The Hidden Luna Queen 2

"Welcome, Alpha," the guards said in unison, simply stepping aside for him to enter.

Kenneth barely acknowledged them, and instead walked right on through the grand palace doors, with a confidence as if he owned the place, passing lines of omegas as they worked to clear the aftermath of yesterday's banquet.

For years... decades, he'd walked those halls, filled with dreams and fantasies he once believed could never live beyond the plane of his mind... dreams that suddenly felt closer than ever.Please visit Jo bn Ib.com and search the book title to read the entire book for free. Close enough that he could just barely touch them with his fingertips, if he tried. There were times in the last twenty years when he thought he was played the fool, taken advantage of in a moment of blind ambition. Seeing Maeve at the lunar banquet, however... talking to her and feeling her presence, one that was so unlike any other... he had the strongest feeling all of his exemplary patience was about to pay off.

He drew a long breath, lazily taking in the scenery of the palace as he ventured from the halls to the rear gardens.

But he wasn't here to marvel at the beautiful sights.

No, he was here for-

"Ah, there she is!" Kenneth exclaimed the instant Isabelle came into view, sitting on a bench in the middle of the flower gardens, a perfect picture of beauty with her soft, blonde hair and floral blue dress. "The pride of Dawnguard, the apple of my eye, and the greatest beauty to live in the entire kingdom."

He grinned as her eyes met his, shining with the afternoon sun, but nothing about her seemed to reflect his joy.

She looked aloof, intense with a coldness contrasting with the lovely atmosphere.

"Good afternoon, Daddy," she greeted, her tone somewhat clipped. Her icy blue gaze, identical to his own, drifted away to instead focus on the lush gardens surrounding them. "Are you here for someone?"

"Who else would I want to see, if not my darling daughter?"

She didn't even attempt to hide her scoff. "Perhaps one of your new friends from last night?"

"Come now," he crooned, sitting beside her on the bench. "Don't be short with me, not when I came all this way to visit you." A brief silence enveloped the garden.

"... What did you want?" she slowly asked.

"I'm hosting a special banquet tonight-nothing too extravagant, just a few close friends in attendance." He pinched her cheek with the doting adoration every child yearned to feel from their parents. "I'd love it if you'd come and honor us with your presence." His daughter suddenly grinned with a sparkle that wasn't there before. "Really?" she asked, bursting with giddiness. Here it was... the apology she'd waited all day from her father. Never again would he prioritize that pregnant servant over- "Of course, it goes without saying that I'll need you to be there before Maeve arrives," he said with an air of nonchalance. "So when you apologize for your behavior yesterday, it feels like we are truly and sincerely welcoming her as one of our own. You can do that, yes?" And, just like that, the world seemed to come to a complete standstill. The birds that were once singing suddenly stopped, and her light blonde hair slowed with the dimming breeze, leaving her with empty nothingness.

The smile that lit up Isabelle's face dissipated without a trace.

"What?"

He blinked. "Do you need me to repeat myself?"

"Daddy!" Her expression flashed between appalled and indignant as she jumped to her feet. "You're saying you... want me to attend a welcoming dinner for her at our home-" she muttered, dripping with horror and disbelief, "where you also expect me to apologize to her?" "Yes. That's exactly it."

His answer came so swiftly, so simply, so matter-of-factly that it made her chest prickle with something hot and slimy and red. He did not seem to even consider the magnitude of what he was asking of her-or... perhaps he did and didn't care how it affected his own daughter, only that he got whatever it was he wanted.

And that... that was far worse.

"I won't," she answered, just as simply as her father had. "I don't want to."