ANNA'S POV"Come in!" I said to whosoever was knocking as I needed the distraction it would bring.A maid walked in. When she saw Xavier and I sitting next to each other, she quickly dropped her eyes and I could see the look of shame on her face as she must have figured that she had interrupted something."His Highness has requested that you join him for dinner tonight, Your Highness," The maid spoke quickly."Thank you. Tell him we will honour his invitation," I answered without a thought.She bowed her head at my words and then practically ran out leaving us both in silence. I could only imagine what the gossip around the palace would be now.I waited for Xavier to say something as I was still, looking straight ahead of me like I was when the maid had come in.Then I felt his body move, then felt his body rise from beside me. I did not turn to look at him even after he walked away.I still sat there, trying to pull myself together.I had messed everything up. I had messed up the opp
XAVIER'S POV"Be ready in an hour. We are going somewhere," I said to her when her eyes fluttered open.She was a light sleeper and she had woken up with just a simple tap.I watched as she tried to get a hold of her surroundings and to understand what I had just said. Her green eyes darted from my face to other parts of the room as she cut ties with her life in her dreamland and adjusted to her life in reality.I had been up for two hours before waking her, making up my mind if what I was doing was the right thing to do or not, and I had spent about twenty minutes out of the two hours watching her sleep.The woman lying beside me was an enigma. One I longed to unravel and my journey to achieving that was going to take a step at a time and the journey was starting today."Where are we going to?" I heard her ask from behind me in a voice that was tampered by a yawn she was trying to stifle as I walked to the bathroom."You will find out soon enough," I answered her dismissively.By the
ANNA'S POVI did not know what to say to him. I felt so embarrassed as I stood there not knowing what to do.He had not told me where we were going to and so I had not known how to dress. After a lot of deliberation, I opted for a flowy milkmaid dress that was both casual as it was dressy. And for shoes, I had chosen a pair of heeled sandals to go with it. I had let my hair down and had applied very minimal makeup."If you had told me where we were going when I had asked I would have known how to dress accordingly," I spat out my voice heavy with anger.I was so much hurt by his mocking statement because it made me look like I craved his attention and was happy to be taken out on a date with him.It hurt me so bad that I could not unleash this anger on him as we were in the dining room and there were people maids around. If not for them, I would have long attacked the annoying man seated before me making him pay for making me look like a fool.The bloody bastard did not even grant me
ANNA'S POVWe stopped in our tracks, Alpha Lartes' voice the catalyst to our stopping.I gave Xavier a sideways glance as I sought insight from him on what to do.I had no clue what to do. My heart raced wildly and it was so loud that it was impossible for me to hear myself think or figure out what I had to do. Even though I knew I was supposed to act calm, I could not.I believed so much in coincidences. Especially the ones that carried a bad omen with them. This had become part of me when I had seen a vulture hovering in the sky when I was a little girl. The large bird had caught my attention for reasons I did not understand and I had not stopped looking at it, totally ignoring my friends whom I was playing with. The next day, my mum died. And when I had found her cold, greying still body, I remembered instantly the vulture I had seen the day before.Meeting Alpha Lartes on the same day I was to meet with my new comrades for the first time was a bad omen preparing me for the sorrow
XAVIER'S POVThe end had come. I could feel it.I was not sure if I was ready for the battle that was about to ensue but I knew that I had to do it.Blood was going to flow, I knew it. I just did not know if mine was going to flow. And if mine flowed, then I would be happy that at least I had died trying to get what was mine.My uncle looked at me with eyes that could kill me.I could see the realisation of everything coming to his mind. His eyes looked heavy with all the emotions that ran through them making his eyes which were an identical shade as mine–a family gene, look navy blue.I knew he hated himself for being so blind and gullible not to believe his little nephew's lies. I could see the disdain he had for the man standing before me.There was also regret. Regret for not doing away with the little boy when he had killed his parents. He would have had a total claim to the throne with no stress. He longed to go back to that night and kill the young boy. Although I had no eviden
ANNA'S POVI understood what Xavier was doing and I needed no prodding from him to join him.And so I forced myself to start laughing with him too."I knew it! You just wanted to prank your uncle," I said so as not to let him be the only one to be laughing even though he deserved it. After all, he single-handedly landed us in this mess.Alpha Lartes was watching us as if we had lost our minds. He looked from one of us to the other.He was an intelligent man and he could smell suspicion from afar. And everything that was happening smelled so suspicious."Sorry Your Highness, it had only been a prank. Sorry if you felt offended by any of it," I said to the Alpha as I tried to make sure I remained in his good graces.But it seems there was nothing we would say that would make the Aloha feel any better and I wondered if the damage Xavier had done with his words would affect him.I looked at Xavier and I sent him a silent threat with my eyes.If the Alpha did not forgive us, Xavier had him
XAVIER'S POV"Never in your flipping life, you pull a stunt like that ever again!" She screamed at me when we had pulled out of the palace and on our way."You would have gotten us killed! What was wrong with you?! " She yelled. The colour on her face had returned but now she was red with anger.I did not say anything to her. I just kept on checking for the spies that were definitely going to trail us.There was no way that my uncle was going to believe that excuse I had given him. I knew he was going to send a spy to follow us and ascertain where we were."Xavier?! Xavier?! Are you listening to me?!" She called out angrily.She had indeed been shook by what had happened as I could feel her body vibrating next to me.I felt the strong urge to pull her closer and hold her in my arms and assure her that she was okay. I was sorry for causing her to feel the way she was feeling but I did the exact opposite and kept to my space."Ouch!" I shouted as I felt a huge bout of pain as her small
XAVIER'S POVShe looked tired and I wondered whether her brothers were causing her trouble again. Those two boys were quite a handful for her.I watched as she came out to sell to a customer. I could not hear what they were saying as my head and ears were filled with the many sounds of the marketplace but I could guess they were bargaining.They took a while going back and forth and I watched as she journeyed from calmness to craziness.I had guessed she was going to go crazy on the man when I saw her start to tap her hand against the table. That had always been my cue to know that her temper was going to flare very soon."Fuck off!" I read her lips when she had sent the man away. He probably must have bargained way below the cost price and had ticked off her fragile temper.Today was the first time I had set my eyes on Abigail ever since she had come to the palace and tried to rat me out to my uncle. I had still not gotten over that incident."Are we moving along or is there somethin