Chapter 51
MAEVE POV
All of the white, hot fury that possessed my body vanished the moment I had unleashed the burdens of my mind onto the Alpha King At first, all I felt was weightless, sweet relief upon having said everything I needed so desperately to say.
But then I suddenly found myself freed from the control of that vengeful, restless spirit.
And now, I was awake, forced to deal with the aftermath of my rash actions.
What the hell have I done? I thought, horrified. This is not like me!
Alpha King Arlan’s green eyes gleamed with something dark. “You have some gall, little pup,” he muttered. “Though, I am not sure if it was courage or foolishness that inspired you to speak to me with such crass.”
He took one step toward me and I recoiled with a sharp flinch, fearing he wanted to strike me for talking back. In the blink of an eye. Xaden bravely planted himself in front of me, still holding onto me with a strong, comforting hand–all in an attempt to shield me from his father’s menacing figure.
My body was wracked with tremors, terrified of what might happen.
Please don’t let the Alpha King hurt Xaden because of me!
Queen Leonora, however, was quick to intervene. “Dear.. it has been a long day, and the night draws near,” she said, wrapping her arm around his. Her gentle, beseeching touch seemed to have soothed him in some way. “This is a matter for another time
After a tense moment, he finally spoke up once more.
“Due to the special circumstances of the evening. I’ll allow that little mishap of yours to slide,” King Arlan drawled, looming closer to me with slow, foreboding steps that threatened to send me cowering in a corner, “but make no mistake, I will not be so forgiving a second time. It would do you well to remember your place in the future.”
My place…
The words hit me in the chest with a thud. I knew better than anyone where I stood in the chain of command.
What happened tonight was a mere anomaly, I wanted to hope. Much stress culminated from this banquet, and my reaction was simply an unfortunate release of all the stress I had accumulated. Deep down, however, I knew that all of this could have been prevented. and something inside me chose to throw all caution to the wind,
Regardless, I could not afford to let this happen again.
Gulping, I lowered my head. “Y–Yes, Your Majesty.”
He stopped mere inches away from me, so close that I could practically smell his disdain. “You may be my son’s intended.. and you may have him wrapped around your dainty little finger, but you are still just a child,” he hissed, peering down at me like I was linle more than a pebble under his shor, uncaring that his son could hear every word. “And children do not dictate the ways of the adult world. Just obry, and everything will happen as planned.”
This was his warning to me.
No–it was a promise. If I learned what I needed to and respected the king’s rules, then we wouldn’t have any problems.
“Father-
“And you, Xaden-“The harsh, sudden addressal made Xaden stiffen beside me. “Learn to take control of your woman,” he leered, looking me up and down. “Such behavior from your future Lana will only cause problems.”
I felt his hand tremble around my arin, which unnerved me. Did he fear his father.. or was it what his father said!
Xaden said nothing in response, however, only staring back at him with full intensity.
With a passing glare in my direction, Alpha King Arlan briskly stormed off, followed by a worried Luna Queen Leonora and smug- looking labelle, leaving the two of us braced together in the hallway. As if stuck in a trance, we walked back to the car in total, baffled silence, processing the events of the evening-
Even in the car, it took the longest time for one of us to even muster the energy to speak.
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Chapter 37
Stunned, Xaden let out a breath, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “Maeve what happened in there?” he asked, sounding at a loss.
“1–I don’t know.” I stammered as I picked at my hands, overwhelmed with shame and panic. “I don’t know where all of that came from. I swear, I didn’t mean to blow up at your father like that–it just came out, and I couldn’t stop i
Screaming at the Alpha King was the absolute last thing I had thought to achieve tonight, least of all at any point in my life. I had wanted to show the utmost respect and humility that I could in his presence. Not only was he Xaden’s father, but he was the most powerful man in the entire kingdom—if he wanted to, he could do away with me at any given moment.
But… something had happened to me when I saw Eric sit there while his older brother said those awful things.
While his father did nothing to stop it.
All of a sudden, I was back in that nightmare of a house I grew up in. I had found myself sitting in Eric’s place, with Sarah and Victoria hurling their insults at me instead of Prince Henry And where King Arlan sat, I saw Alpha Burton blissfully minding his own business, turning a blind eye and deaf ear to what was happening in his house.
I saw my father staring back at me through those green apathetic eyer
And something in me snapped.
