As a side note before you start reading, this is a fantasy world on which I am working; to put it simply, there are many power sources, with just as many Deities (Gods and Goddesses) monitoring each of them. Here, the Moon Deity Ezreka is briefly mentioned with the nickname Pai (= father in Portuguese), as well as undefined Deities who actually are the Stars Deities. I'll let you find out who mentions who. ;)

This being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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She was a dangerous, powerful, drop-dead gorgeous woman, who feared no one. And you were her loyal knight, doing everything she ordered you to.

At first, she barely acknowledged your presence. And you would do anything to satisfy her.

She had ended up noticing the way you nearly overworked yourself to be able to stay around her and to protect her, the way you would almost be upset if you could not be here in time, the way you tried to please her yet always declined any promotion you would be offered.

So she got interested and ordered her right-hand woman to gather information about you.

You had honestly been quite surprised to see her come and watch the training one day, but you had just focused on it like usual while the other knights had pretty much all been quite distracted and trying to impress her. In the end, three of them ended up injured, and everyone got extra training, even you. Not like it bothered you, you always did some anyway.

_/\_/\_/\_/\_

You took a break from running and fleeing the guards, leaning onto a tree for support and trying to catch your breath. What had you done to deserve to be called a traitor? You had always been loyal to her Majesty, so you didn't understand why one of the maids had suddenly erupted in the middle of training, screaming that you were a spy from a werewolf pack; unless, of course, someone had discovered your ancestry.

Indeed, your paternal grandfather had a werewolf mother, however his father was a regular human; your own mother, one the other hand, was half-vampire and half-elf; your siblings, cousins and yourself weren't all born with the same genetic combination, making it quite difficult to have and enjoy family time as some didn't bare the sunlight and others slept at night. You personally came out as a 'normal' half-human half-elf, but were gifted with some abilities that were supposed and known to only be for werewolves and vampires, like having better vision and night vision.

Either ways, you definitely could not be from any werewolf pack, since your grandfather's family left theirs when your great-grandmother got pregnant. The worst you could possibly do to blow your cover would be to smell like a wet dog when it rained.

"Shit-" you whisper-yelled as you fell on your side, rolling under bushes, holding back any other sound that may want to escape your lips. You tried to make yourself as invisible as possible and prayed to be confused with the floor. Your mother's voice echoed through your mind. 'If one day you are being chased or hunted down, there are some things that you must absolutely remember to do: don't let your guard down; find a river or any water point to get rid of your smell as soon as possible; if you happen to fall on the floor and only have time to hide under bushes or whatever but not to get back on your feet to continue running, become the floor, think like the floor, and pray or hope that they will confuse you with the floor. Don't ask me why, just do it, you'll understand later.'

You didn't even let out a whimper as you entered the ice-cold river, used to being thrown in the snow on every winter morning since you were five. To be completely honest, you barely caught sicknesses related to cold, all thanks to your grandparents; now you were twenty-six and almost completely immune. Never thought it would be useful after twenty-one years, living an honest life with an unusual family.

'Dad would be so disappointed if he saw me right now, but Ella would be so proud!' You praised yourself as you crossed the river. 'And Mum would say that I'm indeed her damn son, cause' she teaches her own four-year-old kids how to fight.'

"Kneel before her Majesty, traitor."

You clenched your teeth when a soldier shoved you down on your knees, holding back a pained noise as it hurt your twisted ankle.

"Look at me."

You felt your heart skip a beat as you slowly and hesitantly looked up at her. And when you met her eyes, you shuddered, frozen in place by the anger that was held in them. Yet, you could tell without a doubt that it wasn't directed towards you. She stared blankly at you for a moment, making you difficulty swallow, for she almost seemed to be eyeing you up and down. However, when she abruptly turned her head to her left, you almost wined at how loud her voice was as she called out: "Rania!", before snapping her attention right back to you.

"Yes, your Majesty?" A maid stepped forward, head bowed respectfully and hair hiding her face, but you could hear her smug smile when she talked.

"Look at me, Rania." At her lack of answer, the Empress raised a mocking eyebrow. "Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation?" As the girl stayed silent with her head down, her lips curled into a pissed, sadistic smile. "You can't look at me, can you? Because you know why I am mad right now, don't you?" Her eyes narrowed, anger taking over her face. "And you also know damn well that commoners like you should not meddle in the business of people like me!"

"But your Majesty, he's a werewolf! He's an enemy!" she tried to persuade her that her actions were to save the country. An answer came out, cold and harsh.

"Look around you and tell me. How am I sure that the guards at the windows and the doors are not spies? If you're so smart, tell me how."

