Winning Back My Prince

KAEL 

I sat in my chambers, my head in my hands, my chest empty.

The fire had burned low to orange embers. The treaty papers were on my desk, signed, sealed, the wax still soft. Outside my window, the wind coming off neutral ground had turned sharp. It carried ice now. It would be snowing on the other side by midnight. Lily would be feeling it in that thin cloak, wherever she had stopped.

There was a low murmur outside my doors. My guards speaking to someone. A soft laugh. A familiar perfume, sweet and heavy, trying to slip under the heavy wood before the knock even came.

I did not answer. I did not want anyone. I wanted the room to stay empty.

The door opened anyway.

Sienna came in.

She did not wait to be announced. She never did. The guards let her pass because her father is Elder Rodrick, and everyone in this castle already speaks of her as my Luna, even though I have never marked her.

She stopped two steps inside and smiled, her hands folded neatly in front of her, her posture perfect.

"My prince."

I sighed before I could stop it. Of all people tonight, she was the last person I wanted to see. When I looked up, she was perfect. Intentionally perfect. The kind of perfect that takes two hours in front of a mirror and is meant to be used as a weapon.

The gown was royal blue, tight at the waist, cut low, clinging to her hips when she walked, pushing up her chest. Her hair was black and oiled until it shone, her lips painted red, her lashes dark, her scent sweet and musky and everywhere at once, filling the room in three breaths, trying to overwrite the clean air, trying to claim the space.

I swallowed. My throat was dry. I felt nothing in my chest, nothing at all, hollow, but my eyes betrayed me and my wolf lifted his head a fraction despite himself, sniffing out of habit.

She saw it and her smile widened. She thought it meant something.

"Kael, I know things have been out of hand recently," she said, her voice soft, honeyed, like she was the one comforting me, like she was the one who had been hurt. "With the rejection, the treaty and everything. But I am here for you. I have always been here for you. Since we were pups."

I could not answer. My head was too full and too empty at once.

She moved closer, slow, deliberate, her hips swaying, and sat on the arm of my chair. Close enough that her thigh pressed mine, her knee touching my leg. She took my head gently with both hands, her nails cool and long, and placed it on her chest, rocking me slightly, her fingers in my hair, her thumb stroking my temple the way she knew made my wolf relax.

My wolf, who had refused to listen to me for hours made a low, involuntary purring sound. It vibrated in my chest and I hated it. I hated him for it and I hated myself more. He had been howling about his mate being cold in the marsh ten minutes ago. Now he was purring because someone knew exactly where to stroke.

She kept whispering, her voice low against my hair, words designed to sink in, to shape, to stick.

"Shhh, my prince. It is over. That bitch is behind us. The elders are pleased. Your father would be pleased in the beyond. You made a hard choice and a King choice. You should be proud. You chose Bloodmoon."

Her hand stroked my hair, her chest rising and falling under my cheek, warm, soft and inviting.

"You have been so tense, Kael. So distant. You need to let someone take care of you. Let me take care of you tonight. Just tonight."

I felt nothing. That was the most terrifying part. Before the bond, her touch used to make my pulse jump, used to make my wolf push forward and preen. Tonight it felt like someone touching me through gloves. My chest stayed empty.

"Kael, please mark me," she whispered into my hair, her voice dropping lower, more intimate, breathy. Her nails scratched lightly at my scalp. "You need to claim me to make it official. To silence them. Everyone disrespects me because they think I am forcing myself on you. The maids whisper when I pass. The warriors ask my father when the marking will happen. They laugh, Kael. They say you will never choose me. They say that bitch is the one you want, that you are searching for her to replace me."

She pulled back just enough to look down at me, her eyes wet, shining, perfectly teary, the kind of tears that never spill unless she wants them to.

"I am the one you love, Kael. You have loved me since we were pups. You promised to make me your wife. You promised in the training yard when we were twelve, behind the stables, after you won the fight against Jace. Do you remember? You said I was the only she wolf strong enough to stand beside you. You said I was beautiful even with mud on my face. You said you would never want anyone else."

"I remember the yard," I said quietly. "I remember you brought me water. I do not remember saying that. I remember saying you fought well."

Her smile flickered, just for a second, a crack in the perfect surface, then she recovered, her fingers tightening in my hair, possessive.

"You did," she said, soft but firm, like she was correcting a child. "You did, my prince. You forget things when you are stressed. You forget promises when you are under pressure. That is why you need me. To remember for you. To keep you steady."

She took my hand, and placed it on her chest, over soft, warm skin, pressing my palm down hard so I could feel how fast her heart was beating.

Then my wolf sprang up inside me, snarling, furious, claws out, teeth bared, not purring anymore.

"She is not mine! Get her off! Get her off now! She stinks! She is not her! Take your hand off her!"

The purr broke like glass shattering inside my ribs.

