Chapter Three: Back To the Future

(Annabelle's POV)

I felt the sunshine against my skin and I blinked open my eyes, my thoughts were weary and at first I felt an odd sense of comfort. I was in a tidy room, large enough to house four of this massive bed that I was sleeping on and still have some space left.

My nostrils were filled with the scent of lavender and a specific type of moonflower that grows around Highgale. I sat motionless for a few minutes, gazing at my surroundings with knitted brows. Soon enough I began to remember what had happened to me moments ago.

I bulged my eyes jumping off the bed in fear. I placed my hand on my chest instinctively but I couldn't feel any pain. I frowned, I could remember myself getting stabbed through the chest. I quickly took off my clothes, heading for the mirrors at the edge of the room.

Gazing at my body, I blinked thrice, then repeated my actions. My body was in a pristine shape, my muscles were chiselled faintly and my skin retained its clear brown complexion. My breasts were…

The sound of the door opening cut my thoughts short. I turned around to see Tiana walking towards me with a bundle of clothes in her hands. She gazed at me with her usual taut expression. Her blue eyes glanced all over me with annoyance.

“What are you doing?” She demanded, her crispy voice cutting through the air. Normally it would have made me shudder but seeing her right now  put a smile on my face. I let go of all other bothering thoughts and rushed towards her embracing her tightly.

“Tiana,” I whispered.

“Your Highness, can you please put some clothes on?” She replied in a strained tone.

I released her, glancing at my body with my mouth agape. “Sorry,” I picked up my dress and wore it.

Tiana nodded, her cheeks still a little pink. “You should be getting ready for your first official meeting, I am here to get you ready,” she declared, placing the clothes on my side table..

I scrutinized her for a while, then turned to my surroundings. “What day is it?” I demanded.

Tiana glanced at me with visible wrinkles appearing on her porcelain face. “Today is Wednesday,” she sighed.

“No. I mean the date,” I demanded.

“May sixth.”

“No. No.” I muttered under my breath trying to analyze my situation. Today was the fifth day I became a Luna and the day my series of wrong choices began. Today was the day Abel wanted to meet me but I ignored him. “Is this a dream?” I muttered under my breath.

“If it were a dream, I wonder why  you would be dreaming of me,” Tiana muttered with an eye roll.

Tiana is alive and I am standing in my room with a pristine body as a Luna, still alive. If this was the afterlife, it looked too much like reality. I was about to have a mental meltdown when I remembered the alchemical formula I tried drawing as death's icy hands caressed me. Did  it work? And even if it had, it seemed to have sent me back in time. All I wanted was to use what was left of my life to bring Abel back. However, it seemed I have managed to grant myself a second chance.

I find it difficult to understand that an alchemical circle that I drew at death’s door somehow had this kind of effect. I need to figure out what was going on with me but for now. I looked at Tiana once again, reliving how our relationship was in the past. She hated me, and I did too. However, for some reason, I kept her close then. I never tried to change her, our fights became a huge part of my life.

Looking at her now with her tight lips and drawn brows I couldn't help but chuckle.  She was a slender figure, about six feet in height so she usually towered over everyone. Her surname was Ashfire, a name that meant that she was enslaved for the rest of her life.

In the end, I realized she was one of the few people who were actually loyal to me, and of course she was killed for that loyalty. My goal now is to protect her and everyone that I hold dear while exerting my revenge on everyone who wronged me. However, I need to understand what's happening first

“I am going to have my bath now, “ I told her and left her to her duties. By the time I was done, she had tidied my room and  she was waiting for me at the edge of my bed.

She advanced forward to help me dress up but I stopped her, I preferred doing these things myself. Once I was done, I allowed her to style my hair and she led me out of my room once we finished up with everything else. As an Ashfire, Tiana was both my maid and my right hand. She attended to me on every single occasion and she also served as a bodyguard.

She might be a slave to me, but according to the royal structure of Highgale, she wasn't just a mundane person and her position is a dream to most people. Tiana, however, hated this position, in the past, I never asked her about but now, I most certainly will.

We headed down to the courtroom where the meeting would be happening and the guards there pushed open the door for me, announcing me to the Alpha as I walked in.

There were nine important people in the room excluding me, all of them were seated at either side of a long and broad oak table. At the center however was my husband and Alpha, Maximus O’Connor; first of his name. He glanced at me and smiled and I responded with a faint grin of my own.

Then I glanced around to see the face of his brother. Adrian O’Connor, my worst nightmare. “Welcome my lady,” he stood up smiling, showing me my seat at the end of the table. In the past, I only sat down quietly and accepted where they positioned me but today will be different. If this is really a second chance for me, I am going to rewrite.my entire story.

I turned to Tiana. “Please help me,” she stared at me confused as I bent down in my big blue dress and lifted the chair from one end, without asking questions, she lifted the other end and we both carried my chair towards my Alpha and we sat beside him.

The elders at the sit gazed at me with their mouths agape. “Oh, your grace…” one of them with white hair and grey eyes on a scaly and sickly skin began to speak. His name was Elduran.

“It is your highness to you sir Elduran, please refrain from making such mistakes in the future,” a simper was plastered on my face while I spoke.

Elduran stopped short, the words seemed to have been caught in his windpipe and it seemed like he was choking. Maximus himself was looking at me with knitted brows, his face was a mixture of trepidation and confusion. The entire table was silent for a while before the man spoke again. “Apologies, your highness. You are supposed to be at the end of the table,” he managed to voice out.

“Well, I am seated beside my husband, you can force me out of my chair if that is your goal,” I retorted.

He stiffened, his palm curling into a fist. “Please, let's move on with the meeting, trifle talks like positions of chair isn't why we are here I presume.” Maximus chipped in with complete confidence, something that I never saw in him in the past.

I have already drawn the battle line now and there is no going back, and now to win, I would need to break this group of elders apart, outsmart my husband's mother and try to stop them from plunging the kingdom into eternal war. Although these were things that were mostly in my mind, however deep down, all I wanted to do was see Abel.