2

“What!” Both Belle and Prince Layke exclaimed in unison, abruptly rising from their seats.

“Belle, please sit down.” Queen Serena sighed, not in the least bit surprised by her daughter’s outburst. “I wouldn’t decide upon this if it wasn’t for the good of the kingdom.” She reminded her daughter.

“Father, this is madness. This surely this isn’t the only way.” Prince Layke shook his head in dismay. “She isn’t even my mate! I don’t think..”

King Layke raised his brows as he folded his arms across his chest. “Since when were you planning on searching for your mate, Layke?” His father challenged.

Prince Layke frowned. “That’s beside the point.” Prince Layke had decided a while ago that he wouldn’t be searching for his mate. Mates complicate matters and make it difficult to prioritise. He needed a clear head in order to put the good of his people first, he couldn’t be distracted by wanting to be around a woman every second of the day.

“I don’t think this is particularly necessary, mother.” Belle thought aloud. “We don’t need to be married to support each other when the time comes. All Prince Layke needs to do is summon us when the time comes and we will be at his aid in readiness.”

“This isn’t about being at their aid, Belle. The realms are only as strong as their leaders. Our strength could help Avalon advance further than they ever have before.” Queen Serena reasoned. “And we need the support of as many pure-bloods as possible. If Avalon are over thrown, there wouldn’t be many pure-bloods willing to support us outside of this realm.”

Belle rubbed her temples as she tried to compute her mother’s reasonings. She understood where her mother was coming from, forging the two realms and bonding them by marriage with a hybrid Queen and a pure-blood King would make the two realms together the strongest in the history of faeries. But marriage seemed so drastic. All of this to stop some power hungry Gylandies?

Belle never saw herself married, much less married to someone she had no interest in. Well, he was easy on the eye sure.. but beyond that, no interest whatsoever. “So if I don’t marry Prince Charming here, what happens?” Belle questioned.

“Neither of you will success to the throne.” King Eryek bluntly answered.

Belle shook her head in disbelief, letting out an irritated chuckle whilst doing so. “I need some air.” She stated, before leaving the room and heading out into the castle gardens.

Layke huffed, twisting his lips in thought. “Me too.” He announced, before striding out closely behind Belle.

“Well..” the Queen started. “That went well.”

Layke stood on the patio, overlooking the realm of Midsummer as the castle rested on the highest point of the mountains. He couldn’t believe the ultimatum he was faced with. He had spent his entire life training for this, studying and dedicating every second of his childhood to learning how he could be the best possible leader he could be. The one thing that he said he didn’t want, simply due to the distractions it brought, was a wife. Yet, just as it’s the time for him to take the reigns, that’s the one matter standing in his way. He just couldn’t believe the irony.

Layke swirled his fingers, watching how the earth answered his call and flower stems began to bloom under his control as he was deep in thought. It wasn’t that Princess Belle wasn’t beautiful. She most certainly was. In fact, Layke was adamant he’d never met a more mesmerising woman in his life.

Her electric blue hair fell in waves down her back and her deep blue eyes looked deep into his soul, capturing his undivided attention. When she fluttered her long, thick lashes he felt himself melt into a puddle right there and when she pouted her full lips and swayed her voluptuous hips, Layke couldn’t control all of the forbidden thoughts from entering his mind.

Laykle was certain that if you looked up the word sexy in the dictionary, a photo of Belle would be right there in the description. But that was the problem, she was the exact type of distraction he vowed he didn’t want. Besides from that, Belle was royal in her own right. When Layke did eventually decide to take a mate, he assumed he would find a wife who allowed him to take the lead. With Belle.. it was sure to be a battle of dominance. Not that it mattered whether she was his mate or not, faeries couldn’t tell until they were 21.

Then.. an idea suddenly popped into Layke’s head. An idea that he was certain was the perfect solution. He rushed to his feet as he scanned the grounds, searching for Belle. A second later, he found her leaning over the balcony watching the same view as him.

He dashed towards her, startling her with his sudden appearance. “Layke, what are you doing?” Belle sighed, she thought she had made it clear she needed a moment alone to think and accept her new fate.

“I’ve had an idea.” He assured her. Belle quirked her brow as she waited to hear what was so important the Prince of Avalon had to rush up here. “My birthday is in 3 months!”

“Uh.. happy early birthday?” Belle somewhat questioned with a confused expression. Prince Layke rolled his eyes and sighed. “Right, wolves can get their mates from 18. Well faeries can’t find their mates until they reach the age of 21. I’ll be 21 in just a few months, where I’ll be able to find my mate.” He explained.

“Didn’t your father just say you didn’t want to find your mate?” Belle asked, her brows furrowed as she looked up at the 6 foot 6 man in front of her.

“I don’t but here’s what I am thinking. We clearly haven’t got any choice in the matter of whether we get married, but it’s not our fault if I ‘meet my mate’ on my birthday.” He explained, emphasising on the latter. “On my birthday, I’ll pretend to have found my mate and demand that she be the rightful Queen to Avalon. Our parents will have no choice but to let us go separate ways. In the meantime, we figure out who is leading the Gylandies and try to take them down beforehand.”

Belle pondered for a moment, tilting her head as she looked up at the prince, her gaze piercing directly into his. “So let me get this straight.. you would rather pretend to find your mate, who instead would just be a random girl, just so you don’t have to stay married to me?”

Layke groaned, shaking his head in disagreement. “That’s not what I am saying, Belle. But the reality is we both need partners who are going to let us do our jobs and not interfere with how we run things. I don’t want my mate getting involved in matters revolving around how I make decisions about Avalon. Having mates like each other would only encourage us to clash when it comes to making the big decisions.”

Belle thought for a moment. Layke had a point, plus this way she could leave in a few months and take Midsummer back with her, like all of this never happened. Layke and her could go separate ways and she could finally claim her heritage as the leader of Midsummer.

“He’s not the worst person to marry..” Nia, Belle’s wolf, purred as she admired his body.

“Let’s do it.” Belle agreed.