Eighteenth Birthday

~Daciana~

“Daciana! It’s time! The guests are waiting!” My mother, Agatha yelled from outside my door while I tried to finish up my makeup.

Today is my eighteenth birthday and I can’t stop thinking about what my mom said to me three days ago.

“My lover is King Edwin.” This sentence kept ringing in my head for reasons best known to me. Indeed, I was happy about my mother remarrying and becoming a queen, and I, a princess but…

The fact that I had to see and accept him as my stepbrother?

After my mother broke the news of having an affair with the King of Bedfordshire, her second chance mate, I was super excited, especially because we were finally getting the life we deserved. A royal life.

However, my joy was limited after realizing that the king’s son, Prince Randall, the rudest and most arrogant young man I have ever met, had to be my stepbrother.

If he wasn’t in the picture, I wouldn’t even think twice about supporting mom’s decision. But unfortunately, he was.

Regardless, I decided to make sure my hatred for Randall doesn’t affect my mother’s relationship with the king. I’d do anything to make her happy, even if it had to be living under the same roof with the young man I hated the most in the whole world.

Feeling so pretty and confident, I made my way out of my room and headed to the living room. I could hear the chats and music right from when I stepped out of my room door.

I let out a wide smile as I approached the main door. Seeing so many people spread out on the front lawn made me even happier.

Even though it was a tradition in Granby Way that everyone attends a teenager’s eighteenth birthday party, I was happy they did turn up for me.

“Here comes the birthday girl!” Trisha, my neighbor and best friend announced, pulling everyone’s attention to me.

I felt knots in my belly as my eyes scanned through the faces of the guests. I lifted my red slip dress as elegantly as possible so that I could easily walk down the porch.

Getting onto the front lawn, I heard his voice. It was the voice I always wanted to hear. The voice of my boyfriend, Carl.

“You look so beautiful, Darcy.” He uttered with a wide grin, and I reciprocated.

The term ‘boyfriend’ would change today as soon as he is announced as my mate. This was the part I looked forward to.

He wore a fitted white tuxedo, one I hadn’t seen before, and in his hands was a bouquet of roses. My cheeks flushed as I collected the flowers from him.

“Thank you so much for being here, Carl,” I said as I embraced him.

“Where else could I be? It’s your eighteenth birthday. It doesn’t happen twice.” He answered, rubbing my back softly.

“Okay! Okay! That’s enough, Carl. You can have her all to yourself after the party. For now, she should welcome her guests.” Trisha uttered, slowly pulling me away from Carl’s embrace.

“Later, my love.” I mouthed as Trisha pulled me to the stage they had prepared. She took the microphone and began to speak.

“Attention everybody! Before we listen to what Daciana has to say to us today, we should sing for her, right?” She asked.

“Yes! Yeah! Right!” They all chorused.

“Great! Let’s do that now! Happy birthday….”

I clapped, giggled, and waved to the rhythm as they sang. I noticed Carl’s undiverted gaze on me as he sang. I knew he couldn’t wait for us to become official because I felt the same way.

After they finished singing and cheering, Trisha passed the microphone to me.

“Your speech.” She uttered, leaving the stage afterward. I heaved a deep sigh before I started.

“Today is a very special day for me. I’m finally an adult! My first wolf transformation is around the corner, and I get to find and be with my mate.”

My eyes wandered off to where Carl stood again, and he gave me a bright smile. I smiled back before I turned to my mother, who stood to my right, a hearty smile on her face.

“I want to say a big thank you to my mother. Thank you so much for taking care of me until now. Even though I lost my father before I was born, you’ve worked and fought so hard to see me happy. I’ll never…”

“King Edwin?? Oh my! It’s King Edwin!”

The loud murmurings from the people cut me short. I looked up and I saw King Edwin walk in majestically. He had guards around him as he walked, watching every step he took like he was an egg, given to a child to hold.

“King Edwin! Welcome!” I uttered excitedly and he smiled widely.

“Happy birthday.” He mouthed, walking to where my mother stood. To my greatest surprise, he moved closer to her and planted a kiss on her lips, in front of everyone!

The gasps from the audience increased as my mother broke the kiss and embraced him. I winced excitedly before I turned to face the people again.

“It’s my birthday! Let’s not get distracted.” I uttered, and they all laughed.

“It is time, Daciana.” The chairwoman announced, holding up the sacred globe.

The chairwoman, Mrs Frena, is the globe bearer. It had never left her family since the time of her foremothers. Every community in Bedfordshire has his or her own globe bearer. Mrs Frena was ours.

“Yes! Let’s do this!” Everyone yelled as she made her way to the stage. My heart began to beat fast and I became so nervous. Staring at the globe, I began to have doubts about Carl and me.

‘What if he isn’t my mate? What if another name appears? What am I going to do?’

“Daciana, are you sure you want to know who your mate is now? You know you can always check some other time.” The chairwoman said.

At least twenty percent of teenagers in Bedfordshire refused to carry the globe the previous year because of so many reasons.

Some, because they weren’t ready to face the truth, some because they had other things going on for them which was better than having a romantic relationship, and some, the teenager's parents feel their kids are still too young, so they wait till they are over twenty.

But I wanted to know who.

Carl told me his parents stopped him from holding the globe because they wanted him to focus on the family’s business first, and that once he was over twenty, he’d hold the globe.

His twentieth birthday is a month from now, so we decided I’d check mine first.

“I’m ready,” I uttered courageously. There was a roar of applause after I said this.

While the chairwoman raised the sacred globe, I looked at Carl one more time and he gave me a reassuring nod. I smiled softly and turned to look at her again.

“Now, hold the globe and know your fate.”

I carefully took the globe from her and as soon as it rested on my palm, it glowed, letting out a bluish light. I chuckled nervously as I stared into it, waiting for the big reveal.

I waited for minutes and I saw nothing. I looked at the chairwoman, hoping she had a reasonable explanation as to why I didn’t get a name, but all she did was stare back at me.

“Tell us! What is his name?!” They yelled happily, and I furrowed my brows.

“I can’t see anything,” I muttered, looking at Carl.

“What?!”

“It refused to bring out a name! It’s empty!” I yelled in tears.

“That is impossible. It has never happened before.” The chairwoman responded in awe, collecting the globe from me, and it immediately stopped glowing.

“What’s going on?” Everyone, including my mother, began to question.

“Let’s try again.” She said, raising the globe. This time, my heart began to thump against my chest violently. Tears rapidly heated the back of my eyes and my hands began to shiver.

“What is going on?” I pondered tearfully.

She gave me the globe and I carefully took it from her. Again, on getting into my hands, it began to glow. I stared intensely at the globe, but just like before, no name appeared.

I broke into tears and shook my head. “No name is appearing. I can’t see a damn thing!” I cried out.

People began to mutter things to themselves, some even brought out phones to take pictures and videos. I looked at Carl and he looked as confused as I was.

“What’s happening?” King Edwin questioned the chairwoman.

“I am equally confused, my king. This has never happened. The globe always displayed a name.” She answered.

I shook my head and rushed up to her. “No, this cannot happen. You have to do something. I…”

A loud crashing noise caused me to stop abruptly. We all looked up to see my large beautiful cake all shattered on the floor, with a young man next to it.

It was him!

‘When everything is going wrong, he decides to show up and knock down the only beautiful thing left?!’

“Hmm… Hi?” He muttered, grinning stupidly.

“Randall?!!!”