His Sweet Little Mate

"You saw who?" Abby couldn't believe her ears, which started ringing the moment Dax disclosed the results of their mission.

"Yeah, it was him, and he didn't look like he was under any spell," the royal gamma said, conviction evident in his voice. "Even his sister was there, so what do you think this is?"

Treason...

But Abby didn't dare to think in that direction, because the man she interacted with for half a month and the person Dax described now were nowhere similar to each other.

She still remembered the warmth he provided her just by accompanying her and helping her go through those stressful days when she was struggling to prepare for her ceremony.

Seeing that she didn't look good, Micah dismissed the gamma first. "We will take care of this later."

Dax understood why Abby felt bad upon this revelation, so he chose to give them some space to talk this out.

On the other hand, Abby was really worried right now. Her hands felt clammy when she recalled the rumors that had been wreaking havoc both in the kingdom and her heart for the past few days.

"Do you think he has a hand in the recent riots?" Abby looked at Micah beside her and just a single glance at her mate, she could tell the king was inclining toward that possibility as well.

"You need to understand that people can do anything when certain interests are involved, little one." Micah could see that she was blaming herself for letting Ezgar get close to herself. "But, I'll check it and we will see how much he has contributed to everything that has gone wrong since he approached you."

This is so messed up!

She even pleaded with her mate on his behalf, believing in his crocodile tears when he came and asked for herself to spare Ruby and their mother's lives.

"I've been careless." Abby shook her head, as she clutched her hands really tightly until they turned white.

Micah noticed her inner turmoil and immediately covered her hands with his own as he pulled them apart before holding them gently. "You are just gullible."

Abby had to agree with him, just because Ezgar acted sincere in front of her, she didn't even stop to consider he was the brother of the woman who actively tried to find trouble with her.

To think that she even envied Ruby for having such a caring brother! Ezgar really wasn't a simple man. He even came to find her only when Micah was extremely busy, which was thought provoking as well. There were so many signs, but she ignored them all.

"But you also trusted him, and thought he was an upright man." Abby could immediately see regret flashing in his eyes, it was very subtle, but it was there.

"I miscalculated," Micah grunted, unable to believe that things had turned out like this. "I had some doubts when he approached you without my knowledge, but thought I was just overthinking."

Abby recalled how he told her to stay away from the man when she told him Ezgar approached her before the execution of his family. She didn't understand why he went as far as punishing Ezgar so harshly by removing him from his position as the chief of elite royal warriors and made him a normal guard instead.

But now she felt his actions weren't unwarranted.

"Who knew he would go as far as burning bridges so boldly?" Abby couldn't help but mutter and Micah just smiled at her. But that didn't reach his eyes, which were cold with fury.

"There are so many unimaginable things people do when they stop fearing death."

His words implied that only death was awaiting Ezgar now that he dared to betray him and Abby didn't know how to feel about this.

Did Ezgar really have only using herself in his mind? He had always treated her so warmly, and all of that was acting? But the evidence was right in front of her face. Abby didn't know what was right and what was wrong anymore.

Micah could see the conflicting emotions flashing past her countenance, but he didn't change his stance. She needed to understand that people wouldn't always be what they tried to portray themselves to be.

Perhaps, this whole fiasco would help Abby finally realize that she couldn't ever let her guard down with her current position as the queen of this kingdom. This is good in a way!

This afternoon, Abby finally decided to walk around the pack and try her luck in tracing the magic like Mirella had been doing to locate people.

Her mind was a mess since she found out about the possible involvement of Ezgar in her misery after she met him and Mirella, who had been given a brief rundown on things by the nosy royal gamma, thought of sharing her expertise over this skill to rejuvenate her spirits.

Only Abby didn't expect to find herself in front of her old house after trying to follow Mirella's instructions over how to trace the magic, which were quite simpler than she thought.

"Let your instinct lead you when you find the difference in the air around you, magic always leaves traces behind and if you focus enough you can feel them in your heart."

Mirella snapped her fingers to let her fire flow out of her body first. She then asked Abby to feel the air around her, while letting her own fire flow out of her body.

Abby was fascinated when she felt flames floating around Mirella when her own fire met hers in the air.

"This is incredible," Abby exclaimed and Mirella couldn't help but grin seeing her so excited.

Abby grasped the feeling with both hands and tried to practice it several times, upon trying a few times, she felt this pull toward a certain direction, which led her to her old house and Abby felt conflicted just looking at this place.

