AVERY

I hurry back to my room so I don’t stumble across her. At this time, the worst thing will be a confrontation.

Renee is running behind me as we both abandon our usual composed demeanor. She is the only person who knows why I am so out of breath.

When I finally enter my room, a sigh of relief escapes my mouth. She is not here. Renee enters behind me and closes the door.

“ You should take a bath, Princess. It’s— ”

“ I know. ” I snap, rushing towards the attached bathroom.

She closes her mouth and doesn’t stop me. I discard my clothes once I am inside and turn on the shower. Water rains on my body, wetting my hair instantly.

The wall-length mirror in front of me reflects my body. My drenched blonde hair clings to my back and shoulders. Unconsciously, my gaze rests on the exposed black half-moon and a star on my neck.

Numb—That’s all I feel when I see the mark.

Why did a stranger feel the need to mark me?

The longer I stare at the mark, the worse the fear becomes.

Once people find out, everything will be over. For me, and our Kingdom. Dustin has already promised me to Aleister. If he sends me there, the King of South will know about the mark and my wild night and if he doesn’t, it will mean breaking a deal.

In both conditions, Aleister will be coming here to do what he wants from the beginning—starting a war that will destroy both our Kingdoms and many will lose their lives for something that is not even their fault.

A chill crawls down my spine as I drop to my knees in the middle of the shower room. Pain reverberates through my legs, but it’s not enough to divert my attention.

I was always careful. I had never caused trouble for anyone. Even last night…I wanted to retaliate against my brother’s decision by running away from home and getting drunk. I thought, Dustin would be worried when he found me missing, he would come looking for me, and he might regret imposing this difficult situation on me. That’s all I wanted.

That’s all I have ever wanted—for others to choose me or show me that they at least regret not doing it. I can’t be so worthless that they don’t even feel guilty over abandoning me, right?

How did this small retaliation turn into this life-threatening situation?

“ What were you thinking, Avery Landric? ” I murmur, closing my eyes.

Why couldn’t I resist this man? Was I so drunk that my mind shut off completely?

But that…never happened before. I never blacked out like this.

Maybe, he is my mate. My mind suggests, but if he is my mate…I could have felt it, right? Other than the attraction to him, I felt nothing out of the ordinary.

My body becomes cold and numb under the freezing water as I sit there for a long time. Eventually, a loud knock on the bathroom door pulls me out of my daze.

I jump to my feet, startled out of my mind.

What am I doing?

I need to find a solution quickly.

I can’t let Dustin know and Aleister can’t know about this either. The night must remain a secret and somehow, this mark needs to be hidden.

Another knock on the door and I am turning off the shower. My hand reaches for the bathrobe to wrap it around my body before I step out of the bathroom.

My nerves become tense as my eyes first fall on Renee and then on the woman standing in the doorway. Her docile posture makes me shiver instead of putting me at ease.

Instantly, I brush my wet hair and strategically cover the mate mark with them. To my relief, the bathrobe’s neckline covers the spot.

“ Renee, step out of the room for a moment girl. I need to talk to my daughter alone. ” She clasps her hands together and throws a smile in the direction of my friend.

Renee’s hesitant gaze lifts to my face. I nod subtly, silently telling her to leave and not make it worse.

“ Where were you, Avery Sweetheart? ” Mom walks inside the room leisurely. Her golden hair and blue eyes resemble mine so much that I don’t have to wonder what I will look like when I am older.

“ I—I didn’t go far. ” I swallow the lump forming in my throat and utter.

Renee lowers her head and walks out of the room. On the way, she closes the door and immediately, Mom’s polite smile becomes a vicious glare.

“ You just had to make your stupid existence known, didn’t you? You had to cause trouble and let the whole castle know that you are a slut who runs away from home every other day to whore around. ” She closes in on me and without my control, my heartbeat speeds up.

“ Mom, I—I can explain. I didn’t— ”

“ What do you think your fiancé will do once he realizes you are not a pure girl but a common whore who throws herself at every man she sees. If your history with Tyson was not enough, you had to open your legs to other men too. ” She stops in front of me.

I take a step back to put distance between us. Every time I ran away and was brought back…this was what she said. Her daughter had always been a whore to her. I could deny her accusations before…but how do I do that now?

“ Look at you. ” Her hand shoots out and grips my jaw so tight that I instinctively flinch. “ with an ugly face like this, you should be happy a King is ready to take you in but you have to keep decreasing your value. ”

My eyes sting as I lower my gaze. I ball my hands into fists, keeping my lips tightly pressed together to not give in to her.

