The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Luc's Perspective)

I woke with a start. Small noises always woke me up. That was supposed to happen as I was the master of the magic tower. I had been in wars and in different situations where I needed to be alert all the time. No matter how powerful I was, if someone was not alert, they would be killed anyway.

Something was tickling me. It took me a while to realize it was the red hair that was tickling me, falling over my face and chest.

I carefully removed her hair from my body and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She did not look as scary as she did when she was angry. She looked cute.

The black marks beneath her eyes were alarming, yet expected. I already had eyes so tired and gloomy like that, but now, hers became like that too, because of the lack of sleep.

Our condition was nothing to another person's condition. It looked like he was dying. He had been wandering relentlessly in search of his wife who had left him a letter. Or, should I say someone might have mimicked her handwriting and left a letter for him in a lavender field?

It was not just her letter that was found there. There was a dead body; the dead body of Demetrius's aunt, Lady Caerlion. She was killed using poison- a poison that left no traces. But fortunately, I found something nearby that helped me find out about it. If it was not for the damp soil nearby, I would have never found out about the poison.

Although the poison literally disappeared after doing its work, it was something that should not fall on the ground, not even a single drop. It made the soil damp, even just a single drop. That night, when Blue disappeared, it was raining. The soil was already damp. But fortunately, Lady Caerlion was killed before the rain started. So, the poison remained on the ground.

Because of the rain water, it spread and ruined a small part of the lavender field. Considering a small drop of that poison did that, it must be way too dangerous.

Demetrius looked worse than he ever did- worn out, angry, and crazy. If what we suspected was true, his wife had been kidnapped by none other than her own father. We could not let the news go out, so Ruby and the duchess worked together to spread the rumor that Blue had gone on a vacation and would take a while to come back.

Although not many people believed it, since we played our parts well, it would soon be believable. It would be a problem if Blue was not found soon though. Besides, I suspected if she ever would be found. I could not say it out loud; Demetrius would probably remove me from the world. I also did not want to believe my own suspicion.

I did not have any doubt that Blue did not leave on her own. She would never do that. But her own husband did have that doubt which I believed was simply impossible. I had never seen him having any insecurities before, but now, it seemed he also possessed some normal things. But those normal things were very abnormal in his case.

How could someone have insecurities about his wife leaving him when he knew his wife loved him like crazy?

There were things between those two that people usually did not understand. More precisely saying, people could not understand. It was far from normal and to be fair, quite toxic, especially on Demetrius's part. Their relationship was not toxic all the time, of course, but there were times when it was a red flag.

"You are up?" Ruby asked groggily. Her brown eyes were never full of energy but were never less enough to call them tired as well. But this time, they looked so tired that I wished she would just rest for a few days.

"The wind…"

"Ah, I kept the window open," she muttered.

It was not because the wind was cold that I woke up; it was because of the sound of the sudden strong wind. We always closed the windows before sleeping, at least tried to, for the sake of a sound sleep on my part.

"No need to close it now," I said as she attempted to get down from the bed. "I am already awake."

"Should I make some tea?"

"I will do it. You look tired."

"You think you look good? I will make it," she said, getting up. "Besides, your tea does not taste like tea."

"Are you mocking my ability?"

"You can think that," she said.

She brought the tea quite quickly. Her tea always hit differently. It was like I could feel it as well as taste it. It brought me some comfort.

"Last night, the result…"

"… is the same," I finished on her behalf. "No sign of her anywhere."

This time, everyone was sure that if we could get a sign of one of those three missing people, we would be able to find the others. I had been searching for them myself, but to no avail. A lot of secret search parties had begun on the orders of the King. Demetrius had been practically spending all the time outside. The last time he came back was four days ago only to go out half an hour later.

I got letters from him only.

Blue's intention or not, if she was found, I could only imagine what would go through her life, thanks to her crazy spouse.

"His Highness… I know Her Highness would never do it. But His Highness is like hanging between two possibilities," she said. "I am worried about Her Highness and my brother. Sir Abel's safety bothers me too."

"Her father is a powerful person, a really powerful one. I can't imagine his power… You can fight someone only if you have at least an idea about what you are facing. And we have none. I mean, how powerful can he even be? It has been a long time since this world has been created and after each generation, the dark mages lost power gradually.

The latter generation had less black mana than the previous generation. Thinking that way, he should not be as much powerful as he seems to be. It's all mixing up."

"His Highness mentioned someone named 'Azure'. He said it was her father's name. Does it mean anything to you?"

"Azure… I know this name. Blue mentioned it. She mentioned it to you too. You forgot," I said. "It means bright blue. Blue's name seems to represent her eye color.

This name does that too. Maybe he has named her in some way."

"Maybe left a letter to her mother?" Ruby suggested.

"Who knows? Who cares? But there is something I noticed. This person likes to value a certain color- blue. Her brother's name is Cyan. Cyan means greenish blue.

Another reference to their eye color."

"Greenish blue?"

"If you look closely, Blue's eyes have hints of green, although very less, there is."

"Maybe?"

"I am right," I insisted. "I have seen it. I mean, the color of her eyes is obviously blue, but it's a blue which has hints of green, very little."

"You notice a lot of things."

"Don't misunderstand, Ruby."

"No, I don't mean it in any bad way. I know both you and Her Highness," she said, shaking her head. "I just have never noticed it before. That said, does this information tick any bell?"

"How will I know someone who likes color? Besides, how will I know her father?"

"I mean, if she was born like a long, long time ago, I would say that the black lord is her father," she chuckled bitterly.

"The black lord?" I repeated. "Isn't that the god from the legends?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He had a thing for colors. He maintained an extreme color code and sometimes, would give names to the lower-ranked members in his group following the color of their eyes. If someone had two different colored eyes, he would pluck one of the eyes out to give them a perfect name."

I was not good with the stories of the legends since they did not interest me if it was not related to magic. But it seemed she knew quite some details.

"He did not give any names to the higher-ranked members though."

"Why not?" I asked.
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"Because he believed the ones who deserved to get the higher ranks also deserved to have their own names," she explained. "Quite a dark story, isn't it?"

"The black lord…? He is from the legends and even if he existed, that was a long time ago. We are going too far."