CHAPTER 13
AUDREY’S POV
“You both can leave now.” He said in such a stern manner, that made me simply keep quiet and obey his order. I stood up from my seat and made my way out of his study, and so did Logan.
The moment he shut the door of his father’s study behind us, he tried to hold my arm and start a conversation, but I clearly wasn’t having any of it, quite aware of the shocking and exciting sparks his touch made me feel.
“Audrey, please can we talk for a moment?” He pleaded. Goddess! He sounded so weak, and that was very disappointing. Why couldn’t he be firm with his words?
“Let go off me please!” I pulled my arm away from him and coincidentally, that was the moment a few royal guards walked past us. They had clearly seen how I embarrassed their Alpha prince, but I could care less. All I really wanted to do at the moment, was find Sebastian and let him know the current situation of things. I was half worried because getting married to Logan had been the very thing I was trying to avoid. I could never be Luna Queen once I accepted Logan. More so, how was Sebastian going to take it? Hell! What other way could we even fix this? My mind had drifted away in my thoughts, until my nose caught a whiff his annoyingly wonderful scent. What was he still doing here?
“Please Audrey, I would really love it if we could talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you. And I’m not sorry about that.” I muttered blatantly, before walking away. What exactly did he want to talk about, after sitting still and watching his father force us into an unwanted union? Well, on my part, it was an unwanted union, but obviously not on his. He was definitely hoping to use me as an opportunity for a grab at the throne. All his life, he’d definitely never thought he’d be as lucky as having a mate as strong and special as I.
The moment I walked a distance away from the king’s study, I opened my mindlink and tried reaching out to Sebastian, but was aggressively blocked out. That was weird.
I tried a few more times, but got the exact same result. What was happening?
Oh no! Has he already found out about my meeting with his father and stepbrother? He probably knew that I had been ordered to marry Logan.
Goddess! I hope I was only overthinking. I hope Sebastian was not going to withdraw his claim on me?
I tried to locate my room from where I was, but found it difficult to. I hadn’t been paying actual attention on our way here, and Alara was long gone before I could finish up my business in the kng’s study. So apparently, there was literally no one to guide me back to my room, in such a big environment.
As I walked along the wide hallway, I saw two palace guard coming towards me.
“Hello.” I called their attention and they turned to me immediately.
“Good morning.” They chorused, to which I gave a simple nod.
“Please could you lead me to my room?” It was after I asked the question, that I realized how stupud it sounded.
“Your room?”
“Forget I said that.” I waved it off. “Do any of you happen to know Alara? A maid.”
“Sure! Everyone knows Alara.” The second guard smiled.
“Great!” I sighed. “I need you to bring her to me. Now.”
“That’s not a problem, I…” He was still talking when the lady in question showed up.
“Alara.” I called, and she came closer. “Thank you.” I muttered to the guards, dismissing them.
“I am sorry I didn’t wait until your meeting with the king was over.” She apologized. “Prince Sebastian wanted my assistance with something.”
At the sound of Sebastian’s name, I quickly looked up at her.
“You were with the prince?” I asked. “What did he want?”
“Yes, I was with prince Sebastian. He wanted me to help him get into your room, without the notice of the guards stationed along the hallway. He wanted me to distract them for a bit, while he goes into your room.”
Immediately, my countenance changed positively.
“You mean to say that he is currently in my room?” I whispered the last part, to which she nodded. “Please lead me back to my room. I need to speak with him urgently.” At my request, she turned and started walking away. I followed behind and made sure to memorize the way all through.
The moment I got to my room, I wasted no time in opening the door and walking right in. True to Alara’s words, Seb had been sitting on my bed, calmly waiting for me.
“Heyyyy…” He stood up and closed the distance between us both. He gave me a fleeting kiss that actually managed to calm my nerves regardless of how short it had been.
“I tried connecting through our mindlink, but you kept brushing me off. Why?”
“I know.” He sighed. “And I’m sorry about that. I wanted to speak with you physically, and the only way to achieve that was to come into your room unnoticed. There are too many eyes around the palace.”
“Very understandable.” I nodded. “Your father summoned me.” I muttered, half scared at was his reaction was gonna be, at the end of this conversation we were about having.
