Esther“You two are so cute,” Margaret gushes when Charles and I walk in the castle after our hunt, laughing like we never hated each other.“Don’t make them uncomfortable.” Their mother, Queen Abigail, whispers to Margaret with a wide grin.“You are also making them uncomfortable with that creepy smile,” Margaret says to Queen Abigail.“You are the worst,” Queen Abigail playfully glares at Margaret. “I hope you two kids had fun?” she smiles.“We did,” I smile back, ignoring the ache in my heart, which is mostly caused by guilt.“I thought you two were going to stay at Tongass for a while. You know, something like a honeymoon.”Margaret laughs, mostly at how flushed I probably look.Charles groans. “You were on your way out, weren’t you, mother?”“Okay, okay,” she chuckles. “I’ll let it go. Let’s go, Margaret.” She pulls Margaret by her wrist as they head towards the door.“They are too much. Aren’t they?” Charles mumbles.“I heard that!” Queen Abigail says without turning.“I know,”
Dominic ‘You hate me that much?’ Apollo asks, a little sad and not angry like he usually is. ‘You will be spending eternity without Esther. You let her go. Again.’ ‘Thanks for rubbing it in,’ I say dryly. He responds with a growl. ‘What do you want me to do, Apollo?’ ‘You can kill everyone in the world for all I care. All I want is my mate!’ he grumbles.Aiden knocks once and opens the door to my study. I’ve been spending a lot of time in my study and avoiding my bed, where Esther’s scent still lingers. “You okay, Dom?” “Dealing with Apollo’s tantrums,” I sigh. ‘Yeah, sounds like him.’ He sends a mindlink and then chuckles audibly. ‘Is it about her?’ I nod. 'And about Felix. We despise Felix.’ ‘I still can’t believe you let him get away with it. You had a reason to kill him legally, but you didn’t, he closes the door and sits on the other side of the desk. ‘I know,’ I groan. ‘Why?’ I glare at him. Can’t he see the obvious reason? ‘Esther feels like Felix is the only one wh
Esther “Good morning, Esther.” Charles walks into my room holding a tray of cookies and tea. “Now I get it. Your mission this whole time was to poison me.” He places the tray on the sideboard, then he takes one cookie and chews it. “See? No poison at all, and you won’t die from poison, anyway.” “You knew that I was going to suspect you. So, you already chose a cookie and put it aside to prove yourself.” “You are impossible,” he chuckles. “When did you last hunt?” “It’s been a while. Wait, what are you trying to do?” “I’m trying to get close to you. To get to know you better, and to do my duty as a husband. That includes feeding you.” He takes a seat on one of the two dressing chairs. “Seriously?” I eye him suspiciously. “I promise, Esther. I will work hard to earn your forgiveness and to make this work.” “What’s in it for you? What did your parents promise you?” I get out of bed and take a quick shower. “My parents promised me nothing,” he says when I walk out of the sho
Esther We say goodbye to the werewolves and the witches as they get in the cars and drive away. Dominic doesn’t get out of the car to say goodbye to anyone. When the cars drive off, the emptiness that I’m trying to ignore screams within me. I try to blink back the tears, but they are too stubborn to stay put, and when I turn around, I find my father glaring at me. I focus on Uncle Felix, who has a wide grin on his face. He holds his arms out, and I force a smile as I walk towards him. I feel comforted by his hug, and let myself cry a little. “I missed you so much,” he whispers. “I missed you too, uncle,” I sniffle. “We all did,” King Bernard says behind me, and I stiffen. “King Bernard, Queen Abigail,” I turn around and I curtsy. “Enough with the formalities, you are our daughter,” we embrace in a hug. “After so many centuries of hoping that Charles would fall in love with a suitable wife, you just turn out to be one,” Queen Abigail smiles. “We couldn’t be happier,” she says,
Esther I almost apologise to my father and tell him that I’ll reject Dominic, but I decide to be the difficult daughter he almost always regards me as, just for fun. “Is that the first thing you thought of asking me? Not, ‘Are you okay?’ Or ‘did they torture you?’” His frown deepens. “Why would I ask unimportant questions?” “They are unimportant?” I gasp dramatically. “I’m your daughter!” “My daughter would never do what you did.” “And here we go again,” I sigh. “Stop with that attitude, young lady,” he glares at me. “So, you’ll never, ever forgive me?” “Forgive you for ruining our legacy?” He roars. “Did you forget that the throne ended up going to our cousins? You ruined our lives, and I’m giving you a chance to fix that mistake.” “Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps this happened because of your cold heart? You hunted vampires, and it was their revenge, which had nothing to do with my ex-fiancé.” The room gets tense, as if the air has completely left the room. Ja
Esther. I feel a strange sense of craving I’ve only felt when I was a new vampire. I don’t need a mirror to know that my bloodshot eyes are scaring the poor human who is supposed to be a warlock or something. A wizard? I frantically move around the cage, embodying a perfect image of a headless chicken. Oscar continues with his words of encouragement. I have stopped breathing so that I won’t inhale the scent of blood, but Oscar’s words are messing with my mind. His eyes suddenly widen, and then he shifts before running. The hair on my back stands, and I slowly turn around to look in the direction from which Oscar is running away from. The sound of the trees alerts me that whoever is moving in this direction is faster than we usually are, and that means it’s Dominic. I sigh with relief. He runs past the cage in pursuit of Oscar, but then stops a few feet away. He hurries towards the cage and looks at me with the gentleness I witnessed a few days ago at the amusement park. “Osca