AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I thought of Cass. How was he going to handle all of this? I didn’t even have a chance to spot him in the crowd before we disappeared.
Nik raised his thick eyebrows at me.
“You’re awfully quick to turn down something almost any woman in this Kingdom would kill for,” he said.
“And you’re awfully full of yourself,” I retorted.
He sighed. “Who said anything about marriage, Alarie?”
“Well, isn’t the whole point of the Choosing? For you to find your betrothed?” I asked.
“Thatiswhat people have assumed all of these years,” he said, sounding resigned.
“But it’s not true?” I asked.
“No,” he replied simply.
“Then why do you do the Choosing?” I asked.
“Well, this year, it was just for show,” he said.
“So, I’m not your Chosen then?” I asked, hope filling my words.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I saw a flicker of hurt cross the handsome Prince’s face.
“Oh no, you are,” he said with a grim grin. “It’s just that I didn’t need to go through the Choosing today to know that. I’ve known for months now.”
“All of this time you’ve been training me?”
“Almost since the first moment I laid eyes on you,” he confirmed.
I thought of the first night we met. How he’d saved me from being kidnapped. And that look I’d seen in his eyes that night for just a fleeting moment.
I stared at him analytically, the wheels churning in my head. “Why put on ashowtonight, then?”
“To send a message,” he replied succinctly.
Was he going to make me drag every last little detail out of him, question by question?
I breathed a huff of air out of my nose. “Send a message to who?” I asked.
“Vandros,” he said, again with a clipped answer.
I had no idea what I had gotten myself in the middle of. Now I was being used as some kind of message to the ruthless King of Alancia?
“Nik,” I said, letting my exasperation show. “Will you please just tell me what is going on instead of making me drag it out of you? If being your Chosen doesn’t mean marriage, then whatdoesit mean?”
“It means you’re the one I’ve been looking for all this time, Alarie. You’re the girl from the prophecy,” he breathed out.
34
Alarie
“The prophecy? What prophecy, Nik?” This was growing more surreal by the minute.
“Let’s have a drink,” he suggested.
“Nik! What prophecy?” I almost yelled. I took deep calming breaths to try to stay the panic rising in my chest.
