Hekate’s Bride

My parents left for Wolvendom yesterday. The goodbyes had been awkward and somewhat detached. With my parents, with Thorne, and with Trinity, everyone itching to get back to their lives and me. . . back to my misery. Frankly, the problem had been me. I couldn’t stand being around any of them. My lying parents. Thorne and his mate. Trinity who’s become Thorne’s best friend. Aria didn’t attend, choosing instead to remain in the Academy with her fourth year boyfriend who isn’t much for sports.

I have been holed up in my room since then, brooding and thinking. Classes start again in a week, ensuring that all of the injured have recovered. Not nearly time to get over everything that happened, but we’re all trying to set it aside.

Having had two days to myself to think, I have decided to meet up with Rune and talk it out. After which I will check in on Darian. He was among the injured. Maya told me. Rather than go see him myself, I have had Maya take flowers to him on my behalf.

I’m a fucking coward, I know. I just. . . i couldn’t face him after everything I’d found out.

I adjust my lipstick, smiling at the mirror like an idiot. It’s the first time in a while that I’m paying attention to my appearance. I straightened my frizz and my skin doesn’t need anything. It looks better than usual, glowing ethereally. The cherry lipstick is the icing on the grand cake.

I look great and I feel great. Giddy in fact.

After nearly emptying my scented oils on my skin, I rush out of my room. I take the flight of stairs on left, ignoring the hot looks I get from male and females alike as I walk past.

Knots unravel in my stomach as I go further up, toward the biggest room in the Star Hall.

Rune’s room.

He hadn’t refused meeting up with me–had replied almost immediately to my message like he had been expecting it. I wipe my palms on my dress and straighten my back as I draw nearer.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I sight Raven, walking alongside Cass, one of Rune’s lackeys who had made me kiss his feet on my first day. Raven’s eyes take me in from head to toe and she gives me a forced smile as she notes where I’m headed.

I smile back, nodding curtly and she continues her discussion with Cass, who has a smug smile on his face. If I could just wipe it off…

Soon, I am standing in front of Rune’s and my hand rises to knock on the door.

“Enter,” I hear him say from inside and I suck in a deep breath, calming my nerves.

I twist the door knob and slip inside the room quietly, shutting the door behind me. The first thing I notice is the scent. It all smells like him. It does something to me, making me feel hot and queasy at the same time.

I take a few steps forward, feet silent against the plush carpet that has the softest fabric ever.

At the center of the room sits an extremely large bed that would definitely be suitable for… orgies. Wooden framed, sheets of white silk cover the mattress as well as tasteful grey throws. Pillows sit atop it, varying in sizes, shapes and colours.

The walls are painted in varying shades of grey and beige and a little green.

Masculine.

Much like the man who’s seated off to the side on a wooden chair, staring out the window with a cup in his grasp. The wind whips at his hair and my hands itch to tuck those lovely pale strands behind his ears.

He suddenly turns to me and his dark green eyes hold my gaze for a moment, dropping only to take in my form. His eyes rest on the flare of my hips in the fitting ivory dress and I can swear his eyes darken. A little.

His gaze lifts to meet mine and he inclined his head toward the chair before him. “Sit.”

Ever the authoritative one, but I don’t object.

He sets his cup down on the glass centre table and stares at me squarely. There is something unsettling about the way he looks at me today. Stark, unflinching, unyielding, tired.

His jewel-toned eyes lift to my hair. “The frizz was beautiful.”

I resist the urge to touch my hair on impulse, but I am unable to stop the full body flush that assaults me. “I like it this way.”

Are we seriously talking about the way my hair looks?

We stare at each other and I let myself really look at him, the same way he is taking me in.

His black shirt drapes loosely over his broad chest, hinting at the chiseled muscles beneath and is moon-white hair falls in disarray around his wild, handsome face, drawing attention to his striking green eyes that are resting on my face again.

“Tell me,” he says, leaning forward to pick the white cup again.

I lean forward, straightening and folding my hands in my lap. “I am your Erasthai, and you are betrothed–”

“It means nothing if it is not consummated,” he cuts in sharply and it goes all the way to my heart, breaking it.

*It means nothing…*

I swallow the painful lump that’s growing in my throat and I let out a nervous, breathy laugh. “And if I do not wish for it to stay as nothing? If I want to explore this?”

This is as far as I can go with confessing my feelings. My hands are trembling so hard, I hide them between my thighs. My heart is racing as I wait for his answer.

“You should know better.”

A knife to my heart. Then another. And another. It hurts. Too much. A sharp breath escapes me as I meet his gaze that is colder than ice. “Rune–”

He pushes back from his chair, standing and peering down at me with eyes that have no warmth in them. “We cannot be together.”

“Bullshit!” I yell, shooting up from the chair. “Why choose me if you’re only going to reject me and make me suffer through this for the rest of my life?! This bond is not one that can be broken. What would you have me do? Pine after you for as long as I live?”

His eyes remain cold and empty. “Mate with someone else. It’ll get easier to ignore. I cannot give you what you seek. I am given, and I will mate with Ginevra and make her Queen. She is my choice. The thing with you was a fluke.”

My lips quiver as not hot–but icy glittering rage fills me. “Fuck you. I hate you.”

I shove past him and walk out the door, slamming it so hard, it comes off completely. My breathing is hard and ragged as I run down the staircase. Tears blur my vision but I don’t let them fall.

*Not his choice?*

I don’t return to my room. I walk past, unseeing, and I don’t stop until I am standing before Darian’s door, knocking.

A muffled sound comes from inside and I vaguely register him asking who’s at the door and me answering. I wipe my eyes and will my breaths to calm as I wait for him to open the door.

The door knob twists and Darian’s dark head peeks out. He frowns upon seeing me and widens the door. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I say awkwardly, adding a bit of cheer to my shaky voice. “Can I come in?”

His golden eyes takes me in from head to toe and he opens the door wider, letting me in. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

I pause, watching him close the door, and when he turns to me, I say, “I wasn’t either.”

Right before I close the distance between us and kiss him.