Rejected by My Royal Mate

Ch 4- The Warrior

-Alyna-

For twenty years, the palace had been my home, as it was to many of the councilmen's families. We didn't live in the main palace, which was where the king and his family lived, but we lived in the extended wings of the palace. Some lived in the houses littered the castle grounds. It was one big f*cking happy family here, except no one had accepted me as a part of this big family.

The wounds of their scorn, their neglectful attitude would never heal. The wounds would always stay and sting under the healed scars.

I was the one nobody wanted to hang out with, the one who made conversations stop when she walked by, the one who made people scatter away like she carried plague .

I had tried to forget that I was dragon-less, and tried to live my life, but people around me never allowed me to forget that I was the worst thing that had happened to the Kingdom of Lumene, next to the brutal King Romano, and the Empire of Eithon.

My life was so full of rejection from people around me, and this rejection from my mate was the final straw. Maybe I had finally snapped...

I didn't know, but there was something in me that was slowly turning, shifting, rumbling in its rage.

"You live in the palace," Theoden said as he narrowed his eyes at me, like he wanted to know what the hell I was up to. Irene was right about Theoden.

He must not have expected me to fight back, or have a spine to talk back to him. He had expected me to go along with whatever plans he made, and that was why he was so shaken right now.

"Not anymore," I whispered as I clutched the file in my hand.

He sighed as he ran his fingers through his silky hair and my heart twisted in need.

He was so damn handsome in the soft golden morning, and it was unfortunate that my heart still thundered when I looked at him, but that was the curse. The curse of being mated to someone who could never want you the way you want them.

"What do you mean not anymore?"

"Not that it is any of your business, but I am leaving with Irene."

Irene lived in the town, and she had her own place. She was graceful enough to let me live with her for a month. I was sure I would enjoy living with Irene. I should have done that a long time ago. I held onto the home that had long become hell, but I had stayed there only because this place was where my mom lived. It was my connection with her, my last piece of her. And that was why I had held on to something that had infinitely hurt me.

Theo's eyes flitted to the file in my hand, his eyes burning in his revulsion at the bunch of paper in my hand, and it gave me satisfaction to see that he didn't like that I had this file in my hands.

He could go and jump from the Cliffs of Cirgu, for all I cared. The more I talked with him, the more my anger boiled over.

Everyone sitting in the court soon dispersed, leaving me alone with a fuming Theoden. The prince didn't like this turn of events. Well, unfortunate for him!

Turning away from him, I walked towards the door, only to be stopped by Theoden, once again. Last night, he couldn't get away from me fast enough and now he was being unusually chatty, which I didn't like much, not at all.

He grabbed my hand in his and the moment he touched me, my body was transported back to the night when his hands were exploring every inch of my body. I hoped this bond wouldn't be too difficult to deny. I needed to play this game by my own rules. His rules shouldn't work. I needed to find a way to control my betraying body!

"Alyna, you still have time to say no to this circus. This is going to be a disaster," he was desperate. I could see the desperation in his eyes. Oh, poor prince. But his last-ditch effort wouldn't work on me, not now, not when I was running on the fuel of my anger. I didn't know what might come when I ran out of anger, but I didn't have to find that out right now.

"Well, I already said yes to the circus!" I shrugged and I saw Irene walking towards me with Nathan following her close behind. Nathan gave me a salute and I frowned at him. The lazy smirk on his lips did nothing to reduce my anger.

"Theo, we have practice. Are you coming?" Nathan said to Theo, and Theo turned to look at his friend with a sigh.

"Not yet. Nathan, why don't you tell her that this is stupid?!" He turned to look at his friend, his voice whiny and complaining.

Is he for real?

"She wouldn't listen to me on a normal day, and I am sure she won't listen to me today," Nate said with a shrug as she raked his fingers through his dark brown hair that looked like fine dark chocolate in the shining sun.

And he was right. If he told me not to do something, I would do it just to spite him. It had always been that way with us.

