Chapter 36
I didn’t want Jaxon to leave but there wasn’t much I could do to stop him. He was determined to get to the bottom of the matter as soon as possible and there wasn’t much I could do except let him go. I didn’t want to be left alone but I knew that he was king first and my mate second and there was really nothing I could do about it so I shoved down my feelings concerning the matter.
See has arrived to
in the
He noticed that I was being withdrawn. Aiden had arrived to tell him that the elders were waiting for him in council room and he had made his way to the door when he stopped and walked back into the room and towards where I was sitting cross legged on the bed. He crouched next to me so that we were at eye level and he stroked my cheek softly.
“I’ll be back,” he assured me but that wasn’t my issue. I knew he was going to come back but I knew it would take too long. “I have to do this so I can keep you safe. Do you understand?”
I nodded because I did understand, it just didn’t mean that I had to like it. He pressed a k*ss to my forehead and walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, the silence hit me and it was suffocating. I felt like someone had their hands wrapped around my throat and was trying to squeeze the life out of me.
Jaxon had taken the letter with him but it didn’t stop me from still replaying those words over and over again. Ast I played it over in my head for what was possibly the tenth time, I suddenly decided that I had enough. I felt like I was losing my mind or going crazy or possibly both and I was tired.
I rose to my feet and opened the door to the room only to be met with two guards standing on either side of the door. As soon as they saw me, they stood at attention, poised and ready to follow me wherever I chose. I had not expected Jaxon to get the guards so quickly and I had not expected to have them follow me around when I was in the castle.
I had never seen them before but I figured they must be men that Jaxon trusted so I smiled to both of them. They didn’t smile back but they bowed to me as a sign of respect and I took that in goodwill and started to move. They kept a steady pace behind me and I felt bad that I was making them follow me around but I couldn’t help it.
I went down the stairs and I could feel their confusion as I made my way through the deserted stone hallways and if I were to guess, I would have said that they had never been to this part of the castle before. I made my way through the halls until I got to the familiar double doors and then I turned.
They were whispering between themselves but stopped immediately they noticed I had turned to look at them. Their faces were blank and they cleared their throats as if uncomfortable that I had caught them whispering
about me.
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Chapter 36
“I want to go in there alone,” I said slowly and they understood.
“We need to sweep the place first and make sure it is safe.”
+5
I nodded and stepped aside while one of them went in to do the sweep. I used that brief moment to analyze both of them and I realized they actually looked alike. I would not have been surprised to find out that they were brothers or twins. They both had close cropped dark brown hair and very dark eyes. They looked young- early twenties at most but if they were lycans like I thought they were then they were probably a lot older.
“Are you twins?” I asked the guard who had remained with me and he hesitated for a second before nodding. “That’s fascinating, who is older?”
“Don’t tell him I admitted that he is,” he rolled his eyes then caught himself as if he realized he shouldn’t have been doing that in front of me. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
THIS
“It’s fin,” I assured him. “What’s your name?”
“Jaden,”
I was about to say more when his brother walked out and gave me a nod to go in. I thanked them both and walked into the ball room. It was exactly as I remembered and I closed the door behind me because I wanted the utmost privacy.
It had been cleaned recently although not very well because there was still dust everywhere. I wasn’t exactly sure how to do what I planned but I hoped that I would do it right. I found a dais and placed my phone there and tapped play on the classical music that I had found. Aiden had said that he would come here to pretend like he was the son of a Lord. I was no princess but at least I could pretend, to get my mind off things.
As soon as the music started, I felt awkward because I didn’t know what to do but I decided to just move with it. It felt weird dancing alone but it also felt freeing and very stress relieving. Soon I was getting lost in the music and I didn’t care what was happening around me, I was just existing.
I don’t know how long danced for but I was out of breath and my feet had started to hurt but still kept dancing. Suddenly, I heard the door and I stopped in my tracks. I turned to see Jaxon walking in, he looked exhausted and like he needed at least three days of rest. I briefly caught Jaden’s eye before he closed the door once more.
The music was still playing but I had stopped, my whole world had stopped and Jaxon was just standing there. watching me. I walked over to my phone and when I saw the time, I went completely pale. It was almost nine which meant had been dancing for over five hours and I didn’t even realize it.
.7
I completely abandoned everything and everyone including my own daughter. Jaxon must have seen the panic
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Chapter 36
on my face because he quickly walked over to me and cradled my cheeks in both hands. I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate but he pecked me slowly.
-5
“Relax,” he breathed softly. “You have done nothing wrong. Kiara is fine; she’s with Aiden right now. She is safe. and she is asleep.”
“I left her,” I spoke the words softly as if I couldn’t bear to hear them out in the world. It would have made my abandonment of her more real.
“You didn’t abandon her,” Jaxon told me. When I didn’t respond, he sighed and took the phone out of my hand. He tapped play on the music and led me out into the middle of the ball room. “Did you know I attended my first ball here when I was only four years old?”
I knew what he was doing and I was grateful for the distraction so I decided to play along.
“My last ball was at twenty. After my curse, my father didn’t want anyone to find out so he banned every single ball. Most people were relieved because no one could quite throw a ball like my grandfather.”
“Did you ever meet your grandfather?” I asked and he nodded.
“My grandfather died just a few years before I met you. He was almost five hundred years old. He moved out into the country to live alone because he couldn’t face me after what happened. He died of a broken heart and not old age.”
I paused and assessed Jaxon. “How old are you?”
“The real answer,” he paused before responding. “One hundred and five.”
My eyes widened in complete shock. I could not believe that Jaxon was that old. There was no part of me that could actually come to terms with the fact that he looked so young and yet was that old. Jaxon saw my expression and laughed. He placed one hand on my waist and pulled me closer so we were flush against each
other.
“Just follow my lead,” he said and then he started moving.
He danced so flawlessly and I couldn’t help but feel inadequate next to him. I stepped on his feet more times. than I could count but he never complained. In fact, he just kept moving like nothing had happened. Soon, I allowed myself to relax and just enjoy the feel of his body against mine.
“Tell me about the balls,” I said after a moment of silence. “Alden told me that they were the talk of the century when your grandfather was alive.”
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JOAVII STUUR THE
got to steal sweets when no one was looking.”
“Were you always best friends?”
He hesitated before responding. I thought he honestly wasn’t going to respond when he stopped moving. I felt like I had crossed a line and I was about to apologize when he finally spoke up.
“Aiden was my servant,” he said slowly. “His mother was one of the maids in the palace and she got pregnant. She never revealed the name of his father but I heard the story from my mother. His mother was her maid. She requested for Aiden to be put with me which was weird considering there was barely two years between us.”
“Why did she request it?”
He shrugged. “Maybe it was to honor his mother. She died when he was just five. It was a freak accident, she was cleaning and there was a massive earthquake and she fell to her death.”
He shook his head as if he could almost picture it. “It doesn’t matter; Aiden is the closest I had to family right now and as soon as I was of age to start training I demanded that he did too. He was wicked good with a sword and my father saw his potential and allowed him become a guard.”
I
“As soon as your dad died, you made him beta,” I deduced and Jaxon nodded.
“My father would be rolling over in his grave right now that someone who is not of noble blood is ruling,” he smiled weakly. “Just don’t mention this to Aiden. His past is a very touchy subject.”
“I won’t, I swear.”
Jaxon smiled and held out his hand to me once more. “Come, we’ve had a long day.”
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