007. How To Make The Princes Reject Me

~Bethany~

I spent most of the evening setting a few things up for my mission. A few dark magics here and here to come up with the necessary charms I will need for my mission.

The Dean is available, and that makes it easier for me to start with my number one objective.

My blackened sclera has barely returned to its normal white color when Zuri bursts into my dorm room with tear-soaked eyes.

When she sees me, she rushes at me with her arms extended like she's coming in for a hug. I bolt upright immediately, away from her. She cleans her eyes and waves her fingers, breathing out a laugh.

“Sorry,” She sobs and laughs at the same time. “I’m just so relieved to see you. I forgot the ‘no-hug rule’.” She wiggles her eyebrows and purrs, “I almost went crazy thinking something bad had happened to you. I swear to you, Beth, I never wanted to leave you all by yourself. In fact, I almost drove Helly insane to have him bring me right back.”

She suddenly lowers her voice. “We saw the Vamp’s body downstairs. I almost went feral while rushing up the stairs until I saw your guys outside. They said you're good.”

“Wait...” I twist my finger to silently ask for a repetition of what she said. “You saw my what?”

“Your guys,” she repeats, laughing so hard. “In case you didn’t notice, you've got a mountain of presents waiting for you at the door. I counted nine boxes. Three dream blockers and a fancy fang-pendant necklace. Tell me that’s not the Vampire’s fang.”

gods! These princes have added more gifts to the already heaped ones.

“It is.” I reply, shrugging. “Olyon Wrath killed him and pulled one of his fangs out. He said it's a souvenir.”

Zuri whistles. “The Vel Morin, protector of dreams, killed for you. On your first fucking day in Crestbane! Beth, you are one lucky bitch!”

I scruff my nose at her words. “He can go to hell. All of them, actually.”

Zuri clutches her heart dramatically, dropping onto her empty bed, sighing at the ceiling. “Girl, we’re talking about the infamous, sexy, wealthy, ridiculously top-tier princes of Crestbane, who are now behaving like they just got bitten by a love bug, your love bug. You should be excited to be mated to the highest-ranked Nobles of all time! The four of them, at your beck and call. You have a pack to yourself, Beth!”

I look away. “They're neither my mates nor my pack.”

Zuri stares at me for so long that I wonder if she heard me. Then she tips her head. “Do you think you're not a good enough mate for them?” she asks. “You're amazing. And if the gods made the match, then you know you five were all meant to be together.”

As if the gods care about my fate.

“Trust me. Rejecting them was the right thing to do.”

To my surprise, she throws a hand over her mouth to try muffling a loud laugh. “gods. I feel so proud to be your roommate. You need to see their faces out there; they look whipped.”

“They’ll get over it,” I mutter. Then an idea strikes me. “Zuri. You've dated a lot more than I have.”

She grins. “I believe so. I could give you a thorough and explicit run-down course on how to handle men like the princes under the sheets if that’s what you're asking.”

I fight a morbid smile. “No, that’s not it. Tell me how I can get my boyfriend to dump me without blinking an eye.”

Zuri blows out a big breath slowly. “Oh, gods. Where to even begin? Honestly, there are so many reasons to dump someone. If they're boring, annoying, clingy, mean…oh, or if they're high-maintenance.”

Boring, annoying, clingy, mean…I take mental notes, waiting for her to continue. 

The last one won't work on these princes. It looks like they can afford high maintenance.

Zuri scratches her nose as she thinks. “Cheating is obviously a huge deal breaker. I've never been cheated on, but I did have a boyfriend once who flirted with anything that had a pulse. I flung him out the window in days. Such an irritating behavior.”

I watch as she stands, stretches, and shoots me a sheepish grin. “I’ve only been dumped once, and he said it was because I'm too smart for his liking.”

“It’s not your fault he was insecure.”

She laughs, but I'm keeping a mental list in my head. One, I intend to write down and use to drive my so-called mates away. It will be far easier to have them request a rejection ritual if I can get them to hate me.

“It won't work, Beth.”

I glance at Zuri, waiting for her to explain what she means. She smiles knowingly, looking both amused and sympathetic.

“I know what you're up to, but trying to make your mates dislike you isn’t going to work. You're too endearing.”

Endearing?

Me?

She's probably speaking about herself.

“You are the only person who's ever thought that about me,” I inform her.

Zuri shrugs. “You’re not a girlie of many words, but actions speak louder than words. I've gotten a glimpse of the real you. It won't take long for your guys to see the real you, too, no matter how you try to hide it.”

My guys…

Yuck!

She's underestimating my acting skills. After all, no one here has questioned my backstory.

Changing the topic, I finally made her believe that I'm safe. Besides, I have a whole army of protectors right outside our dorm room, and I have a feeling that what she has with Hellion is more than friendship.

So when Hellion finally knocks, insisting on taking her back with him to spend the night at his fancy out-of-school dorm, I persuade her to go.

I've barely managed to convince Zuri to go with Hellion before a sharp, sudden bloom of pain hits me in my chest, making my vision blur and taking my breath away. I rest my back on the wall, carefully controlling all outward sign of pain.

The pain hurts worse than usual.

“I'll catch up with you tomorrow, Zuu,” I tell her, praying she leaves immediately.

“All right. But I want to hear all about your attempts to kick your mates away. Pretty sure all of this will be super entertaining to watch,” Zuri teases before saying goodnight and leaving the room.

The moment the door shuts behind her, I crumble to my knees, clutching at my chest.

Now that I'm not fighting it, the pain lances outward to my entire body, causing tingling pain at my fingertips.

Since I arrived for my mission, this is the first time I'll be communicating with him whom I've learnt to call ‘father’.

That proves he knows I'm now inside Crestbane. Time to get the dice rolling.

I manage to stumble to my closet, pulling out one of my many hidden vials of dark liquid.

Uncorking it, I down the disgusting mixture quickly, gagging on the taste. A familiar burn floods my system before everything fades to black as I slump to the floor. Then, I feel nothing but cold.

‘Morta,’

That word reverberates through my mind along with a flurry of images, all one after the other.

And finally, there's a pause at the image of Dani hung upside down on an oak tree with a dripping wound on her shoulder blade.

‘Morta… tic tock, tic tock, tic…’

The words die out as a sudden, severe shock jolts me awake.

I gasp and claw at my chest, trying to force the pain away. I'm lying on the ground in my room, head pounding, while the cold gradually fades from my limbs.

The vial I drank from is shattered on the ground beside me.

With a grimace, I try to pull myself up, but my body feels like it's made of a thick rod. So, instead, I lay back down and scowl at the ceiling.

I was given exactly six weeks to carry out this assignment once I step into Crestbane.

And I certainly can’t do that with four idiots breathing down my neck all the time.

With a renewed determination to drive away my supposedly fated mates, I force myself to move, to sit at my desk, and pull out a paper and pen.

One week to get rid of the princes, then five weeks to get everything else done.

I jot down a game plan: “How To Make Them Hate Me.”

Once it’s done, I reread it before nodding with satisfaction.

Tomorrow, if any of my rejected matches approach me, I'll use the first tactic on the list.

Let’s see how they survive a boring mate.