{ten}

Aria's POV

"Connor will not be Alpha and that's final!" Bradley yells across, the conference room.

Once I received the letter from my mother, we were quickly rushed into a meeting to decide who will be Alpha of Damon's pack. I haven't had much say since I've been trying to take in the information of my father. How did he get so ill, so quickly?

Damon and his father continue arguing about the situation, we had to get this resolved as soon as possible so I can get to kingdom. There was this tiny voice in the back of my head, nagging at me to stand up and use my royal command on them. I believed that Connor would make a good Alpha, seeing him sitting quietly across from me. I could tell he wanted to be Alpha but didn't want to argue. I know Damon wants him to take over his pack. I finally listen to that nagging voice by standing up abruptly.

"Connor will become the Alpha of Blue Crescent pack. As your future Queen that is the final decision." I bark, using my royal command. I don't know what came over me but it seemed to do the trick. Everyone submitted to me, except Damon, who smiled proudly next to me.

"Very well then, Aria and I will be leaving for the kingdom shortly." Damon says, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room.

We head to our guest room to get our bags. As I walk in I see decent sized box sitting on the bed, it's wrapped in the royal colors and stamped with the royal stamp. I open it to find a dress and my tiara inside. As much as I loved my tiara and dressing like a Princess, it was nice to not have to worry about that at Blue Crescent, I could wear whatever I wanted and just be a Luna without the cameras and fame of being the princess. I pull it out and quickly go change in the bathroom. I do a simple hairstyle and place my tiara on just like Sarah used to.

I walk out to see Damon in a suit, looking mighty fine. I lick my lips I look him over, he does the same to me. I walk over to the full length mirror, looking at myself. I really do look like a princess.

"I guess this is my life now." I says adjusting my tiara.

"I'll be with you every step of the way." Damon smiles, hugging me from behind. We lock eyes in the mirror until he buries his head in my neck. "Our car is here."

We head downstairs to the front of the house, I see Connor, waiting for us next to a black limo. Damon's parents are staying here to finish the process of Connor becoming Alpha.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for everything you've done and are going to do." Connor says grabbing my hand and bowing.

"There's no need to bow, I'm not a queen." I laugh, pulling him up from his bow.

"But you will be soon." He smiles, placing a kiss on my hand. I hear a growl come from behind me, undoubtedly from my mate.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Connor, until we meet again." I say, as Damon pulls me into the limo. As soon as my door is shut, the car starts moving.

"You're sounding more like Queen every day." Damon says, holding my hand. I blush leaning on his shoulder. It felt so nice to know that I had someone always here to take care of me and to spend time with.

"I'm scared to go back to the kingdom." I blurt out, unexpectedly. I was living in a state of bliss with Damon and I didn't want to go back to reality.

"Why? Not much has changed." Damon says, rubbing my arm.

"I'm scared to face my mother, I haven't seen her since I met you. I'm scared on how she's going to react. I'm scared how the kingdom is going to react. I'm scared to see my father dying. I'm scared to become queen." I rant. I take a deep breath, calming myself down.

"It's okay, baby, I'm sure the kingdom will love you, what's not to love? You're going to be an amazing Queen! You have nothing to worry about because I'll be there to make sure everything goes perfect." Damon says, kissing my forehead.

"I'm still scared about my parents though." I sigh, thinking about them.

"They're your parents, you'll always be scared of them." Damon jokes.

"Not helping!" I say, playfully punching him in the arm. We laugh together, his laugh is one of the most beautiful sounds ever.

~4 hours later~

We slowly drive through the royal village, looking at all the people and shops, it was so different from what I saw through the windows of the castle. People had gathered the streets to welcome me back home. They all seemed so happy to see me, maybe Damon was right. As we enter the castle gate, I can't help my stare at the beautiful castle in front of me. I felt a sense of happiness to be home, don't get me wrong, I loved Damon's pack and can't wait to go back. But something about being here made me feel comfortable. The car stops in front of the huge front doors, I see Maid Sarah waiting for me by the doors. I quickly rush out of the car and run, as best as I can in heels, to hug Sarah. Her arms wrap around me as I squeeze her like my life depended on it.

