I push open the door to the sunroom. Crossing the threshold, the flowers bombard me with their smell. I rub my nose as I look at the middle-aged man who is smiling at me.
He places his tea down and greets me, "At last, you finally decided to meet me for tea."
I sit in front of him. "Harbin, I am a warrior now. Joining you to tea is…" I regard everything in the table and add, "… inappropriate."
"Why? The generals partake in this activity."
"I am not a general."
"You will, soon."
I scowl at him. "And I don't know if I should thank you for that."
"I'm not the one who gives designation to the warriors."
"Harbin," I say. "Giving me the First Lieutenant rank is too fast for someone like me."
He smirks. "Someone like you? Pray tell me what is 'someone like you' means."
I sigh. I take a biscuit from the bowl and pour myself a cup of tea. It smells delicious. I won't admit it, but I missed these activities with Harbin. With him, I always learn new things.
"I am a freed werewolf slave, turned lover, turned to King's whore."
Harbin chuckles. "So now, you call yourself a King's whore?" He sips on his cup again and asks, "If you are a whore, when's the last time you made love with the King?"
I purse my lips. The last time is on the ship while we are traveling to Orttenburg. "Over a month," I whisper.
"Over a month?!" He laughs. "Then you are being a lazy, mediocre whore. You should come every night to the King's room to keep him happy."
I hiss at him, my head momentarily shifting to that of a wolf. Harbin only smiles. He knew I can't hurt him.
"Sit down, Kaiya. And calm yourself down."
I did as I'm told and placed another biscuit in my mouth.
"I think you already know that the King misses you."
"I know," I say, still glaring at him.
"The library section for all the King's gifts to you is getting filled up."
"I will stop him from giving me more," I say.
"And now, he plans to give you laquisha every day. I think we will soon have a section in the warrior's barracks for those."
"Just tell him to stop sending me gifts! I don't want any of them!"
"The way you act, it's as if he is the one in pain. But tell me, Kaiya. Every time you hurt him, you also receive the same pain, or more, right? Besides, the mate bond between you is one way."
He is right again. "What's your point?"
"I am saying to find another lover. Give up your love for the King. It will free the two of you."
I glare at him. "You will not push me to be with Theo? Even if you knew he will get mad?"
"A she-wolf and a human King are not meant to be together, anyway. I am sure you've heard the stories, right? Of the warnings against a romance between a she-wolf and a human King?"
His eyes go to a book on the chair. He takes it and hands it over to me. "Read it. Those are collections of stories about your kind of romance."
I scowl at him.
"These romance stories always ended in tragedy," he explains.
"Like what?"
"The creator of laquisha, that inventor woman? That's a she-wolf who mated with the Stine King. And now, Stine royalty has a curse passed down between them even after decades since their romance ends."
"Curse?"
"General Brandon's curse."
My frown deepens. "His ice magic is not a curse."
Instead of answering, Harbin only smiles. "Say that to him. Let's see how he will react."
I keep quiet. He does feel and act weird every time he uses his ice magic.
"There is also a journal about an Owusu King. The smartest King they had. It's Klevon's great-grandfather. He died of disease after emptying the coffers in his need to help his she-wolf lover. And the poverty that they suffered from that continued until today. It's also the reason why the Owusu's are mostly mercenaries despite their clan's strength."
"The she-wolves you are mentioning sound amazing. I am nothing like them."
"But I think that you are, Kaiya. You just can't see your worth right now. But in my eyes, it was obvious. I am sure it is obvious to General Klevon's eyes as well."
"And you are pushing me to Klevon again. You should get tired of being a matchmaker."
"I think it's the most rational thing to do," he responds. "The way the King is… He is more than smitten with you. He has become obsessive in a very unhealthy way. With the King's personality, I am afraid your relationship will harm this kingdom. And that negative effect will last for decades, or even centuries, as what happened with the Stine Kingdom."
"How about Orttenburg?" I ask, remembering Darius.
"You will see one in that book as well."
I study the book he handed me. It looks like a journal. It also looks old. "This… looks like it's handwritten…"
Harbin laughs. "It is. It is from my clan. One of my ancestors fell in love with a she-wolf. He regretted his choice of rejecting the mate bond. And so, he writes about amazing she-wolves instead. To fill up his loneliness."
"What happened to him?"
