The Moon Goddess' Chosen

448 Homesick!!!

The car parked and the royals, along with Honour and everyone else that had been a part of the King’s convoy stepped out. “I don’t think I saw the other side of the wall on our way here,” Madeline wondered.

“That’s because this parking lot is under the ‘wall’. From the outside, it looks like a really huge wall but it’s just the outer wall of a very large building. In the middle of everything is where the Royal Games take place,” Bree explained.

“So, it’s like a modern Colosseum?”

“Something like that.”

Hearing that explanation was one thing. Actually getting to see the grandeur of the great ‘colosseum’ was something else.

Built into the concentric structure were numerous hotels and facilities all meant to entertain and accommodate the visitors of the Great Arena.

The girls passed so many casinos, spas, lounges, indoor sports centres and a multitude of facilities that they couldn’t believe could fit in the place before reaching an elevator painted gold… or was it made of gold. None of them could tell which was which.

By the time they made it to the elevator, the number of wolves walking with them had weathered down to a handful. King Davin had given everyone instructions and allowed them to break away from the group. Honour wondered why they’d walked for so long.

“Couldn’t we have taken the elevator in the first lobby we found?” she sounded genuinely confused.

.....

“Well, that would not have taken us where we want to go. The layout of the Great Arena is a little complicated. Navigating it is no simple task.

It’s really large and divided into three rings. We are living in the third ring. The outermost one and that lobby didn’t have an elevator that could get us there. I advise you to take some time to go through the map of the Great Arena so you can at least find it easier to navigate in the future,” the king explained.

The man that was leading them stepped to the side and bowed, “The Sirius suite is on the forty-fifth floor this year and everything has been arranged according to your orders.”

“Thank you. Our key?” King Davin replied.

The man fiddled with his pockets, visibly cursing his incompetence before presenting the king with the small golden key to the suite.

‘I’ve really gotten myself involved with royals, haven’t I? Even after all your warnings, mother,’ Honour mentally lamented.

Just when they’d entered the elevator, a woman made it through the halls and to their door, “Would you hold the door please?” she asked.

Bree put her hand across the entrance, blocking the door’s path and waited for the woman to come through.

A beautiful woman with striking green eyes of a delta made her way for the elevator. She wore a fine leather jacket and stylish clothes that weren’t too glamorous.

This woman oozed strength and confidence that the current occupants of the elevator were almost sure she wouldn’t notice the royals.

However, the moment she reached the doors of the elevator, she dropped her gaze to the ground and made an elegant bow, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty… your highness.”

Hesitantly, King Davin replied, “The pleasure is all mine. Have we met?”

The woman took this as a sign she was allowed to enter and got in, standing on the other side of the king. Madeline found that she had to move away to make room for the woman to take her desired position beside the king.

“You wouldn’t remember me. It was such a long time ago. I am Bella Thorn,” the delta proudly introduced herself. When she didn’t add anything to the introduction, the king realised he was supposed to have remembered something upon hearing her name.

Unfortunately, that did not happen for some time.

The elevator doors closed and there was an awkward silence while the king searched his mind for a hint of familiarity. He would have been certain if he had seen a strong delta in the past… one that was capable of exuding such a confident aura even in the presence of a royal, but the harder he tried, the more the memory eluded him.

When it seemed he would not remember who she was, he sought out the name Thorn in his memory and that’s when he first felt a hint of recognition come to his face.

Then he scrunched his brows. Whoever he’d remembered was not at all the same person currently standing beside him.

The woman’s confident smile dropped when the king wouldn’t recognise her, “I know the name… Thorn. They were the family of one of Trevor’s most trusted deltas but I don’t remember any of them looking quite like you,” the king replied, raising a brow at the girl.

Between the styled hair, toned muscles and perfectly tanned skin, the king was at a loss. He couldn’t think of any of them being this… impressive.

Martha felt her stomach turn at the way her husband regarded the younger woman but decided against lashing out. His mind link didn’t indicate any feelings of attraction towards her.

And that seemed to be enough for the queen to let him be.

“Ah, the last time I saw them, they had a little girl with them. She was the cutest… Wait…” mortified, the king turned to the girl and scanned her face.

“Time really does a number on the mind of oldies, doesn’t it?” the girl groaned.

Despite her tone, the king was not offended, “So you’re their daughter, Bella Thorn. You’ve grown into quite the woman. I barely recognise you.”

“Well, the training at the Lycaon pack got really intense when his majesty succeeded his father. I barely recognise myself either,” the girl chuckled, “The Sirius pack doesn’t know what kind of monsters they are up against this time.”

