Miss Diana 2

Dinner began with Diana sitting awkwardly and occasionally throwing glances at the couple. She just stared at her food while they seemed to enjoy every bite, savoring it's taste.

“This can't be happening,” she muttered, her fists clenched around the knife and fork that she held.

Esme and Grant looked in her direction. She froze, but only for a moment, her stare turned into a glare.

“Is the food not to your liking, Miss Diana?” Esme asked.

It isn't like Esme to celebrate another's misfortune, having been on the receiving end of it her whole life, but she didn't feel bad for Diana. Grant was her mate, her second chance mate. She couldn't let another take him away. She didn't want to experience the pain of the mate bond snapping loose again.

It was already unbearable the first time. A second might just kill her. Especially after she was starting to feel comfortable with Grant.

Esme didn't wish to be queen. She just wanted to be his mate. To be treated kindly and respected as a person should be.

“The food is fine,” Diana replied, a forced smile on her lips. She held Esme's gaze. “Although something keeps weighing on my mind, Your Majesty,” she said, her eyes on Grant.

Grant stopped to look at her after dicing the steak and passing it to Esme's side of the table.

“I am your betrothed, yet I now hear that you have chosen someone else as a mate,” Diana began, her gaze turning sharp and accusatory. “If you wish to keep her by your side, I can understand that, but I should have been informed before you brought her in here.”

Esme seemed to shatter the moment she heard what Diana said. Her heart squeezed, and she suddenly lost her appetite.

She looked at Grant, her eyes asking if what she said was true. Her hand began to tremble, thinking that she was the one trespassing. Desiring what wasn't hers. And for a moment, she blamed herself.

One look at her, and Grant knew what she was thinking, and his heart ached. He reached for her clenched hands under the table and placed his on them, giving them a gentle squeeze.

“How would this reflect on your image should this be known to the public?” Diana continued, her tone turning sharper. “I won't stop you from keeping her,” looked at Esme briefly, then she added, “she's pretty, but she needs to know her place…”

“That's enough, Diana…” Grant said, growling.

Diana flinched, but a second later, she glared defiantly, hurt that he was treating her so coldly because of a girl who could barely be considered an adult, but she didn't dare utter a word.

“You speak of an engagement,” Grant began, his hand still holding on to Esme's. “Didn't I make it clear that there was no such thing between us?” He asked.

“Our engagement wasn't decided by…” Diana tried to defend but was cut mid-sentence again.

“You and your father delude yourselves. I never accepted the arrangements," he said and then added coldly, “I won't accept it now nor will I compromise.”

“Why?” Diana asked, half rising from her seat. “Why do you choose…. something like her over me? Is she prettier than me?”

“One more thing,” Grant spoke, his tone deep and filled with suppressed anger. “There's no chosen mate here. She is my mate,” he declared.

Diana staggered, the legs of the chair scraping the floor as she pushed it back for space.

Her lips trembled as she tried to speak, eyes wide, gazing at Esme, who looked like she couldn't believe Grant chose her over the beautiful Diana. A warm pink color grazed her cheeks, and her eyes turned glassy.

Diana understood every word he said, but she couldn't bring herself to accept them to be so. How could she?

Grant never cared about women, and everyone knows he isn't meant to have a mate, and that was why their marriage was agreed upon even though it was merely political.

Because of his bloodline and position as an alpha, he needed a strong female by his side, the exact opposite of what Esme appeared to be. She was thin and fragile, looking like she would break with the slightest touch.

Diana was chosen, taught, and trained to be the woman by his side. She had fone through various tests to ensure she was healthy enough to one day bear the king’s heir.

But now, suddenly, the same man who had been her whole world claims he had a mate, and she was not needed. Then what does that make her?

“This is a test, right?” Diana worded, eyes alternating between Esme and Grant. “Tell me this is just a test,” but none of them spoke. They just stared at her. “It has to be.”

Esme watched her break down and felt sympathy for her. As much as she was happy that Grant chose her. It hurts being rejected. It didn’t matter whether they shared a bond as strong as the mate bond. It still hurts.

Esme lived her life hoping to be loved one day by family that she grew up with and her pack, only be to rejected and cast aside like she were something undeserving of their love and attention. The only thing she got was ridicule and abuse. Her first mate also rejected her, and that cut even deeper than the condescending gazes of the whole pack.

It wasn't exactly the same as Diana's situation, but she must have loved Grant and just wished he would love her back. Esme has also wished for that the moment she found out alpha Julian was her mate only be rejected the same way Grant was rejecting Diana's feelings.

She opened her mouth to speak the first time, but no words made it out. She cleared her throat and tried again,

“I…” she began, but Grant squeezed her, stopping her. She looked at him, and he shook his head.

“It's time she woke up from her dreams and see the reality,” he said, loud enough for Diana to hear too.