CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Mary was feeling at home. She went out everyday to the edge of the forest with Virginia and came back to the palace. Meanwhile, Tom and Wolf were preparing for the wedding. Wolf wanted Tom to be his best man, and Tom had agreed. They have canceled everything that Lord Rupert had arranged and restarted their own arrangements.
"Huff-puff! This is much better!" Wolf said as he finished drawing the sketches of how should the ball room look like after decorating it.
"Nice." Tom said. "But don't you think there's so much red in it?"
"Of course! It's my favorite color! Rrrrred!" he made a circular hand motion. "As in rrrrrromance, rrrrravenous, …"
"Ok, ok, ok. I got the idea." Tom interrupted. "Let's go and see what our ladies are doing."
"Good idea!" Wolf said and threw the sketches at the ground and rushed out.
Tom followed him. They went to the courtyard and looked around. Virginia and Mary were sitting near a small fountain talking to each other.
"Hello my creamy, dreamy girl." Wolf said and kissed Virginia.
"Hi honey." Virginia replied.
"Enjoying your time?" Tom asked as he pulled Mary into his arms.
"Yep." Mary replied.
"Where were you two?" Virginia asked.
"Inside, making new plans." Wolf said. "I don't like what Rupert has done."
"You're just angry because Wendell assigned him to do something for our wedding." Virginia said.
"Maybe. Well, sort of. Oh, huff-puff! I just don't like it when he does that! He's… he's…"
"Nice?" Virginia asked.
Wolf scratched his temple. "Rupert? Well, yeah, he's nice. But he's more like an intruder when it comes to others' wedding!"
"So, all this time you were just re-arranging the whole wedding just because you don't like the guy who prepared everything for you?" Tom asked.
"You could say that. Yes." Wolf said.
"Hmm… I wonder how this Rupert looks like." Tom asked himself loudly.
"You'll get to meet him." Wolf replied. "I'm sure he'll be back sometime."
They all went back inside the palace to get ready for dinner.
Wendell was sitting in his office when a servant came knocking the door.
"Enter." Wendell said.
"Your Majesty," the servant bowed. "Queen red Riding Hood III is here and she wants to meet you."
Wendell stood up. "What?"
"She's in the Thrown room, Your Highness." The servant bowed again and left the room.
"What does she want from me?!" Wendell got angry and he went downstairs to the Thrown room.
"Hello Wendell." Queen Red said with a smile.
"Hello Red." Wendell bowed and kissed her hand.
"How have you been?" she asked.
"I've had better days." Wendell replied, and sat on his thrown. "So, what brings you here?"
"You know exactly what would bring me here Wendell."
"No I don't. Could you please refresh my memory?"
Red sighed. "You're hopeless." She shook her head. "I am here to get your final answer regarding Wolf."
"Well, why don't you ask him?"
At that moment Wolf entered the Thrown room, his eyes flashing yellow. Queen Red took a step back, but kept her head high.
"What do you want from me?" Wolf asked.
"Queen Red Riding Hood III is here to ruin your marriage Wolf." Wendell said. "And you know what she plans to do to other wolf families. So, what do you think about that?"
Wendell was sitting in his thrown and smiled at Red while he spoke to Wolf. He was trying to play with her nerves, but he didn't seem to succeed.
"Our grandmother's will says that you have to marry a girl from the second kingdom."
Wolf raised an eyebrow. "And why should I do that?"
"Because that's the only way for the House of Red to survive." Red replied.
"Oh really? And why didn't your grandmother think about that before throwing my mother out?" Wolf asked angrily. "I will not do as she demands. I don't want your kingdom! I only want my Virginia."
"Alright. Do as you wish. But don't come and beg me to stop what I am about to do." She said and turned to Wendell, who was turning pale. "See you soon Wendell."
Queen Red Riding Hood III walked out of the room and headed to her carriage. Wolf stood there in the middle of the room and stared after her.
"Wendell, what exactly is she planing?" he asked.
"A huge massacre." Wendell said. "She told me that she was going to throw all the wolf families out of her kingdom. And it seems that she's going to do it this time."
"Not if I can help it." Wolf said and ran to his room.
"Virginia!" Wolf called as he entered.
"What is it Wolf?" Virginia replied.
"I have an idea! It's brilliant!"
"About what? Don't tell me you're going to scare Rupert!"
"No, no, no! It's about Queen Red Riding Hood III. I know how to call that wedding off!"
"How?" Virginia asked.
"I have to meet the girl and convince her not to marry me. It is mentioned that I have to marry her, but there isn't anything about her at all! She can call the wedding off!"
"Wolf, you're a genius! But how are you going to do it?"
"Well, we have to put up a play. You will go back to the 10th Kingdom with Tony, and I'll go and meet that girl. I'll get rid of her in a couple of hours. And I'll call you back."
"If it's going to take only a couple of hours, why should we go back to New York?" Virginia asked.
"Because she might be spying on us! Cripes! She must've heard our conversation!"
"I don't think so." Virginia said. "If she was watching, we would've known. Because the only invisible spying mirror was my mother's and no one else has a mirror like it in the kingdoms."
"How do you know that?" Wolf asked.
"Wendell told me once."
"Oh, I see." Wolf scratched his temple. "Alright, you can stay, but you must not go out of the palace! I will tell her that you and Tony are back to New York."
"New York, Wolf."
"Yeah, whatever! So, where was I?" he scratched his temple… again. "Oh yeah! And I'll pretend that I want to marry the girl. I'll take her away and I'll talk to her. I'm sure I can convince her."
"Ok, but not today please. Start your plan tomorrow."
"Alright my little sausage." Wolf kissed her forehead. "It's dinner time. I'm starving."
"Me too." Virginia said and they went to the dining room.
Everyone was at the dinner table when Wolf and Virginia entered the dining room. They sat down and Wolf helped himself with everything he could.
"Slow down, or you'll choke yourself." Tony told him.
Wolf just nodded; his mouth was so full so he couldn't talk.
"Wendell," Virginia said. "Wolf has a brilliant idea about how to get us out of this mess."
"And what is it?" Wendell asked.
"He'll meet the girl."
