The male opened a door and gestured to the princess, "This will be your quarters for your stay."

Celeste all but ran inside, closed every curtain and with the remaining wisps of her energy, turned to the queen's consort and shot a burst of light towards him that pushed him out of the room. The male didn't have enough time to react from the unexpectedly swift and blinding move.

She closed the door shut and tried to steel herself for the last bit of control on her powers to summon a portal that could lead her far away from this place.

Water. Deep. And far from here. She thought and in a blink of an eye, a door shaped light appeared in front of her and she stepped in.

I am so fucked. She thought as the increasing pressure inside her body tried to break free. Celeste found herself in the middle of the forest, a gentle waterfall not too far from where she was.

Celeste hurriedly tried to strip off her gown, cursing the intricate laces before she ran for the depth that pooled beneath the waterfall and jumped in. She swam as deep as she could before finally letting go.

And power that Oakwald has never seen before, bursted from the water. Starlight and gloom. Entwining and breaking, trying to seize the other as if it would not allow the other to win.

The life in the forest stilled as the power shot up the sky and disappeared in an explosion. They gathered around the pool as the princess floated up to the surface losing consciousness as the glow that surrounded her stabilised.

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Rowan was just opening the door to the princess's quarters and seeing her run inside to close the curtains. The next thing he knew, he was blinded by a piercing light and was pushed out of the room.

It took him a few blinks to recover from the sudden brightness and a few more seconds to reorient himself. As soon as everything dawned on him, he tried to open the doors but they didn't budge.

He pounded on them, "Princess, open the door."

He gave her a few seconds to answer and when she didn't, he kicked the door open only to find the room empty.

Fuck.

He ran —almost flying through the halls and stairways to the council room and threw the doors open, "She disappeared."

Aelin whipped her head towards him, "What?"

"She's gone. I was just showing her to her quarters when she pushed me out. When I got in, she wasn't there." Rowan explained

The king stood up from his seat and looked frantically at Aelin, "Is there any water deep enough to stifle an explosion?"

Silence.

"The pool of Deanna. It's inside Oakwald forest." Aedion answered

"Then we must go there immediately. If I'm right about my assumptions, she would've portaled herself there." King said, "We must go there immediately before she loses consciousness."

"What do you mean portaled?" Fenrys demanded, his expression clearly showing that he was on the last threads of his composure.

"It's something she learned to do with her powers. She manipulates a pocket of light in order to slip through between places. She usually does that when she can no longer hold it in and goes far away to release the pressure. That's why we have to go." The king stressed

Hm. A lot like what Fenrys could do. Aelin mused.

"You mean this has happened before?" Rowan questioned

The king nodded as he explained, "It's the pressure. From time to time, when it's too much for her to handle... she combusts. And loses consciousness. She would be in a very fragile state so we must get to her immediately."

Fenrys stood up and looked at Aelin, "It's close enough for me to use my power to travel there. I can go on ahead."

Before Aelin could even utter out a word, he disappeared into a shadow.

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Fenrys didn't know what to make of the situation. What to make out of everything actually. He's still barely moved on from losing his brother and now he had to worry about a mate.

She was beautiful. There was no doubt about that. But there was also this wildness in her that seemed to draw him in from the brief moments he was able to observe her.

Damn it.

He felt his threads reach out to her and wrap around hers during those moments in the throne room. He knew that the princess felt them too. It was hard not to when the feeling literally knocked the breath out of him when she locked her pale purple eyes on his.

What he couldn't figure out was why was the princess acted as if it was nothing? Like he hadn't existed and stood right in front of her. Her own mate.

Gods fucking damn it.

One last pocket and he'd arrive at pool. He didn't know what he would do when he arrived and he certainly doesn't know why he's acting like a love struck puppy on the first time they met.

Is this what it feels like? He thought to himself.

One moment it was dark, and the next he was in the woods and could hear the sound of the gentle trickling down of the water so he ran towards it.

From a far, he could see a white blob floating in the center of the pool but the nearer he got, he realised it was a girl —a woman.

He ran faster, his eyes set on the figure unconscious in the water and ignoring the tiny little eyes that watched him everywhere.

He was about to dive in and swim to the princess when he halted to a stop as he saw a large serpent slithering just below her as if guarding her.

Fenrys took a step forward, the serpent immediately set its eyes on him and seemed to analyze him. Seeing as it wasn't likely to attack, he slowly slid in the water and glanced at the serpent again.

It stared at him for a few more seconds before it swam back down to the depths. He started swimming fast towards the princess in case the creature came back.

It was only when he pulled the princess close that he realized she was stark naked. He froze.

Why the fuck is she naked in the middle of the forest? What if someone happened to be passing by?

Fenrys swam them to the edge of the pool when the loud beating of wings sounded through the forest and two small wyverns landed on the clearing about a hundred yards away.

He got out of the water and hauled the princess out. "Stay away." He said loudly to the approaching company.

To the approaching Fae male company.

Ignoring him, they continued to walk closer until Fenrys snarled at them and tried to cover the bare princess.

"I said stay away. Not one more step or I'll crush all of your feet." He threatened

The males froze on the spot, scenting panic and seeing the territorial stance Fenrys positioned himself into trying to cover as much of the princess from the eyes of the males that stood a good few yards away.

Seeing as Fenrys was only directing his aggression towards the others, Aelin walked towards the discarded gown and picked it up.

She continued walking towards Fenrys and the princess and threw the gown at him when she was near enough.

"You all better turn around. If I see one of you try to steal a peak, I will poke out your eyes balls with the twigs lying around." Fenrys threatened again

Aelin rolled her eyes.

A territorial Fae bastard indeed.