One day, I will be out of her clutches and free, I tell myself. My day will come.

“ This is exactly why Tyson chose a bitch over you, daughter. You never acted like a Princess. More like a cheap slut. And you keep doing it. Eventually, Aleister will throw you out. No one will ever choose you, slut! Is that what you want? To always be a burden over us? ” Mom leaves my jaw with a harsh jerk.

My head turns to the side as I find myself unable to bear the disgust in her eyes. My cold fists tremble no matter how tight I keep them closed.

She takes a step back, and sneers. “ Listen to me now. ”

I gulp, keeping my gaze low.

She reaches out and fists my hair roughly. I bite my lower lip to drown the hiss threatening to escape.

“ If you give your brother any more trouble, I will make sure he throws a bitch like you to the commoners. You will wish you were never born, Avery Landric! ” Her shrill voice is deranged and filled with malice.

“ I won’t. ” I reply quietly.

“ In a week, you will go to the South and deal with your mess! Even if Aleister throws you to every soldier of his Kingdom, you will never set foot here again, or else, your brother will find out what you did, Avery. Do you get me? ” Her voice is like a screech that unsettles every fiber of my being.

My whole life she kept holding a secret over my head and it seems like…I will never truly be free even if I escape from her clutches.

My eyes sting worse than before but tears refuse to fall.

“ Do you understand?! ” She screams in my face.

“ Yes. ” I nod quickly, my scalp beginning to burn. “ Yes, Mom. ”

She tugs at my hair forcefully and then lets me go. A few wet strands cling to her fingers that she shakes off while hate shines in her eyes.

I don’t dare move from my spot as long as she stays there and throws me one hateful glare after another. When she finally leaves, I grab the wall behind me to steady myself.

My chest tightens as it becomes hard to breathe. She didn’t know about the mark—I try to highlight the good point to myself but in the end, I am still on the floor, gasping for air and reaching out to any support I can find.

But in reality…

There is none.

No matter where I look, I will find no support.

AVERY

“ Did you find anything? ” I ask as soon as Renee enters the room.

She sighs, letting me know what the results of the search were. I rub my temples as frustration grips my mind.

“ What good will it do to find the man anyway, Princess? What are you hoping to do once you find him? ” She questions in a hushed voice.

In the previous week, I gathered all the people I thought wouldn’t be able to tell my brother anything and searched for that grey-eyed Devil but it feels like he disappeared from the face of Earth.

“ He has to reject me, Renee. I can…probably lie about the…purity but I can not hide the mark. This mark needs to disappear. ” I press my lips into a thin line. Lying to a Lycan King about my virginity will only warrant my early death but it can’t be worse than admitting in front of my brother that I am a fool who let someone do this to me.

“ I wish that man didn’t hold me back that day, Princess. I would have protected you if only the bar people had let me go to the first floor. But no matter how hard I fought or what I did…they didn’t allow me. They said it’s for the rich guests and I didn’t have money and— ”

“ Renee. ” I snap, fed up with her explanation.

“ I am sorry, my Princess. ” She sniffles.

That’s all she has been doing for the past seven days. She kept saying that right when I stumbled across that man, a drunk stranger appeared by her side and started bothering her. She managed to shrug him off but until then, I was long gone and when she went to search for me, she was not allowed to reach the room I was in.

The timing is just so…strange.

Is it possible that this man from the South knew me and everything was his plan to do something I am not aware of?

Did he want war? Did he want to touch the woman who was promised to his King? Or what?

“ Princess. His Highness is calling you to the throne room. ” Renee mumbles softly.

I shudder. I avoided Dustin all this time, but it seems I can’t do it anymore.

Swallowing my nervousness, I press my fingers to the mark on my neck that is covered with a thick layer of makeup. However, it’s not enough to put me at ease. I rush to the mirror and fix my hair over my shoulder to cover the spot completely.

“ No one will notice, Princess. Please don’t worry. ” She shoots me a pitiful look from behind.

For a few moments, I stay there and stare at my reflection. When I do this sometimes, I can only hate the way I look. Mom says everything about me is imperfect. My eyes that are too bright, my lips that are too thin, my nose that is fat and not straight, and my—

“ Princess. ” Renee whispers, shaking me out of my thoughts.

I look away from the mirror and rush to get out of the room. I wish I could fix the way I looked but I can’t so it’s better to just…avoid looking in the mirror.

After a while, I am standing in the middle of the throne room while my brother sits on his throne, peering down at me. His face is emotionless as always but there is a hint of disappointment that still lingers in his eyes.

