CHAPTER FOUR: Fate Has Its Ways

"I see," Alpha King Zachary voiced, his tone as deep and dark as molasses. "I shall make Adam my crown prince." The crowd roared their approval. Adam caught Dolores's eye and gave her a mocking wink, then curved his mouth into a sinister grin as he saluted his future kingdom and thanked the swarm of ministers that politically congratulated him.

"But your majesty," Crystal interrupted, her anger causing the excitement to dim and her silver eyes to become cold. "The first Rite was a failure, and the Sun God didn't arrive until we brought Princess Dolores here. That fact alone proves Dolores is the rightful heir."

"Priestess, I respect your religion and your devotion, but please forgive my words. I don't think princess Dolores is qualified enough to be the next Alpha King. She is a girl, and a Ro...," The Alpha King Zachary stopped short, but Dolores knew what he had intended to say. He cleared his throat, making it obvious he didn't want to linger on the fact that even though Dolores may technically be a Princess and had been chosen by the Sun God, she would always be a Rogue.

"Besides, I don't think a witch like you should be here, lecturing me about a werewolf kingdom's politics!" His pitch was laced with growing irritation. "We should only worship one god, and that is the one and only Moon goddess, along with focusing on... political issues when choosing the next Alpha King."

"But your Majesty!" Crystal pleaded. "The…"

"THE Alpha King is right. The most important thing is to keep a balance between all the packs," One of the ministers added, his fellow ministers whispering their agreement. Crystal marked each of their faces, and Dolores saw how everyone stiffened at her threatening stare. Then without saying a word, Crystal knelt down in front of the Moon Goddess and the Sun God's statues standing side by side in the center of the Pantheon.

Dolores examined the statues closer than she had the night before, observing that the Moon Goddess was represented by a wolf howling at the sky and the Sun God represented by a Dragon looking down as he hovered above. In her mind's eye, Dolores imagined two statues melded together and saw a lovers embrace between the two Gods. At that moment, Dolores realized that the inflamed skirted flower she had seen designed within the Pantheon gate was the symbol for the Sun God and Moon Goddess's union. A desperate prayer jarred her conscience, and she watched as Crystal closed her eyes and chanted, without the slightest intention to bless the new crown prince, but rather as if she was pleading for forgiveness from the Moon Goddess and the Sun God.

"For God's sake, dragons are long gone!" Zachary shouts, his irritation finally at its limit. "No one had witnessed them in centuries."

"Your majesty," Dolores meekly interrupted. She did not dare to call him father. "But I saw a dragon come here last night. He came here, and he..." Kissed me is what Dolores was going to say but couldn't, so instead, she bit her bottom lip, not knowing what to say next.

Adam laughed an obnoxious roar, "What? Ridiculous!" Others joined in, and Dolores felt the familiar feeling of humiliation slither under her skin. "Turns out you are not only a filthy Rogue, but you're also a nasty liar." Adam sneered, poking her shoulder to add to the mortification.

Dolores' face flushed a deep red. "I didn't..." Dolores argued.

"Come on, Adam," Bryan stepped between her and Adam in an attempt to bring peace. He looked at his older brother, adding, "I don't believe Dolores would lie to us." Dolores felt a seed of gratitude begin to grow. "She might have just had a weird dream, and the poor thing truly believes it to be true or perhaps…."

"It wasn't a weird dream!" Dolores snapped, no longer able to contain her frustration. The gratitude that had begun to grow withered and died. They would never see her as an equal, never accept her, never call her sister. "And I'm not lying." She aimed a challenging glare at Adam and her father, the King. Both were unmoved. Dolores could feel rage begin to grow, stirring Silvia's urge to be set free with it. She could no longer stand there, seeming the fool, the filthy Rouge. Dolores bit the inside of her cheek, as she had done countless times, keeping Silvia at bay. Dolores turned away from the mortification, as her father, the King, bellowed to his subject, choosing no longer to humor Dolores.

