Knock. Knock. Knock.
“What....” I groaned, rolling over and colliding with Jared’s chest.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Jared, Eliza?” Miriam’s voice called from the hallway.
Jared sighed heavily and sat up. I pulled the covers over my head again. Once we got up, the magic from the night before would be gone for good and we’d have to face the world.
“What is it, Miriam?” Jared asked. He grabbed the sheet and pulled it down from my face.
“Hey,” I whined quietly. I grabbed at the sheet again.
Jared pulled it away from and shook his head. He winked at and tickled my sides.
“Stop it!” I gasped, trying to stay quiet so Miriam didn’t hear us goofing off.
“Jared, there’s been an influx of refugees from the capital. Your ssenger has returned and has a report you’ll want to hear,” Miriam said.
Jared imdiately stopped tickling .
“Sorry, love, it is ti to get to work.”
“I know.” I sighed and stretched.
“We’ll be right there, Miriam.”
We dressed quickly and t Miriam in the hall. She gave us a look, like she didn’t approve of sothing. Knowing Miriam, she probably thought we shouldn’t be together since the mate bond was severed.
“Co with .”
I glanced at Jared with a sheepish grin and shrugged. He took my hand and we followed Miriam to the kitchen.
The ssenger was at a table, scarfing down soup, sandwiches, and crackers like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“Get this man so more food. He’s starving,” Jared said, motioning to one of the cooks.
“Right away!”
I sat down across from him. He was pretty dirty, too, his clothes ragged. He’d co straight to the kitchen to eat, it seed, without cleaning up first.
“Are all of these refugees coming in from the capital?” I asked, opening the conversation.
The ssenger swallowed a soggy lump of bread and nodded.
“The capital is a ss. Residents are leaving like crazy. They all want to get far away.” he reported.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Jared asked. He sat beside .
The ssenger pulled sothing out of his pocket and handed it to Jared. It was my engagent ring....
“I couldn’t deliver the ssage. I couldn’t even get close to the palace.” He hung his head somberly.
“That’s not important right now. What did you see?” Jared encouraged.
Under the table, he put his hand on my leg. I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back my gasp.
Was it wrong to feel so happy and so much love when there were so many dangers in the world?
“Aries attacked the capital with his rogue army. It was a ss, but the royal army was able to hold them back. They quashed the rebellion.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it?” I creased my brow when the ssenger shook his head.
“You’d think. However, all the rogues are still there. Now, they are just attacking to cause mayhem. They don’t have the goal of a rebellion, which makes them a lot more dangerous. They’ve split off into smaller groups and are plaguing the capital with attacks.”
“That explains why all the refugees are coming here....”
Jared nodded. “The capital is no longer safe.”
“The rogues were there before I even got there. It was a total ss. People were terrified.”
“What news of the king and queen?” I asked, tapping my fingers on the table.
The ssenger sighed. “The king and queen barricaded themselves in the palace with their children. No one has seen them for a while but from what I gather, they are safe.”
“Safe as prisoners in their own ho,” Jared grumbled.
“Rumor has it that Hestia and Aries are in the capital now, working together. They are draining energy from captives and calling more and more rogues every day. They’re planning sothing big....”
I shuddered. That sounded bad, whatever it was. Aries and Hestia, together again–it had been too much to hope that Aries would freeze to death and Hestia would crawl into a hole and die.
I felt Jared’s eyes on and I glanced in his direction. His look told he was thinking the sa thing I was.
We didn’t need words to know that Hestia and Aries were up to no good and we couldn’t let them complete their plan.
“Eat up, man. Then get cleaned up. You can tell us anything else later.”
“Thank you.”
The cook brought over a plate covered in bacon and eggs.
Jared and I left him to keep eating. When we were alone in the hallway, Jared grabbed my arm and pulled to him.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
He smirked and grabbed my left hand. He lifted it up to the light and carefully slid my engagent ring back into place.
“That’s where it will stay forever, from now on,” Jared said. He kissed the ring on my finger.
“I don’t ever want to take it off again.” I examined the ring for a mont, but I was still concerned about Jared’s thoughts on the situation.
Even though it was a sweet mont, Jared was distant, his eyes unfocused.
“Jared, what are you thinking? This situation at the capital isn’t sothing we can ignore.”
“I know... I’m thinking I should lead a small group to scout out the situation. I can send word to our allies to et us there.”
“You think a full-on attack is wise?” I creased my brow.
Jared shrugged and stroked his chin. “I won’t know until I get there. But I want our allies at the ready. I should get so more hands here to help with the refugees.”
“I can do that.”
“Eliza, you’re supposed to be taking it easy.” Jared gave a look.
