THE HIDDEN PRINCESS

CHAPTER 7

::LUCIAN POV::

:FLASHBACK:

5 Years ago.

I had learned about what it meant to find your destined mate and how you could tell that another was the one you were meant to be with. The elders had pulled all the young werewolves aside to tell them about their destined mates.

"Now young ones, when you reach the age of 16 your wolves will awaken. When this happens, you'll finally be able to find your mates. Mates are the ones all wolves are destined to be with, two halves of a whole, mates complete one another and balance each other. Say one person is temperamental, than the other would be calm and level headed." The head elder explains and we all take it in with earnest.

"The way to tell who your mate is is by their scent. It'll be a unique scent that only you can smell, and vise versa. Once you find your mate, you'll know right then and there that you'd do anything for them, anything to make them happy, to keep them safe, for they are your other half. If one were to perish, the other would either lose their life along with them, or slowly be driven into madness. There are however cases where one mated wolf would stay sane long enough to find another mate, but that's only if a child was conceived with the wolfs first mate, and it's very rare for the wolf to stay sane even in those cases." The elder continues.

Most of us are hanging on his every word, but others seem to have lost interest at the part where he explained that if your mate dies, you either die with them or slowly go insane. Honestly, that part made me shiver, but I know that when I do find my mate, I would do anything and everything within my power to protect her and make sure no harm befalls her.

:END FLASHBACK:

After taking, Lilly around the grounds, I pause as we near the castle and look up at its towering walls with a sigh. If only she knew the power she held, if only she knew that it wasn't her unique beauty that gave it away, but her very essence, her aura that gave away her secret. If only she knew that's why she's been kept within the walls of the castle her whole life. But I can't tell her, I was sworn to secrecy. The only reason she knows as much as she does now is because the elders thought it best to inform her of that much so she can learn to control it, lest anything bad happen when she came into her powers and lost control, not knowing anything of what was happening to her.

As I'm lost in my thoughts, I feel a gentle hand rest against my arm. Snapping out of my thoughts, I glance down to see my sisters beautiful eyes looking up at me in worry. I smile at her and place my hand on hers reassuringly before taking her back into her room. One inside, a press a soft kiss to her forehead and make her promise not to plan anything like this again without her letting me know first. She pouts but promises she won't and smiles that bright smile of hers that makes anyone around her feel warm. I smile in turn and kiss her cheek before heading out to get ready to meet with the royal family of, Hyrule along with my parents and, Maridia.

After I finish getting ready, I head out to the entrance of the grounds, inwardly scolding myself for not being able to tell my little sister anything. I wish that she could be like any other girl, to be free and do whatever her heart desires. But she can't, the power she gives off would be a dead giveaway to our enemies. Hence why I went with her earlier, it would be harder for our enemies to discern who the power was coming from with a strong presence like mine beside her.

As I'm lost in my thoughts, I'm suddenly hit with a strong scent of honeysuckles and sunshine. It's heavenly and I raise my head to take in the scent deeply, then my wolf howls in excitement and yelps out 'mate' causing my eyes to snap open and search the immediate area. And then my eyes land on the most stunningly beautiful woman I've ever seen, with long flowing dirty blonde hair that reached the small of her back, slender body, flawless skin, and blue eyes that you could drown in. And that's exactly what was happening to me as our eyes met, in that moment I knew who she was. Princess Zelda, my perfect mate was looking at me in shock with a delicate hand placed over her perfect lips. As I stare at her, I hear myself unconsciously whisper "mate". I finally found her, and I would do anything and everything in my power to keep her.

::ZELDA POV::

When my father told, Link and I about the tournament that our allies, The Silver Moon Kingdom would be hosting, we knew almost immediately that our parents were going to use this opportunity to try and strengthen our alliance through marriage. Even if the prince and princess weren't our destined mates, our parents didn't care, they only cared about us becoming stronger, even if we were the strongest kingdom in the land. So with that in mind, they ushered my brother and I into a carriage and headed off to, Silver Moon.

The whole way there, my brother was brooding over the fact we'd be seeing, Princess Maridia again, but I could also tell he was a little excited at least about being able to test out, Prince Lucian's skill first hand. Link's skill in battle was known throughout the land, but so was Lucian's. Even when my brother tried to talk our father out of the notion of an arranged marriage, I could tell he couldn't wait to fight Lucian and maybe teach one another a thing or two.

As the, Silver Moon Kingdom came into view I could feel the tension from my brother grow which made me giggle at the thought of him getting this worked up over one girl throwing herself at him. I would have thought he'd be used to it by now since everywhere we go, woman throw themselves at his feet. Even though we're twins, I can't deny that my brother is quite handsome. Standing at 5'11 with a muscular yet slender build and broad shoulders, shaggy dirty blonde hair framing a chisled face, piercing azure blue eyes, a slender nose, and thin lips. Not to mention his gentle yet adventurous heart, he was every girls dream guy, and they wouldn't hesitate to show him just that.

My brother looks at me curiously as I giggle and shake my head dismissively before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Link, dear brother. Everything will be fine. Just be yourself." I say with a soft smile.

He returns my smile and nods before I remove my hand from his shoulder and look straight ahead. Everything will be fine, I tell myself inwardly and my wolf, Artemis agrees a little too excitedly. I wonder what's got her in such a good mood as we approach the entrance to the tournament grounds.

One we enter the grounds and leave the carriage, the king and my father hug in a friendly matter and joke with each other. Once their done with the exchange and introductions are made, along with a few compliments on either side, an intoxicating scent fills my senses. It smells of sandalwood and fresh morning dew, causing my wolf to howl out i excitement. 'Mate' she yelps happily and my eyes search our surroundings to find the source of the scent. Finally, I think to myself, I'll finally have my mate, the one I've been longing for. Then my eyes land on the most handsome man I've ever seen. His light blonde hair shimmers in the sunlight, framing a chiseled strong face, eyes as blue as the purest water, perfectly shaped lips that weren't too full or too thin, a body that looked like it were sculpted by the gods themselves, and he stood a good 6'1. When his eyes found mine, a wave of electricity surged through my body, causing me to gasp and place a hand over my mouth. I finally came to realize that this was, Prince Lucian, the man my father wished for me to marry to strengthen our alliance. And when I heard those perfect lips whisper, "mate" I knew that nothing would ever be able to remove me from this mans side. That we were two halves of a whole, and we were finally complete.