The Dark Side Of Fate by Karima Sa'ad Usman

69 Planing A Ball

~Tamia~

A week passed, and Sylvester and I did not mention what we knew.

We did not even speak of it in private. We had utterly buried it, and Stephanie was grateful.

Glenda and Dominic were at it again, and Sylvester was planning to move them to the house's east wing because they fought in the halls at night. They fought about everything. Sometimes I would hear Dominic end it, and they would get back together within minutes.

They were psychos, and even though I knew Maurice was a douchebag, I could understand why he did not deem Dominic worthy of anything.

There was no way Dominic would be able to lead the council. He was controlled by his emotions and did not have a mind of his own.

I was glad his relationship with Larry was strained, and Larry had started trying to cosy up to Sylvester. The old man had no shame.

Linda had turned Jenny's journals into her book of jokes.

The woman was delusional, and it showed in her entries.

We would often joke about some things she said during dinner. It was great.

While we did that, we practised croquet because that was the only sport we were allowed to partake in, due to our conditions. We planned our uniforms and our mates' polo team uniforms.

I was serious about the black and white uniforms. So I had them make the same for our croquet team.

The women in the harem that were on our team, most especially Katya, asked of Lilly, but we did not tell them anything.

The investigators had searched the women in the harem, and nothing was found on them, leaving Lilly and Sofia Malek as the only culprits.

They were going to be judged and punished for all to see, but it would have to be after the games.

In the meantime, they were languishing in a cell in the estate. We were supposed to send them to the council prison, but we needed to find out the people she worked for. We needed to protect ourselves and our investigation. Due to these reasons, we kept their arrest and imprisonment a secret.

"Tamia," Stephanie called out to me in the great hall of the estate, where the VIP ball would take place; Alphas and sports team captains with the council members will be attending.

We planned on using the eastern garden and the hall as the venue because we doubted we could contain all the guests in the hall.

We had a professional event planner, Lacy Brian, planning the ball, but I had to keep busy, so my friends and I decided we would supervise the event planner.

The woman was rude and did not respect us.

Lacy felt we had no say, but we were stubborn about what we wanted.

I fought the urge to report her to Sylvester. I had to make people respect me without getting my man involved all the time. My friends understood my reason and decided to follow in my footsteps by unapologetically insisting she does what we want.

We were standing in the hall going through the colours with the event planner when Stephanie joined us. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Avery and Linda were weary of her, but I had let the bad blood between us go. Avery was vindictive, and she wasn't over the name-calling yet, and I didn't blame her. Stephanie went too far. I hoped they reconcile.

"So what are the three lunas doing?" Stephaine said with brilliant-looking eyes.

I had never seen her this happy before.

Her eyes shined brightly. Her secrets were killing her. I guess she wasn't burdened by them anymore.

"My Lady, these women want to have a monochromatic colour arrangement, and I keep telling them it isn't nice for the event. They want shades of brown and green and beige which do not suit the mood, and it lacks taste," Lacy said.

There was a way she said it that made it sound offensive. Maybe she had not gotten the memo, but I kept it to myself. She referred to us with a demeaning tone giving Stephanie all the respect and pleading with her to put us in our place. Even though she did not put it that way, her actions and tone implied it.

"You need to watch your tone, Lacy," Stephanie scolded her.

"Who do you think these women are? Mistresses?" She asked, and Lacy realised she had committed an offence.

"That is Linda, Alpha Theodore Orlov's mate and fiance; that is Avery, mate and fiance of Alpha Marcel Sidorov and this is Tamia, fiance and mate to the lord of the north and soon-to-be Lady of the north," She said, and the event planner was speechless.

The colour drained from her face, and she went on her knees and bore her neck to me to apologise for her rude behaviour.

I told her it was okay and to get back to work.

"She thought you were women from the harem," Stephanie said while Lacy walked away, utterly scared.

"Most of the women your mates have been with usually oversee the events, but it had been three years since they had kept such company. She was silly to think that might be the case. I apologise on her behalf," Stephanie said, and I nodded, telling her it was okay.

"I learned you are playing croquet," Stephanie asked me and looked at my tummy.

I placed my hand on my flat tummy and smiled.

"I spoke with the doctor, and he said it will be good exercise," I argued, smiling at her, and she shook her head.

"Not on my watch, Tamia. That is my grandbaby growing in you. I want both of you to be okay. I think you should take up the cheering bit. The one that involves you sitting next to me and cheering our team. You too, Linda," She said, and I knew it would make Avery uncomfortable. I tried to smile it off.

