Reborn As Queen Luna

CHAPTER THREE: FAMILIAR STRANGER

Ace stared at the woman in front of him with his breath hitching in as shock sped through his veins. Every feature of hers seemed weirdly familiar, yet he could have sworn that he’d never met her in his whole life. He would have remembered – she was the prettiest thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

Blue?!! he wondered crazily, while his wolf shouted Mate!

Not possible, Mik. Our mate is dead, remember? he told his wolf severely, refraining from pointing out that he’d killed her.

Her rosy smell had been the first thing which had alerted him to the presence of an intruder in his study, but the sight of her had caught him unawares. He knew that smell, had sniffed it on someone else before. It wasn’t only about her ethereal beauty, but there was definitely something familiar about her.

It was the eyes. The ones he couldn’t get out of his mind even if he drank himself to oblivion. They were the exact shade of those who haunted him day and night, lathering him in misery and self-recrimination. Amber liquid fire. The dazzling vibrant color was unmistakable.

“Who are you?” he croaked in a rough voice he couldn’t place as his own. Then frowning upon himself for such a throttled tone, he repeated the question in a harsher tenor. “Who are you?!”

Defiance flashed through the eyes staring back him with blazing fire as she turned fully towards him. He sniffed in a breath and Mik started to get agitated.

What the hell, Mik? What’s up with you?

There was no answer, and Ace ignored his unsettled wolf for the moment, his undivided attention on the stranger. Again, he felt that alluring pull towards her, an irresistible bond between them which was as palpable as his next breath.

Totally unaware of his turmoil, she bent to casually pick up the book which had fallen from her, the action bringing in focus her hair as she bent in front of him. It was a light brown color, in complete dichotomy to the blistering eyes, and more importantly, nothing like the fiery auburn hair he remembered.

He blinked to clear the image again, cursing himself for looking for her in every woman. Was it never going to stop? Was that burning anguish follow him until the end? Why had he been such an i***t in the past?

“Who are you?” he repeated again feeling like a fool when the woman didn’t even bother replying him. There was an enigmatic aura to her which confused the hell out of him. If he had his whole bearings, he would have sworn that there was resentment in her eyes, a dislike which he’d always perceived from Bluebell. He was clearly disillusion.

“I am Theia Varro,” she replied reluctantly after a while, brushing her fingers slowly over the book cover brushing an imaginary dust. Ace stared at her small, refined hands with a hankering expression. He would give anything to feel them on himself.

With a jerk, he realized he was way out of line, and he frowned in displeasure mostly directed at himself. The name didn’t mean anything to him, but he felt out of his depths, but he would die before showing any form of weakness.

“What are you doing in my study?” he snapped nastily instead, although it hadn’t been his intention. The woman was disorienting him so much that he was having a hard time controlling his feelings, and that was so unlike him. Disengagement never failed him.

One glance towards the book in her hand was informative enough, but Ace wanted her to stick around.

“Have you read it?” he asked, surprising himself with the question. During the past two years, he had barely kept the conversation flowing with anyone, except his wolf. It took a lot of effort from his conquests to keep him engaged enough to pay attention to their incessant chatters.

For a moment, Ace thought she wouldn’t answer him. She was now giving the doe-caught-in-the-limelight stare, like she’d been caught doing something illicit and was expecting to be called out any moment. Ace couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why she would feel so guilty or distressed.

Then, her pink tongue darted to moisten her lips, and he nearly groaned as unadulterated lust slashed through him like hot lava scorching his insides. His groin hardened to a point which became painful, and that was something rare. It usually required a lot of self-indulgence for him to reach a horny state.

“As a matter of fact, I have,” she said more in defiance than anything, like she was expecting him to demean her. He frowned in surprise. Had they met before? Had he behaved like a tart towards her as well?

“What do you think of it?” he challenged, not because he was doubting her proclamations, but he wanted to find more about her.

“I think it’s a commendable story. I really love the count’s character, the hardships he went through to finally exact his revenge from the people who wronged him.”

Why did he have the feeling that there was a double entendre to her words? Was she trying to tell him something? Whatever it was, the cryptic remark intrigued him even more, so he decided to goad her.

“Do you think it was worth it? All those sufferings to impersonate someone else and punish those who’d wronged him?”

Something flashed in her eyes again, lighting the fire in a way which mesmerized him. Those were definitely Blue’s eyes – there was no mistake about it. Or was he delirious? However, he found himself preening for her answer as she placed the book back in the empty spot.

“Oh yes, it was. Evilness should not go unpunished,” she simply remarked casually, but the way she tensed said much more than her words. Then, it struck him.

“Are you the Queen Luna?” he asked with contrition of having forgotten that the great deity was supposed to pay them a visit. His mother had insisted that he was to be here at three pm sharp to greet her majesty. Ace had been getting off his face with a bottle of Vodka to care. It had taken him only hours for the effect to wear off.

