The Lost Princess' Second Chance
The Lost Princess’ Second Chance Chapter 31

Alejandro wrapped his arm protectively around me. ‘Please do not fear me.’ I heard through the sound of the wind. “Did anyone else hear that?” I asked out loud. “Yes, we did.” Mom said, looking around for the source of the voice. “But to be fair, what kind of creature would tell us not to fear it when it traps us in an old green house?” Dad asks, in an annoyed tone.

‘Violet… What do you think?’ I asked my wolf. ‘Honestly, I feel nothing about this wind to be a threat, but tread carefully.’ She warned. I internally nod. “If you have nothing to hide, then why trap us in the green house?” I asked the wind.

‘To speak with you, Mistress.’ The voice replied. ‘Mistress?’ I wondered. Before anyone could say anything else to void of air, a person materialized before us. I couldn’t tell if it was a girl or boy with a cloak covering up their face and them wearing unisex clothes. Though from the size I wanted to say it was a female.

The person knelt down and bowed their head in my direction. “Sorry for the show, Mistress, but I had to speak with you without her catching me.” The soft voice, confirming it was a girl, said. “Who are you? Why are you calling me ‘Mistress’? And who is this ‘her’ you are hiding from?” I fired questions rapidly at her.

“Whoa, slow down. One question at a time.” She said, standing up. Her slender hands came up and reached for the hood of the cloak covering her face. She pulled it off to reveal a beautiful girl with golden blonde hair that had blue and green streaks running through it. Her ruby red eyes swirled with light purple around them. ‘She is a witch.’ I thought to myself.

The next thing I knew, Juakin jumped in front of me. Glaring hard at the witch. The witch looked down and gave him a small smile. “Hello, little pup. I was hoping to see you sooner after that night. I promise I mean her no harm.” She said as she got to his level and held out her hand. Juakin shocked all of us when he jumped forward and bite her out stretched hand, hard.

B***d dripped down to the ground as the witch flinched slightly, but she didn’t yank her hand away from Juakin’s teeth. Nor did her eyes ever leave his. That is when a light bulb went off in my head. “You are the same witch that cursed Juakin last year… Aren’t you?” I asked her. She gave off a sad sigh. “Yes, but I did it to save his life that night.” She said.

“Cursed? What do you mean cursed, my love?” Alejandro asked, looking back and forth between me and his little brother. “Juakin wrote it down for me in the library. He caught a traitor plotting to kill my brother and his mate after they become the new king and queen and she was the royal beta female with my mate. This witch was assisting her and cursed your little brother, that is he ever spoke a word, then any creature that hears his voice with die.” I explained it to my mate and family.

Alejandro snarled and looked like he was ready to pounce at her and rip her throat out. “That was true, but I never had any intentions of helping that insane woman. Please allow me to explain everything… I can also remove the curse from the pup.” She said in a rush. I saw her take in a sharp breath as it looked like Juakin bit down a little bit harder than before.

‘I trust to at least hear her out.’ Violet commented in my mind. ‘You sure?’ I asked. I trust my wolf, but I am still new to all this stuff. Wolfs, lycans, witches, curses, my true family, my second chance mate… It is a surprise that I haven’t just shut down with all this stuff going on.

‘Trust me sweet heart. I would never steer you wrong. I know everything has been over whelming the last couple of days, but I wouldn’t say this if I felt she was a true threat to you.’ Violet encouragingly said.

I could feel her encouragement fill me. I took a deep breath and walked out from Alejandro’s arms. “Babe, hold on.” He said, but I ignored him. I bent down to Juakin and gently placed my hands on his shoulders. He slightly jerked at my touch, but still had his teeth clamped down on the witch’s hand. “Juakin. Let us hear her out. She has done nothing to us yet. Please trust me?” I asked, keeping my voice low and gentle.

Juakin looked at me from the corner of his eyes for a few seconds and then he opened his mouth and released the witch’s hand. I took out the handkerchief that Alejandro gave me earlier and used my teeth to tear it in half. ‘I will buy him a new one later.’ I thought to myself as I used one half to wipe the b***d and spit off of Juakin’s chin and mouth.

Once he was clean, I used the clean half to wrap it around the witch’s bloody hand. “There… Not too tight?” I asked her. She gave me a small smile and shook her head. “No, it feels much better now. Thank you, Mistress.” She said, calling me ‘Mistress’ again. “So what do we call you?” I asked her. “My name is Mara, for now.”

I nodded. “Well my name is Iris, but I am going by Raya for now. This is my mom, dad, my brother Miguel, his mate Esmeralda, my mate Alejandro, and his little brother Juakin.” I said, introducing everyone to our visitor. She smiled and nodded before bowing to my parents, then to my brother, and then to me again.

I cleared my throat before speaking up again. “So could you start by removing the curse on Juakin, and then you can explain why you are calling me ‘mistress’.” I said. Mara nodded once more and then moved in front of Juakin, who was still glaring hard at her. He kind of reminded me of those stories of over protective fathers waiting on the front porch with a shot gun while their daughter was out on a date with a boy.

Mara placed her hand softly on Juakin’s chin and tilted his head upwards. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was doing. Then the next thing I saw, Mara’s lips connected with Juakin’s.

Her eyes were closed while Juakin’s eyes went wide. After it was finally registered what was happening. Juakin scrambled backwards so fast that he fell backwards. His face was as red as a tomato, with the back of his hand covering his mouth. “What the heck?!” He yelled out loud. Then he gasped and clamed his hand over his mouth, looking at all of us.