King Davin was stunned for a moment before bursting into boisterous laughter that reverberated and shook the elevator. The three girls had never heard the king let loose like that before.

The man’s composure had completely dropped and he was laughing out loud.

Bella, on the other hand, raised a brow at the king. When she turned to Queen Martha, the Luna merely looked away with a smirk on her face.

She then spoke for the king, “I don’t think you would want to make such claims before you even see what the Sirius empire has in store for you this year.”

“Under normal circumstances, I would be intimidated by such words, but…” a worried look crossed the delta’s face.

The elevator finally opened on the fifty-third floor which had been reserved for the Lycaon royals. The delta stepped out of the elevator before finishing her sentence.

The king stopped laughing, noticing the odd mood that had taken over the elevator, “The Lycaon team this time... It’s made of monsters.”

With that, the elevator door closed and they continued their journey to the fifty-fourth floor. There was a silence before the king spoke on his own, “I would expect nothing less from King Cole’s pack. Still, we aren’t normal either this time.”

The girls were troubled with feelings of dread. Bella’s words had shaken them to the core, however, when they stepped through the elevator, these feelings, along with all the memories of the previous days were completely wiped from their minds.

The elevator door opened into a short corridor that obscured everything in the suite from view, however, a few steps in were enough to reveal the monstrosity of a luxury suite they’d been invited to live in.

The path quickly dropped down a short flight of stairs into a gargantuan living room with luxurious sofas. The ground was completely covered in marble and the ceiling was far too high for comfort. A beautiful chandelier comfortably hung at the top of the ceiling, lighting the room down below.

At first glance, Honour was not sure what she was staring at, but soon enough, she came to terms with the fact that on one side of this large living room was glass allowing them a clear view of the inside of the Great Arena.

It was only now that she was able to see the size of the Colosseum. It must have spanned several hectares. For she could barely make out the other side of the large concentric wall, “Wow!” Honour and Madeline exclaimed.

“That is the reaction everyone gets when they see this place for the first time,” Bree sighed, regarding the expensive sofas she wanted to drop into, but then deciding against it… purely out of nervousness.

“You girls make yourselves at home. This floor has plenty of rooms similar to this one. The differences are small. Find a place for our contestants to rest and tell us where they are. We’ll handle the rest and those rooms will become the official Dorms for the contestants.

That means no one is allowed there except for them and their friends. Food will be up in a few minutes. The mind link’s open if you need anything,” Queen Martha was gone in a flash, following the king through a door to the side and leaving the girls on their own.

“Seemed like they were in a hurry,” Honour wondered.

“Sort of… there is still a lot they have to do. They have to make sure the other members of the pack know where they’ll be staying and register all the rooms being used so that the staff know which rooms have been used.

Otherwise, calculating that bill would become sort of a problem. That’s why they’ve left the task of choosing, Crysta, Lina and Wyatt’s rooms to us,” Bree explained.

As the only one of the three that had ever been to the Royal Games, she had all the information.

“Wait. Honour… you’ve never been here?” Madeline asked.

“No, I haven’t. I wasn’t here during the last cames. It’s only betas, delta, alphas and anyone who has the money to afford the trip as well as a ticket to this expensive place that can make it here,” the young goddess shrugged.

“Oh! That makes sense, I guess. This is overkill though. How is something like this even possible?” the girl moved from one thing to the other. She brushed her hands on a plant that was used to decorate the table beside the largest of the luscious sofa set. She felt the soft material of the sofas.

Taking off her shoes, the girl walked to the glass pane and looked out in awe, “Honour, you can even see the stars from here. Look…”

Madeline’s excitement helped Honour get over her jitters. The young goddess took off her shoes and stood beside the young Seeker, “Don’t get too excited. You lose control of your eyes when that happens.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I have this under control,” Madeline waved a circle over her own face and turned back to the constellations. The stars shined within her amber eyes… As well as something else…

The bright full moon.

In the radiance of the full moon, Honour couldn’t help but have mixed feelings. Feelings of dread towards the floating orb mixed with feelings of longing at the same time.

And not the kind of longing that summoned her back to her home in Sirius, but the kind that asked she returns to the palace in the heavens…

She thought of her garden of lotuses that she hadn’t visited in centuries. Of the pool of water in the throne room that she always used to watch over the humans. She thought of the effect her palace had on the oceans.

Many times, she’d been asked to use it to raise the tide on some human settlement the gods were not happy with.

She thought of the Moon Palace…

The palace that was rightfully hers…

‘Didn’t think I’d start feeling... homesick?’