The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 269: After Our Marriage…?

Chapter 269: After Our Marriage...?

ZINA

Zina was helped down the carriage by Daemon while she mulled over his words with a feeling of guilt and appreciation at the same time. But Daemon never let go of her hands which she was grateful for.

Zina noted that they were at an abandoned place of some sorts. At a distance, a lone, decapitated building was the only thing that stood tall. The place they stood at was otherwise desolate, and Zina, who didn’t go out much, could not exactly pinpoint what part of the city they were in.

"Where are we?" She asked while Daemon guided her to navigate the snowy terrain while the guards behind them spanned out monitoring their environs as if in search of some hostile person who might have followed them.

Zina figured that the decapitated, lone building was their destination. But she couldn’t figure out for the life of her what they were going to do at such a place.

Daemon seemed ignorant to all of her chaotic internal thoughts, his eyes resting intently on the building while his eyes shone with amusement.

"We are at the outskirts of the Capital." He said, surprising Zina.

Had they been travelling for that long

"So we are at the outskirts of the Capital. But what’s amusing about that?" She asked while curving an eyebrow at him. At the same time, she missed a log of wood that Daemon had skillfully navigated and she stumbled in her steps.

Daemon’s hands caught her of course, his expression slightly chiding as his finger wound tighter against her waist while he lifted her past the log.

"Always studying my eyes now are you?" He observed, the amusement still lingering in his eyes.

"Well you don’t talk much. How else will I know what you’re thinking of if not from your eyes?" Zina pouted while Daemon seemed to grip her fingers harder like she was an errant child who would fall off at the slightest disgruntlement, and as such was certainly in need of his expert guidance.

"Fine. My eyes are all yours after all."

Sweet goddess, there he went again saying words that reduced her insides into a mushy mess.

Suddenly, the trail to get to the abandoned building seemed way too long for them to traverse in complete silence. Looking for what to say, Zina inquired about what he had said earlier to her.

"So you met Sybril for our marriage?"

"Huh huh." He sounded in response nonchalantly while he guided their path.

"So our marriage will really be happening after the tournament?" Zina voiced out when he said no other thing, although her inquiry was mostly targeted to herself.

"Were you expecting it otherwise?" He asked, and yet again his voice came off nonchalant. Trailing behind him with only the back of his head to look at was frustrating to say the least. Only if she could see his eyes, then she might have a better idea of his thoughts.

"Is it just our marriage that will be happening after the tournament?" Zina asked carefully, "why do I get the feeling that after the appointment of the missing posts through the tournament, more than just our marriage will be happening?"

Daemon seemed to pause abruptly at that causing Zina to bump into his back.

The guards that were trailing by their sides also seemed to come to an abrupt halt together with them making their inconspicuous presence even more obvious.

Zina sighed under her breath, wondering if they could hear their conversations with Daemon.

"After our marriage..." Daemon trailed in response, some traces of frustration in his voice, "I might not be as present as I used to be."

Snow started to fall slowly at that moment, almost carefully. It was as if the cold white flakes were being careful to not shatter the bubble that surrounded them as they were pouring out their hearts in the middle of nowhere.

"Will you be away for a long time at a stretch?" Zina asked when she observed that she was not disheartened in the least. Somehow, she had been expecting this especially after the last heated conversation she had with him.

"I can’t really say. It depends on how things advance though. I still have to take care of the issue with the White Monks."

Zina would have been otherwise glad if she had almost forgotten about the organization that put out a hit on her through the Temple. But that was not the case; how could she forget them when the nagging knowledge that Daemon’s three bothers were still fighting them at the NorthWestern Borders.

"Did your brothers fail to suppress them?" Zina asked bravely while Daemon tugged the strings of her fur cloak tighter against her body to shield her from the incoming onslaught of cold accompanied by the snow.

"Yes." He answered without emotion. Then meaningfully he added, "My four bothers failed to suppress the White Monks. I would have to step in since this is a war that I’ve personally started."

"Four?" Zina repeated, sure that he made a mistake.

"I thought it was fitting to send Eldric to lend my three incompetent brother’s a hand."

They were still standing at one place, but Daemon’s words were like cold water, drowning her in a sea of the unknown. "Is Eldric not imprisoned?" She asked, truly at a loss.

Daemon smiled shrewdly while smoothing out invisible wrinkles from her fine cloak. "No. He hasn’t been there for more than a week now."

"And the Arctic Wolf?" Zina asked while holding her breath.

"I’ve claimed it of course." Daemon replied with a twinkle in his eyes. Zina didn’t know how much that information bothered her until then when a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

"I never knew it bothered you as much. I had to keep private knowledge although I meant to tell you before you assaulted me with same last night."

Zina smiled, her relief truly profound. "It’s fine. But claiming the Arctic Wolf is a good thing in fact as the Alpha King. Why are you not telling your people and keeping it a secret instead?"

Daemon leaned in to whisper to her. "Because I do not wish to keep anything from you, then I must have you know that its not exactly easy to have two wolves in one body, much less two Supreme Wolves at the same time."

Zina, who hadn’t had the foresight to think that far drew back in horror. "How much pain are you in?"

"It’s very bearable." Daemon responded with a smile. "I’ve already consulted with the Wolf Guardians; they agree it’s something that has never been done before, and advise I avoid shifting into any form for now."

Zina’s eyes roamed his body frantically as if searching for the source of any evident pain. "If you consulted the Wolf Guardians, then it must not be a small matter!" She whispered harshly. It was true that no one had ever possessed two Supreme Wolf’s at the same time, a fact that she had grossly overlooked the consequences when she was pushing Daemon to claim the Arctic Wolf.

"Why do you speak like you’re the source of my problem?" Daemon asked, his lips tugging into an infuriating smile.

That was the first time that Zina was housing thoughts over the fact that Daemon could ever possibly be in pain, and she was realizing h at it was not a good feeling on her part. She hated it, loathed it in fact. An ugly emotion took over her as if pushing her to decimate the source of that pain.

"It’s really not that bad." He tried to convince her while watching the riot that played behind her eyes. "You seem awfully concerned about my well-being and I must say, that does things to my alternate ego."

Zina smacked her palm against his chest in retribution. So much for showing concern about the damn man; she should have known that Daemon would give a well deserved Daemon-like response.

He found it amusing though and dissolved into fits of laughter while Zina only glared at him—a glare which he acted as if never even existed in the first place. Finally, he took back her hand, tugging her to the building while still trying ti contain his amusement and failing to do so at the same time.

Zina could not fathom what was funny about her concern for him in the very least. Once they reached the door to the building, two men appeared making Zina realise that the place wasn’t as desolate as she thought it to be.

The men were masked and clothed from head to toe, with just their eyes exposed. The hilt of a knife glinted at their waist and they didn’t seem to recognise Daemon. Or at the very least, they acted as if they didn’t recognise him.

"Is Kaliga the merchant dead, or alive?" They asked in unison, their voice like the combined tremble of thunder itself.

Zina watched them confused, not understanding the question in the very least. But Daemon seemed to understand for he smiled shrewdly and answered.

"He’s neither dead nor alive."

And the door opened.