Chapter 2 - Finding a mate.

Lorenzo

“ANYTHING WORTH IT TODAY?” I frowned as my beta walked into the office. I left him to buy the slaves because I just couldn’t deal with the traders any longer. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the slaves. I just hated dealing with the traders.

“HA! There was this one who told me she had been kidnapped. She has spunk.” He frowned. “It’s sad that she won’t make it through the week or I would have taken her for myself.” He shrugged and, since there was nothing else to report, we turned our attention to the correspondence I had been trying to avoid all morning.

After we were finally done, all I wanted to do was go upstairs, take a nice long hot shower, and crawl into bed, but I wasn’t going to be lucky enough to do that tonight. A quick shower was all I had time for before the evening’s event. I had put off finding a bride long enough and we were having yet another ball to see if I could find someone that was good enough.

I met my parents in the foyer and we were announced. The smell of the food hit me the second we walked in, but we were instantly swamped by eager females who were all trying to catch my eye and I knew I wasn’t going to get a chance to eat until much later in the evening. Finding a wife was becoming a tedious, never-ending waste of damn time.

I understood why my mother thought that having these events would help, but I just couldn’t find who and what I was looking for. I hated dancing and I hated making small talk even more, but those were the two things that were required at these damn events.

So, I had a process of elimination. A mental list of sorts that I ran through each time the event started. I would pick the women that I found physically attractive to dance with and avoid all the others at all costs. Once we were on the dancefloor, I had a list of questions I asked them and if they answered one of them wrong, they would be out of the running.

I was looking for a future queen. I couldn’t afford to marry someone who wouldn’t be able to handle that role with grace and dignity. She had to be strong, but not overshadow me. She needed to want children … No, she had to love children because I wanted her to love my children the same way my mother loved me and I needed an heir.

 I had been the king for almost five years and I still didn’t have an heir, which was the reason behind having a ball every damn night until I found my wife. My mother was in overdrive and it was driving me insane. You would think that it was her own biological clock that was ticking the way she carried on sometimes.

What saddened me, though, was that none of these women seemed to have a mind of their own. It was as if they had all been cast out of the same mold. None of them could decide about anything on their own. When I asked a question, they would either ask me what I wanted. If they answered, they would quickly revert to answer number one.

None of them were independent in the least and I needed someone who would be able to rule our kingdom if anything ever happened to me. I wanted a partner, not just a wife. I knew I was making things difficult for my mother, but I wanted what she and my father had. I wanted love and duty and I had no idea of how to explain it to them. I had grown tired of trying to explain it and that was when my mother saw a weakness and exploited it by getting me to agree to these balls.

Finally, the night ended and my mother looked disappointed when I informed her that none of the ladies that were at the ball qualified. I said goodnight, dropped a quick kiss on my mother’s cheek to try and soften the blow, and made my way down to the kitchen to see if there was any more food left.

“They say she’s been on the boat for three years.” I heard voices whispering and stopped mid-step. “HA! The masters say that one is trouble. They couldn’t sell her and they hope that she doesn’t bring shame to them here. Apparently, she has a bit of an attitude.” I frowned. Nobody lasted longer than a couple of months on those boats. They had to be talking about the girl my beta told me about earlier. I tried over the years to get the traders to treat the slaves better, but it never helped. There was no way anybody could have lasted three years!

“Well, I don’t know how she survived. Did you see how thin she is? She looks like she is about to just keel over and die!” The laughter moved out of the kitchen. It had to be her. The girl with the spunk. I needed to see this girl for myself, but my growling stomach reminded me why I was there in the first place. Deciding to grab a piece of bread, I was just about to make myself a sandwich when the chef walked in. I was going to check in on the salves to see the girl, but she wasn’t going anywhere, was she? The chef quickly set about making my sandwich and I gobbled it down as if I hadn’t eaten for days before making my way upstairs. I made a mental note to investigate the situation with the girl in the morning. The slaves would all be asleep by now in any case and I wouldn’t be able to see who she was, would I?