I couldn’t just pay witness to all of that and pretend it never happened. Not when I had dreamed for years that someone would defend me the way I did tonight. It wasn’t right that I had to stand up to the king in the first place…
But I didn’t regret standing up for Eric,
Xaden continued. “Those things you said I could understand talking back to Isabelle, but.. for you to talk like that to my father, of all prople, too.” He turned to gape at me. “I’ve never seen such a side to you before.”
Iblanched, suddenly feeling horrified. In daring to insult the alpha king, there was a great likelihood that I insulted Xaden in the process too Familial issues aside, they were still father and son, and I very possibly showed him a new side of me that he did not approve of
“Xaden, 1-1-
And then, in a split second, he was kissing me with passionate fervor in the backseat of the car, taking me by complete surprise. “I was right–he purred against my mouth, full of adoration, “I just knew you’d blow us all away tonight”
“Y–You’r
‘re not mad?”
“Mad?” he repeated incredulously with a wicked grin, licking his lips. “What you did was the most fearless thing I’ve ever seen anyone do. Only my mother would dare to confront him with such burning tenacity and not give a damn about the repercussions. It was about time someone else did.”
This fearless image he seemed to luve of me couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I was not proud of myself, by any means. It was merely the reaction of a girl who was at the end of her rope.
I was not brave like Xaden. I was a coward lost in a moment of stupidity and weakness.
“B–But what if he forces us to call off our mating ceremony because of it?”
“Let him try,” he declared. “I have every intention of making you mine.” His unwavering determination, admittedly, did little to appease me. I wanted so badly to believe him, but in the end, he was powerless against his father’s almighty will.
My fate rested in the Alpha King’s unforgiving hands tonight.
And my odds were not looking good
THIRD PERSON POV
An out–of–breath Isabelle tried her best to keep up with the long strides of Alpha King Arlan, whose outrage bounced off the walls of the palace walls. “Your Majesty!” she gasped, maintaining a respectabile distance. Tin utterly appalled at my fellow Luna Princess’s beluavior tonight!”
That Arlan could quite agree with. No one dared to talk back to him like th
No one.
11:19 AM
Chapter 31
Except for this girl, for whatever reason.
I quite think this banquet served its purpose, wouldn’t you agree?” Isabelle continued. “We learned just what kind of girl Kaden chose for himself. She’s clearly not worthy of marrying into our outstanding bloodline-”
“And I thought I made myself quite clear tonight, King Arlan snapped, swiftly turning around to face his relentless daughter–in–law, who paled upon seeing the dangerous look in his eyes. “I did not want to hear another word out of you for the rest of the night. Not during the banquet, and not now.
She flinched, a hurt look crossing her eyes
“My decision about whether she stays or not is none of your concern, Isabelle,” he reaffirmed sternly, not caring if he hurt her feelings. “And I refuse to discuss this with you any longer. Goodnight.”
Leaving no room for her to say anything more, Isabelle abruptly left with a huff
As King Arlan entered his royal quarters, his wife followed closely behind, her mind awhirl with concern for both him and her future daughter–in–law, “Dear,” she prodded gently, “please, don’t be too upset with Maeve. She’s been under a lot of stress-
“Am I to assume that was the result of your teachings?” he asked gruffly, point–blank.
She blinked, looking affronted. “Of course not,” she quickly retorted, before once again growing concerned. “You won’t punish her, will you!”
As much as it pained him to admit it, something happened as she scolded him like he was little more than a child. Seeing that unremarkable, shy, pitiful creature who trembled after merely entering a room he occupied suddenly turn red with rage and determination, even in the daunting shadow of his royal crown, was a fascinating sight to behold. It was something he never would have expected from her.
Not even Henry’s wife had the audacity to confront him with such spirit.
By all accounts, he should have been furious and demanded to have her removed from the premises. And if she were anyone else, then it would have happened without question.
But, Arlan was impressed.
“No.“he answered honestly, much to the pleasant surprise of his wife. “But make no mistake, Leonora.. I will not tolerate such behavior from that girl again. That, you have my word on.”
Impressed or not, Maeve was still nowhere near worthy of marrying his son, and he was determined to watch every move she made henceforth with meticulous perception. If she made a mistake, he would be the first to know.
She would have to be very careful from now on.
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