AVERYWith the passing hours, it becomes impossible for me to sit still. Renee stays beside me, telling me repeatedly that I was not thinking straight.Aleister was not by Agrona’s side because she was sick or anything like that. No King does that.He was there because he wanted to…sleep with her. “ But I feel no pain. ” I utter.“ The King suppressed your Lycan, Princess. It’s impossible for you to feel pain even if he does that. ” She sighs, slumping beside me after hours of pacing back and forth.It feels like the world is slowly splitting into two. I am trying my best to hold it together but the cracks are becoming larger.Maybe, Draven was right. I should visit Aleister. He won’t be mad if he is not doing something he shouldn’t. I will only talk to him and come back.I rise to my feet but then sit down again. What if he thinks I lied when I said I would try to trust him? If I trust him, I shouldn’t be doing this right? My hands tighten over the mattress as I stare at the wall
ALEISTER “ How can she just…slap you like that? ” Agrona whispers in disbelief. My jaw ticks. The cheek she hit is still tingling. Did I fucking give her the idea that I liked her and now she could do everything she wanted without any consequences? “ Evena and the others saw her doing that. ” She adds with a gasp. “ I need to stop them from spreading the word. Or else…you know…what will happen, Leister. ” A King who lets a woman hit him is a fucking coward. When that woman is an enemy Princess, it just makes things worse. I wouldn’t have minded if she had clawed my skin if only we were inside her room, but she has crossed the line. She attacked my pride and thought she could get away. That’s why…That’s only why I never wanted to give in and make her realize that she held power over me. “ It’s possible…if the word reaches the Lords in the court, they will need an explanation as to why she is getting special treatment from you. I understand that you like her but she is going too
AVERY“ What if the King gets back at you for slapping him in front of everyone, Princess? ” Renee paces around worriedly. “ what were you thinking? How can you just abandon the protocol and let your emotions make decisions for you? ”Emotions? What emotions did Aleister leave for me? It feels like a part of me is broken beyond repair. I wanted him to feel the same. Now, he will know what it means to be humiliated by someone you believe will care for you. I don’t regret a thing. I wish he suffers with the consequences of his actions and feels equally broken.“ What are you thinking, Princess?! At least, tell me this much. ” She stops in front of me.“ I…can’t think. ” I admit honestly.My head keeps replaying the images from earlier. Him, in a towel. Agrona, smiling. Them, together for the night.Did he touch her like he touched me? Are they soaking up in the bathtub together right now?Is he telling her he likes her and won’t touch another woman? A fire is burning inside me. Ange
AVERYSilently, I remain sitting on my bed. I have a hunch that soon, Aleister will come for me too. He won’t be satisfied with just locking up Renee in some dungeon.As expected, a few hours later, the door to my room opens again. The darkness meets me on the other side.Slowly, I pick up my head and look at the empty doorway. After a moment, his big frame appears there. My heart leaps to my throat. The energy in my veins gradually calms down as the small sparks run up my spine.Our eyes meet. I don’t see any emotion in his eyes—just pure malice—like the day we met in the throne room. Me, on my knees. Him, standing proud like the cruel King he was.Did I think something changed between us until yesterday? Yes. Yes, I did.I thought we both liked each other and would be getting close. I thought he would come to me every night. We would talk about our lives. We would find comfort in each other.And I…I will find a home. In him. With him.It was all a lie.Aleister walks inside the r
ALEISTER My rage knows no bounds. I want to hurt her in the worst way possible. How could she fucking ask me to spare others instead of telling me that she regretted hurting my ego in front of my people? If only she opens that fucking mouth and spits out the needed word to soothe my anger, my concern for her might win. But she is so fucking stubborn! If it’s like that and she thinks she did a great job by making a joke out of me, then I will hurt her too. I don’t fucking care about her. She doesn’t hold any power over me. “ What is your decision? ” My hand reaches out to her lips again. I imagined feeling this mouth around my cock every fucking night. These plump lips and that sassy voice silenced, as she pleasures me. But I never thought about going through it. I didn’t want her to get on her knees and suck me off. That felt too degrading for a Princess to do and I believed she wouldn’t like it. How fucking stupid! Here I was…thinking about things she would like or won’t
AVERYShortly after Aleister left, Draven came again. I had fallen out of Aleister’s list of favorite women. I was just a girl in the Harem now and that’s where I was supposed to be, to stay, to live.He took me straight to the Hall and sent me to a room in the corner. It was just a simple room—a single bed, a chair in the corner, a cupboard beside the bed and that’s it.I didn’t fight back. I sat down on the hard mattress and stared at the floor in a trance.It was safe to say that my mind was completely numb. I couldn’t make sense of what Aleister just did to me in the room.“ You don’t need to concern yourself with anything now. ” Draven says, standing beside the door. I don’t need to reply. I can’t even think of anything.“ Relax, Avery. If you stay away from him, your life will be easy from now on. ” He sighs. “ And don’t worry. He won’t do anything to Renee. ”“ Why are you saying all this to me now? Are not you happy after seeing me like this? ” I wonder, looking up at him.“
