me for myself and decided I would handle it.
Make sure to be extremely careful.
Coraltely had been furious with me and I had no idea why.
Putting her in the spotlight would further make her angry with me.
She was my twin sister and I couldn’t have anythinging in between us.
"Where is Rachel?" Mother demanded aloud.
Rachel was our nanny and I had put her into trouble too!
Coral had said we should sneak out and y by ourselves.
Racheling around made it not y time enough.
I regretted it because she was going to be scolded for letting us out of her sight.
Therge mahogany doors opened and my person guard who had been assigned to me since I was a baby came into the room.
"Your majesty." He bowed down to my mother. And then he turned to me. "Future queen."
I saw my sister squeeze her face in disapproval as she stood behind Aunt Cherry.
I was slowly realizing that Corral wasn’t too pleased with me bing future Queen.
It hurt me to see my sister resent me.
"Lucas." Mother said waving her hand in acknowledgment.
Her hand was pressed against her forehead and she looked exhausted.
"It’s time for the girls to go for their monthly fishing expedition." He replied.
She sighed and nodded. "It’s fine. They can go."
"Where is Rachel?" Mother demanded looking around.
At that moment a frantic Rachel rushed in.
She looked as though she had rushed through hell and back.
Her hair was a mess and her face was written with agony.
The moment she sat eyes on Corral and I she sighed in relief and her face eased.
She immediately remembered her ce and curtseyed.
"Your majesty." She greeted mother.
"Where have you been?" Mother demanded in anger. "These girls aren’t to be let alone!"
"Please forgive me your majesty." She said fumbling with her words. "I was with them and then... I... er.... I ju.... Please I’m sorry your majesty."
She said as she dropped to her on the floor.
"We will handle thister." Mother sneered. "They are going on their fishing."
Rachel nodded and took coral’s hand and was about to take my hand when mother called me.
I walked up to her seated on the throne and she gently touched my cheek.
"Is there something you aren’t telling me my gem?" She asked me her eyes hovering over mine.
For a split second i considered telling her the truth, but I decided against it.
"I’ll be more careful mum." I said.
She looked a bit disappointed and with a heavy sigh she pulled me into a warm embrace.
"I love you Scarlett. Even when I’m upset. I’ll always love you."
And with that she gave me a kiss on my forehead.
As I went out with the guard and nanny, I never knew it would be thest time I would see my mother.