He was so embarrassed that he forgot all about the curse. Mara giggled as she stood up straight, licking her lips. “You are no longer cursed little pup. You are free to speak you mind once again.” She said, giving him a kind and gentle smile. Juakin glared at her again. “You couldn’t just chat something in that ‘mumbo jumbo’ language of yours?” He asked, still beat red.

She gave him a little smirk. “I could have, but I thought it would be a little more fun to mess with you. You did bite me.” She answered innocently. Juakin growled, and I stood between them. “Alright. Alright. Let us get some answers before you two start you little pissing contest.” I said sternly, looking between them. They both nodded and I turned to face Mara.

“So what is this whole ‘mistress’ thing?” I asked first. Mara smiled and bowed. “My family bloodline is special in the wizarding world. We are known as the protectors, but we become more like familiars to our masters.” She explained, but I was lost.

She must have seen the confusion on my face. “Basically, it is like when a human makes a deal with a demon or a fae creature. They would bind their souls and the creature becomes a servant to the human… For a price.” She explained further. “Okay. I understand a bit better now.” I told her.

“Unlike that kind of contract that comes with a price, the contract between us was fate laid out by the gods. Just like the Moon Goddess creates mates for you, I was created to serve and protect you.” She said, her eyes gleaming with tiny stars in them as she looked at me. “What? Why?” I asked. Mara shrugs. “Not really sure to be honest why you and I were paired up. Normally those in my family are paired up with those of the royal family in the wizard kingdom.” She said

“But when I wasn’t paired up with anyone, the queen sent me in search of my master. I had until my twentieth birthday next year. If I don’t bind my soul to yours, then my powers will go super nova and destroy everything around me.” She added. “Okay, so what is this soul binding thing supposed to do?” I asked.

“It will establish a bond between us. Not like your mate bond, but just as strong. No matter how far you are from me physically, we can communicate through our own mind link and I can always find you with a location spell.” She said. “I would be your protector and servant. If I ever try to disobey an order from you, I would be punished.”

“Punished how?” I asked, worried it was going to be something bad. “I would have a mark appear on my wrist, felling like thousands of tiny needles were stabbing my flesh over and over, and it would continue to grow until I either followed your order or you retracted your order. Once the mark reaches my heart, it would kill me.”

‘Wow, that seems like a harsh punishment.’ I thought. ‘What is your take on all this, Vi?’ I asked her. ‘Well, she has not once said any lies to us right now. I can see the honesty in her eyes. Ask our mate and family their opinion.’ She answered. I nodded to myself before turning to everyone behind me.

“Mom, dad. What is your take on all this?” I asked. “I think she is speaking the truth.” Mom said as dad nodded in agreement. “Yes, we have met the wizard king and queen before… along with their protectors. I remember the same explanation when Leo told us about it. I didn’t know it was passed down through the b***d.” Dad added. I nodded and turned to my mate.

“Alejandro? I would like to hear your opinion too.” I said, walking over and taking his hands into mine. “I personally am not happy with her cursing my brother and would like an explanation for that, but if you trust her, then I will be glad for the additional protection for you. Especially until we can build up your strength in training.” He said, kissing my forehead.

I turned back to Mara. “My wolf, my family, and my mate trust in this… So I will also put my trust in you. Does the binding take much?” I asked. Her face lit up like a child on Christmas, as she shook her head. “No, it is a b***d pact between us. We could do it right here and now if you wish.” She said. I nodded.

She pulled out a small pocket knife. Removing the bandage I tied around her hand she cut a straight line down her palm. Then she reached out to me. I felt something push me to her. I don’t know where this was coming from, but it felt right.

Mara made the same cut down the center of my palm, and surprisingly there was no pain. She then uses on hand to fold the knife and tuck it back into her jean pocket. We then placed our palms together as the wind swirled around us.

“May we be bound by threads of silver.” Mara spoke, but her words almost seemed to echo all around us.

I heard something whisper in my ear and recited what they said. “May we be bound by roots of b***d.” My voice also echoing around us. It seem like this was a back and forth process.

“May we be tied by false holly.”

“May we be held together by green ivy.”

Then Mara and I interlocked our fingers together as we spoke in unison. “Seven switches of yew, seven times knotted. Bound till Ouroboros lets go of his tail.”

The wind that swirled around us had now turned into shimmering silver chains that floated around us in all directions. My eyes met with Mara’s ruby red eyes. “Iris, I shall protect you until my final breath, please grant me a new name for the new me.” She said. ‘A new name? What was I supposed to call her?’ I thought to myself.

She said that she was my protector so I felt like her name should represent that. Her eyes shined like rubies in the light. Then the perfect name came to me. “I will. Diamond.”

As soon as her new name left my lips, the silver chains around us suddenly became tight and I felt something click into place. I felt the connection between us open as the light faded and the wind died down.

We stepped back from each other and I noticed that the purple that swirled in her red eyes, was now replaced with silver light swirling through them. She then knelt down before me, placing her hand over her heart. “We are now bounded together until death. My new name is Diamond from here onward.” She said with a proud smile.

I looked up to my parents and it seems like they have the same question on their mind that I now wanted to know. “Diamond.” I called out, using her new name. She looked up at me, awaiting my next words. “Who is the one that is plotting to take over?” I asked her with a serious tone. This person wanted to kill my brother and his mate, and then rule over the kingdom with MY mate.

They will be so lucky if I don’t make their death as slow and painfully as possible. Diamond looked me in the eyes and said one word. “Bethany.”