AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
Lerin
Iwasn’t lonely.
Unlike my brother and cousin, I wasn’t burning to get married to some stranger. They were too desperate for women, too starved for positive attention. I felt like I was the only one who saw anything in our kingdom clearly.
Bringing in strangers was a mistake.
We’d spent hundreds of years hidden away, and now one by one our kingdom was becoming less private. Witches, seers, and even humans now walked among us as though they belonged here. My older brother’s human mate even started a garden, gathering blue flowers that grew like weeds to display them around the castle. He was overjoyed.
I didn’t want to be so changed by a woman.
I wasn’t going to be king, I wasn’t even interested in the throne, yet I was being pushed into this.
Whether or not I hooked up with some stranger shouldn’t have been a decision my father and family got to make. My cousin was back with his new future-bride, as orchestrated by the seer. She was pretty and they got along, but at what point would everyone realize how ridiculous this all was? They would surely start trying for a baby now, in the hope that they could beat my older brother to the throne. The position reserved for the first of a generation to bear a child.Archaic.
Why did I have to compete for a throne I didn’t want?
I was in a small conference room. A rapidly cooling coffee sat by my hand as I stared down the door. Maybe she’d never come. Perhaps she’d found nobody for me, and I could get back to doing literally anything else besides this bullshit.
Undoubtedly, I wasn’t opposed to having a woman of my own. I was still a man with wants and needs. But this felt so clinical. It didn’t matter whether she was boring or obnoxious, if we were fated mates, I was expected to devote myself to her.
I didn’t want the throne.
I didn’t want some stranger complicating my life.
Hell, I didn’t even want to leave the walls of Crystal Glass. But this was all expected of me.
If I didn’t try, my father would have me caged up.
I’d be a traitor.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath as I heard the clack of heels in the corridor outside. She was on her way, and there was no backing out now. I was going to be trapped in a life with some stranger I’d probably hate.
“Hello, hello,” the seer cooed. She slipped into the room without a formal greeting, and I had to admit that much was refreshing.
“Good morning.”
“I can tell you’re not happy to be here.” She smiled tightly as she pulled out a chair and plopped herself down. I kept my eyes on her face and away from the bizarre clothing she was wearing. If she wanted attention from it, she wasn’t getting it from me.
“I just want to get all of this over with,” I admitted.
“That’s fair.”
Folding her hands in her lap, she didn’t seem interested in speeding the process along. I shifted in my chair, staring her down impatiently. Regardless of being royalty, being in the middle of the pack of all of my cousins meant that I was used to not getting special treatment. But I still expected her to respect my time.
“Did you find a mate for me?”
“I did. She’s in Springfield.”
“The human city?” I replied, cringing. I’d heard a lot about that city, and none of it was appealing.
“She isn’t human.”
“What kind of shifter is she?”
She shrugged. My hand tensed into a fist on the table. It was like she was punishing me for my own impatience. I needed to know the kind I was meant to seek out, not have to piece it together from some vague gestures. She definitely knew, and so I wanted to know as well.
