I. Return to the Kingdom
KAYLA’s POV
We walked over to where the castle was, carefully ignoring the burned-out homes that had been burned for quite some time. The castle, from the outside, looked untouched, but of course, we wouldn’t know until we stepped inside. After all, it had been abandoned for at least eighteen and a half years, and I doubted it could be in that great a shape at this point.
We examined the castle from the outside, and although ivy was growing up the outer walls, it seemed as if nothing had changed since it was abandoned. It was huge; there had to be hundreds of rooms and turrets on the corners for protection, I guessed. I didn’t see how they would have needed protection based on the barrier around it, but maybe it was more for appearances than anything.
We stepped inside the castle, and it turned out that while it had scorch marks in places, the building was still sound. I didn’t know how, after so long, that there weren’t leaks in the roof visible; maybe in the upper floors or something, but that was it. I didn’t quite understand why there weren’t worse damages, but I guessed we’d find out when we did a more thorough look through the castle.
“Let’s just go back, we can always come back in the morning when we have more time to look around. I don’t know if the plumbing and electricity are sound, or anything else, and at the moment, it feels more like I’m walking through a graveyard or something. I have this feeling a lot of people died that day, and it just doesn’t feel right to be here right now,” I sniffled. I may not have grown up with my parents and brother as I should have, but it still felt creepy to know this was the last place my parents had been before their lives came to an end prematurely.
“It feels so good knowing now what happened to my parents, but at the same time, it’s overwhelming. Knowing they were the king and queen, and also, there are so many questions about that day that we may never know at this point, not without questioning Alpha Ryan and any of his cohorts who might have been around in those days. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ensured they couldn’t ever be questioned.”
I was barely able to keep control of my shift, and Katie and I were both so infuriated by everything. “We need to leave before I lose it and start destroying things. At the same time, I don’t want to destroy anything since there might be answers here. It just infuriates me that they were taken from us before their time.”
Since the grasses outside were so overgrown from years of disuse, it was easy to find our way back out due to everything being trampled on our way in. I smiled softly as I left, realizing how much the place felt like home already, even though I hadn’t spent much time there so far.
Obviously, it needed serious work, but after all this time, the castle itself was in very good shape structurally. “Andrew, this place needs some work to bring it up to livable conditions. Do we have anyone in the horde who can help with this? If we are moving into the castle, there’s a lot of work to do; tearing down the burned-out houses, fixing up the castle, and that’s just off the top of my head,” I smiled softly at him.
I was also curious; there was one home that seemed untouched and seemed to be kept up. I wondered if someone still lived there, and who.
We exited the shield, curious as to what had happened since we’d gone inside. Rose wasn’t there, nor was anyone else from the horde.
~Mandatory horde meeting in one hour; the only exceptions are the border guards who are on duty right now.~ Andrew broadcast through the horde’s shared mind link. The only exception was me, since I hadn’t been brought into the horde officially yet.
“I also think that’s something we need to fix, and soon. I know tradition is a blood ceremony where you and I mix blood, but since I’m your mate and soon to be Luna, I was thinking we could just mark each other if you’re okay with that?”
He kissed the top of my forehead and grinned, “I’m more than okay with that. I’ve been wanting to mark you since I met you. I love you already, kingdom or no kingdom. We could mark each other at the meeting in an hour.”
“Okay, then I will get ready and meet you in front of my door in, say, fifty minutes? That should be enough time for me to shower and get myself dressed up for everything.” We hadn’t yet officially shared a room, but I had been sleeping in a suite of rooms next to his since I’d arrived.
