7: A new wife's, new life

Heather's POV

The next morning, I woke up feeling worse than I did before. My whole body was hot and I could have sworn that it could boil a bowl of water. There was a rapt knocking on my door and I wondered if that was what had made me wake up early.

Slowly I crawled out of the bed and went to the door, shocked to see Lucinda the head maid standing there. She had not expected me to open the door when I did, so she was caught off guard and hence was a bit flustered.

"Good morning Princess" she greeted and I nodded my head.

"Good morning Lucinda," I said and waited for her to state her reason for showing up at my door so early.

"I'm sorry to have woken you up so early but you are expected to have breakfast with the rest of the family this morning. It's where you will be formally introduced to the rest of the members of the family" she said and I froze.

No one had told me what to expect or how to prepare for this. The nerves overwhelmed me, threatening to cripple my knees.

It didn't matter, it's not like I had a choice. I was the ceremonial wife they had married to their son who was in love with another woman.

"I will be the one to prepare you for the breakfast. The prince mentioned that you had a cut on your side" she said as I stepped aside and she gained access into the room.

"Alright. I got cut by the diamonds in my dress" I looked around the room and confirmed that it was still pooled on the floor, right where I had thrown it. It had wild marks of red now. It felt weird to think that it was my blood that had colored the expensive material.

"This doesn't look serious. You have a very fair skin my lady" she said with a smile on her face. I knew she was only trying to make me ease off the nerves. It was hard to do that when you have struggled with impressing your family all your lives.

The same family that had sacrificed you at the first chance they got. I could have sworn that if  Debra had known that Prince Keith was this handsome, she would never have let me marry him. I didn't care because it didn't matter. He loved the rude lady, Nyles and I could not care less about what they chose to do with each other. I simply wanted to be left alone to live my life like I didn't exist.

"You would look exquisite in this morning gown," Lucinda said after I had showered. She had serviced my hair above my head in several hair-rolling pins. I realized that my life was a lot different now, I could now look my best every day.

The gown she had picked out was equally beautiful and I didn't know what else could be better than that. I sat down quietly and nodded my head in agreement with her choice of morning gown. So far, the people that have been coming my way have been very kind and helpful, unlike Nyle of course and I could understand her plight. I was the one who had been married to her love, displacing her as the wife of Prince Keith of Devontae.

"This looks absolutely great. Thank you Lucinda" I said to her when she was done.

I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked so great that it was hard to believe that I had been the same girl from my pack. I looked around, just to be sure that I wasn't the only person noticing how great I looked. Lucinda stood in a corner, a satisfied smile spread on her face as she admired her hard work.

"I did nothing but amplify what is already there," she said and bowed.

I finished getting ready, taking occasional pauses to catch my image in the mirror. I was excited and giddy like a child, the pain of the diamond digging into my ribs completely forgotten.

"You are all set," Lucinda said and I thanked her one final time before I stepped out of the room. From the moment I stepped into the hallway, it was like time had stopped and everyone was stopping to take a good look at me. I had never garnered so much attention in my life and by the time I was at the foot of the stairs, the whole palace had gathered to look at me.

I made my way to the table and a strange man, one that wasn't Keith stood up to pull a chair for me to sit on. I thanked him and glanced around the table, prepared to greet everyone but the Grand Luna beat me to it.

"Good morning Family," she said calmly, her voice immediately shushing the commotion that my arrival had caused. I had not expected it myself but yet, it had happened.

"Good morning Mother" everyone seated at the table chorused.

"Today, we have a new addition to our family. She is the wife of Prince Keith, my son and we have married her to further strengthen our alliance with the weaker packs. I had initially asked for the other daughter but seeing what they have given us, I have to say that I am impressed. Now I don't know where Keith..."

Just as she said that, Keith appeared sitting on his wheelchair with Nyles standing tightly beside him, he rolled his wheelchair forward and wondered if he was deceiving his whole family that he couldn’t walk. I could see that the Grand Luna was not pleased with this as her face immediately became icy and she glared at the two figures approaching the table.

"Where have you been Keith and were you not informed about today's breakfast?" She barked at him.

Keith had a nonchalant look on his face as he scanned the faces of everyone on the table. I gently lowered my head, not interested in seeing the disgust on his face when he saw that I was seated on the same chair he would have wanted Nyles to sit on.

"Mother, I didn't mean to come late. I had an exhausting day yesterday and slept in. Forgive me" he said even though it was obvious to everyone that he had done this as a way to disrespect me, considering that he should have been the one to lead me to the dining table this morning.

“And what exhausting thing could a cripple do?” The grand Luna breathed out but we heard her loud and clear,

"Good morning Gran..."

"Save it. I have told you that you have no place here. We have chosen a woman for our son and that is who he will be with" the grand Luna interrupted her, her words were sharp and piercing, giving me an idea of why they had cut off Prince Keith in the first place.

"Mother, do not talk to the woman I love like that. You have married your choice and I am putting up with it nicely so far, let's not ruin anything" Keith immediately defended her.

The grand Luna looked at him for a while before shaking her head. Keith had turned his attention to Nyles, whispering words that I assumed were meant to reassure and placate her. She shook her head and then rushed out of the palace.

"You better stop Keith, I have not put down my duties and come to your side of the palace of this nonsense, you should respect your wife and let Nyles knows her place, your stubbornness has led you to be crippled and also destroy half of your face that had made you cover it up until this day,” the king barked.

“Just say you are trying to disgrace me uncle, isn’t that better?” Keith muttered as he rolled his wheelchair forward, I shifted, taking care not to let any part of his body touch me, I was not interested in whatever family drama they had going on and hoped they were done soon so that I could go back to my room.

"I was only stating the truth,”The king said as he gave Keith a disgusting look, I glanced within the both of them and I couldn’t help but wonder how Keith was able to hide the fact he wasn’t crippled nor does he have half of his face destroyed, I was in no place to let them know the truth so I kept shut, focusing on the food before me.

"It’s nice to meet you Heather and you are welcome to the family, this is part of the tradition we the royals have always had to get to know each other and familiarize with ourselves.” The king said and i nodded.

“Thank you for the honor, my lord,” I muttered and he waved gently.

“You don’t have to mention, let’s eat.” He ordered and I lowered my eyes, suddenly too shy to meet his gaze. Keith was staring hard at me and I could feel his eyes boring a hole through my head. He had not seemed to have been bothered with my presence yesterday but it looked like a totally different case today.

I started chewing slowly, completely shutting everyone out until I heard the king speaks

"Did you hear anything I said, Keith?" He bellowed and I glanced between them.

"No, I didn't," Keith admitted.

"Well, the king said you have to spend the whole day getting to know your bride" the grand Luna announced and my fork fell, causing everyone’s eyes to turn on me.