Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
Breon went to the passenger seat of a large black golf cart. Or at least that’s what it looked like. There was another man in the driver’s seat and a group of others standing around. The man in the golf cart began to drive at a slow and steady pace. This pace allowed those that were on foot to walk at a fast yet comfortable pace as they moved with us.
This entire process was a little strange to me so I had to ask Casey what was up.
“Acacia, are those armed guards? Do they think that I am a threat?”
“They are guards, yes, but they’re for your protection. Queen Gloriana is treating you with the respect that you deserve. She does not wish for you to come to any harm while you are here. If there were to be a danger to you while you are here the responsibility and burden for that would fall onto her shoulders.”
“Do you or the queen expect that there is a danger to Riviana while we are here?” Vincent had switched into his serious mode when he saw the armed guards that had surrounded our small caravan of vehicles.
“Not at all. This is something that Queen Gloriana has always done for high ranking allies. She is showing you that she both accepts and respects your position. This is actually a very high honor.”
“Really?” I was still at a loss and trying to figure out my response. Before I could come to a reasonable reaction, though, we had made it to the garage that was attached to the castle.
To break the confusion in my mind I made a joke to myself. It was just something stupid about when they might have added a garage for cars like this and what they might have kept here before hand. Horses, donkeys, giant butterflies, you know, stupid shit that would make me cringe if one of the Fae had actually heard what it was I was thinking.
Most of the armed guards remained outside of the garage. They had positioned themselves so that they were completely blocking the door from view until it was closed. Only two of the guards had come into the actual building and they were now standing behind Breon as he got out of the golf cart.
I watched as my four guards that were in the SUVs started to exit the vehicles. I was supposed to wait until they came and opened the doors of the Limo and Cedar and Vincent had exited.
As the queen in this situation I was to wait in the vehicle and be the last one to leave. That was a little annoying, but I understood it. Joaquin usually opened my door for me, as did Vincent, so I was usually the last one out when I went somewhere anyway.
I watched through the windows as the planned movements were executed perfectly. David and Thoma got out of their SUV at the exact same time that Izzy and Shane got out of theirs. Shane and Izzy walked to the driver’s side of the Limo and opened the door while David and Thoma were on the passenger side doing the same.
Cedar exited through the driver’s side and then helped Casey to her feet as she exited the limo. Vincent left the passenger side at the same time as Cedar. Behind Vincent, Gabriel was the next to leave through the passenger side of the limo.
Joaquin followed after Gabriel and I watched as he straightened his suit briefly. As soon as he once again looked perfectly dreamy and mouth wateringly delicious Joaquin turned to hold his hand out for me. I was glad it was him helping me out of the limo since I needed someone to help pull me to my feet. Joaquin used his grip on my hand and pulled while seamlessly sliding an arm around my waist and pulling me toward him.
“Just relax and take it one step at a time.” His voice was quiet and calm as he spoke to me softly. The words did their job, they calmed me down and helped me to put on a perfectly beautiful and regal smile.
I saw that Breon and the armed guards were kneeling in front of me as were two other Fae that looked like servants of some sort. Their left legs were bent with the foot on the floor and their right knees were pressed against the floor. They also had their right arm bent so that their open hand was across their hearts. Their left arm was resting on their left thigh, hand in a fist.
The entire kneeling scene was too much, but I couldn’t say anything about it so I just looked at them calmly.
“Welcome to the land of the Fae, Queen Riviana. We are honored by your visit.” Breon spoke first only to be followed by the others as they spoke in perfect unison.
“Welcome Queen Riviana, we are honored to see you.”
“Thank you Breon, thank you everyone. I appreciate your warm welcome.” I nodded my head once in their direction as a way of showing that I accepted their words and their welcome. “Please rise.”
They did as I asked and rose smoothly and fluidly in one quick motion. I could see that these men before us were used to dealing with people that they considered important. I also felt good knowing that I counted among them.
“Queen Riviana.” A man I didn’t know spoke from behind Breon. “My name is Herrod, please allow me and my men to assist you during your visit.” He bowed his head just a little with a smile on his face. He was a shorter man, maybe five foot seven. He was the only man present that didn’t make me feel too short. He had hair that was almost like a pastel rainbow, but it was just yellow, green, and blue. His eyes were a soft shade of orange and he looked more childlike than the others, however he seemed to be in charge of them.
“Thank you Herrod.”
“It is my pleasure, Queen Riviana. Allow me to introduce those who will be assisting you. This here is Cilian, an archer with many talents. Here we have Fabian, an officer who doubles as a steward. Dirk, a soldier that is especially skilled in hand to hand combat. And I am the captain of the Queen’s guards. Please let us know if there is anything that you need.” Cilian was very tall and had hair that was yellow, orange and red like the setting sun that was long and pulled back into a knot at the back of his head and his eyes were a bright yellow. Fabian looked the most burly of them all, he was shorter than Cilian but still tall with big muscles and hair that looked like different fallen leaves in the middle of autumn, the colors perfectly matched his brown eyes. Dirk was just over six feet tall with short silver hair and black eyes.
“We appreciate that.” Joaquin nodded to him. “As you might have guessed, we brought our own guards as well, to protect my wife.”
“Yes, King Joaquin, that is very understandable. We would expect nothing else.”
“Herrod, can you take me to see Queen Gloriana now?”
“Most definitely. Please follow us.
Herrod turned to face the men that were behind him. With a gesture he had them moving into a formation that had one of them on each side of our group. Breon stood in the front with Herrod and the two of them together led the way through the halls and into the Fae castle.
****
Riviana
****
It was a long walk from the garage to the throne room where we were to meet the Queen of the Fae. There were a lot of corridors that we had to twist and turn down. Occasionally we would pass others in the hall. I couldn’t tell if they were residents or workers in the castle. Still, every one of them looked at us with awe when we passed.
Did their stunned expressions mean that I was dressed beautifully or did it mean that I had totally failed and I looked like a freak? I guess I wouldn’t know until I spoke to the Queen.
I had thought that I looked good. My hair had been braided in an elegant style and was draped over my left shoulder. My makeup was perfect and light so as not to look too overpowering. And the dress I was wearing was full length and draped the floor. It was a light powder blue with an empire waist. There was a black gold chain that went all the way around the waist and accentuated my already rounding belly. The dress was strapless so there was a matching lace shawl that wrapped around my shoulders and gave me the appearance of being a little more elegant than I usually did. Paired with the dress was a pair of black, crystal embellished Jimmy Choo sandals with four inch heels.
Finally we reached the throne room. There were four guards standing outside the doors and as we approached two of the guards opened the door to match our walking speed while the other two guards lowered their heads in a sign of respect and deference.
Inside the throne room there were dozens of people. There were at least twelve small throne-like chairs that lined the long aisle, six on each side. I had learned from Casey ahead of time that these were the nobles of court and they would most likely be in attendance for this meeting. Standing on either side of the aisle way, with no thrones in sight for them, were about three dozen more people that looked high ranking but a little lower than that of the nobles.
At the end of the long carpeted aisle was a massive throne where the Queen of the Fae was sitting and waiting for us. She was seated on the throne and smiling at us as we made our way toward her.