The Alphas & The Heiress

—Fifty years later—

Bastian

“You work too much.”

“And you too little. What can I do for you, Dex?”

My younger brother, Dex, usually knows better than to bother me at this hour but he doesn’t carry himself with his usual ease. He stands before me clenching what looks like papers in his hand and looking anywhere but at me.

“I believe this was intended for you.” He winces, his face clenched in a slight frown.

My brows draw together momentarily as he passes me the papers. It’s a letter.

My eyes scan the letter rapidly, I read and reread it. Proposal. Alliance. Magnolia. Marriage.

I crumple the papers in my hands and rest my chin on my clenched fist.

I shoot up out of my seat and rush to the bookshelf across from my desk. I’m pulling books out frantically, letting the wrong ones fall to the floor.

“Bast, what are you looking for? What are you going to do?” My brother asks.

“You read the letter, you know what it says?” I ask him, still searching for a specific book.

“Yes.” He answers apprehensively.

“Then you know I will never allow it. I’ve never even heard of Drow Hollow, now this king wants me to marry Magnolia off to him under the guise of an alliance? No. I’m looking for the Codex, there has to be some record of Drow Hollow. Ah, here it is.”

I flip through the book but there’s nothing in here at all about Drow Hollow. I scratch my chin and flip through a third time to be sure I didn’t miss it.

“That’s odd.”

“What is?”

“There’s nothing in here about Drow Hollow.” I sigh and close the book.

“You need to call the elders.” Dex says, his tone low and grim. Calling the elders is not an everyday occurrence. They’re ancient, dating back to the very first dragons. But they’re sure to have information. I find it exceptionally odd that there’s no record of this place, yet this alleged king makes it seem like his Kingdom is world renowned and worthy of my consideration and my daughter.

I walk back over to my desk and dial the council’s number. They pick up on the first ring, “elder’s council, state your business.”

“Good evening, this is King Bastian of Twilight Grove. I’m looking for information on the alleged kingdom of Drow Hollow.”

There’s a long stretch of silence, I look at Dex but he just shrugs, just as bewildered as I am.

“King Bastian,” says a new voice, older and more hoarse than the first. “This is Elder Rimori. Which kingdom did you say you were investigating?”

“Elder Rimori, sorry to bother you at this late hour. I received correspondence from someone claiming to be the king of Drow Hollow, but there’s nothing in Codex.”

There’s another brief pause before she begins to whisper.

“Beneath the earth, and light of day,

In their shadows even darker still

Proud, cold, born to kill

Protected from all but the Flames of the Fey.”

The ice in her tone chills me through the phone, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. At first I was confused but now she might as well be speaking in tongues.

“E-elder Rimori?”

“I was hoping our young councilman had heard you wrong. What business does this king claim to have with you?”

“He’s seeking my daughter’s hand, Magnolia. She’s set to take over as Queen in a few months. Ianthe has—“

“I’ll be there in the morning. We will meet at 9.” With that the line goes dead.

Another chill creeps over me. Something is not right at all about any of this. I didn’t expect to speak to an Elder directly, usually their councilmen relay questions and requests. Then for her to insist on coming all the way here to meet with me face to face, something is very off.

“You spoke directly to Elder Rimori? What’d she say?” Dex asks eagerly.

“She’s coming here tomorrow, she wants to meet first thing in the morning.”

“That’s…very unusual.”

“I know, nothing about this makes sense.” I stand up again and take the map of our region down from its frame.

“What are you doing now?”

“She was very cryptic, but she said something about ‘beneath the earth’ and ‘in the shadows’. There’s a colony out in Alaska that uses tunnels beneath certain caves to burrow in closer to the Earth’s core. What if Drow Hollow is beneath us somewhere?” I begin circling the locations of caves known to have tunnel systems and mark them with a “DH” so I can refer back to it.

“Feel like going out for a bit?” I grin at him. Together we could peek into a few of these caves, see if there are any signs of life, let alone a kingdom, and be home before sun up.

“Like you even need to ask.” He says with a grin. “You going to tell Ianthe?”

Ianthe. Fuck. What is she going to make of all this? I can’t burden her with this now, not with Mag’s coronation coming up, and technically the letter was addressed to me. I’m sure she won’t see it that way when I do eventually tell her, but I want to have answers, or atleast a plan, before I bring this up to her.

“No, I don’t want anyone to know about this yet, especially Ianthe and Magnolia. I’m just going to let her know we’re going out.” I fold the map up and tuck it between some books on my desk, careful to hide it from plain sight.

We fly up through the middle of the castle’s wide spiral stairs up to our floor where I’m certain Ianthe is still up working on coronation plans.

“Hello my love,” I swoop into our room and kiss her chastely on the cheek. “Mags, darling, what are you doing here?” Our daughter, Magnolia, is curled up in an arm chair across from her mother.

“Good evening, Ianthe, Maggie.” Dex says making Magnolia roll her eyes, she despises that nickname but her uncle Dex is the only one she won’t kill on sight for the infraction.

“Bored, I’m going to go see if the guys are back from patrol.” She gets up from the chair, walks out onto the balcony, and flies off.

“Don’t mind her, she’s just mad I kept her from patrol to help me with planning. What are you two up to?” Ianthe raises an accusatory brow at us.

“Nothing my love, just going out for a bit. I’ll be back before you wake.”

“Don’t worry, Ianthe, I won’t let him get into too much trouble.” He winks at her and flashes her his most charming smile.

I give her a kiss on the head before Dex and I fly off the balcony and into the night.