06. Thread Of Hate

“You are now looking completely ready for the wedding, Princess Amelia,” 

Amelia's ears heard those words from one of the attendees, who were helping her in getting ready for the wedding. Her own wedding…with that heartless monster.

“You are looking absolutely gorgeous,” another attendee complimented her, but Amelia's eyes continued to peer at her reflection in the mirror.

A shimmering, pale-white wedding gown was wrapped around her body perfectly. A long veil was attached to the crown of her head. She was looking beautiful but deep inside, she had already started turning lifeless just with the thought of marrying that man, who hated her with everything.

“Is she ready?” That voice resonated in the room. 

Amelia saw that familiar person's reflection in the mirror. 

“Yes, Lady Sharon. Princess Amelia is ready for the wedding,” one of the attendees answered Sharon, who was standing at the door. Her eyes were fixed on Amelia.

Sharon stepped inside the room.

“You all can leave now,” Sharon ordered the attendees, who passed her a bow and then walked out of the room, leaving Amelia and Sharon alone in that room.

Exhaling a heavy breath, Sharon walked closer to Amelia and stood beside her.

“Are you ready, Amelia?” Sharon’s question was enough to brim tears in Amelia's eyes, which she had been trying to hold back in front of those attendees.

Was she ready for this wedding? No. She could never.

She was going to marry that ruthless beast, whose hatred for her and her life was so venomous that he didn't think twice before manipulating her in order to make her do what he wanted, even at the cost of her and her loved ones lives.

“Amelia….”

“Will this wedding really save my father's and our pack’s innocent lives?” Amelia's question halted Sharon's words. 

Finally turning around, Amelia looked at Sharon with her glossy eyes.

“Or did you also manipulate me and try to play with me, just like your…. Lycan Prince, Lady Sharon?” 

FLASHBACK 

After Callum left the room, giving Amelia the promise of her life’s safety, she immediately decided to go to his father to refuse the wedding, just like she had promised to him.

She didn’t want to break her promise, believing he was also going to do the same because they both were totally against this wedding, so she would do what he wanted and he would give her what she needed.

Her life’s freedom.

“So you have already started trusting Callum, Princess Amelia?” That unfamiliar voice made Amelia turn around. Her brows arched in confusion, seeing a woman at the door. Her blank grey eyes were fixed at her.

Who was this woman? She had never seen her before.

“Who are y…..”

“I am Sharon and I have been serving the Lycan King's family for decades now,” the woman introduced herself to Amelia whose confusion intensified more at her answer because she still could not understand why this woman had come here to her.

Amelia saw that woman stepping inside the room and coming closer to her.

“So I am one of the closest people to the Lycan King's family here, including the Lycan Prince, Callum Morelli,” Amelia wordlessly listened to that woman, still befuddled.

“And that's why I am telling you to not trust anything Callum has just told you right now, especially regarding letting go of your life because….” Amelia saw that woman taking a pause before she took another step closer to her and stood right in front of her.

“The only way for you to escape your death from Callum's hands is to become his wife and the mother of his child,” her words appalled Amelia. How did she know so much about their lives?

“And not just only your life, if you refuse to marry him then he would also kill your father and that every person who is going to try to shield you from him,” 

Amelia couldn't believe her ears but that woman's words instantly made her recall how brutally he had killed that man in that forest who tried to protect her from him. She knew he was capable of killing anyone. 

“But he just promised me and said that….”

“Callum has restlessly searched for you for years to kill you, Amelia. Do you think if he had any other way to break this curse then he would have taken you here to end your life in the very first place?” Sharon's every word made sense to Amelia. 

She understood how right Sharon was. But did this mean he lied to her? Did he manipulate her, so that he could make her refuse this marriage in front of his father and then he would kill her?

Amelia felt a clenching pain inside her chest. Did he really play with her, even after knowing how hopeful his words had turned her?

She wanted to live. She had always wanted to live freely and with no fear.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Amelia directly asked the woman regarding her true intentions for her.

“ Why are you going against what he wants?” Her question made Sharon sigh heavily.

“Because Callum's wants include the harm of countless innocent lives, which I don't want as….I still couldn't forgive myself for the loss of that one innocent life,” Sharon uttered to her and Amelia immediately caught that glimpse of pain and regret flashing in her eyes.

A kind of regret which would snatch your own peace from you.

“So I want you to….” 

“I will not marry him,” Amelia stopped Sharon in the middle this time. 

“I will never marry that man….” Tears were on the edge of brimming her eyes.

“Because it's far better to accept my death than to marry that ruthless monster and give birth to his child,” Amelia had already decided what she needed to do. She was never going to marry him, especially after knowing how sinister and corrupted he was.