"Died of old age after writing accounts of the different romance of she-wolves and human Kings."
"Are you from a clan of Kings too?"
"No," he answers. "Or rather, I was. But that was a millennium ago. The blood of the early Kings no longer runs in my veins. Right now, we are just a family of scholars."
"Is loaning me this book the reason why you invited me to tea?"
"It's one of the reasons," he says. "But I really miss my excellent student."
With his praise, I can't help but beam at him. I eat another piece of biscuit and sip on my tea. "So, what else should we talk about?"
"How about we discuss the King's popularity with women?" he asks. There is a glint in his eyes.
"I know that already."
"I heard Duran women tried to claim him during your travels?"
I roll my eyes at him. "Your King is a child," I admit.
Harbin's smile widens. "At last, you finally realize. In love, he is a kid. But from what I heard and understand, he stopped maturing when he lost you."
"We're not together then. So, he didn't lose me."
"It might be for you. But if he was as obsessive with you as he is now, then I understand his pain. He is already a mess and all you've done is just ignore him and reject his need to be near you."
"Can't we talk about something else instead?"
"How about we talk about Klevon's popularity with women?"
I roll my eyes again.
"I heard his other women are missing him in their bedrooms. Are you restricting him from his sexual adventures?"
"I don't care about his women. He can have them anytime he wants, so I am not the cause of that."
"So, it's self-inflicted then." He rubs his chin as if in deep thought and studies me. "You do some weird things to Kings."
"Theo is the only King I know."
"Oh, but Kleavon is supposed to be a King. But because of who he is, he transferred the responsibility to his younger brother. And well, I heard about the gifts from King Seth of Orttenburg."
"Seth and I are just colleagues. He is weird."
Harbin grins again. "If my ancestor is still alive, you'd be in his journal."
"Then I will be the most useless she-wolf in his book."
"Aren't you aspiring for a General position?"
I scrunch my brows at him. "I am not qualified for that role."
"You should though. That will make you closer to Klevon, and farther from King Theo."
"Stop planning my romance, okay?"
"Hmmm," he mutters. "A magical crevice opens up in one of the Pitchford islands. Maybe you can go on that mission."
"Magical crevice?"
"Right. I haven't given you any books regarding it." He leans to his chair and explains, "Those are caves with magic circles installed in them. It can channel and connect to the gods. And because of the magic, the inside has ceased to become a normal cave. With a weak spirit, you can easily get lost in it."
"That sounds like spiritual mediums created by werewolves."
"Right, it's called like that by the werewolves. Besides, it's your race who started creating it. It's also the reason why you can connect directly to the Moon Goddess. You are the first creature who becomes proof that it's possible to connect to the gods. Humans turning to werewolves," he snorts. "That was chaos then."
"Are humans still doing it?" I ask, worried about the repercussions.
Our human ancestors, the first werewolves, are lucky that they connected to the Moon Goddess successfully. According to the stories, they were lost then, but the Moon Goddess felt bad for them, so she took my ancestors under her wings. But other gods won't be so kind to those who try to disturb them.
"Of course, they do," Harbin answers. "In fact, the only reason why we learned that a magical crevice has opened up, is because of new monsters on that island."
My mouth hangs open. Monsters?! "You are acting as if it's just a common issue!"
"Ah! No one lives there, except for the occasional tourists."
"And these tourists?"
"Only one survived and is able to ask for our help."
"I can't believe you. That sounds like a big deal!"
"It's not anymore. The other generals traveled there to place a barrier around the island. Those monsters won't be able to escape."
"But?" I ask. "There won't be an expedition if everything is resolved."
"They need a cleanup crew and a way to seal the monsters and the god that gives them power. And Princess Kissa is a master of that craft."
"Who else is going?"
"General Lorant and General Klevon. Those two can sense these things better than anyone. We thought of sending General Brandon too. But… these monsters have ice magic too. He might feed these monsters with his magic, instead of helping us clean them up."
He looks at me and adds, "I am wondering if you can come with them. We can test your abilities. General Lorant will be there too, so he can stop you if needed."
"You know I can't be gone from Theo for too long."
"Ah! Since Princess Kissa will do the sealing. The King will also come with her," he says, a smirk forming on his face.
"And let me guess," I say, emptying my cup of tea. "You want me to end everything with him on that expedition?"
"Well, at least we are of the same mind now."