Chapter 15
*Ariella*
“How did you learn how to do this?” Lucy, the eldest daughter of the head advisor, asks me as she laughs. The sun dances through her curly blonde hair. She’s only a couple of years younger than me but I know that once she is of age that she will have suitors lining up the block for her hand.
I laugh and reply, “I don’t really know. It’s like my fingers just know.” I’m not being coy, I seriously don’t know how I know how to do this. I try to remember but it’s just blank and my head starts to pound so I try to not think about it
at all.
Lucy sticks her tongue out as she puts all of her focus on the makeshift flower crown she is trying to braid. The other girls are teasing her but I just give her a reassuring smile. “You’re doing great,” I say just for her to hear.
I feel so relaxed and happy sitting here in the garden with these young women that it makes me begin to reconsider my plan of getting Ethan to grow bored of me. Maybe I can belong here?
The weather begins to shift and a cold north wind chills us to our bones. Our time in the garden is over, for now. We say our goodbyes and then sc** to our different parts of the palace. Being the daughters and young wives of members of the court, they also live here too. Everything is so different from back home or even the packhouse with Marcus, I feel like I’m on a completely different planet.
FRES 52
I am wandering through the corridors of the palace completely lost as I realize that this is the first time I have been unsupervised. I always had an escort to and from my room. Nothing looked familiar, I internally kicked myself for not paying closer attention. This shouldn’t be so complicated or confusing yet here I am, most definitely on the wrong side of the palace with no idea how to get myself back.
It feels like hours till finally I see a s**t who is willing to take me back to my room. We make small talk as they lead me back through the maze. The more people interact with, the more I am leaning towards staying.
If Ethan doesn’t get bored of me.
I thank the kind s**t as I walk through my bedroom door and promise to make a m**l note of the path. We share a laugh then I stop abruptly as my eyes fall upon…her.
“I’ve been waiting for hours,” C**a says bitingly.
I say nothing. I didn’t ask her to come to my room nor to wait for me. How she chooses to waste her time is up to her and not on me. I walk over to a small accent table that had an empty vase and take it over to the ensuite bathroom. I had made myself a banquet of flowers from the garden specifically for this. I fill the vase and return it to the table and place the flowers inside. I smile at my handiwork.
“You know you can’t take those from the garden,” she sneered.
1/4
“No, I didn’t. No one told me I couldn’t pluck them.
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C**a scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Of course you’re playing dumb. Well, I guess it’s not really playing for you, is it? You’re just a dumb country bumpkin.”
What the hell is her problem? Up till recently, I was a Luna of a pack in this kingdom. I am a princess not some dumb country bumpkin.
C**ra walks over to me and sucks on her teeth making an annoying popping noise. In one swift move she flicks her wrist and knocks over the vase, slipping the water all over the table and onto the floor. I jump in surprise and take a step back before the water gets on me. **a begins to laugh a shrill piercing laugh that hurts my
rush into the bathroom and grab a towel to clean up the water as she continues to laugh viciously. I clean off the table quickly before I make my way towards the floor. When I kneel down, she leans against the table.
“That’s where you belong, kneeling before me.”
That’s it. I shoot up angrily. “What is your problem?”
“You,” she glares as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“Me? What did I do?”
“You think that you are Ethan’s match but you’re not. I’ve known him forever. No one knows him better than I do,” she brags.
“Okay,” I say slowly. I have made no claims of knowing him or being his match. He came up with this whole marriage thing, not me. But it’s clear that Ca*** doesn’t care.
“Don’t even think about marrying him. He’s mine. It’s been established since we were children.”
“You seem to be the only person aware of this master plan,” I say without thinking.
She quickly grabs the vase off the table and throws it as hard as she can towards the opposite wall. It breaks into a million little pieces.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I exclaim as I cover my ears from the noise.
“F**k you!” she yells. “You don’t belong here. You will never belong here.”
“I just got here, of course I don’t belong. But I will one day.” I’m letting my anger get the best of me. I need to calm down and try to defuse this me no matter what.
situation but **a seems hellbent on
“I will make sure your life here is a living hell.”
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11:23 Tue, 23 Jul
Chapter 15
“Really? Your Alpha King’s wife?” Now it’s my turn to laugh because no one would be dumb enough to do that, not when their king has a reputation like Ethan’s.
C*** takes a step closer to me and puffs out her chest to intimidate me. But it isn’t going to work. I refuse. I take a step closer and mimic her behavior.
“Go home while you still have the chance,” she threatens. Her voice is dark.
“I am not going anywhere.”
She disgustingly sucks her teeth once more and nods her head. I can tell the wheels in her head are turning. She’s devising some awful plan of attack. She takes one stubby finger and pokes me as hard as she can in my sternum. It hurts like a b**h but I refuse to show it and give her the satisfaction.
I think it’s the baby giving me Ethan’s ruthlessness.
…if the baby is Ethan’s.
“I have powerful allies. Just you wait,” she says as she looks me up and down.
“Can’t wait,” I say flippantly.
She turns and begins to walk out of the room as the door flies open urgently. Ethan rushes in followed by Kyle. They both look frantic.
“A s**t heard a loud crashing noise, everything okay?” Ethan asks as he scans the room. Water is still on the floor and the broken pieces of the vase are s**d everywhere.
C**ra changes her demeanor immediately and rushes over to Ethan. She throws herself into his arms and buries her head into his shoulder. She begins to fake cry.
“Oh, Ethan! Thank Goddess you’re here! She’s crazy! She threw the vase at me!”
What. The. Hell?
“Send her home! We don’t need a violent p**ho like her!” she cries.
Ethan looks at me and I cannot tell if he believes her or not. I suddenly get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I don’t belong here at all.
11:23 Tue, 23 Jul