He motioned for Addison to begin, then leaned over to serve his mate a portion of food himself. Lance, quick to act, imdiately started filling Addison’s plate.
"I rember you loved these—pan-seared scallops with garlic and those buttery lobsters from the eastern coast," he said with a soft smile as he placed generous servings onto her plate.
Addison couldn’t recall those mories clearly, but sothing about the bright, vivid color of the lobster and the tender, glistening scallops pulled at her instincts. She offered Lance a polite "Thank you" before taking a bite, and imdiately, she was hooked. The richness, the flavor, the warmth, it all overwheld her senses.
Back in the Midnight River Pack, als had been humble, bordering on austere. No one had favored her, and the focus was always on rationing to support Alpha Zion and his warriors at the frontlines. In the Sacred Lands, people lived simply, mostly vegetarian, with at only on rare occasions. Seafood? Almost unheard of.
Now, sitting here, tasting these delicacies for the first ti in what felt like forever, she was reminded of just how different this world, her world, truly was.
She had never realized seafood was her favorite, mostly because she never had the chance to explore her own tastes or desires. Life in the Midnight River Pack had kept her constantly buried in responsibilities, leaving no room for personal indulgences. She couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not when every move she made was watched like a hawk, every decision scrutinized.
Despite the pack’s proximity to the East Harbor, where most seafood was sourced, it remained a rare luxury for them. The high demand and low supply kept prices steep. Land monsters weren’t the only threats in this world; sea monsters prowled the waters, often attacking fishing vessels. The number of lives lost at sea wasn’t much different from those lost in the forests when hunters went out to hunt, only to be killed by monsters.
Werewolves, being land-bound creatures, rarely ventured into the ocean, so the seafood trade mostly relied on rmaids. These sea dwellers occasionally engaged in trade, offering refined salt, preserved or fresh seafood, and other unique rmaid goods. However, such exchanges were scarce. Not all rmaids were willing to deal with land dwellers, making the trade unreliable and inconsistent.
As far as Addison knew, there was only one rmaid tribe that had maintained trade relations with humans over the years. However, they were notoriously selective, only appearing to those they acknowledged. If a stranger showed up, soone the tribe didn’t recognize, they would never reveal themselves, no matter the offer.
This tribe had little interest in the affairs of land dwellers, but their willingness to trade stemd from a desperate need. Rumor had it that their princess was afflicted by a mysterious illness, one so severe that even the rarest dicines from the deepest parts of the sea failed to help her. Desperate for a cure, the rmaids began to venture farther from their territory in search of answers. That’s when they discovered the healing properties of certain land-grown herbs.
Though the herbs couldn’t cure the princess completely, they provided her so relief, enough to sustain hope. And so, the tribe continued to trade, searching for that one miraculous redy hidden among the roots and leaves of the land.
In truth, Zion had also pinned his hopes on forming a connection with this particular rmaid tribe. His goal wasn’t just trade, it was information. He believed that the rmaids, who often road the seas and encountered countless sailors, might have heard rumors or fragnts of truth that could help him. Sailors were known to spread stories, so far-fetched, others eerily accurate, and the rmaids, being natural wanderers of the ocean, were in a perfect position to gather such knowledge.
Zion hoped that through them, he might uncover sothing about the dark witch. Before, he simply wanted to understand why the dark witch faction was so intent on capturing the princess. But now that he knew Addison had been cursed by one of them, his desire for answers had only intensified.
For now, however, he kept these thoughts to himself.
Now that Addison was thinking about the sea and rmaids, she realized she had never actually seen one in person. Everything she knew about them ca from scattered sightings and stories shared by sailors who had once docked in the Sacred Lands.
According to those tales, rmaids were breathtakingly beautiful creatures. Their skin was said to be milky white with a subtle pearl-like sheen, giving them an almost ethereal glow. Their eyes, slanted upward in an alluring way, were completely black, deep and mysterious. They had visible gills on their necks and long, elegant nails. Their skin was as tough as chainmail, yet it retained a smooth, flawless appearance.
Their hair was one of their most striking features, long, lustrous, and flowing like seaweed, yet as soft as silk. But the true mark of a rmaid’s beauty and power lay in her tail. It was long, wide, and vibrant, much like a graceful goldfish’s. The more colorful a rmaid’s tail, the stronger their magic and the purer their bloodline.
Even their ears were unique, shaped more like fins or gills, shielded by a soft, fin-like cover designed to protect them from water pressure. Every aspect of their appearance seed crafted to captivate, and it was said their seductive allure and voices were so powerful that many sailors had been lured into the sea, never to return.
"You seem distracted. Don’t you like these?" Lance asked softly, noticing that Addison’s thoughts were elsewhere. He leaned in and whispered near her ear, his warm breath brushing against her skin and snapping her back to reality. Addison blinked and quickly shook her head.
"No, I love them. So much, in fact, that I started thinking about the possibility of venturing into the seafood market and its logistics," she replied honestly. Since taking over Zion’s pack, Addison had handled several trade deals, and she’d developed a habit of analyzing opportunities wherever she went. Even now, that instinct hadn’t left her.
Hearing her response, the Alpha King, who had been quietly observing the two from nearby, let out a soft chuckle.
"I never realized my little girl had beco such a savvy rchant while I wasn’t looking," he teased, his voice filled with both pride and amusent.
"Father, I did so trade while I was the Luna of the Midnight River Pack..."
Before Addison could finish her sentence, the sudden screech of a chair scraping against the floor cut through the space like a blade. The sharp sound made her flinch, and she wasn’t the only one. Even the Alpha King and Queen winced at the harsh noise.
’Shoot.’ Addison cursed silently. She had answered instinctively, forgetting that Lance knew nothing about her ti in the Midnight River Pack.
Now, Lance stood frozen, his face drained of color, pale as a sheet. His wide, red-rimd eyes stared at Addison in disbelief, struggling to process what he had just heard.
Addison had only recently told her parents the truth about what happened during her disappearance, and even they had been stunned to learn that she had been made Luna, only to be mistreated by the very people she was ant to lead. The mory still made the Alpha King clench his jaw with barely restrained fury.
User Comments
0 comments from readers