“I gathered that much.” He gruffly replied. “Things are not going according to plan the way I see it.” He released a rough breathe.
“Yes.” I paused for a while, gathering the energy to let him know the king’s verdict. “Your father insists Logan and I must be married as soon as the council approves of it.”
I looked at him to gauge his reaction, but was very surprised at how calm and coordinated he seemed. It was either one of two things; he had prepared for the worse, or he already heard about it. Which was it?
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” I asked in worry.
“Because I already heard about it from quite a reliable source.” He exhaled. “One of the members of the royal council happens to be a very good ally of my mother’s. He told us about the fact that my goddess forsaken father had submitted a petition for the approval of your marriage to Logan!” He yelled in anger, and I hadn’t even seen it coming when he picked a very expensive looking flower pot off the table just behind the door, and smashed it on the floor.
“Calm down.” I whispered, surprised at the level of anger he displayed. Well, not that I was totally surprised. He had always shown the traces of being hot tempered and rough.
“I cannot calm down!” He growled in my face, before turning his back on me, while I remained standing in my position. After a while, he suddenly turned to me and asked a question.
“How badly do you want to rule beside me as Queen?”
“I wouldn’t even be in the palace right now, if it’s wasn’t so important to me.” I reasoned. He remained silent for a moment, before speaking up once more.
“The petition submitted to the council by my father, would only be approved if they think Logan is fit to be the next king. It is long passed the normal age when Logan is supposed to be crowned king, but the council weren’t in support of him being coronated just yet, but he was yet to transform into his wolf form, or find a mate. These are the major evidences that shows one is a true wolf.”
“So, now that I am his mate, the council may go ahead and approve his coronation. And I have to marry him in other to be crowned Luna Queen. But that definitely wouldn’t work because the people may clamour against him to be king.”
“The most important word there, is ‘may’. Every plan we are making seems to be based off on assumptions. What if the coronation goes successfully without any issues?” He asked, and I held my breathe for a moment. He was right though. What if?
“I assume you have a plan in mind out of this potential problem?” I asked, and was suprised when he nodded. “You do?”
“Definitely!” He nodded affirmatively. “So this is what we’re gonna do. We would try to influence the judgement of the council with the help of our ally. We would make them realize that regardless of finding his mate, Logan still remains wolfless, and a king should never be wolfless, whether or not he is mated to one. We have seen rare cases where a witch, vampire, and even human, were mate to a wolf.”
“What if they don’t buy into it?”
“There is a high chance that they wouldn’t, and that is where our second plan comes in.”
“What?”
“You would go ahead and marry Logan.”
“Hell no!” I didn’t bother to let him finish that silly statement of his, before reacting. “I cannot tie myself to such a man…..”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“Calm down, and let me finish.” He cut me short. “You would marry him, but wouldn’t let him mate with you or complete the bonding process.” He shrugged so casually, making me think for a second if he was actually deranged. Did he understand what he was saying? What man would marry his mate and aceept not to mate with her and complete their bonding process?
“Are you crazy?!” I asked in disbelief, to which he just chuckled in response.
“Trust me when I say I’m far from being crazy. You’re literally repulsed by him. Have you seen your face when you talk about him? Pure and utter disgust. It wouldn’t be much of a task to push him away. And coincidentally, he happens to be quite a pushover. He would do anything you want, just to keep you from hating him.”
“I cannot believe you’re asking me to marry that weak thing!” I yelled in annoyance over the fact that he so casually talked about me marrying his brother.
“But in my defense, you wouldn’t get intimate with him!”
“I don’t have a problem with that, but what if he does?”
“Then you simply stand your ground!” He said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “The coronation would be held a month after you both get wedded, as tradition demands. If you avoid mating with him, it simply makes it easier for me to stake my claim on you as my mate, during the day of his coronation, when I stand up and challenge him to a duel, for the throne.”
It took me a little while to assimilate what he just said.
“A duel?” I asked. “But…”
“Yes, I know! A duel means that either of us dies in the fight. And you already know who the winner would be.” I had no idea why his words made me feel a certain kind of way. I just couldn’t place it. “Well, that is except he chickens out and willingly abdicates the throne, like the coward he is. Whatever the case, it’s a win win for me.”