A Fate Foretold (formerly: A World Gone Mad)

A Fate Foretold 18

        Christian spent the four days strung out in a jittery panic. Diplomacy was not his forte, but it clearly was the forte of Sir Walter and his aides. He didn’t have the time to think about anything other than the territory contract and the political implications of seating arrangements. On the fourth day, he slowly began to relax. The diplomats would be leaving the following day and so far no toes had been trodden on. Only when Christian managed to breathe easy did he remember Ally. When he told her to lie low, he didn’t quite mean that she should literally hide, which is what she seemed to have been doing. He hadn’t seen her since the envoy arrived.

        Ally spent most of her time reading, relieved as she was from helping in the kitchen. She only exited her room when she knew the visiting diplomats were otherwise occupied in meetings, and always stayed on the upper floors of the house. It was safer. But at times she had to venture out to get food or water, like now.

        The ambassador of the First Pack was accustomed to endless formalities, but he took advantage of the need for a paper left in his room to escape the conference for a short while. A man in his position usually had servants to fetch such things for him, but then again a man of his experience was not usually in small pack unit houses like this one.

        Sir Walter rounded the corner on his way back to the meeting room and stopped short at seeing Ally come out of one of the rooms. At the same instant, Christian rounded the other corner, bringing him five paces away from where the ambassador and his nat amatra stood near one another.

        The diplomat gasped in recognition. “You–“, he cried, beginning to fall to his knees.

        Ally cut him off both verbally and physically, reaching out to clasp his elbow, hauling the older man back upright, while saying, “Let’s talk in here, shall we?” She kept her grasp on his elbow, tugging the man back into the room she had been exiting.

        Christian, who had witnessed the scene in diplomatic horror, started forward, exclaiming, “Ally, what are you doing?”

        She glanced back at him, cursing under her breath, eliciting another look of horror from Christian. Sir Walter piped up, beginning, “Ali–“, which Ally cut off again with a rude, “Sir Walter, would you mind shutting up?”

        Christian was livid by now, something he never thought he could be with Ally. “Sir Walter, I beg your forgiveness at this temporary insanity–“

       Ally rolled her eyes and reached out to grab the future alpha’s arm and pull him into the room as well, before swinging the door closed, locking it, and leaning against it to survey the two men in front of her.

        Christian was apologizing again to the ambassador, “Your Excellency, you had not been introduced to my nat amatra; I beg your pardon for her rudeness–“, but this time he was interrupted by Sir Walter.

        “Nat amatra?” He repeated furiously.

        “Yes,” Ally pitched in sharply. “I am known as Ally, and have been Christian’s nat amatra for just over a year.” She hoped her rather pointed look conveyed the message she was trying to send.

        “You cannot be a nat amatra, Your – I mean, you cannot be a nat amatra, my child,” Sir Walter caught himself at the last moment. He had begun angrily, but now a good deal of confusion entered his tone.

        “And yet, here I am. I think you’ll find that I can, Wally. I had to.” Ally’s voice had softened and by the endearing nickname, it was clear a great deal of affection existed between the two.