"Oh, I missed you so much!" I exclaim, pulling away to hold her at arms-length, smiling at her.

"I missed yo-"

"Aria!" I hear a sharp voice scold me. I look inside the castle to see my mother standing at the end of the staircase. She's dressed in her usual formal dress and heels with her crown on. The only difference between her and me, is that she had layers of makeup on, making her look almost unrecognizable.

I look back at Damon, he mouth 'go'. I smile and walk into the castle, towards my mother.

"It's nice to see you again, mother." I politely say, hoping to show her my royal training.

"Royal training seems to be doing you some good." She smirks, looking over my clothing.

"I quite enjoy the training, it's delightful." I smile, trying to be polite and proper, just like my royal teacher tells me.

"But you still don't get the idea of wearing makeup." My mother says, laying a finger under my chin to examine my face. "How does your mate deal with such an ugly girl like you?"

"May I see father?" I ask, disregarding her comment, deciding it was better to say nothing.

"I suppose so, follow me." My mother stride up the stairs, I quickly follow behind. It was so weird to be back in castle, I got used to the small house with Damon. My mother leads me to emergency aid room of the castle, no one ever used it. My father must be very sick if he can't even be in his own bed. We walk into the room, I see Dr. Burrow walk out from behind a curtain.

"Oh, Your majesty's, the King just awakened." He says, pulling back the curtain. There he was, my father, more like a shell of my father. He looked pale and sickly thin, I couldn't believe this was my father.

"Aria! You're home." He weakly smiles at me.

I walk over to his bed side, he was hooked up to a bunch of machines. How is this my father? He was the big, strong Alpha King.

"Hi, father." I say sitting in the chair next to his bed.

"You've grown up so much! You look like a Queen." He smiles, grabbing my hand. My mother disappeared from the room and Dr. Burrow is filling out some paperwork. My father and I talk for a bit about Damon, his pack, our plan for the future kingdom.

"I'm so lucky to have a wonderful daughter to take over, once I pass." My father says, tearing up. He was rude to me all my life and now it seems as though this illness has somehow changed him.

"Oh, fathe-" I get cut off again, but this time not by my mother. This time by two guards.

"Princess Aria, Her Majesty, The Queen, request your presence in the throne room." One of the guards say, looking stiff. I forgot that the guards and maids talk like this to royals. When I was growing up, most of them didn't know I was the princess, and if they did, they were close enough to me to not use this formal vocabulary. I only ever heard people talk like this to my parents, now that they were talking to me like this, it was a bit of a shock.

"Goodbye, father." I say, leaning over to press a kiss to his forehead. I follow the two guards out of the emergency room. My heels clicked against the marble floors as we walk through the castle. I always thought that the guards uniforms looked so beautiful, the royal blue color, matched with the strong gold. The two guards lead me into the throne room, I catch a whiff of that magnificent scent that I've learned to adore. My eyes quickly lock with my mates across the room, his eyes lighting up. My mother sits on her throne, my fathers long gone. The guards disappear, as I walk next to Damon, standing in front of my mother.

"Where is father's throne?" I ask, grabbing Damon's hand.

"He won't be using it again so I've decided to have it thrown away." My mother brushes off, how could she do that? In the every king pasted, his throne was sacred. It meant so much to the pack as it was something that was never passed on. Each king had a different throne, that represents his promises to the pack. Every throne was kept in the Royal museum. How could she do this?

"What? Mother! That is sacred to the pack- the - the kingdom. Do you know what you've done?" I shout at my mother, did she even ask the elders?

"It was my choice, now shut up!" My mother shouts at me, Damon gripping my hand. Trying not to lunge at my mother, for yelling at me and destroying the King's throne.

"Do the elders know what you've done?" I shout, ready to run to tell the elders of what she's done.

"They don't need to know, they're old faggots anyways." My mother scoffs.

"That's it, the elders will know of your crimes." I yell, rushing to elder hall of the castle.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Wow! That's an intense chapter!

Do y'all like what happened?

Do you like the longer chapters?

What will happen with Aria and her mother?

Aria's father has changed?

Will Aria be a good queen?

Word count: 1878