Maeve had not been able to think clearly ever since Hazel smeared it on her face that she had found her mate. She had been hoping they would both not find a mate by the ceremony.
Her father's incessant reminder was not helping either. It wasn't like she could go to the streets and pick herself any male! She couldn't do that.
Maeve had really placed all her eggs in one basket. She wished Hazel would not find a mate as well, and they would be even.
Hopefully, the elders would understand, and there wouldn't be a need for any of them to be sold —even if deep down she would have preferred Hazel to be the one to be sold.
But the fool had gone and gotten a mate, and now she was doomed.
What was she going to do?
How was she going to escape the ceremony?
She tossed and turned on her large purple bed as she thought of how she could escape her doom.
Their birthday was only a couple of days away. She had to find a solution as quickly as possible, but what could she do?
How could she find a mate in two days?
"Damn it!" She cussed as she sat up on her bed.
Why was Hazel the only one who got all the good luck in their lives? Why did their parents love Hazel more? Even at school, Hazel got the highest score, and no one even looked at Maeve.
Didn't she deserve some luck as well?
Now everyone would laugh at her again and again just like they had done when they were younger. Hazel would come back home with so many gifts, and she would always return with detention.
They would praise Hazel, but nobody was there for Maeve. They only laughed at her.
It wasn't her fault! Yet everyone blamed her.
Her mother thought she was a devil with the face of an angel!
Everyone thought she was the curse, and now this mate thing had proved that.
Her heart rose higher in her throat, and she struggled to breathe. Her heart was squeezing in pain, and sleep was a luxury she couldn't afford.
"I can't let them get what they want!" She whispered harshly to herself.
"I can't let Hazel win yet again!"
This was her time to get something Hazel didn't have. This was her moment, and she was going to take it.
But how?
She groaned in frustration as she pulled her blonde hair, trying to find a solution, but nothing happened. No brilliant idea came.
There was no way she could fake a mate so she could be spared...
"Wait!" She exclaimed as the perfect idea suddenly came to her mind.
"Shanaya!" She cried out as she jumped off her bed.
Shanaya was her closest friend, and she was a witch. She had a solution to every problem, and she hated Hazel too. Surely she would help her.
Everyone in the kingdom was wary of witches but not Maeve; she found them intriguing, and their evil mischief excited her.
She raised her window and discreetly slipped out of her room. The last thing she needed was for her parents to discover her missing from her bedroom just a few days before their mating ceremony.
She jumped down from the window and touched her pedicured fingers to the ground. Before the wind could change its direction, the popping sound of bones filled the air as she transformed into her wolf and ran out into the night.
There was only one destination in her mind... Shanaya's cave.
She ran as fast as she could and only stopped when she got to the mouth of the cave. She changed back into her human form and was about to go in when a strong force pushed her back to the entrance.
"Shanaya... Please let me in!" She pleaded as she struggled with the witch's trap.
The wind got even stronger, and visibility became more difficult as Maeve continued forcing her way.
Just as suddenly as the wind had started, it stopped, and a shadow appeared at the mouth of the cave.
Rather than feeling scared, Maeve felt excited.
"What brought you here so late, Maeve?" The sharp shaky voice of Shanaya, her friend, filled the air.
"I have a problem and only you can solve it!" Maeve called out again.
She got closer to the redhead witch and placed her hands together as if she was about to say a prayer.Shanaya smiled, and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she already knew what Maeve wanted.
"Does this have anything to do with Hazel?" She asked with a knowing smirk.
"Yes, it has everything to do with her! I can't sit still and watch her be so happy," Maeve pleaded.
Shanaya's smile got even bigger as she let her cold finger caress Maeve's right cheek.
"We can make Asher yours... Do you want that?" Shanaya asked, and Maeve felt like a light of hope had sliced through the darkest cloud in her sky.
It wasn't even a surprise that Shanaya knew the name of Hazel's mate. It was a common thing for witches to know everything, and her friend was one of the best in the forest.
"Will it work?" Maeve questioned as her heart beat in excitement.
If Shanaya could turn Asher against Hazel, she would have the perfect ending she had always craved for.
"Do not insult my clan by asking that question, Maeve. Do you want it done or not?" She asked in a harsh tone.
"Yes, do it!" Maeve agreed, and Shanaya snapped her fingers, then she disappeared from the mouth of the cave.
Maeve trusted her more than anyone else in the world. She did not doubt that Shanaya was going to do what she had said.
Asher would be hers...
As Maeve returned home, a large smile sat on her face as she couldn't wait for the night to be over.
"Maeve, where did you go so late at night?" Hazel's voice filled the silence of the room as Maeve stepped in through the window.
She turned and sent a cold glare to her twin sister, and then she said. "Rather than waste your time stalking me, I'd worry about the ceremony, if I were you..." She trailed off.