I yanked my hand back like I had been burned, like her heart was poison under my palm, and stood up so fast the heavy chair scraped loud across the stone floor, making her jump.

"Sienna, I am not in the mood for all this right now," I said, my voice rough, trying to be gentle and failing, my hands fisted at my sides to stop them from shaking. "Let us reopen this claiming conversation after the coronation. After my head is clear. I cannot think tonight. I cannot give you an answer you deserve tonight. Please."

She did not let go of my arm. Her nails dug in a little, her smile tightening, that perfect mask slipping for half a second, showing something sharp and calculating underneath.

"Are you sure we will reopen it?" she said, her voice still soft but with an edge now. "You will claim me for real this time? Not halfway like you used to?"

Her voice rose, just slightly, enough to make it sting.

"Because last month, you just embraced me and then fell asleep like I was a lamp left on beside you. You did not even kiss me properly. You did not touch me. You left me sitting there in my nightdress for two hours, Kael. Alone. In the cold. My father asked me why I came home crying at two in the morning. What was I supposed to tell him? That my mate would rather sleep than touch his future Luna? Do you know how that made me look? Do you know what the other she wolves said?"

I exhaled, slow, my chest pulling north so hard it hurt to breathe.

"Sienna..."

"No don't call my name like that," she snapped, her eyes flashing, gold bleeding into brown, her wolf pushing so close her voice went rough. "Kael you have never looked at another woman except me, never let your head be filled with any other perfume except mine, I understand your wolf is pushing you but you've always had control over him, you know how to talk to him to be quiet, to obey you. You always have. Since we were pups you could make him sit. So make him sit now!"

Her hand grabbed my shirt, twisting the fabric, her nails digging through.

"Make him forget her," she whispered, desperate now, her red lips trembling. "You are the Alpha Prince. Soon you will be the King. You command wolves. So command yours. Tell him I am his Luna. Tell him I am the one who stayed. She left, Kael. She rejected you and left. I stayed. I have always stayed. Even when you fell asleep on me, I stayed."

She stepped closer, her scent choking me now, angry and jealous.

"Or are you thinking about her?" she whispered, her lips close to my ear, her voice almost a hiss now, her breath hot. "Are you thinking about that bitch on the other side right now, wondering if you will run after her? Are you? Is that why you cannot mark me? Is that why your wolf will not look at me? Is that why you feel nothing when I touch you? Tell me the truth, Kael. For once, tell me the truth."

My wolf growled low in my chest, a dangerous rumble that vibrated through my ribs, warning, and my own eyes flashed gold before I could stop it.

"Do not," I said quietly, my voice barely louder than breath, but it made her step back half an inch. "Do not talk about her like that in my chambers. Not tonight."

Sienna stared at me, her lips parted, surprised that I still defended Lily after everything, then she recovered quickly and smiled again, bright and too sharp, too perfect to be real.

"Of course, my prince. Forgive me. I am just worried. I have waited so long and I love you so much it makes me crazy. You know how I get when I am scared of losing you. You know I say stupid things when I am scared."

She touched my cheek with soft fingers, her thumb stroking, trying to reset, to go back to the girl I used to know when we were pups.

"Not halfway this time?" she asked again. "Promise me. Promise you will mark me properly. That you will put your mark on my neck and claim me in front of everyone at the coronation feast so no one can ever say I am not Luna. Promise me, Kael. Then I will go and let you rest. I will not bother you again tonight. I promise."

I looked at her face and felt nothing but a deep, bone tired that had nothing to do with sleep and everything to do with the thin thread in my chest pulling north, getting thinner, getting colder.

"Not halfway this time," I whispered, so she would leave, so she would let me breathe without her perfume filling my lungs.

She smiled, bright and satisfied, like she had won a battle. She leaned up on her toes and kissed my lips, soft and lingering, it felt like kissing paper, like kissing nothing.

She bowed perfectly, deep and graceful, hands folded, eyes lowered, the perfect picture of obedience and grace, and turned to the door. Her steps light and happy now, her gown swaying.

"Goodnight, my prince," she said at the door, looking over her shoulder, her red lips curved. "Dream of me tonight. Not of neutral ground. Dream of your future."

The door clicked shut softly.

I stood there in the middle of my chambers, my fists still clenched, my chest hollow.

For a long minute there was only silence.

I walked to the tall window and threw it open. Cold air hit my face like a slap, carrying ice and pine and far off woodsmoke from the human villages on neutral ground.

I gripped the stone sill until my knuckles went white and finally said it out loud to myself, to the empty room, to the wolf clawing my ribs.

"I cannot make him sit," I whispered to myself, my voice hoarse. "I have tried since she walked out of that Hall. I cannot. He does not want you. He has never wanted you, Sienna. I made him tolerate you. I made him purr when you touched him. But tonight he will not even do that. He is saying she took my soul. And he is right. She truly took it."