He was vicious and heartless.

“I will never marry him at any cost….” saying that Amelia walked past Sharon to go to the Lycan King for declining this marriage.

“Even if it would cost you your father's and every loved one's lives…Amelia?” Those words of Sharon’s paused Amelia's feet.

Turning around, she looked at Sharon only to find her eyes already on her.

“Callum and his father will just not only kill you but your father and your pack’s people too if you refuse to marry,” Sharon uttered, ending the breathing of Amelia’s soul.

FLASHBACK ENDS

“This wedding will save your life and your pack, Amelia. I can assure you that,” Sharon said to Amelia, who just continued to stare at Sharon with her teary gaze.

“And who will save me from him?” Her question faded all the emotions from Sharon’s face, which terrified Amelia even more because Sharon’s silence told her that once she would get married to that man, no one and nothing would be able to protect her from him and his cruelty.

He had already promised to give her a life more painful than death.

“He will ruin me and my life,” more tears stung Amelia's eyes, which brought an expression of pain on Sharon's face too because she could clearly comprehend the kind of fear and pain Amelia was feeling at that moment, especially after knowing how ruthless Callum was.

“Amelia, Callum is not….” A knock on the door halted Sharon from further speaking. 

“Lady Sharon, King Keagan has instructed to take Princess Amelia out in the royal garden. The wedding is about to begin,” the attendee informed Sharon with a lowered head.

“You can leave. I will take her there,” Sharon uttered to the attendee, who left with a bow.

Amelia could feel her heart pounding inside her chest. Her palms had started sweating. That dreadful moment had finally come.

She needed to marry that man now. She could not hold her tears back anymore which caused a sob to rip out of her throat.

Sharon looked at Amelia, and seeing her vulnerable state, Sharon pulled Amelia into a gentle hug because she knew Amelia needed it at that moment to overcome her terror.

For a brief moment, Amelia silently shed her tears against Sharon's shoulder. She didn't want this marriage. She didn't want to marry that man…but it was not acceptable to her fate.

“Amelia….” Pulling back, Sharon cupped Amelia's face and tenderly wiped her tears away with her thumbs.

“When the right time will come…..you will get to know what you really mean to Callum and to what extent,” Sharon said those words to Amelia, who had turned so terrified and anxious at that moment that she could not understand the real meaning behind those words of Sharon’s.

“Let’s go now,” Sharon covered Amelia’s face with the veil and then held her hand to take her to her groom because only Sharon knew what Amelia truly meant to Callum.

…………..

“Princess Amelia is here…..” those whispers started echoing as soon as Amelia stepped outside in the royal garden where the wedding ceremony rituals were going to take place.

“You are looking beautiful, my child,” her father said to her, who was standing beside Amelia. She didn’t speak a single word and kept her head lowered, which made her father take a glance at the Lycan King, who sent her father a nod.

“Come…..” her father, Victor, said to her.

Wordlessly, Amelia followed her father.

A soft blow of wind hit her veil as soon as she stepped on the aisle. Her eyes remained lowered. Her presence looked completely lifeless as she walked down the aisle.

For once, she didn't take her head upward to look at him…that cruel man whom her fate had written for her in her destiny.

Her feet paused as soon as she reached the altar. Like a mannequin, Amelia continued to stand there but suddenly she saw a palm getting stretched in her direction. And she knew exactly to whom this hand belonged.

Slowly taking her head upward, Amelia looked into his dusky brown eyes and the only thing she could feel in his gaze was a dreadful calmness, which terrified her even more.

Amelia made no efforts to hold his hands on her own, which didn't go unnoticed by her father, so her father placed her palm over Callum's.

“Please take care of my daughter,” Amelia felt him wrapping his hand around her palm at her father's words. His cold touch shivered her heart.

“With my everything,” his deep voice breathed out while his eyes remained fixed at hers. His grip tightened around her palm, giving Amelia that thought of hiding herself as far as possible from him but she knew it was not possible.

Not anymore.

He helped her in getting up on the altar.

Amelia tried to take her hand back but instead of leaving, she felt like his grip turning more hard around her palm. Her hand started hurting.

She looked at him and witnessed him stepping closer to her. His menacing gaze refused to leave hers.

“Start reading the vows,” he uttered to the priest, peering right into her bright green eyes, which glistened up because she knew these vows were not meant to tie them in that alluring bond of wedding but rather to knot them in that sharp thread of destruction, pain and hate.

But only if she knew how this sharp thread of hatred was going to tie both of them in an eternal knot of desire, possession and love very soon.