It was a simple sentence that had nothing to do with what Hazel had actually asked her, but Hazel felt a cold chill seep into her spine at the words.
It was a threat, and it scared her —What has Maeve done now?
"No!" Hazel's screams resonated through the walls of the midwives' workshop. Against their will, the midwives had lain Hazel on the worktable and had tied her limbs down to the table. One of the midwives took a cloth and started to stuff it into Hazel's mouth to muffle her screams. "Leave her mouth free. I want to listen to her screams," Raglan's cold voice echoed in the room, stopping the midwife. "Please Raglan! You can take my life but let this child live! He is innocent! Please!" Hazel pleaded with Raglan. "I should let the bastard child live?" Raglan chuckled. "I am putting an end to the lives of all the bastards in that family. Including the whore that dared bear him a child," Raglan said with such contempt his face contorted with disgust. Tears spilled down Hazel's face. She couldn't breathe. She knew this was likely going to be her end, but she had hoped she could escape. But she refused to give up on her son. Hazel continued to beg, offering her life in exchange for
Days had passed and Hazel was getting better and better in her skills as a princess of death but it wasn't as fast as she would have wanted it.Her baby would soon be out and she knew that the moment that happened, it was going to be the end of her.She worked harder in the small room she had created for herself, hoping to be able to restore her life to earth before the baby came. But all of these were difficult for her, especially since she had to avoid Raglan's mother by all means.Hazel had tried her possible best to steer clear of her. She knew that she hated her and she made sure she never had anything to do with her.But Raglan's mother made it her duty to be in Hazel's business. She found excuses to be around Hazel and to be part of her life and though Hazel tried her best to avoid her, it was not possible.As she finished her training with her instructor that day, Hazel slowly made her way to her room to rest but as she took the final bend, Raglan's mother immediately appeared
"What?!" Hazel squeaked, her face confused as to what she had just heard.Raglan held her by the shoulders his face lit up with a joy that she never believed could exist in the realm of darkness.He shook her as if to wake her from something."Hazel! We are in love! We now have a child on the way! All that's left is for us to get married!" Raglan said trying to connect some imaginary dots.Hazel knew she could not do this. She had endured the past weeks pretending to like him. Getting married to Raglan was going to the extreme and she was not sure she could survive it.With the same speed with which his face had lit up, the joy on his face dimmed out and a sadness replaced the light."You don't want me?" Raglan asked his voice pricking Hazel with the amount of pain that was in it.Hazel sighed.She knew this was not going to be easy. For her to secure what was hers, it was required of her to make certain sacrifices and this was one of them.With a weak smile that did not even touch he
Over the next few days, Hazel and Raglan's relationship blossomed.Raglan was so happy and he made sure everyone knew about him and Hazel –including his mother.Hazel was still trying to wrap her mind around how she became a girlfriend to the prince of death. The person who had taken away the joy from her life.Hazel had not factored a relationship between her and Raglan into her plans. She had envisioned a totally different trajectory for her plan and she was not happy with the way things were going.Raglan made sure she spent half of her day with him. He tried to make her move to his room but Hazel refused.Staying with Raglan meant she would have to have sex with him and that was something she dreaded happening.She however had been forced to be intimate with him.They cuddled in bed together before bedtime, and they kissed quite a lot –although she tried to find ways to avoid kissing him there was only so much she could refuse for her plan to really work.She did everything intend
Hazel spent the next twenty minutes thinking and rethinking her plan. 'What if it fails?' she asked herself. She knew that was a useless question to ask herself. She knew exactly what would happen if her plan failed. But there was no way she was going to back down. She placed her hands on her belly, rubbing it. She had to take the risk for the child's sake and his father's. With that in mind, Hazel got up and marched to the bed where Raglan lay lost to the world. He looked much more beautiful in sleep and he looked much less like the evil bastard that he was. Hazel looked at the left side of his chest. She knew he had no heart but she wished he had one so that she would have the satisfaction of impaling his heart just as how he had made her do so to all those Alpha's just for his selfish reason. Raglan was lucky she did not know how to send him to hell, she would have done it there and then. Rather, she got on the bed and started to try and take off his black tunic. It was no
She stood before the master of ceremony her entire body weak with fear.The master of ceremony turned back to face the crowd and then he rose both of his hands up into the air and then announced in a low voice, "It is time."As if on cue, the whole room erupted in a terrifying chant.The master of ceremony hurriedly walked away leaving Hazel standing in the middle tears running down her face as she witnessed the ritual happening around her.She could not move as she knew doing so will be fruitless. There was no possible way she was ever going to be able to make it out of the place without being caught moreover she was stuck there in fear.The blood that had been running past her legs started to flow faster.The chants from the demons grew frantic and the symbols on her body started to grow brighter and brighter making her body look like it had been set on fire.Hazel could feel a terrible presence in the room one which was more terrible than all the demons put together. This was follo