"Well, they were all chosen by the chief of the army, of course." she stuttered.

"What about you, can you tell me?" the Empress asked you, tone a bit softer.

"Her Highness has chosen them herself at the annual selections, after having her right-hand woman do researches about them and their backgrounds." you answered with no trace of uncertainty in your voice.

"And how do you know that?"

"Her Highness has offered me to become one of her personal guards, that is how I know this." You closed your eyes and lowered your head.

"And why aren't one of them yet?"

"I... Because I rejected her Highness' offer."

"And why?"

"Because I believe I am not suitable for this job, your Highness."

"Oh, do you?"

"I do, your Highness."

You heard her bare feet slap on the floor as she came closer to the maid. You snapped your eyes open, stupefied. "You see, Raina, the fact that he is correct and not you shows some things." She stopped in front of her. "For example, it shows that you are not considered trustworthy enough to know it. So now, please tell me, why I should believe you and not him." It was phrased like a question, yet it sounded more like a death sentence, and Pai knows you've heard many death threats playing with your siblings and cousins.

"Answer!" the Empress yelled, slapping the maid who let out a pained yelp. "Do you not think that I already knew he has werewolves in his family?! Do you not think I know things you don't?! Are you not aware that what you've done can be regarded as insubordination and cost your head?!" Her composure had broken, hell was about to be released on the poor girl. "Guards!"

Four soldiers stepped forwards, bowing down a little.

"Take her to the prison and get her uniform back. Give her more suitable clothes for someone like her."

They went to the maid, who seemed to accept her fate, not even trying to escape the warriors' grip, then took her out and away from the room.

The Empress turned back in your direction, walking to you and crouching down to be at your level. She placed a hand under your chin, lifted your head up to see your face correctly. She studied it for some seconds, maybe considering different options, while you stopped breathing, admiring her beauty. She was even more beautiful once seen up close, no matter if she had make-up on or not.

Your eyes wandered on her face; her eyes, her nose, her tanned skin, her ears, her red lips, her neck; everything about her was perfect, and had she not been crowned Head of Empire and Government, she could have been a model, for sure. You dared not look lower than her chin and neck, being fully aware that the shawl she had thrown on in a hurry was pretty much only covering her shoulders and her back, and left little to no room for imagination about what was under her nightgown.

You got a bit uncomfortable from her stare and her proximity, and hardly swallowed the lump in your throat, letting out a small and quiet whimper; had you had werewolf ears, they would have been pressed flat on your head in fear and what one would call submission.

What could you say? Among your siblings, you had always been of the calmer and quieter ones and kept to yourself, like an omega would; your twin sister Ella, born some minutes before you, was on the other hand more alpha-like, she was charming, exuberant, dominating, and made your other siblings cower in fear when she was mad; like you, she had turned out a mix of elf and human, but inherited a werewolf and vampire sense of smell; you two would always team up during hunting parties.

The woman in front of you sighed softly, sliding her hand from your chin – where her touch lingered for some seconds – to your shoulder, then to your arm, and finally settling it on your wrist, which she held softly but firmly. She stood up, motioning you to do the same. She turned to the knights and servants who were still there.

"Some of you please prepare a bed in my office. Apart from that, you all are dismissed, and may go back to your previous occupations. I will take care of the rest myself."

On this words, they scattered into the shadowy corridors, going back to their night shifts.

She looked back at you, biting her bottom lip. She mumbled: "Fuck it.", then a burgundy tornado of long voluminous curly hair blinded you and the next thing you knew was that you were being carried over the Empress' shoulder like a random bag of potatoes. Knowing you couldn't escape her iron grip, you only held onto her soft and heavy looking shawl.

It was not surprising she was able to carry you: she was taller than you by almost a head, her shoulders and muscles were larger and bigger than yours; even if you both had been trained since childhood, it had been in very different ways and by very different people, she was build like an ox and was trained by warriors from the army, while you looked like an acrobat or dancer and had been trained by your mother and her Assassins Guild.

Standing next to each other, no one could guess you were a part of the same world, a world of bravery, honor and sacrifice. And yet, here you were, your stomach being pushed at the deepest of your body by her shoulder. Kinda reminded you of when your siblings and cousins' fights were stopped by the older ones or by your parents; it was a quite common sight to see them walking through the house with a kid hung over their shoulder and dragging another one by their ankle.

