The Rise of the Phoenix

Mistakes

Chapter 3

Tybolt’s pov

I never really knew my mum, nor do I really remember her. I know what she looked like, from the pictures that my father kept for me, and she was a beautiful woman, very loved by the whole of the east dragon kingdom. From what I have heard, she was the perfect Queen, and the whole kingdom mourned on the day of her passing and for a long time after.

My father has always spoken about the importance and sanctity of the mate bond, how we should wait on our mate, and treat them with the respect they deserve. I am sure if the goddess didn’t grant him a second chance mate then he would have never looked at another woman again.

Until he met my stepmother, he hadn’t so much as glanced at another as he didn’t want to soil my mother’s memory. He could not resist the mate bond though and knew if he was granted a second chance, he should grab it with both hands as it was meant to be.

Queen Katerina has always been a kind and caring mother to me and had no problems accepting that role in my life. She wasn’t the warmest of people, but she always loved me none the less. Both her and my father were upset when they discovered that she could not bear a child. It was then that she fully threw herself into the mothering role for me.

She also had a niece who was just a year younger than me called Casandra. As the years went on, she became more like that girls mother than her aunt, and Cassie and I became like brother and sister. When we were teens, her parents died in a rogue attack, and she moved into the castle permanently, officially becoming my stepsister.

Now I have heard many murmurs of discontent from the people about our Queen, how the once kind and lovely omega turned into a viscous wretch who no longer cared about others and only cared about rank. How she no longer had time for the little people and that they were no longer important enough to even acknowledge.

I found it hard to see that side of her. She had always been a loving mother, not only taking on me but also her niece and filling that role for both of us. How could the same woman be the one that our people talked about so derisively.

I also heard people complain that Casandra, a lowly omega like themselves (their words, not mine), was lording it over everyone and using her newfound status to manipulate people and get what she wanted. Cassie is a lovely girl, totally innocent and sweet, so I had no idea what the hell they were going on about, she was always the same sweet girl I had known from a child whenever I saw her, so I reasoned in my mind that they were jealous as she now had a better position in life than them.

Cassie, like me, believed in mates and wanted to wait for hers, no matter who he was. She always said that as long as he loves me, that is all that matters to me. He could be the richest or poorest person in the kingdom, and she would accept him for who he was.

So when she didn’t meet him on her 18th birthday she was quite upset, I tried to do all that I could to comfort her as we drank way too much that night that I completely blacked out. I was more than shocked in the morning when I awoke naked with a woman wrapped around me.

Not only did I break my promise to my future mate, but I had also taken Casandra’s innocence away from her. The girl I had only thought of as a sister, I felt physically ill at the thought, and I could not recall how we ended up like this together. It was a complete blank.

Cassie, on the other hand didn’t look nearly as shocked as I was and dare I say, almost pleased by what had occurred. I must be seeing things as the girl I know only wants her mate and no one else. Storm, my dragon, was furious and blamed her also saying that she was not a maiden, so we took nothing from her, and it was probably her who drugged us so he couldn’t stop it from happening.

Now I believe him when he said that we had been drugged, but I refused to even contemplate that she would do something like this. I am sure it was someone else, and their plan had failed, and I ended up with Cassie instead of the one that planned this.

Cassie also said she didn’t remember much she was far too drunk, and the last thing she had recalled was trying to assist me to my room as I could barely stand. The empty condom wrapper on the floor confirmed that something had happened, but at least we were careful. I would have been devastated if I had impregnated someone other than my mate. My firstborn and heir will only ever be with the person the goddess chose for me.

After a very awkward greeting as we put on our clothes, avoiding looking at each others naked bodies, I spoke to her about how it could not happen again. I apologised for what had happened, but I was firm on the front that it would never happen again.

She agreed to it straight away, embarrassed by what had happened, but worried about how her mate would feel now that she was used goods. The poor girl, I could do nothing but offer a hug of support and reassure her that I would explain to her future mate how we were both drugged in some sort of a sick prank and vowed to find the person responsible.

Months I searched, trying to discover what happened and who was responsible, with no luck at all. Rumours started up that Cassie had rejected her omega mate, saying he was not good enough for her. I was sure that it was some jealous guy who was embarrassed and upset from being knocked back by her, so he made up the mate story to get her back and turn others against her.

My father was enraged, Cassie had become his daughter, and he would not put up with anyone sullying his daughters name and reputation. We found out where the rumours started from, he tried to convince us that they had been mates, but Cassie’s confused and upset face convinced us that he was lying, that along with some evidence that he had been the one to drug me.

He had obviously been trying to get to Cassie and I had been the one dosed by mistake, I was glad that it had been me and at least Cassie had not had her first time stolen from some man who had obviously become obsessed by her. I mean, she is a beautiful woman, all curves. With her long blonde hair and innocent blue eyes, it was easy to see how someone could fall in love with her.

With all the evidence against him, it didn’t matter how much he denied it and begged us to listen to him, I mean even his whole family, other than his mum turned their back on him. It was only his mum that believed his lies and tried to advocate on his behalf.

With Cassie now a member of the Royal family, my dad felt he had no other choice than to sentence him to his death. His last words were a warning that one day we would see the true face of Casandra and we would know that an innocent man had been put to his death for nothing other than being the unfortunate person to be mated to that evil woman.

Of course, we never took it seriously. It was obvious that it was nothing more than the ramblings of a crazy man, wanting to sow seeds of doubt about her in every body’s minds. It did start people talking, though, as some people love nothing more than to gossip and ruin someone’s life.

Cassie and I had become uncomfortable around each other since the incident, well, at least I had. She would still hug me and look happy to see me each time, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. Eventually, she decided to move to the West kingdom for some time, at least until people stopped talking about her and to help bring back our previous relationship. She was sure that with a bit of distance, we would be able to fall into our previous roles to one another.

She loved it there, she totally thrived in the new environment, made plenty of friends there and spent a couple of very happy years living there, until one day she surprisingly turned up back at home, with no explanation other than she had missed us all too much and now was the right time to return.

As she had predicted, I no longer felt uncomfortable around her. It was as if the incident had never taken place, and all we had ever been to each other was brother and sister. Things were going great. We were all happy, apart from the fact that none of us had met our mates yet.

It was just when I got the invite from Sirius to attend his mates crowning ceremony that my eyes were opened up, and I began to wonder if I ever truly knew this girl. I had a very embarrassing phone call with Sirius to request an invite be extended to Cassie too as she was family, Cassie and mum had asked if I could as they knew Sirius and I were good friends.

I have never been so embarrassed and pi.ssed off at the same time before. He told me that she was banished for attacking his pregnant mate as she wanted him for herself as they had previously been casual lovers, and he was not the only one throughout her time there.

I apologised to him and went off upset about the fact they had set me up and didn’t even have the decency to warn me she had been banished beforehand. Dad was upset as well, but he didn’t let me take out my anger verbally at them. He did tell Katerina that he would not be intervening on her behalf and that the matter would be dropped from now on. So that was the end of it, and I was starting to struggle to see Cassie as the girl I once knew.