Theoden stared at his friend, his eyes narrowed into a tiny slit. "Is your name in that file?" he asked Nathan, which made the warrior frown at Prince Theoden.

I jerked up, my eyes widening in curiosity. Nathan Reyes was in my file?

Maybe he was. It was possible.

His fated mate had died in a war when King Romano sent his troops to attack and plunder Lumene. We had survived the war, and we lived to see another sunrise, but many had lost their families, their mates in that war, and Nathan, too, had lost his mate. So, him being on the list of my probable suitors was not far-fetched, but I was still curious...

I couldn't wait to hear him answer. Next to me, my best friend also looked intrigued as she waited for Nathan to either agree or deny the statement.

The dragon prince and the warrior stared at each other, their eyes full of anger and fire, their jaws clenched tightly, their palms fisted to their sides. I could almost taste the tension in the air... Raging. Buzzing.

Nathan cleared his throat and turned to look at me, and he didn't have to say it with words, because his storm-gray eyes told it all. I knew my answer already. Damn, he was in the file.

"Be sure to send me an invite, Alyna," he said with a mocking smile, and I heard Prince Theoden grunting under his breath.

"In your dreams, Nathan," I retorted as he gave me an intense look that made my stomach twist.

Nathan Reyes was the last person I was going to invite to play the damn thing with me. Not in a million years, would I choose him! It was already hard with the stupid dragon prince and this stupid infuriating bond I shared with him. I couldn't invite Nathan and his irritating smile into this cauldron of disaster. It would definitely explode.

"In my dreams, Alyna..." he started, but he didn't finish it. His slate gray eyes darkened into the moonless night, and my throat went dry. His eyes were so damn intense. My heart thundered violently as I tried to mask the reaction with a glare, but...

I didn't know why he pulled these reactions out of me.

His smouldering soft gray eyes turned a shade darker and he gave me an infuriating smile that made me want to kill him. He was an accident waiting to happen, and I knew not to get in the vicinity when that happened, but damn... the guy was as irritating as he was irresistible.

"Oh, I am already loving this, this is going to be one hell of the rejection game...the one for history even," Irene said with a gleeful look on her face and then, her smile fell when she stared at Prince Theoden. I could see how much Irene wanted to wrap her hands around Theoden's stupid neck. But, killing a prince would be high treason, and we didn't need an incident right now.

I wrinkled my nose as I shook my head at Irene. She should shut the hell up. She was not helping anyone.

He looked truly peeved at the news that his best friend might be one of the contenders in my rejection game. Oh, he must not have conjured up this scenario in his head before he asked me to meet him in the Elders court. If he had, he would have waited a little while to convince me.

Oh, well, we were way past that, weren't we?!

"What the hell are you talking about, Nate?! She is not going to send a damn invitation to you," Prince Theoden looked red as a tomato, and I was enjoying this strange sense of control and power. For a long time, I lived according to other people's expectations, and it was about time I did something that made me truly happy.

I never knew I was this petty, but making Prince Theoden, my stupid mate, angry and hurt him back for hurting me was making some beautiful butterflies flutter in my stomach.

"Why not?" Irene glared at the prince. A deep rumble ripped out from his chest, and Irene took a step back, when she saw his dragon flashing through, as his blue eyes glowed.

"Do not growl at her, Prince Theoden," I warned him. He could do anything with me, but my friend was off-limits to him. "And I will damn well invite who I want."

If he hadn't said anything, I would probably not have invited Nathan, because... yes, Nathan and I were the polar opposites, and I couldn't take his arrogance in high doses. Prince Theoden should have kept his f*cking piehole shut, but because he couldn't... well, I was becoming spiteful, which was so unlike me, but what the hell!!! No one could blame me for being spiteful.

"He won't - he won't accept it."

Nathan looked uncomfortable.

Well, now the prince was grasping at the straws... I chuckled.

I stared straight at Nathan. "He will come, oh he will. Won't you, Nathan?"

~~~