Belong To The King

The palace was heavily adorned, the gates were widely open for every citizen of Stockwalt Kingdom to go in and attend the banquet, as the king celebrated the Prince's safe return and victory against the enemies.

They battled with the rouge king and his army of rouges and they returned victorious. His son was saved, and so was the kingdom. Such victory called for a great celebration. Thus, the king threw a feast.

The atmosphere was joyous and peaceful as the entire kingdom celebrated.

Sitting high on his throne was the king whose joy was boundless. He was waving and laughing as he spoke with his subjects. Beside him was prince Lexter, the king's only son and heir to the throne. On the other side was queen whose elegance was unrivalled.

She was smiling heartily as she watched her two favorite people. Her husband and son.

Suddenly, the horns blared and the guards announced the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Stockwalt Kingdom.

Everyone except the king and his family stood up to welcome the great man who walked hand in hand with his pregnant wife.

"Your majesty," The Duke bowed to the king.

"Rise, Jonas," The king waved and opened his arms. "Come hug me, my friend. Come." The king was happy to see his best friend. The savior of his son and kingdom.

King Kennedy and Duke Jonas had been friends since they were kids. They were the best of friends and were inseperable.

"Jonas. Myself, and the entire Stockwalt kingdom owe our lives to you," King Kennedy commented as Jonas went into his open arms. "We have conquered our enemies all thanks to you, my friend."

"No, your majesty." Jonas disagreed. "We conquered because we all put in our efforts to save our kingdom. Every werewolf and Lycan present here today are the reason why we conquered."

Everyone howled in agreement to Jonas' words.

King Kennedy tapped Jonas' back loudly as they hugged each other. "Your humility is one of the things I value in you." The king motioned for him to sit. "However, if you hadn't rescued prince Lexter and kill the rogue king, I probably would have agreed to his horrible demands. And if you hadn't broken through their defense, granting us passage into their grounds, then we wouldn't have conquered." The king tapped Jonas' shoulder. "So you see, my friend, we all are here, safe and sound all thanks to you."

Howling and clapping reverberated through the hall as everyone agreed with the king.

"You honor me, your majesty," Jonas bowed in appreciation.

"It is a well deserved honor, my friend," The king replied with a broad smile.

"You saved me from that bad man," Young Prince Lexter rose from his seat and turned to give Jonas an appreciative bow. " Thank you so much."

"I was only doing my job, your highness," Jonas returned the Prince's bow.

Suddenly, the king rose from his seat and took his glass of wine. He tapped a spoon against the glass to make a clanking sound and as soon he had everyone's attention, he began,

"To show my appreciation for saving my son and to strengthen the bond of our friendship, Jonas," The king took Prince Lexter's hand and placed it on the Duchess's belly. "I give you my word that the Prince will marry no one else but your daughter."

"What?" The Duke exchanged a look of astonishment with his wife.

"Your daughter will be the queen of Stockwalt and the luna of the almighty diamond pack," The king repeated, stunning everyone but the Prince.

Prince Lexter, was pleased the king's decision. Even though he was only eight years old, he understood his father's reasons and agreed with it. After all, he wouldn't be alive if the Duke hadn't saved him.

"What if I give birth to a son, instead?" The Duchess asked, her eyes staring at the king and Prince's hand on her belly.

"Then, we'll have to wait." The king affirmed. "But, whatever happens, Lexter will only marry your daughter," The king stated firmly.

"And what if I do not have a daughter?" Jonas asked, regaining composure.

He was surprised to hear the king make such a declaration right before the entire kingdom. Whatever he did for Lexter and the kingdom, was his duty, he wasn't expecting anything In return. Especially not something this big.

"If you do not have a daughter now, then you keep trying until you have a female child, Jonas, or you'll leave the kingdom without a queen."

"What?" Everyone in the banquet gasped, sending murmurs all across the great hall.

The chiefs and ministers were surprised. Even though they all agreed that the Duke had done a huge favor to the royal family and to Stockwalt Kingdom, but wasn't the king taking this all too far?

Wasn't it too much to make such a declaration? Why should the kingdom be without a queen just because the Duke doesn't have a girl child? Isn't that absurd?

That was too big a promise and the Duke was unwilling to accept it, but the king was determined.

"But, your majesty...." One of the chiefs stood up to speak about the absurdity of the vow. However, he was stopped by the king who ordered him to sit by the wave of his hand.

A sinister smirk appeared on his face as he saw the look of disagreement on the faces of the chiefs and ministers. He ignored them and turned to the people as he made further declaration.

"On this note, let it be written in the halls of agreement that the Luna of diamond pack and Queen of Stockwalt will be no one else but the daughter of Jonas, the Duke of Stockwalt." That said, the king stamped the agreement and gave a copy to Jonas' and the other copy was given to Prince Lexter.

The great hall was covered in loud murmurs as everyone couldn't believe just how far the king was willing to go just to repay the Duke's favor.

The king howled and his eyes glowed with fury to see the people and chiefs disagree with his decision. "Does anyone have an objection to what I have done?" His voice reverberated through the hall, sending shivers to everyone.

Swallowing their objections and opinion on the king's decision, everyone bowed in acceptance and chorused, "Your majesty's word is final."

"The hunting is officially open!" Prince Lexter waved his handkerchief in the air to signal the beginning of the hunt.

On this day, every able man, werewolf and Lycan, joins the prince in hunting down wild animals as well as scouting the border areas for rogues or unwanted guests.

"I will be joining you this time as well, your highness." A lady appeared beside Lexter, dressed and geared up to hunt. She was well mounted on her horse, ready for the task.

"You're welcome," Lexter nodded in approval. He knew that she was strong enough to join the hunt.

Amongst the other she-wolves, Ariel was a great fighter and this wasn't surprising because she was the Duke's daughter and everyone in Stockwalt Kingdom knew how strong and powerful the man was.

"I'll go north," Lexter pointed in the direction where he wanted to hunt. A few others chose to go with him while others chose their own path.

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