Ronan’s POV Seeing the expression of disbelief on Zira’s face as I approached her to take her to the middle of the stage had me in conflicted emotions. While everyone thought the Queen Dowager to be my mother, I knew very well that she wasn't. Although her life had been taken from her early, my mother, who was my father’s fated mate, had always talked about how beautiful the mate bond was. The mate bond was so strong that she could willingly sacrifice all of her life for that one man that didn’t even give her his whole heart.And even on her deathbed, my mother had made me promise not to hate my father. Because of this, I had always had a longing for my own mate.That experience made me want the mate bond even more. Besides, I only had two choices, the Moon Goddess’s choice or the Queen dowager's choice, and from the moment I had laid my eyes on Zira, I had known it was going to be her. The moon goddess’s choice was just perfect, and god dammit that, I was going to let anyone separ
Zira’s POVIt wassweet having Ronan say all of those sweet words and reassurances. But I was waytoo smart to get deluded. So as soon as Ronan gave me my dad’s room number, Irushed away from him and went to dad’s room.“Wherethe hell have you been?” Dad yelled the moment he opened the door.“I…I...”Suddenly, I can’t think of anything to say. Was I supposed to tell them aboutRonan? Before I could find the best thing to say, dad’s hand descended on myface very quickly.“Why doyou always have to make me worry? You embarrass me and even allow some man totake you away for the night!”“Isthis how I raised you? To be a slut?” He yelled out in one go.Withhis every word, I feel my heart breaking even further. Slut?!“I fellinto the pool, and while Leah and Killian stood and did nothing, someone savedme. What are you talking about?” I was trying my best to be polite, but I couldswear on the goddess that one more curse word from my father’s mouth and hewould hear it from me.Mywor
Zira’s POVThequeen dowager’s chambers were on the palace’s south wing, which had me walkingfor close to forty minutes while being flanked by the three men.Two ofthem stayed beside me, while one stayed behind me, his presence looming andmaking even my wolf uncomfortable.UnlikeRonan’s chambers, as soon as we were in front of her chambers, a long row ofomega maids stood with their heads bowed while giving me sneak peeks.Thewhole place was like an entire world of its own, with so many bustling around.But despite all of that activity, the moment the maids caught sight of thethree men, their gaze immediately turned toward me.Theyhad varied reactions, with some deciding to look away immediately and somedeciding that staring as much as they could was what they wanted.“Nora,the queen dowager sent us to bring her here,” the man behind me said to amiddle-aged woman standing in front of a thick door. You can take her in fromhere, said the woman.Thewoman they called Nora nodde
Zira’s POVThequeen dowager’s words felt like prophecy to my ears. I mean, I already knew.Even before she sent for me, I was certain that the mate bond meant nothing toher. Perhaps,it might have been something of convenience if I had been worthy of Ronan. ButI was plagued with inadequacy, so it had to become fickle. “Don’tyou agree?” She asked, breaking through my thoughts with another web to lock meinto some game she was playing. But wasI going to let her have it easy? “From acertain perspective, Your Highness could indeed be right…” “…however,that perspective should come from people outside our kind; after all, they haveno idea for what reason the moon goddess had created a bond like this or howmuch she had sacrificed for our type.” The more I say, the more unpleasant herface becomes. Andsomehow, that gave me some kind of pleasure.“But asthe queen dowager, I know for sure that you would understand all of these evenbetter than I do.” “Yousure have some guts, y
Ronan’s POVI couldhave sworn my heart stopped for a second as I was talking with Diaz, the firstson and apparent heir to alpha Zank. Theirpack was the largest after the Royal family pack, and we had solid connectionswith them. To some people in the lower regions, packs like theirs were alsoseen as the Royal pack. “It’salways better to secure the most important thing first; as for love and women,we have more than a hundred years to live; you would eventually get to haveyour pick of them all,” Diaz said, and I resisted the urge to scoff at him. Whatexactly was the important thing, power? “Myfather has trained Aimee to be the queen from the day she was born. No othergirl can beat the experience that she has when it comes to this, Ronan,” Diazcontinued. Butthat was the problem. I wasn’t looking for a trained queen; I was looking formy woman, my mate, and then make her queen. It wasreally that simple. Aimee was trained to be queen, which meant that regardlessof who en
Zira’s POVMy mindwas reeling from everything that I had just heard. If some moments ago, I hadfelt that the palace was some deep and dangerous waters to swim in, now I knewfor certain that those waters weren’t just deep and dangerous. They were morbidand stinky. Butother than that, I felt so much heartache on behalf of Ronan. Even though hehad said everything so simply like that, I had felt some tug from my wolf thewhole time we were there that had me guessing he was there. Withoutknowing, tears rolled down my eyes at the grievance he had to suffer all theseyears and still say nothing. He evenhad to pretend to respect her. The more I thought about it, the more annoyed Iwas. But there was nothing I could do. Infact, at this moment, my body lay limp in his embrace from all the suppressionthat the queen dowager had done to my wolf, and I just felt like I was totallyout of energy. “Zira,I’m sorry,” Ronan finally said after some minutes. We were still walking, but Iwas
Zira’s POVMyplans to leave Ronan had been swept down the drain by just that encounter withthe queen dowager, and somehow, I couldn’t help feeling like she had to stopinterfering with fates. I hadbeen prepared to leave for Ronan until she asked her men to bring me down toher. Learning about Ronan’s loneliness in this place made me hesitant todepart.Iwasn’t exceptionally strong or anything, but at the very least, I had thestrongest lycan in my pack, and I could even contend with Killian. That hadbeen one of the things he disliked the most, and no matter how much I told himLuna needed to be just as strong, he never agreed.With mylittle bit of strength, I should be able to help my mate with something. “It’sall murky and scary in the back doors of the palace. Everyone plays their rolein making sure the kingdom is running well. But at the same time, right next toresponsibility is their benefits,” Ronan explained. Heseemed nonchalant like he wasn’t affected. But I could r
Zira’s POVAfteryesterday’s episode with the queen dowager, I had spent the whole day withRonan, and after we had dinner together, he finally convinced me to sleep inhis room tonight. Hedidn’t have to do a lot of convincing in the real sense. I always wanted to bearound him. There was just something that made me want to stay glued to him.Thismorning when I woke up, Ronan wasn’t there, but I saw a fashion dress standwith rows of dresses arranged carefully. I hadpacked little for my trip here, father had said two to three days, but I hadalready exhausted everything with all the unexpected drama that had beenhappening.Walkingto the dress rack and checking each of them out, I was amazed by how beautifuleach one of them was. I had seen beautifully made dresses on my phones and ongirls and always wanted something like that. Butthis right here was a lot more beautiful than anything I had ever seen, and tothink that each one of them was just as stunning as the other. A kno