"Your Highness!" The woman was cheerful and all too unaware of the danger that this call was presenting to the crown prince. His life was in possible danger just because of this one call!
"How do I turn this thing off?" Nicholas panicked and was sure that if anyone were to hear Karenina's annoying voice, he was doomed. He was already this close to learning the truth but now it was all ruined!
The Crown Prince of Riga wasn't going to take any chances and hoped that he was left unheard by the residents residing in the castle. If these people were dangerous then they were undoubtedly already looking for him.
Nicholas started to run back to the way he came from.
***
Sophie smiled at the duke and started to feel her heart pound. For a moment, she found herself distracted by something. She stared at the wall and thought she saw the painting moving… but she thought it was just her nerves.
Perhaps it was Luciel and Jan simply howling in the nursery that made her confession awkward? She needed to remember that she was still a mother and no longer as free as she was before.
However, as far as Sophie could see from the duke and Alpha of the Blood River Pack, he cared about her children almost as much as she did. Sophie couldn't ask for anything more than that.
Someone who loved not only her but her kids too? That was a blessing.
Leland sipped his wine and looked over his shoulder. The sound of thumping was evident from across another room. He smiled a little while musing and said, "It seems like a mother's job is never over even when you're trying to relax, isn't it?"
Sophie laughed. "Motherhood is truly like that, my lord. My own mother was never tired of me. When I was younger, I tended to have nightmares involving being chased by something silly like the moon and I often crawled in my mother's arms."
Leland smiled. "I know."
"Huh? Did I mishear you, my lord?" Sophie forgot to drop the honorifics even though Leland had told her not to use them. She couldn't believe her ears all of a sudden when the duke said he knew what Sophie did when she was younger.
She was probably mistaken, wasn't she?
Duke Romanov… no, this Alpha of the Blood River Pack, couldn't have known who her mother was, right? She stared at the man and hoped that she actually just drank too much wine.
However, instead of correcting Sophie and saying he meant something else, the Alpha did something else completely. Leland smiled lightly. Even when most of his face was covered by the leather mask, Sophie thought his smile was beautiful.
His eyes twinkled as he looked at Sophie. The woman felt her heart flutter. She knew she was falling for this man and the way he spoke or looked at her made her feel butterflies.
It was similar to the feelings she had when she was with Nicholas. Similar.. but also different at the same time. Perhaps… it was like the way she loved Luciel and Jan differently but also completely.
Loving Luciel with his outgoing personality didn't mean Sophie loved the quiet Jan any less. Her sons were different and she loved them both with all her heart.
The feelings she had when she was with Nicholas made her heart filled with happiness and positivity. However, when she was with Duke Romanov, she felt safe, secure, and understood. Sometimes, she didn't even feel the need to say anything and the duke would know what she wanted.
Sophie never expected someone so quiet and distant could understand her so much. He also treated her with kindness from day one, after he saved her from the snowstorm, at the lowest point of her life.
From the beginning, when the duke offered to take her in with the babies in her womb, until now, when the babies were born, Sophie could see how much the man cared about her. There was not a single thing about him that made Sophie feel out of place.
As days went by, she only felt more and more at home with him.
Perhaps… it was really love?
Duke Romanov nodded. His voice was filled with nostalgia when he continued his words.
"You were always the mischievous and energetic child that I can't blame that your two children happen to be the same. You were always scampering about and getting bruises, didn't you, Sophia?"
Sophie couldn't say anything at all.
Her heart thundered and her eyes bulged in surprise.
"Your mother would often make salves and creams that were meant to help soothe your booboos, alleviate the wounds and overall just do everything that she could to make you feel better." Leland smiled gently at her.
Still, at this point, Sophie couldn't believe what the man before her was saying. Was he really and truly talking about her…?
How was that possible?
"Anne Hansley was a wonderful woman and the best of mothers." Leland's expression became a bit solemn and his voice warbled for a moment. "I couldn't blame her that she chose to protect you and abandon the pack."
"What… what are you saying?" Sophie asked at last in disbelief. "My mother and the pack? She abandoned the pack?"
"Your mother is the daughter of the Great Lycan King, Malachi. A renowned and fearless woman, someone beyond compare and well-loved by the Blood River Pack. She was one out of the many who were chosen to help save our pack."
Leland's expression was enough to make Sophie fall silent as she heard a story that she had never heard before. It was so new and somehow, it almost felt familiar and yet so distant.
Had Sophie heard her mother talk about a man called Malachi before? Faintly, Sophie thought she had but then she was nothing more but a child back then.
It must have been one out of the countless memories she had. She didn't really know who King Malachi was.
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