I scoffed. “I can help the refugees get food and clothes and supplies. That won’t strain too much.”
“Alright. I’ll make my travel plans and you take care of the refugees.” Jared took in his arms and hugged .
I nuzzled against his chest and wrapped my arms around him.
“Check in before you leave?” I asked.
“Of course!” Jared kissed my lips quickly and departed.
I went straight to the garden, where Giselle and Scarlett were gushing over so new fabric that had been delivered.
“You two look like you need sothing to do,” I said, approaching.
“Oh, Eliza, you are a sight for sore eyes! I’d love sothing to do,” Giselle said, brightening up.
“Hey! Am I boring you that much?” Scarlett whined, putting her hands on her hips.
Giselle rolled her eyes. “What do you have in mind? A little painting, so dusting?”
“Not this ti.” I shook my head. “We’ve got refugees pouring in, and I’d like to get so supplies distributed and so shelters put up on the outskirts of the village.”
“Awe, Eliza, you are such a humanitarian,” Scarlett winked at .
“I’m the Luna of the village. This is my duty. Co on!”
We gathered up a bunch of supplies and headed to the outskirts of town.
Jared had already sent several n to help organize the refugees.
“You three, start assembling the shelters,” I said, motioning to a few of them. “And you over there, I want you to go around with this clipboard and take everyone’s nas, first and last. If you can get their pack of origin too, that would be great.”
I handed the clipboard off to another volunteer.
“And what would you like us to do?” Giselle asked motioning to herself and Scarlett.
“Scarlett, can you pass out blankets and clothes? We don’t have a lot, so prioritize the elderly, sick, and children, also pregnant won.”
“Should I get you a blanket then, too?” Scarlett giggled.
“I think I’ll manage.” I scoffed and sent her on her way.
“How about ?” Giselle held her hands out to .
“Food and water. Make sure those who seem the hungriest are given food first. Promise the others we will get more food soon.”
Giselle nodded and got right to work.
I assigned a few more tasks to so of the other volunteers.
The refugees coming didn’t look like they were in bad shape. Most of them just looked like regular people trying to relocate. They seed weary from travel, but not as bad as the ssenger.
There were so that looked sick, though.
I went to the nearest volunteer. “Can you set up an infirmary tent? I’d like to get the sick looked at. I’m sure it is nothing, but I’d rather they all get tested an treated before mingling with the population. This is the perfect situation for a bad outbreak.”
“Good idea, Luna. But we don’t have any dicine yet.”
“I’ll get word to Jared to have a healer and so dicine join us.”
I sent another volunteer off with the ssage and got back to work.
There were a lot of kids standing around looking board and lonely. I found a few boxes of toys and started passing them out.
“There’s a big field over there, why don’t you get a ga of soccer going? I bet a bunch of these kids would love to play with you,” I said, handing a soccer ball to a young boy.
He grabbed the ball and grinned. Motioning to so of his friends, they all ran to the field and started playing.
Many of the other kids ca over to and I handed out so more toys. Seeing their smiles and happiness brightened the mood in the entire refugee camp.
When a healer arrived, I got her set up in the infirmary tent. She started making the rounds and giving out cough dicine and checking all the sick refugees’ vitals.
After she checked on several, she ca over to report to .
“This doesn’t look like anything more than a common cold. I believe they picked it up while traveling. It’s a long journey, and a lot of them didn’t have luxurious travel accommodations.”
“That is good news. Give out as much cough dicine as you can spare. Please let know if there are any more serious ailnts going around.” I touched her shoulder.
Giselle and Scarlett were waiting for outside the infirmary tent.
“Things are already looking up.” Giselle motioned to the camp and the smiling faces.
“It is a start. This good mood won’t last long if we can’t get more permanent dwellings set up.” I sighed heavily.
“Or better yet, get them back to their hos,” Scarlett said.
I nodded. “Jared’s working on that.”
We kept working to provide resources and comfort for the refugees. Just when one task was done, sothing else popped up for us to take care of.
It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that Jared found . He pulled aside.
“Hey, I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“I know. I’m about to head out and I wanted to say goodbye.” He looked at with deep eyes.
“It feels like we only just got back together.” I put my hands on Jared’s shoulders.
“I won’t be gone long. I promise.” Jared cupped my cheeks and kissed on the lips. “You’ll be busy. You won’t even know I’m gone. You’ve already done such great work here.”
I pouted slightly and shook my head. “Of course, I will know.”
Jared kissed again. “We’ll see each other again soon.”
I hugged him again, but I didn’t want to let him go. I didn’t want to be parted from him... not again.
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