Chapter 270

270 Fireflies... and Tea

The memorial ended later rather than sooner and the royal family was driven back to the palace where Katie was ecstatic to drop onto the bed, having gone through the numerous greetings and short conversations that were demanded of her.

Cole took off his coat with a chuckle at the girl’s attitude, “It was so long. Did we have to stand for all that time? My legs were killing me,” she groaned.

“Are your muscles still hurting?” Cole asked her.

“No, not as much as before... but I’m not as strong as I normally am,” the girl replied, rolling onto her back so she might see her mate, “You were definitely happier today.”

“Oh? I wasn’t so sure you noticed,” Cole replied sarcastically, walking into the bathroom.

“Well, of course, I noticed. I might not be able to detect emotions clearly through our bond, but I can tell when your smile is ten times brighter than before,” she replied with a chuckle.

“I have been meaning to ask you about that. You mentioned it earlier,” Cole’s voice took on a hint of urgency.

“Oh, well, the art of noticing someone’s smile as genuine is...” the girl started only to be cut off.

“No, not that,” Cole chuckled. He remained silent and waited in silence as the girl figured out what he was saying. She’d known what he meant from the start.

.....

“I guess there is no dodging the one,” she sighed, turning her attention to the ceiling before explaining, “It’s like I am always exhausted. I can’t access anything concerning my powers. I’m not worried about it. I think I just need to take it easy for a while.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t be worried. You don’t know if there is anything around you going wrong. You can’t tell at all. So of course you wouldn’t be worried.” Cole’s voice came from the bathroom.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Besides, since the rest of the Chase family is not showing any trouble, I don’t see a reason to worry,” Katie replied.

“Yeah, I guess so... Hey, would you get over here?” Cole called out to her.

“Yeah yeah, I’m coming. You know...” Katie paused at the threshold, crossing her hands over her chest with a proud look, “You cannot live without me.”

“As long as you get to sleep beside me and wake up beside me, I’ll be fine. ,” Cole replied.

“Oh, I am so right...” she continued before getting whisked into the bathroom.

..........

Cole found a note on the bed when he got out of the shower. His mate decided to stay behind and soak for a bit in the warm water. ‘Alpha Cole and Luna Katie are hereby invited to have tea with the queen in the gardens at 8:00 pm.’

“Umm, honey, we have been invited by the queen,” Cole called out to his mate in the bathroom.

“What? Why? Doesn’t she realise I have to brush my teeth for two hours, brush my hair, try out different clothes and, and...” the girl started rambling on about the different things that didn’t mean as much as the queen’s invitation.

“Yeah, get it out of your system,” Cole mumbled, hearing the girl go on and on barreling through her mind in search of an excuse. “You know complaining won’t get you out of it. Why do you bother?” Cole replied when she’d finished.

“It’s part of the process I guess,” the girl sighed. A comfortable silence came over the two of them.

“Have you tried accessing your gifts?” Cole asked the question that had been burning in his mind.

“No, not yet, but then again, I don’t think I would be able to access them when I’m still this weak. I’m going to give it some time,” she responded. At that moment, Cole hadn’t thought to look at his mate as a sense of sadness took over her.

Shaking off the thoughts and depression, she changed the subject “Hey Cole, you said something about telling me your side of the story concerning your father.”

“Oh yeah...” he paused as the memories came pouring back into his mind, “I did, didn’t I?”

“You don’t have to tell me, Cole,” she quickly intervened, hearing the sadness in his voice.

“No, that’s not it, Katie. I’ll tell you. Let’s just get done with tea with my mother first,” Cole replied.

...........

The queen was seated on a chair watching the different couples that lived within the palace mill through the gardens. The time she had chosen was preferably peaceful and one that many mates chose to enjoy the lovely gardens.

The timing was right and the lights that lit up the beautiful gardens made it an even more beautiful place for them to take walks and spend time together. It was also the time when most of them didn’t have more work to do.

“Katie, fireflies have no fire-related power within them nor are they creatures related to the Apollo. I’m trying to tell you that they were merely named because they look like flying sparks of flame. There isn’t much to it,” Cole’s voice interrupted the peaceful silence. The queen was suddenly curious to know what had gotten the man so riled up.

“Yes, Cole I have heard you saying something of the sort, but then how do you explain the way their bodies glow in the dark? Do you really believe there is a natural process in a biological organism that can allow them to emit light in the dark? Except for the power of the gods that make the eyes of werewolves glow, I cannot think of any other explanation,” Katie argued.

“You’re being impossible right now, Katie. Fireflies are fireflies. You don’t have to over-think it. Have you been talking to Celeste again? She might be the one putting all these ideas into your head,” Cole was starting to get suspicious.

“No, not really. Well, I talked to her a few days ago, but she didn’t say anything about fireflies,” Katie argued.

“Aha, so you have been talking to the goddess. What have the two of you been discussing behind my back?” Cole was even more suspicious and was successfully changing the topic. If his mate would not see things his way, perhaps she would lose track of the conversation and forget the point she was trying to make in the first place.

“There is no world where I and that goddess would be on the same page,” Katie chuckled right before they reached the gazebo the queen was seated in. Katie stopped laughing when the queen stood suddenly. The girl took a low bow to acknowledge her.

“Uh... Katie... No... You don’t have to...”

“It’s a pleasure to see you doing well, queen mother,” the woman facepalmed and groaned.

“And here I thought you didn’t have this side to you,” the queen groaned.