Chapter 5: The Inevitable

Morning came too quickly, and so did the preparations for the engagement party. She sat in front of the mirror while the maids prepared her. Even though she was physically sitting in the chair, her mind had drifted far away, far to the library, far to Kayden’s words.

She had severed the mating bond between them? Was he perhaps… intoxicated? She was sure she had never met Kayden until that night he had saved her from the pack members. She had wanted him to shed more light on what he had been talking about, but he hadn’t. He had simply left her standing there in a daze, and now curiosity and confusion gripped her tighter than the corset squeezing her ribs.

“All done, my lady.”

Their words brought her mind back to the room. Her eyes took in how beautiful she looked now, but this… wasn’t her.

The castle had been decorated beautifully. Powerful lycans from the western packs had come to attend, but strangely, her family wasn’t there.

The king’s right-hand man had assured her that the letter had been delivered to her family. Her mother, of all people, who had constantly been pressuring her to get married, hadn’t bothered to come?

Uneasiness settled in the pit of her stomach. Even though she knew no one could change the king’s decision, their presence would have made going through this a little less painful for her.

She had learnt that the two women who had glared at her in the courtroom the day she had arrived were actually the king’s wives, and now… she would be his third wife.

A heavy lump formed in her throat, her mind thinking of a million ways to escape this fate, but she was helpless.

By the time she arrived at her engagement ceremony, which had been hosted in the castle’s ballroom, her eyes searched for him—Kayden.

For a split second, she had almost missed the king standing right at the centre of the ballroom.

Cold sweat rolled down her back as every eye settled on her. She had already gotten used to people looking down on her and insulting her, but now, as she made her way towards the king, the powerful lycans present bowed to her, showing their respect.

“Zaya.”

King Darius’s rough voice resounded through the crowd. He took her hand, kissing the back of it, and she bowed.

“My lord.”

The ceremony commenced fully. She wanted to be anywhere else but there. Her eyes searched for Kayden again, only to realise he wasn’t present.

Darius picked up her hand, sliding a heavy ring onto her finger. To her, it felt like nothing but chains binding her to him, and she wished she could take it off and hurl it at him with all her might.

He pulled her closer. She stiffened as his breath fell against the shell of her ear.

“I can’t wait until the wedding. I’m going to have you in my bed tonight.”

No.

Zaya stiffened, turning as pale as a corpse.

His words continued to echo in her head, and even when women of high status flocked around her, her whole mind was in disarray.

She needed space. She couldn’t breathe. Her whole world was tilting so fast that she could barely maintain her stance.

“Excuse me,” she breathed.

She whipped her head in Darius’s direction, and when she saw that he was distracted in a deep conversation with his ministers, she slipped away.

She ascended the flights of stairs, opening and closing doors until she reached a quiet hallway where she could no longer hear the music playing, where she could no longer hear Darius’s voice taking control of the whole room.

And tonight, he was going to take her. She was going to give her body to him… a man whom she didn’t love.

She slipped into an open balcony, gripping the railings tightly as the tears she had been holding back spilled from her eyes. Her body trembled as she dipped her head between her shoulders.

She wiped her tears, her mind now wondering how many bones she would break if she were to jump down. At this point, she was ready to do anything to escape all of this.

And so she leaned further, as if contemplating whether to go for it or not, when…

“Need a push?”

She jolted in shock at the deep masculine voice, her body spinning around quickly. Her eyes were greeted by the very man she had been searching for… Kayden.

Her cheeks flushed, and she shook her head.

“No, I… I just needed some fresh air.”

He was draped in an all-black outfit, his midnight-black hair looking tousled as though he had run his hand through it several times.

“Did you miss your way to the ballroom, Zaya? Aren’t you supposed to be getting engaged?” he asked, his tone flat, but she could swear she saw his eyes darken, his jaw clenching.

Zaya didn’t reply immediately as she fumbled with the ends of her dress.

“I… I don’t want to be here,” she muttered under her breath, but judging by the change in his expression, she was sure he had heard her.

The dull thud of his boots echoed in her eardrums, her heart racing as he covered the distance between them.

Now, he stood a single step away from her, towering over her. His eyes narrowed.

“You don’t? If you had stayed put while I handled the rogue werewolves, if you had not run off, none of this would have happened.”

Annoyance flashed across his face, his eyes glaring down at hers.

Her lips parted and closed like a fish out of water, not expecting him to bring this up.

“I did not want to get in your way, and when I ran off, I never knew the injured lycan I had healed would turn out to be the king. I never wanted to be here, much less become his future bride, and the thought of him bedding me tonight makes my skin crawl.”

Her voice croaked, her vision blurry with tears, but she clenched her fist, tearing her gaze away from him. She didn’t want to look weak or vulnerable.

And if she had kept her gaze fixed on him, she would have seen the venom in his eyes, the burning urge to burn everything to the ground.

She blinked back her tears, her voice shaky.

“You never… explained what you meant by what you said last night, and—”

“My lady.”

She looked past Kayden to see the personal maid the king had assigned to her.

The maid bowed deeply.

“The king asked me to escort you back to the ballroom.”

Zaya’s heart squeezed in her chest. She gazed at Kayden once more before pushing past him to follow the maid, her heart growing heavier with the thought that she hadn’t gotten a chance to get her answers.

The maid led her back to the ballroom, and as much as she had prayed for time to stop, for night not to come, the inevitable came.

Now, she sat in front of the dressing mirror, her maid fixing her hair. Afterward, they dressed her in a light silk nightdress. Her hands trembled as she put on the robe, wrapping it tightly around her body.

Knowing that keeping the king waiting meant incurring his wrath, she dragged herself to his room. She hadn’t knocked more than once before he flung the door open, as if he had been waiting impatiently for her.

Her trembling limbs padded quietly into the room, cold sweat rolling down her spine. She could see the lust in his eyes, annoyance flickering in his expression when her hands remained wrapped around the robe, as though it were her armour.

He covered the distance between them, his tone impatient.

“Take it off.”

Her lips quivered, her movements clumsy as she undid her robe. When it fell beside her feet, she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.

He pushed her onto the bed, his gaze feral, as though he couldn’t wait to eat her whole. But just when he was about to lay his hands on her, a knock interrupted them.

A grunt filled with annoyance escaped his lips as he marched towards the door.

Zaya clung to the sheets, thanking whoever was behind the door for interrupting them.

“My king, it’s your royal advisor. He was found dead by the courtyard,” the guard reported.

“What!”

He stormed out immediately.

Zaya quickly got down from the bed, putting her robe back on before hurrying to her room. From her window, she could see Darius crouched down beside the body of the middle-aged man whom she recognised from the courtroom.

A single gunshot wound rested on his forehead, his eyes wide open.

Her hands turned cold, her eyes falling on a figure who stood on one of the balconies. His expression was relaxed as he took a drag from the cigar between his fingers, black smoke escaping his lips a second later.

And then his eyes found hers, a chilling smirk resting on his lips.

She took a step back.

No, it couldn’t be…