Celea was called into the king's office.
"What's up, King?"
"Sit down, Celea."
"I would've done that without you having to tell me."
Celea afterward sat down on the chair-like sofa.
"We are going to have the mate ceremony in two days."
"Let me think about it… Ah, I think the answer to that is no."
Frowns
"What's wrong? You didn't really expect me to say yes to that, did you?"
"Celea, we are going to have that ceremony. End of discussion."
"You can go ahead and have a ceremony if you want. I'm not going to stop you, but I won't be part of it."
"I'm not stupid, Lycan. I know exactly why you want a ceremony. You want to use me to forget about her. You're trying to use the power of the mark to stop thinking about Zela."
The king frowned at the name.
"What? You didn't expect me to know? Please, let me remind you that the reason I'm here dealing with your bullshit every day is not because I want to be your mate and Luna, but because I have something important to protect. So stop acting like a coward and solve your relationship problems yourself, because I refuse to be your shield."
Celea rose from the chair and opened the door with the intention to leave. Before she fully stepped out, she turned around to give him one last warning.
"I'm not going to be someone's second choice when I know damn well there are people out there who wouldn't hesitate to put me first."
With that, she left his office.
——
"I'm surprised that lycan let you come."
"Haha, what made you think I'm the type of person to ask for permission?"
"You are right, you are not like that at all."
Dereus and Celea were now in the human realm, walking toward where Celea had placed the black dragon, Dereus's mate.
"It's here!" Celea pointed at curtain-like flowers. Afterward, she pulled them aside to make space for them to enter.
When they got inside, the place looked like heaven. There were flowers and a waterfall; you could even hear birds, and in the middle of all this stood a beautiful crystal coffin.
"Not bad, right?"
"Celea, how does this place look this beautiful? It's winter."
"There's nothing you can't do with money and the right resources."
"Haha, you're right."
"Are you ready to see her?"
"To be honest, I'm a little nervous."
Celea gently pushed him toward the coffin.
Dereus could see his mate through the crystal-like glass and started crying.
Celea left him alone to give him space to mourn in peace.
After about two hours, he came outside.
Celea was waiting.
"You're still here."
"Is there a reason why I should leave?"
Dereus smiled.
"Let's go."
"Where are we going now?"
"To see your children."
Dereus's eyes widened.
"I thought we would do that after the war."
"They will find out you're their father after the war. That doesn't mean you can't see them now."
"Let's go. It's not too far from here."
"Would you like to fly there?" asked Dereus.
"Absolutely."
Dereus shifted into a beautiful white dragon.
"Wow…"
The dragon lowered himself to allow Celea to climb on.
Celea felt like a little girl seeing her Christmas present.
"Whooooo, this feels amazing. Why did I ever consider walking until now when I could fly?"
"Ah, there. You can land there." Celea pointed at a villa below them.
They landed.
"Wow, that was amazing. You're going to be my source of transport from now on."
The dragon made a face as if saying, are you kidding?
"CEEEELLLEEEE!!!"
Celea turned around to see her troublemakers running toward her. She smiled brightly, opened her arms, and they jumped into them.
"How could you just leave us like that?"
"I missed you a lot too."
Dereus shifted back into his human form, and the triplets turned to look at him.
"Cele, is this the guy you left us for?"
They immediately positioned themselves protectively in front of her.
Celea grabbed them by the ears.
"Auh, auh, auh," Draco and Azar exclaimed in pain.
"Stop acting childish. This is our guest, and I would never leave you for a man. You three are my top priority."
"Really?" they asked in puppy voices and hugged her again.