A few months after Ryan started abusing her, he rarely let her out of her own room.

"I only see your mother's lifeless body when I look at you. Don't appear in front of me." His words would be even more harsh whenever she tried to sneak out, unable to endure the forced solitude at such a young age.

"Who are you trying to kill by wandering around now?"

These were just some of the few outbursts of his when he got triggered by her disobedience. And when he thought he had been too lenient toward her, he would drag her to the dilapidated warehouses behind the pack house to lock her up, and then forget about her for days, if not weeks.

If she had to be honest, she had spent more time locked up in the warehouse than in her own house in the past ten years. Maybe a few months in

total?

She wanted to turn around

immediately, but apart from the

pack house which also gave the same feeling like the groove to he because she could feel magic and dark energy there, only her old house had intense traces of magie. After alb her mother used to teach her about magic here.

On the other hand, the day her mother died, the pack house was flooded with magic as her mother used her own magic to shield her from Abby's power backlash before Calpin appeared to kill her.

His dark energy was too faint there, though, maybe because he didn't use too much energy to kill her mother? After all, she was gravely injured by then trying to save Abby in her memories.

"My queen..." Alyssa, who had been right behind her since Abby left the pack house, felt perplexed when she saw the girl suddenly losing the bright light in her eyes.

When she started in her study, Abby looked quite energetic, but now, she looked so deflated until her shoulders dropped really low.

Abby felt two feet tall with the emotions coursing through her veins, but she still showed a false front. "I'm fine, it's just this place..."

She didn't know how to put her thoughts about this house into words, and she almost choked when she saw her maid looking at her with worry and concern. For her to look at her with such strong emotion, Abby must look really crushed.

But that word alone couldn't describe what she felt at this moment. The queen took a deep breath before facing her maid. "This is my old house."

Yes, this was just her old house, because it stopped being a home to her long back. Then she turned back to look at the two storey building in front of

her.

"It's bittersweet to finally stand here again." Abby sighed as she walked into the house, stopping Alyssa from following her inside.

The girl could only refrain from stepping out of line, even though her master didn't look too happy to return to her old house.

Abby needed to be alone when going inside, otherwise she would feel suffocated with another person beside her while her chaotic emotions kept smothering her.

"The inside looks worse than outside."

Abby could see how the house was full of dust and cobwebs just a few months after people stopped taking care of it.

Everything was left where it was, it seemed her father and older sister were forced to leave the pack with just the clothes and the things on their bodies, and not even allowed to pack anything with them.

Since this was a house of someone exiled from the kingdom, her old pack members didn't dare to step into the house again.

"This is really lonely here." Abby hugged herself as she walked from room after room until she reached her parents room.

She spent less time in this house after her mother died, but she didn't even step into her parents' room when she regained consciousness after the incident. She wasn't allowed to enter, because her father forbade her.

Even now, with her father clearly locked up in the dungeon, she could feel herself unable to push the door open to this room, but then when she thought of her mother's lovely face that had been slowly fading away from her memories, she hardened her resolve to enter the bedroom. Much to her dismay, though, she was set up for disappointment because she couldn't find any portraits of her mother no matter how hard she rummaged through the shelves and closet here.

"This is really pathetic!" Abby wanted

to shout, but she felt too exhausted to even cry her grievances out. She looked around the room, and felt dike breaking down when the thought she couldn't find a single thing of her mother to use as keepsake hit her hard. "I really miss her."

Did her father throw out all her things? But her father loved her so much, he couldn't really bear to throw her things right?

"Maybe he hid them somewhere?" Abby forced herself to calm down as she thought of the possible places he could stash away her things and then remembered the attic where no one was allowed to go.

She immediately rushed up the attic and there, she finally found a huge box. It was filled with every single thing belonging to her mother, from clothes

to accessories.

Only when she dug really deeper did she manage to find a small book, upon closer look, she realized it was a diary.

"Mother's diary?"

She had a vague impression of her mother recording several things in this, so she immediately opened it to go through it.

And the tears she managed to hold back until now fell freely the longer she scoured through the almost yellow pages, where her mother wrote how much she loved both her daughters and her mate.

But when she reached the end of the book, pure air caught in her thought at the things written in there.

"I need to see Father immediately."

This was the only thought in her mind as she hugged the book to her chest and got up to rush to the dungeons.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.