I crawled into my enormous four-poster bed and closed the heavy velvet curtains to block out any possible light coming from the passage. I loved my bed. It was made for my grandfather who loved lavish furniture and the fact that it had its own curtains was a huge plus for me. My staff could walk about my room and do whatever it was they did in the mornings before waking me.

My head hit the pillow and I breathed in deeply before sleep drew me in.

Ariana

MY CHAINS RATTELED as I turned during the night, and it never used to bother me, but the sound echoed throughout the room. I started to feel incredibly self-conscious because of it. Although there seemed to be nice people around me, I would hate to be the reason some of them didn’t get enough sleep.

Finding as comfortable a position as I could without moving my arms or legs too much, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep myself, but it was impossible. The floor was freezing compared to the wooden floor of the boat and it was making the little bit of muscle I had left ache terribly.

By the time morning came and the guards showed up to let us out, I was in so much pain that I could hardly walk. We made our way through to the washing rooms where the person in charge removed my chains. I didn’t want to show my relief, but I thanked her in any case.

“Oh, don’t thank me girly. I have a reason for doing it.” She raised a brow as she put the chains in the corner. “You seem to have a talent for removing stains nobody else can get out.” A young girl came walking up with a huge trolley filled to the brim with white clothing. The girl sneered at me before skulking off. “I need these all cleaned before lunch.” I forced myself not to glare at her. We hadn’t had breakfast yet, and normally I wouldn’t be bothered. One meal less could be the last straw for my body to just give in.

Forcing the thought of food out of my mind, I got to work on the washing. I had a feeling that if I didn’t get through this lot, they weren’t going to let me eat at lunchtime. My wrists burned as soon as I put my hands into the water and I forced myself not to gasp in pain. Even though I was feeling incredibly weak, I couldn’t show it.

I learned that very early on the boat. It was as if the guards were trying to separate the weak ones and then they got rid of them pretty quickly. Thankfully, the burning subsided quickly and I was able to focus on the stains and the work I had to get done before lunch.

My mind wondered while I was busy washing out stain after stain and I didn’t even notice how raw my hands were becoming. I had to keep forcing myself not to think about my life in the pack house since this was such mind-numbing work and my thoughts seemed to keep wanting to think about better days.

“You missed one! Concentrate Ariana! I don’t want to get whipped again!” My wolf growled, forcing me to focus. I had just grabbed a shirt when it felt as if someone was looking at me. My eyes scanned the people around me but everybody was busy with work and nobody was looking at me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was staring at me when the sting of the whip hit my back.

“GET BACK TO WORK!” An ugly-looking guard sneered as I flinched. I grabbed the shirt and washed it without looking for any stains. I was fighting back tears, refusing to cry! I wouldn’t cry! Not in front of these people! No matter what they did to me! I won’t cry!! I tried to shake the feeling that someone was looking at me and focusing on what I had to do, but I couldn’t.

A shiver ran down the back of my spine, but I didn’t dare look around again. Being able to move about more freely without my chains was slowly loosening my tight muscles and I focused on the relief I was feeling. The strong scent of the soap burned my nose, but I kept on doing what I had to do. One day my mate will find me. That was all I had and all I needed to focus on.

One day my mate would find me and then they would have to set me free! They couldn’t keep holding me as a slave if my mate found me. Surely, even if the king kept us as slaves, he wouldn’t keep someone that was destined to be with someone! A new fire started to burn from deep inside as I grabbed the next shirt. The strong scent of the shirt struck me right between the eyes.

“Mate!” My wolf purred and I frowned. I sniffed the shirt and stuffed it into the water as my eyes grew wide. I could smell my mate’s scent on the shirt, even though the scent of the soap! It was his scent! I was sure of it! The scent sent my mind running and when I pulled it out of the water to look for stains, I could still smell it.

The soap hadn’t removed his scent as it did with the others I finished! It was definitely my mate’s scent! He was here. My head snapped from the left to the right and my mind was all over the place before I stuffed the shirt back into the water. I felt bewildered and my wolf was howling for our mate. He was here! My mate was somewhere in this castle! Was he one of the guards? I tried to calm my racing heart before anybody noticed.