AVERYWhen Aleister and Agrona leave the next day, the witches gather to swoon over the couple.I stand in the corner and watch them both. Aleister doesn’t show any emotion but Agrona greets everyone with a smile.They are off to war and the Kingdom’s people seem to be wishing them all the luck. If Aleister hadn’t betrayed me, perhaps, I would have been among those people praying for his safe return from the war.Now, it doesn’t matter.I won’t be here for him.That’s why, the moment he meets my gaze, I turn around and leave from there. His gaze follows me until I turn the corner but I can’t care anymore.In the book of my life, the chapter of Aleister Anasazi has ended. As I came alone, I will leave alone. *******Like Agrona promised, Sinara came to meet me in the room the next day. I was already dressed in a casual blue dress that made it easier for me to move because of its light weight.She led me to a silent corner of the castle and that’s where I met Renee as promised.“ Pri
AVERY~One Month Later…I often heard people say before.Times fixes everything.With time, you forget your pain.With time, you forgive the people who hurt you.With time, you feel as good as new.That’s a lie. It’s not the time that fixes everything. It’s the people you meet and the way your life changes and something more—something that I still don’t get until now. I am lucky that I got both. I got to meet people and my life changed.But that something…a small element is still missing from my life. As a new day comes, and the darkness clouds the South, I find myself in search of that final piece of the puzzle but fail every time.“ Avery! Nellie is calling you over! ” The small child shouts from the distance.I snap out of my thoughts and glance at the girl from over my shoulder. Her round face reminds me of Celia. The sweet girl who smiled at me and told me she liked me, missed me, wanted to stay with me. Now, I can’t see her anymore. “ I am coming, Belle! ” I shout back with
AVERYLife is unpredictable, they say.I caress the cheek of the newborn, my finger trembling softly. I am awed and reduced to a teary-eyed, half-conscious woman with nothing more meaningful in life than the bundle lying on the bed beside me. So, I believe now…Life is unpredictable. If someone had told me that I will give birth to a beautiful girl, with glassy grey eyes and a sharp cry…I would have told them that I didn’t need them to fool me into believing things that would never happen.But it has happened.“ You have the right. ” Aleister lays on the other side, watching the girl lying between us with similar expressions. He looks dazed as if he is in a dream and scared of touching this beautiful creature.“ We decided on that. You will get to name her if it’s a girl. ” I pull my knees to my chest, trying hard to forget the pain I felt during labor yesterday. People say something else too—they say giving birth is no easy feat. It’s like dying and coming back to life after seei
AVERY“ Was this really as necessary as you make it out to be? ” I ask, moving across his room, smoothening down the non-existent creases in the dress.It’s the same gown that I wore to the festival. Back then, Aleister sent me away without even looking at me but he carried this dress with him wherever he went when I left him.Now, he wants me to wear it on my initiation. I told him it’s unnecessary, but he insists that I must wear this.“ I can get you a new dress if you want, my Princess. ” Aleister says, stepping out of the dressing room and pulling me into his arms immediately. I notice the dark suit he is wearing, the material fitting every bulging muscle and making him appear bigger than he already is. Our eyes meet and warmth spreads in my insides—It’s instant and soothing. “ How do I look? ” I whisper, reaching up to press my lips to his mouth gently.“ Like my Princess. ” Aleister tilts his head, connecting our lips again. “ Like the greatest star in the sky or the beautif
AVERYIt was not as bad as I imagined it. Aleister did stick out from the others, but no matter how wary they were, they couldn’t say anything about it or him anymore.We had breakfast together, and then I showed Aleister around. As expected, Dustin gave us a side eye whenever we stumbled across him but he couldn’t do anything about it which left me giddy.For the first time in my life, I have my own team. Aleister and I are together, and I don’t care if the whole world is on the other side. He is enough for me.But I like that my former friends and acquaintances have accepted him as my mate.“ You have been smiling from the morning. ” Aleister mumbles, pressing a kiss to my neck from behind.“ Do you not like it when I smile? ” I inquire playfully.“ Of course, I love it, Princess. ” He trails a path of kisses up my neck as his hand rests on my stomach, caressing it softly. “ I want you to keep smiling like this forever. Will you do that for me? ”“ If you don’t make me mad, I will. ”