“Fellow Krequins! The Rite Of Dawn has ended. Please go and feist as you await the induction of our new heir of Krequin.” Zachary raised arms to the sky and the crows roared their devotion. The King then wrapped an arm around Adam's shoulders walking out of the Pantheon with the rest of the royal children following behind them.

Dolores stayed rooted to her spot until the Razamas family, her family, were only a line of dots pointing to the Palace. She rushed through the crowd, pushing herself away from the Pantheon until she reached a garden far enough from the noise and embarrassment that seemed to be haunting her life.

On entering the garden bordered by willow trees, Dolores used the back of her hands and wiped at what she decided were sweat droplets instead of tears from her face. She glanced around the hidden garden in reverence. There had to have been a magical spell placed there, letting each flower stay bloomed. The space was filled with every color known, with only a rock path spun throughout the various types of wildflowers barely big enough for a single person at a time.

Dolores made her way along the path, breathing the sweet fragrance around her until she came upon a lake that was hidden from view by the cascading branches of the willow trees. There she found a soft patch of earth. Sitting with her knees pulled tight to her chest, she talked to no one.

"I just don't understand," She sounded discouraged. "I thought things would change now that I am a princess, but why does everyone still treat me the same?" Dolores closed her eyes tight to stop the tears from coming, squeezing her arms around her legs harder.

The willow branches rustled, and Dolores' back straightened at the distinctive sound. "Who is here?" She searched her surroundings, seeing nothing and no one, and then there he was. A tiny dragon. Or perhaps a baby dragon. Dolores thought. He was smaller than Dolores had would have guessed baby dragons to be adding his scales that seemed to shimmer a kaleidoscope of orange and red Dolores was reminded of the lovebirds that would come in the early summer back in her village.

Unraveling herself, she offered her hand palm up in a welcoming gesture, bending down to peer at his face. She was met with blazing amber eyes. Instantly she was reminded of her dream with the Sun God.

That magnificent Dragon flying through the center of the dome, landing next to her.

Only the Dragon she saw now was significantly smaller than the one from her dream, but the Dragon before wasn't a Dragon at all. He was a boy. A boy who was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. Could she call a boy beautiful? Dolores didn't know, but she did know that he was breathtaking and when he pulled her flush against him, devouring her mouth in one perfect heated kiss, every cell in her body screamed for more.

Dolores felt her face turn tomato red at the memory of the night before. Distracting herself, she directed her eyesight back on the tiny Dragon that was now nudging her hand. Dolores smiled at him and raised her hand to pet him when she stopped short at the sight of him offering her a flower with heart-shaped leaves enhanced by a bright large white skirt formed petal centered around a warm yellow cascading off towards the tips of the petal.

A moonflower. Dolores's eyes widened in realization.

Dolores blinked rapidly as she attempted to connect the dots of the past 48 hours. The tiny Dragon that flew in a circle chasing his tail like a puppy was the Sun God? No. Dolores dismissed the thought. There was no way that the baby dragon was the Sun God. The Sun God was enormous! Dolores picked up the moonflower the tiny Dragon had gifted her. She was overthinking things. The past two days were a whirlwind.

She had gone from a Rouge to finding out she was the lost Princess to being chosen by the Sun God to being once again discarded.

Where had he even found this moonflower? Dolores remembered from her mother's bedtime stories that the moonflowers represented the partnership of the two Gods, but they had died out centuries ago. The miniature version of the Dragon that had saved her life two nights ago in the clearing chased a dragonfly. The two dragons looked similar with their red scales and amber eyes, but Dolores refused to admit they were the same creature.

Dolores could believe that the Dragon who saved her was identical to the one that came to her during the Rite, but this tiny Dragon was playful where the other was ominous. Dolores rubbed her eyes. Perhaps she was imagining this little Dragon. Maybe he was here by magic to taunt her.

"Why are you here?" She said, curling back into herself but attempting to sound joking, "Are you here to make fun of me?"