“The very one,” she acquiesced increasing his horror.

“You’re not what I expected,” he blurted out before he could stop himself, and could have bitten his tongue for getting the words out. She didn’t miss a beat. Her eyebrows shot to her hairline at the obvious gaffe.

“Oh? What did you expect?”

He had only himself to blame for that blunder. “I don’t know. Someone snobbish?” he replied honestly, unable to figure out how to get himself off hook. Why, just why had he blurted out something like that?

She didn’t seem to care much about his opinion though for she snickered at him like he’d just made a silly joke. “How do you I’m not?” she countered back sarcastically, making him wince back in shock. It was true, but nasty of her to point out. He couldn’t blame her though, she reminded him of who he’d been in high school. A high-handed arrogant bastard.

Theia Varro was exactly the same. Someone who’d been handed everything on a silver platter, to the point of her believing that nothing was out of her reach. Hadn’t he made the same mistakes? Only to find himself biting the dust?

Being a young and immature Alpha, he’d treated someone with utmost disrespect to the point of driving the latter to her suicide. Something he regretted bitterly, but there was no going back. Bluebell.

The name caused his heart to jackhammer inside his chest, his palms started to sweat, and his eyes became fuzzy as he blinked repeatedly to clear away the fog. Grief crawled in from everywhere, finding a way through the empty shell he now was, and he couldn’t brace himself against the onslaught.

It took a moment of sheer willpower to absorb the storm of pain, and for a moment he blanked out, spacing the woman in front of him. There was only him and bitterness surrounding him, sucking him inside a black vortex which threatened to consume him.

“Are you alright?” a voice sounded in the distance, but Ace could not place the owner. He bent over to allow the storm to pass. It will go away. It always did. However, he hated that woman for reminding him of someone he so wanted to forget. So, he directed his anger towards her.

“Get out!” he cried out when he could speak again. “Get out now! This is my private space, and no one has the right to invade it! Do you hear me?”

A raised eyebrow was the only reaction he got from her. She then schooled her expression into a stoic one, the note of sympathy he’d caught on earlier vanishing like it had never existed. “You seem to forget that I am your Queen,” she reminded in a sharp voice which was neither loud nor brash like his had been.

However, there was no denying the imperiousness behind her words. Ace felt shame rush through him like an unwanted cloak. He was supposed to have changed, wasn’t he? He was no longer that inconsiderate spoilt brat he’d been in his early days.

Why did that woman bring the worst out of him, then? Why did he have the feeling like he wanted to dash in her arms and flee miles away from her at the same time. He’d never felt so conflicted in his life. Hell, he’d never experienced so many emotions in his entire life than what he was facing within seconds of meeting Theia Varro.

“You’re supposed to curtesy for me,” she said in her calm voice, but the order was again unmistakable.

He frowned at her. Was she kidding? Was she being deliberately obtuse? “Isn’t that a tad too ostentatious?” he tried to ask jokingly, but her eyes flashed in anger at his flippant comment. Ace realized that she was damned serious - she really expected him to bend in front of her.

Everything in him revolted against the idea – he was a man, and he didn’t bow to any woman! Not even if she was the Moon Goddess. Ewww - that sounded crass even inside his mind. But he wasn’t appreciating her pretentiousness, she was deliberately rubbing her rank in his face.

Without a word, his knee bent nearly touched the ground as he performed the curtsey. “Your Majesty,” he said unable to keep the disdain out of his voice. It was official – he hated her.

Then she produced a ravishing smiled, and his heart flipped over. Hadn’t he just come to terms with the fact that he despised her? His heart had no business doing somersaults in reaction to her. He hated her, right? Right?

“That’s better,” she drawled haughtily. “That’s much better. I would love for you to address me with my formal title henceforth. It’s Queen Theia for you.”

With that repartee thrown in his face, Ace’s jaw dropped as Theia exited the room leaving behind a miff of her floral scent. Ace stood transfixed for longer than necessary, unable to comprehend what had just trespassed. Something about had changed, triggered by his stupid outburst.

Hell, he was so conflicted that he could barely get his head around.

Opening the dresser above his heart, he removed the bottle of Macallan 12, and dumped the bottle on the table. With a deep breath, Ace fiddled with the cork, indecisive of whether to pop the bottle open or not. Then, with a resolution, he thrust the bottle aside with a sigh of relief.

For the first in two years, he didn’t feel the need to get lost in oblivion. Meeting her felt like someone had breathed a gust of fresh air inside him, and he felt alive again. Instead of merely sifting through life like a corpse.

With a new resolution, he climbed the stairs two steps at the same time to join the guest for dinner.