The Hidden Luna Queen (Maeve and Xaden)

MAEVE POV

All of the white, hot fury that possessed my body vanished the moment I had unleashed the burdens of my mind onto the Alpha King. At first, all I felt was weightless, sweet relief upon having said everything I needed so desperately to say.

But then I suddenly found myself freed from the control of that vengeful, restless spirit.

And now, I was awake, forced to deal with the aftermath of my rash actions.

What the hell have I done? I thought, horrified. This is not like me!

Alpha King Arlan's green eyes gleamed with something dark. "You have some gall, little pup," he muttered. "Though, I am not sure if it was courage or foolishness that inspired you to speak to me with such crass."

He took one step toward me and I recoiled with a sharp flinch, fearing he wanted to strike me for talking back. In the blink of an eye, Xaden bravely planted himself in front of me, still holding onto me with a strong, comforting hand-all in an attempt to shield me from his father's menacing figure.

My body was wracked with tremors, terrified of what might happen.

Please don't let the Alpha King hurt Xaden because of me!

Queen Leonora, however, was quick to intervene. "Dear... it has been a long day, and the night draws near," she said, wrapping her arm around his. Her gentle, beseeching touch seemed to have soothed him in some way. "This is a matter for another time."

After a tense moment, he finally spoke up once more.

"Due to the special circumstances of the evening, I'll allow that little mishap of yours to slide," King Arlan drawled, looming closer to me with slow, foreboding steps that threatened to send me cowering in a corner, "but make no mistake, I will not be so forgiving a second time. It would do you well to remember your place in the future."

My place...

The words hit me in the chest with a thud. I knew better than anyone where I stood in the chain of command.

What happened tonight was a mere anomaly, I wanted to hope. Much stress culminated from this banquet... and my reaction was simply an unfortunate release of all the stress I had accumulated. Deep down, however, I knew that all of this could have been prevented... and something inside me chose to throw all caution to the wind.

Regardless, I could not afford to let this happen again.

Gulping, I lowered my head. "Y-Yes, Your Majesty..."

He stopped mere inches away from me, so close that I could practically smell his disdain. "You may be my son's intended... and you may have him wrapped around your dainty, little finger, but you are still just a child, he hissed, peering down at me like I was little more than a pebble under his shoe, uncaring that his son could hear every word. "And children do not dictate the ways of the adult world. Just obey, and everything will happen as planned."

This was his warning to me.

No-it was a promise. If I learned what I needed to and respected the king's rules, then we wouldn't have any problems.

"Father-"

"And you, Xaden-" The harsh, sudden addressal made Xaden stiffen beside me. "Learn to take control of your woman," he leered, looking me up and down. "Such behavior from your future Luna will only cause problems."

I felt his hand tremble around my arm, which unnerved me. Did he fear his father... or was it what his father said?

Xaden said nothing in response, however, only staring back at him with full intensity.

With a passing glare in my direction, Alpha King Arlan briskly stormed off, followed by a worried Luna Queen Leonora and smug-looking Isabelle, leaving the two of us braced together in the hallway. As if stuck in a trance, we walked back to the car in total, baffled silence, processing the events of the evening.

Even in the car, it took the longest time for one of us to even muster the energy to speak.

Stunned, Xaden let out a breath, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "Maeve... what happened in there?" he asked, sounding at a loss.

"I-I don't know..." I stammered as I picked at my hands, overwhelmed with shame and panic. "I don't know where all of that came from. I swear, I didn't mean to blow up at your father like that-it just... came out, and I couldn't stop it."

It wasn't a total lie.

Screaming at the Alpha King was

the absolute last thing I had thought to achieve tonight, least of all at any point in my life. I had wanted to show the utmost respect and humility that I could in his presence. Not only was he Xaden's father, but

he was the most powers.net

man in

the entire kingdom-if he wanted to, he could do away with me at any given moment.

But... something had happened to me when I saw Eric sit there while his older brother said those awful things.

While his father did nothing to stop it.

All of a sudden, I was back in that

nightmare of a house I grew up in. I had found myself sitting in Eric's place, with Sarah and Victoria hurling their insults at me instead of Prince Henry. And where King Arlan sat, saw Alpha Burton blissfully minding his own business, turning a blind eye and deaf ear to what was happening in his house.

AGUT