"You should do the same, Avery. You might not be pregnant, but we don't want any mistakes," Stephanie said, and Avery smiled at her.

"I hope I am, Luna. I want to have babies too," She confessed, and we all laughed at how she said it.

"You will; just don't overthink it and try to rest a bit more," Stephanie said, advising Avery, and Avery nodded.

"Well, I want to play croquet," Linda said, and I knew she wouldn't back down.

"Theodore forbids I do anything physically demanding. It is getting to me. I want to move about the place," She said, and I could see her tiny bump when she placed her hand on her tummy.

"The Orlov family are few, Linda; that is why Theodore is overprotective. He is the only child of his father, Gavin. He wouldn't want anything to happen to his child and you. Please listen to him," She pleaded, and Linda smiled.

"Well, he said I could play croquet since the doctor approved," She said, and Stephanie looked at me. My eyes pleaded with her to allow me to join in the fun.

"Very well, I will cheer your team from the seat," She said, and I smiled. We sat on one of the tables, and they served us juice and Ice cream. I had Ice cream.

We laughed and joked about many things, and the whole place was lively, only for Pamela to grace us with her presence.

Seeing anyone from the council gave me the creeps.

"Lady Stephanie," She greeted Stephanie and did not bother to greet us. Stephanie wanted to scold her, but I told her not to.

"Why don't you ever acknowledge us?" Linda asked her, and I honestly wished I had stopped her because I did not want to get into an altercation with the old bitch. She looked at Linda's tiny bump.

"That has never kept a man," She said, and Stephanie was angry.

"Watch your tongue, Pamela, this isn't the council, and she isn't a mistress," Stephanie said, and Pamela smiled.

"I get it, but they are just girlfriends until the wedding takes place and the claiming is done. The alphas can change their minds before then, and even the women can change their minds. It isn't set in stone. I would accord them respect when that happens. As things are, I am above them. I dare not bow to women simply because they are sleeping with the Alphas and lord," She said, making a disturbingly valid point, but she was wrong.

It was beyond what she was thinking, and I could not wait to see her eat her words when the time came. I hope she will be able to repeat herself after the blue moon.

"Jealousy does not suit you, Pamela. Your daughter had no chance with either of them. Now you are taking your anger out on these innocent women for getting what you wanted for your daughter. What is it with you council women and social climbing? I hope you can repeat this in the presence of Sylvester, Marcel and Theodore," Stephanie said, and the woman's smile faded.

"They can tell them what I said. I haven't said anything wrong. You are still Lady of the north, and I have given you your respect. It ends there. Besides, this is not why I came," She said and handed Stephanie a file and a flash drive.

"That is the number of invites we sent, and those are the alphas that responded and the names of the sports they would indulge in along with their team captains. to help with the ball arrangement and planning," She said, and Stephanie frowned at the document.

"This is bulkier than usual," she said, and Pamela smiled and looked at all of us.

"I guess the games have become more popular as we have more invites and participants this year," She said with a smile, and I knew she was planning something wicked.

She bowed to Stephanie and excused herself.

Stephanie was staring at the bulky document, still wondering why it was big.

"May I?" I asked Stephanie, and she handed me the file while she held onto the flash drive.

I figured the flash drive consisted of everything in the file for mailing purposes. They were giving a go at going digital.

I placed the file on the table and began to scroll through the list of guests that would be there.

I read several pages before seeing the eastern Alphas that were coming. The east had never participated before. The council had deliberately invited them to cause trouble for us.

We were the ex-wives of the eastern top Alphas; it was only expected that there would be bad blood, jealousy and friction if we met our exes face to face with our current mates.

This was what she meant by 'anything could happen before then.'

She will be shocked to learn that Kyle did not care about Linda, nor did Max care about Avery.

I scrolled through the names and saw them, Kyle, Max and Leo were coming, and I was worried for Leo because of what Jake had told me about his state.

These stupid council people planned to stir up shit.

I was glad to know beforehand so we could alert our mates. At least we would be attending prepared.

Linda would get her moment in the sun, likewise Avery.

I hoped Leo wouldn't do anything stupid and get on Sylvester's nerves.

I did not bother to check the rest of the file. I looked at Stephanie, and she frowned at me with the same question in her eyes. I nodded, and she became angry.

"That bitch Pamela knows how to stir up shit," She said, balling her fist in anger.

She knew exactly what the council was planning to do. They wanted to stir up shit and separate us from our men, but they would be disappointed because what we have is unshakeable.