DUSTIN“ What are you thinking now? ” Lenora asks curiously.“ That’s not the right question, Lenora. ” I tell her and place my palm over the edge of the window. The sea appears calm today, or maybe, it’s just me. I am calm, inside out. There is no noise inside my head right now. After seeing Avi genuinely happy, I think I will be better for some time. “ Did you always know that King is her mate? ” She inquires and stands beside me.“ Does it matter? ” I wonder. Why does everyone make a fuss about it? If I know, so what? Does it change anything?The loser thinking makes me want to roll my eyes. If you jump into the ditch after knowing that it’s not deep or you jump without knowing it’s not deep…it’s all the same. In the end, you still have to jump in the ditch. “ How did you know? ” She turns her head and studies me curiously.“ Moon Goddess told me. ” I vowed to not lie to Lenora before, so she gets all the honest answers.She snickers. “ I am serious, Dustin. ”It’s another thi
ALEISTER“ Levian…can tell when someone is lying. If you had stayed back, he would have found out about your child. You don’t realize how brutal he can be when it comes to getting what he wants. And right now, it’s not the time for the war. It’s time to hide that you are pregnant, Avi. ” Dustin explains to her.“ You want to hide my child? ” She huffs. “ that’s not happening. ”“ That’s why I didn’t tell you before. Now that your mate here has told Levian that you are not pregnant and that he is not allied with the other three Kingdoms, Levian is not desperate to snatch your child. He will wait. Because he believes we are weak when we are not united as the four Kingdoms. ” He says and wipes the dried blood from under his nose again. “ He will wait for you to find your mate. ” I conclude neutrally.“ He will wait for me to break and join him. Or he will wait for a mate to come to break me and get me to lose my mind like the rest of you. ” Dustin replies, and smirks. “ but that’s never
ALEISTERI have a hunch that Dustin Landric—the twat let me hit him intentionally. I would have preferred if he fought back. I don’t enjoy hitting those who want to get hit.“ Aleister. ” My Princess nuzzles into my neck, and peer at me with her puppy eyes.My throat feels heavy as I stare into those eyes. I came here to be mad at her. Her friend sent me a letter and informed me that my Princess hadn’t left me and it was all her brother’s plot. He drugged her and kidnapped her.But she could have let me know about it.And she didn’t.I was mad, but what do I feel right now? The heaviness in my throat increases. She loves me, she is carrying my child and she is showing me that she cares about me without giving a fuck about the watching eyes.It’s like I am in a dream. Maybe, I lost my mind back in the South and this is a part of a beautiful imagination.If it’s that…I slide her stray hair behind her ear and watch as she smiles at me brightly. Her blue eyes are moist, and they still l
AVERY“ Once we are done, do you want me to give you a visit to the Wolveshire Citadel? ” I wonder, clinging to Aleister’s arm.He glances at my eyes, slowly looks down at my arm wrapped around his bicep, blinks, then looks away. From where I walk beside him, I can see his neck turning slightly red.“ I don’t think your brother would like that. ” Aleister grumbles under his breath as we step into the sitting area.“ I think the same. ” I nod quickly. “ but I don’t mind. He can be broody about it and go sulk in his room. ” My eyes wander off to my brother who is standing in front of the window, his back to us. “ Ava. ” Nora squeaks, grabbing my attention.I look to my right and find the rest of them standing beside the couches stiffly. Their wary glares filter towards Aleister, making me frown.Subtly, Tyson pushes Amelia behind him and stands in front of her protectively while the girl looks as horrified as a dying fish. Nora and King Striker are beside them, all in their defensive s
AVERYI fake a gasp and roll on the bed. Instantly, Aleister halts and turns to me worriedly.“ What happened? ” He asks, approaching me hurriedly.I clutch my head until he is standing in front of me. When he leans in, I grab his shoulder and sit him on the bed again.My eyes narrow. “ I liked what we did but I don’t want anyone to see this view. ”I point towards his abdomen before rolling out of the bed and grabbing his pants to throw them at him.“ You faked it? ” He rolls his eyes.“ I know what works with you. I just used that information. ” I shrug, searching for my dress. The look of disbelief comes back on his face. He leans back, dropping the pants on the floor again.“ I am not wearing them. You wanted to fuck me in your room. Now you can’t hide me, Princess. ” He chuckles, balancing himself on his palms.“ First of all, we didn’t do what you said we did. We— ”“ Made love? That’s the same as fucking. My cock goes in and out your— ” A knock silences him. Gasping, I drop t
AVERYI am getting worried now. Aleister hasn’t said anything for like an hour after what I told him.I am comfortably lying on top of him now, and I am so tired that I want to sleep. But the hundred different emotions that keep surging back and forth in my mind keep me wide awake.I yawn, snuggling into his neck. “ say something. This silence is irritating me now. ”Silence meets me as a reply again.I huff and draw my face out of his neck just to glare at him. But he looks lost and his eyes see right through me.“ Are you that shocked? Did you not want— ”“ You said…it’s not possible. ” Aleister finally mumbles, his heart beating like a loud drum under my palm.My gaze meets his wide eyes as I sigh. “ Well, my Mom lied about that. I am perfectly fine. I confirmed with a Healer. ”“ What? ” Aleister whispers, his eyes still holding disbelief.“ Yes, Mom lied and made me believe I couldn’t get pregnant. ” I shrug, dropping my head back. “ but who knew…her lie would get me pregnant mor