You turned your head to your left, and looked at the portraits hung on the wall; as they were not very visible with the curtains in front of them for the night, you turned your head to your right, trying to see through the windows; to your dismay, it only made your neck and your eyes hurt because of the little jumps your body made with each step the Empress made; so you just stared at the floor some feet behind. You breathed through your open mouth, to make it dry and not choke on your saliva since the upper part of your body was upside down.

You took in the silence, actually feeling quite relaxed by it and the almost absence of aura from the woman carrying you as she wasn't angry anymore, only a bit frustrated and tensed. She continued to take you somewhere, not saying anything; you had no clue where, having forgotten about the order she had given earlier, you assumed it would be the infirmary or something like this; even if it was a bit odd that she would do it herself, but at this point you were a bit too tired to care and only wanted to sleep.

You were softly but firmly tossed onto a huge comfortable bed. 'Why do rich important people always need to have such big beds? At least ten wolves could fit being laid on this one!'

Indeed, you hadn't ended up in the infirmary, but in the Empress' bedroom. You were snapped out of your thoughts when the Empress came back with a disinfectant bottle and gauze strips.

"Y-your Highness!"

"Hush, let me take care of that, it's the least I can do."

Unlike usual, her voice wasn't strong and cold, emotionless and rough, it was soft and warm, sympathetic and soothing. It was the kind of voice that would make you feel safe when you're surrounded by danger, calm you down when you're panicking, comfort you when you're hurt. The fact that her stature didn't quite match it made it almost unreal.

You just sat there, on the Ruler's bed, as she got on her knees, pulling up your pant leg to inspect your ankle. You watched her hands as she carefully cleaned it and wrapped a bandage around it. After doing so, she got back up on her feet, very much towering over you. She stared down at your small figure, before turning away and going to her walk-in closet.

"Take off your clothes."

"... Pardon...?"

"I said: take off your clothes. Order of your Empress." She peaked her head out from the closet. "And no, I am not going to take advantage of my social position and abuse of my authority to rape you. I ain't dumb, I'm fully aware that elves cannot bear sexual harassment of any form. Plus, it wouldn't be very Lady-like of me." She scoffed and went back inside, probably getting changed, judging by the sound of fabric being ruffled. "I am going to land you some clothes. Yes, you are sleeping in my room tonight, I don't want you getting hurt again. Plus, we need to talk, but that can wait for tomorrow morning."

Having obviously no choice about it, you started to take off the pieces of your armor you hadn't gotten rid off of when you fled, then your top. You folded the latter neatly on the table not far, and put the pieces of armor on the side of it. You looked down at your mud-covered feet; you had abandoned your boots in the forest, to run more easily and not be burdened by them in the river.

You abruptly received a towel on the side of your head. "What..." You turned over and saw her Majesty standing there, an amused smile on her face and fresh clothes in her hands. She had changed out of her nightgown and put on a dress shirt and short pants.

"Is that the only thing you can say now? Clean and dry yourself, I don't want mud and water all over my room. And get changed, those clothes should be your size. I'll come back in some minutes." She approached you, setting the clothes on the bed then walking away and towards a door on the other side of the room. As she opened it, you managed to see it lead to an office, then she closed it and you turned back to the bed.

You sat on the edge of it and dried you feet and body, making sure to not stain the sheets, then did your best to remove what clothes you had left on without hurting your twisted ankle more than it already was and folded them on the table too. You looked at the fresh clothes and took the first one in your hands, unfolding it carefully; it was a pair of black pants, with a string in the waist band to adjust it correctly. You put it on softly, and looked at what you assumed would be a top or something similar; and you were right, it was indeed a white dress shirt, which you just as softly as the pants slid up your arms and buttoned up.

Unsure of what to do, you remained sitting there, hands crossed on your lap, contemplating the fluffy grey rug underneath your feet. Second after second, your thoughts grew more and more sluggish and you eventually drifted off to sleep, eyelids closing and vision going dark.

Some more minutes later, the door to the office finally opened again, the tall woman coming back inside her bedroom. Spotting your sleeping form, she came closer to her bed, starring at your face. Just like earlier, she crouched down in front of you to see you better. Her eyes darted down to your lips, her hand noticeably twitching in restraint to touch them.

She murmured: "My Deities, if only I could listen to myself and show you all my affection. I would if I dared to, but that wouldn't be reasonable...", brushing away some strands of hair from your eyes.

With a sigh, she got up and lifted you in her arms bridal style, laying you down correctly in the middle of the bed before she covered you with the silky sheets. She hesitated a second as you mumbled a bit but lightly pressed her lips to your forehead, judging a goodnight kiss was okay.

"His skin is so soft, it's unbelievable."

And with that she blew out the candles and went back to her office to sleep.