The Alpha King's Nemesis-Chapter 118: Winter Woods ()

Queen Heveneth hid herself in the shadows, her wings fluttering soundlessly as she watched Dinani walk through the courtyards of the Floral Palace,

She had already been trailing him for almost an hour and she just could not figure out where exactly Dinani was headed, touring around the hidden walkways of the palace,

It seemed he knew exactly where was least guarded and the patrol schedules of the battle fairies and so he passed by without ever encountering any of the patrol teams.

It was not surprising Dinani would know the layout of the Floral Palace or the timing of patrols and the guard placements, Dinani was after all the lord of the battle fairies.

Dinani commanded all the warriors and so he knew down to the very last detail of their guard shuffling and formations.

However what Queen Heveneth could not understand was why he would deliberately avoid being spotted by the patrol guards.

Dinani already had complete access to every part of the Floral Palace, there was no reason for him to move so sneakily when he could just walk past and no one would dare hinder him.

The fact that he had chosen to move so secretively aroused Queen Heveneth’s suspicions even more, everything about this man she trailed was unlike the Dinani she knew.

It had been two hundred years together, two hundred years hating and loving this man, two hundred years experiencing everything hand in hand with him, how could Queen Heveneth not notice these subtle differences?

Infact, Queen Heveneth had her suspicions for a while now, right from the moment Eloneth had disappeared.

Dinani seemed to have retreated into his shell, keeping to himself and even neglecting his duties and avoiding the gathering of elders,

All he cared for was leading the search parties to overturn the Floral Domain in search of any traces of Eloneth, just like any father would when they lost a child.

But there were differences, Dinani had never been one to transfer aggression yet Queen Heveneth had watched him rage at the battle fairies whenever the search turned up empty handed,

She had watched him give the most brutal orders and enforce discipline on his battle fairies at the slightest signs of disobedience with the cruelest methods.

All of a sudden, the battle Lord the fairies all looked up to and highly respected had become a man to be feared in the space of a few days.

At first, Queen Heveneth had let herself believe it was due to his grief, grief manifested in different ways to different people and at the very least, he had not changed who he was to her.

Even up till this moment, he was still the doting and loving mate he always was and this was the very same thought the rest of the Floral Domain had,

That Dinani was grieving and he would return to being the beloved leader he was the moment Eloneth was found and Queen Heveneth had convinced herself to believe the same.

Even when the fairy elders began suggesting Dinani should be restrained as he seemed to be going out of control, yet Queen Heveneth had turned deaf ears to them.

Queen Heveneth had still remained adamant when Dinani insisted on conducting a personal search of the pixies enchanted forest which was outlawed as the battle fairies were not allowed into the sacred forest of the pixies.

However it was from that moment Queen Heveneth’s suspicions had begun, Dinani was not a fairy himself, he was a nymph.

The nymphs and the pixies shared a common ancestry and so Dinani understood the customs of the pixies better than anyone else and had always insisted on honoring them.

Queen Heveneth could not understand why in his grief, Dinani would actually consider forcing his way into the pixie enchanted forest even when the pixie lord had promised his pixies would conduct a thorough search.

Queen Heveneth had just thought Dinani was making threats to ensure the pixies would conduct their search without sparing any efforts and so she had not interfered... however Dinani had taken things too far.

Even Queen Heveneth herself was not brazen enough to enlist force when dealing with the fiercely independent pixie tribe yet Dinani had done so, creating a deep tension between the fairies and the pixies.

Had Queen Heveneth not interfered at the very last moment, perhaps a war would already have begun from within the Floral Domain itself.

Again, Queen Heveneth had let herself believe that was just the depth of Dinani’s grief, that he was in so much pain he had failed to consider the consequences of his actions.

The moment the pixies had reported the sighting of the mermen, Dinani had called for the war bells to be tolled and Queen Heveneth had agreed without hesitation.

Certainly if the Sea Kingdom had a hand in her daughter’s disappearance, then they would face the wrath of the Floral Domain.

It was not a war on a whim, there was justification and even the fairy elders were in agreement.

However not even a few days after that, council members from the supernatural council arrived and Dinani ordered his battle fairies to attack.

Yes, the order had been given by Dinani. Queen Heveneth had only played as though it had been her orders to spare Dinani from the wrath of the fairy elders.

In the history of the supernatural realm, since the creation of the supernatural council, this was the very first event where a supernatural ruler had ordered an attack on council members.

What was worse, he had left a message... the Floral Domain would only grant entry to Lord Kodin of the supernatural council.

Dinani had defended his actions saying the council had come to speak for the Sea Kingdom and so he could not stand them and to rectify his actions, the only solution was to apprehend the Lord of the supernatural council.

With the Lord of the supernatural council in the Floral Domain, the supernatural council would relent and then there would be nothing preventing the war.

It was an ingenious plan truly, a plan Queen Heveneth would have jumped at had it come from anyone else,

However coming from Dinani, it had only unsettled her because Dinani just was not such a calculating and scheming person, that was Queen Heveneth’s place... never his.

Furthermore, Dinani knew clearly Queen Heveneth’s love-hate history with Lord Kodin of the supernatural council,

The Dinani Queen Heveneth knew would never be willing to have Lord Kodin anywhere near his beloved, not even for the sake of a grand plot.

Queen Heveneth had even tested him, when she went herself to greet Lord Kodin upon his arrival, she had tested Dinani’s heart but that indifferent reaction was not the possessive lover she knew.

Everything was just different, a kind of different Queen Heveneth could not place a finger to, all she knew for sure was something was off about Dinani and she had confirmed it back at the throne room.

’The winter woods? What could he want there?’ Queen Heveneth wondered when she noticed the direction Dinani had taken after exiting the floral palace.

The winter woods was a barricaded part of the woods beyond the Floral Palace, with magic barriers placed all around it to keep the creeping ice in place.

It was the place where Queen Heveneth’s winter magic had first manifested, centuries ago and due to her lack of control over her magic at the time, she had placed a third of the summer woods in unending winter.

Not even the winter abode of the winter fairies could compare to the chill of the Winter woods.

All life and greenery within the winter woods had been completely wiped out or forever encased in ice, it was a place of cold and death.

For centuries Queen Heveneth and the winter fairies, even the summer fairies had done all they could to restore the summer woods to their initial state...to undo Queen Heveneth’s youthful mistake but they had failed repeatedly.

And so barriers had been erected around it to keep the chill in and it was named the winter woods from then up till this day.

Even now, the chill of the Winter woods was almost as cold as the Kaldan ice mountains of the Dwarven Kingdom, no Summer fairy nor nymph in their right mind would dare venture into the winter woods,

Queen Heveneth herself was the only one who could remain unaffected by the chill of the winter woods simply because it was her own magic.

Dinani was a nymph, he was not built with a high resistance against cold, the only time he had ever ventured into the winter woods, Queen Heveneth had been there to protect him with her magic,

But there he was, heading out of palace grounds and down the path of the woods that led right to the winter woods, all alone, with no protection from the cold.

Queen Heveneth’s fists tightened over her whip as she watched Dinani head purposefully for the Winter woods.

And so she finally confirmed it without a doubt a fact that had been glaringly obvious all along, for she knew a nymph would never dare venture into the winter woods...

"Unless he has a death wish...or he is not my Dinani at all..." Queen Heveneth murmured in a dark, deadly tone.