Claimed By My Husband's Enemy novel Chapter 113

Chapter 113

(Creed)

:

Ş(2)

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The dinner was lovely. Everyone on the table remembered the only rule before heading inside. And it was to leave all the problems outside the dining hall.

Elianna made herself busy the entire day. She helped plan the menu and arrange the decoration, while I discussed pack matters with Dale and Aramides.

She surprised us by inviting the council as well. Everyone was currently seated at the twenty-four-seater dining table, enjoying the feast. Elianna even called the chefs from the main castle and brought them to the island to prepare the dishes and made sure that everyone, including the servants, got to eat at the same time as us. There were tables set up beautifully outside. Elianna was like this before when she was in my hometown and she fed strangers. When she did something, she made sure she would go all out.

Eloise was worried and naturally, me either, but she brushed us off.

‘When else would I have the time to do this? I’ll be very busy after giving birth. Consider this as me bribing everyone and trying to score some brownie points since the coronation was cancelled due to everything that’s been going on,’ she explained.

Elianna was back to her usual cheery self the whole time and we let her. It was better that she was keeping herself busy rather than locking herself in her room out of panic and fear. With this, she was showing her hunters that she could not be pushed around easily. She was fighting back.

But then dinner came and all that happiness she had suddenly vanished like all her energy had been sucked out of her. She was fiddling with her food, a rarity, considering most of her favorites were served. Meanwhile, the table was filled with laughter and chats from different lords.

Dale was quiet and perhaps a bit intimidated but was choosing to focus on his wife and their daughter. He had been unconsciously piling food onto their plates. Lizbeth elbowed him when Bridget began complaining about having too much and he was too distracted to hear it.

“Come. I will take you to your quarters to rest,” I whispered in Elianna’s ear. “You must have worn yourself out a lot. You look pale.”

“I’m alright,” she answered without looking at me, her eyes still on her food.

She was not. I could understand the exhaustion, panic, or fear, which, for the first time, she did not have tonight. What I could not understand was the sadness in her eyes. I read that it was normal for pregnant shifters. Their emotions were either magnified or they shifted easily, especially during their final trimester.

But this sadness was bone deep, like it was coming from the deepest part of her heart.

“Look at me, love.” I cupped her chin, tilting her face to meet my gaze. Her eyes watered. “What is making

you sad?”

She shook her head. “Just hormones.”

My pretty little liar thought she could get away with it. I was about to stand and bring her back to her quarters

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Chapter 113

when the dragon council’s attention landed on me.

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“So, Creed Black. We heard you are not only the princess’ bodyguard but also her fated mate. Why don’t you tell us something about yourself?”

Tricky words from a tricky old man. I was sure there was nothing they did not know about me by now, from the biggest to smallest detail. If I ever omitted something, they would know and would use it against me.

‘Another king aspirant,’ one spoke using draconic language.

The dragon council smirked at each other as they threw glances at me while Jacques and Anson casually sipped their wine.

‘I do not aspire to be the king,’ I responded in the same language. ‘You can take that off from your list of worries. If I wanted to be the king, I would have grabbed the throne that was offered to me first in my own

realm.’

Gasps echoed in the dining hall. Dale and Lizbeth both eyed me with shock while the Rosewood siblings did not look surprised at all. Was it a bag of gold that Eloise tossed in Jacques and Anson’s direction?

‘It’s nothing,’ Anson explained, still using draconic. ‘We just made a bet about it. Our sister has the tiniest faith. in you it seems. She wholeheartedly believed you would walk into our land unprepared.

‘Thank you for the vote of confidence, my lord, and Your Excellency?

‘Oh, do not take it the wrong way. We also did not have much faith in you, Black. We just like to tease our sister and oppose her at times’

The brothers both grinned and I fought the urge to use my flames against them.

‘You can’t kill them, Creed,’ I reminded myself for the hundredth time since meeting them. ‘It’s bad luck. They are your soon-to-be in-laws.’

After discovering Elianna’s relation to the dragons, I had to learn their language. Since she cannot speak it, I wanted to be the one to represent and translate it for her. Although the main reason was to be certain that no one would insult my mate in draconic language on my watch.

I exchanged one of my penthouses in the mage’s realm as a payment for a dragon translator who may have all the gold in the world but did not possess the documents necessary to buy a legal property. Thank fuck the guy was too damn lazy to do all the bothersome work. I learned enough to curse any of them in a draconian way, although my instructor and I clashed too many times before I did.

And that instructor looked smug as fuck right now. Alistair was whistling as he ate with gusto. Why wouldn’t he? The fucker just had his own penthouse in Cornelia in the city of Devnus, the mages’ realm. The asshole first taught me all the profanity in draconic before teaching me the basics.

‘What do you aspire to then if not for the throne?’ another lord asked as the shock subsided. ‘For all we know, you declined the throne from the werewolves so you can climb straight to the most coveted throne in all the realms. In the past, we had to deal with that kind of trouble. There was an aspirant who used the new blood to rise from his position. We watched a tamer become a queen only for her mate or husband to end up ruling, completely disregarding her wishes for the realm.’

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Chapter 113

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‘What proof do you need? I can have this written in blood contract right now, right here, I answered.

Blood contracts were sacred no matter what realm people were in. The parties who would sign it were required to fulfill his part of the bargain otherwise; there would be hell to pay depending on the contract.

‘Besides, we are different, my lord. I don’t know about you but for me, I’ve already lived a life long enough. Being the Alpha General in my own realm has its own perks. I’d had my fair share of glory, but it gets exhausting overtime that’s why I had already sent my resignation to the former king before I met Elianna with Project X as my final assignment. I wanted to retire somewhere quiet. But fate clearly had other plans.

I glanced at Elianna who was staring at me like I created the moon and stars. The glimmer in her eyes was back. ‘I will stand by my mate’s decision. If she wants to be the Queen, she will have my full support. She would not have a king, but she would have the strongest ally and soldier behind her: me. Right now, I only aspire to be the kind of mate she needs and the kind of father our son would be proud of. Nothing more. After this, we can have that in writing, if you want.

The lord waved, a uniformed soldier appearing in a second. ‘And what would we write as a consequence in case you fail to comply with the blood contract?’

‘You can have my beast,’ I said calmly as I leaned on my chair.

Some of the utensils fell on the floor as the guests gawked. Anson whistled when Eloise’s secretary had to give him another bag of treasure. Another bet he won at my fucking expense.

‘How much is all that?’ Elianna finally spoke, eyes wide at the bag of treasure that I was sure would take decades to find.

‘Enough for a clan to live in centuries worry-free,’ Anson replied, smirking. But his smirk fell off upon realizing one thing. ‘Wait. You speak draconic?’

Now it was Eloise’s turn to smirk. ‘I told you so.’

‘Since when?’ Jacques asked, finally stunned.

She shrugged like it was nothing. ‘For a while now.’

‘It’s inherent for all tamers, Eloise added.

‘You cheated!’ Anson and Jacques complained. ‘How are we supposed to know that about tamers? You did not tell us!’

Eloise raised her brow. ‘It was not cheating if you did not ask, brothers. Pay up.’

Now it was clear to me where Elianna inherited her shrewdness. This whole time, she acted like she understood nothing each time the dragons talked in their native language.

The Rosewood brothers looked pissed as they motioned their hands. Two servants approached Anson and Jacques right away, carrying bigger bags. Eloise handed them all to her bodyguard who looked proud.

“Isn’t she adorable?” Aramides mouthed, grinning, despite the worries I could see in his eyes for Terrence. The Rosewoods are truly something.”

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Chapter 113

“Indeed.”

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