~Ethan.
It sounded unbelievable, what Aurora had said to me earlier during the day. I had hurt her and I hated myself for hurting her, so how was it that she who received the pain didn’t hate me?
I sighed for the umpteenth time and tossed on my bed. It was already deep into the night, but sleep somehow eluded me and left me with the thoughts of Aurora.
All I had wanted to do earlier was sitting her down and unload on her every question on my mind, but instead, I watched her leave only to be tormented by the thought when I was supposed to be deep asleep. No matter how many times I turned and tossed on the bed, my mind was still heavy with the thought and even when I tried closing my eyes to force myself to sleep, a picture of her wearing a bight smile and showing off her beautiful set of teeth tormented me.
“God, Aurora, what are you doing to me?” I hissed as I pushed the duvet off my body and quickly fitted myself in a shirt and trousers and made my way to the guest quarters. Since my thoughts wouldn’t let me be, I thought to put them into good use.
A dim light fell to the corridor through one of the doors as I arrived at the guest quarters, and I quickly guessed it was Aurora’s since she and her son were the only guests we had in the palace for that time being.
I forced a spittle down my throat -though not having a clue why I was nervous - as I made my way to the door and tried to knock when I heard her little boy’s tiny voice.
“Still, Mom, you didn’t have to spend your whole day with our captor.”
I dropped my hand back to my side and leaned closer to the door, with my heart dipping from the word the boy used in describing me. I had an idea I wasn’t his favorite person but, I had no clue it was this bad.
“Captor, Arne? That is a strong word, don’t you think?” Aurora said and scoffed lightly.
“But he did have us kidnapped, and he is keeping us against our will.”
“You are so smart it scares me at times, Arne.” She sighed, “No, nobody is keeping us against our will. Yes, he did take us but, I am here because I want to stay and while I am under his roof, it is only appropriate to answer when he calls.”
“Every time, mummy?”
“Every time.”
The boy groaned out of annoyance, his irritation evident in his voice.
“I don’t like it here, Mom. I want to go back home, I miss home. And Audrey. And school. And my friends at school, I want to go back home, Mum.”
“And we will, soon. I promise.”
“I really do not like this place.”
At that moment, I thought about proposing to Aurora -when I get the chance to talk to her again- to send her son home to his father. It was not as though the boy needed breastfeeding and instead of being forced to stay where he didn’t want to, he could be sent back to where he was comfortable. Moreover, they have someone waiting for them back home, right?
Right?
I heard Aurora sigh, “Promise me you will try to enjoy your stay here, Arne, promise me. For my sake?”
“Only on the condition that I will finally get to meet Daddy when we leave this place.”
“Arne.” The name left her lips in a whisper.
“Mom, you have been promising that I will meet him. I want to meet him once we leave this place.”
Meet Daddy? I shifted away from the door as my brows knitted. What did he mean by ‘meet Daddy’? Did the little boy not know his father? But Aurora once mentioned their father and had never corrected me when I mentioned him too, or was she lying to me?
But, why would she do that? Why would Aurora lie to me? Except Aurora didn’t know the father of her child.
Heavens! Aurora didn’t know the father of her child. I shook my head in disbelief and disappointment. Aurora was better than such. Way better than that.
“Alright, we will meet him once we leave this place. I promise.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, as thought she was trying hard to fight back something, tears perhaps.
Good heavens, Aurora knew who the father was, and I was positive it was a truth that hurt her.
My heart sunk deeper as I made my way back to the room and new questions began filling my head.
I shouldn’t have listened to their conversations, heck, I shouldn’t have left my room in the first place. Aurora must have had a valid reason to keep the identity of the father away from her son. She must have had a valid reason to lie to me, right?
Right?
My room felt suffocating and my bed, a thorn in my flesh when I got back to it, but, I forced myself to lay back in it and try to get some sleep.
The sun was already smiling at the earth before I could catch a bit of sleep so, I quickly went through with my morning duties and found my way to Aurora's room when I was done with my duties.
The door to her room opened on my second knock and I saw her, standing before me in all graciousness and poise. She wore a purple dress which clung to her body and accentuated her curves, her hair was pulled back and packed up in a bun and the slim necklace around her neck and matching pair of earrings made her eyes and face shine bright.
“Ethan, you're here. Good morning.” She greeted with a smile -God, her smile- and widened the door for me to step in. “Arne, come” she gestured to her little boy who glared at me from the bed. “Come meet the king, Arne,” she turned to me when the boy came to stand by her side, “Ethan, this is Arne, my son and Arne, this is Ethan, the king of this pack. Arne,” she called as the boy seemed reluctant to greet me, “I didn't teach you to be disrespectful, did I? Greet the king.”
I winced at the way she used that word. I was more than just 'the king' to her. I was Ethan, her… her something that didn't get to put so much space between us.
“No, mom.” Arne said before looking up at me and stretched out his hand with that same glare on his face, “I am Arne, nice to meet you, King Ethan.”
I brought myself to his height before taking his hand, “Drop the honorary. You can call me Uncle Ethan, your mom and I are… friends.”
I bit my tongue as the word left my lips. Friends was no better than 'the king.'
“Being Mom's friend doesn't mean you will get away with kidnapping us.”
“Oh.” I chuckled lightly.
“It's not funny.”
“Oh.” I said again and cleared my throat. Amused that he was that protective of his mom, even with being so little.
“Forgive me, son, but sometimes, we go great lengths to get what we want.”
He tsked, “take what we want and apologize later, right?”
“Yeah,” I said and chuckled, beginning to like the little boy more than I thought I would.
“That's not right, Arne, I thought you to ask for permission.”
“But uncle Ethan, didn't.”
I smiled and parted my lips to speak, but before I could, Sam walked into the room to inform Aurora that her ride was ready.
She nodded at Sam with a smile before turning to Arne, “Arne, dear, I have to leave for work now, your nanny wouldn't be coming, so you'll be spending your day with your uncle, Ethan, but I will be back to get you once I am back. I want you to be a good boy, okay?”
“I can take care of myself, mom.”
“I want you to be a good boy today, Arne.” She said with a stern voice.
Aurora exhumed poise, strength, and grace and there was no doubt she raised her kid alone because it was evident she did, and she did one hell of a job in raising them.
“I'll try.” Aurora hugged him and kissed the crown of his head before turning to me.
“Take care of my boy, will you?” I nodded and watched leave with Sam to find Arne glaring at me when I turned back to him.
“What's wrong?” I asked with knitted brows and raised a brow when he seemed hesitant.
“You're not allowed to look at my Mom that way.”