“ You were supposed to leave today, Avi. ” Dustin says, breaking the silence that was suffocating me.

“ And you didn’t even care to come say goodbye? ” I smile bitterly.

“ If I knew you were leaving, I would have come but you look nowhere near ready to go. Tell me now, are you going or not? ” Dustin leans forward, his eyes dropping to my hair which is unusually resting over my shoulders instead of over my back.

Please don’t notice it. I plead silently.

His gaze lifts to mine again and I release the breath I held, “ What other choice do I have? What if I don’t go, Dustin? What then? ”

“ A royal who refuses to follow the King’s order has to be exiled out of the royal family. ” The disappointment in his eyes vanishes as an icy glint takes its place.

A lump clogs my throat. “ so it’s either living in humiliation in my Kingdom or getting humiliated by the enemies? ”

“ No one will humiliate you there. ” Dustin blinks and rests back.

I don’t think he believes it. He just wants me to believe this and go without causing trouble.

“ You went to attend Tyson’s mating ceremony. How did you even meet Aleister there? And why did he agree to this mating arrangement? ” I ask the question that’s been on my mind for a while.

Momentarily, he freezes. No one else would have noticed the slight pause in his breath but I can.

“ Dustin. Why did he— ”

“ Peace. Don’t you want it, Avi? ” He cut in calmly.

Peace? I have never experienced it in my life and valued it above everything else. So how can I argue when he tells me that it’s all for the peace?

My hands clench by my side. “ you could have offered anything in this world…but you offered up your sister. Do you even…feel bad? ”

“ Don’t put it this way. ” His cold reply makes me release a soft breath.

“ I will go. Not for peace, Dustin, but because I think I owe you. ” I admit quietly.

His expressions shifts and the facade of calmness fades. We never mention this. It’s a silent agreement that we will not admit that I owe him for doing what he did years ago.

“ Even if they hurt me or— ”

“ If someone tries something, all you have to do is to speak to me, Avi. Do you think I am abandoning you? Do you really believe I won’t come for you when you need me or if someone tries to hurt you? ” His eyes soften.

“ When I leave… ” I whisper as my eyes sting, “ I will never come back to you or this family again. It’s better to get humiliated in an enemy land where no one will pity me or make me feel like this. Like I…must listen because I am indebted. ”

“ Avery. ” Dustin narrows his gaze on me.

“ No, Dustin. Even when I get hurt or no matter what they do to me, I will never set foot here again. To my brother who didn’t twice before giving me up, I will never come back. ” I hiss.

Silence falls between us. It’s more painful than getting a reply from him. I bite my inner cheek to hold the tears at bay.

The door to the throne room opens and the familiar scent spreads around me. Instead of bringing me a sense of comfort, it brings me a wave of panic and fear.

“ Dustin. What are you two arguing about again? ” Mom’s sickly sweet voice is a torture to my ears.

“ It’s nothing, Mom. ” Dustin replies before I can open my mouth.

There is no mistaking the respect and affection in his eyes. It makes me nauseous. If only he knew that the woman in front of him is not the angel he thinks she is…

No. He will never know. It’s not like she is a bad mother to him. It’s just about me. Dustin doesn’t have to lose his mother because of me.

“ Is Avery troubling you again? ” She walks forward. Her footsteps make me step away from her path so I don’t come across her.

“ There is nothing, Mom. Don’t worry. ” Dustin says in a composed voice.

“ Let me talk some sense into her. She will listen to— ”

“ I am leaving. ” The words slip out of my mouth and it’s too late to regret them.

“ What? ” Mom halts and turns to me.

“ I was supposed to leave today right? Well, I am leaving right now. ” I nod.

I must face the consequences alone. I have to go and see what’s it about Aleister before I decide what needs to be done.

“ Avi. ” Dustin leaves his throne and closes the distance between us with measured strides.

My brother is the smartest man in the three Kingdoms, but he is…so oblivious to emotions. He doesn’t get the hint that I don’t need him to come to me anymore.

He abandoned me, so be it. When I have nothing here, there is no reason to stay either.

Before he can grab my arms, I turn my back on him and walk away.

“ Never… ” I pause after walking a few steps. “ I wish you never come looking for me, Dustin. ”

It’s not because I hate him. No—I can’t hate him. I am just scared that if we meet again, he will lose the little adoration he has for me. Mom won’t let me remain by his side.

“ No matter what you believe, I will be there when you need me. ” He says, causing the lump to worsen in my throat.

“ I needed you today. But not anymore. ” I whisper and leave before hearing his reply.

AVERY

It’s surprising how it takes so little time to pack your whole life and move away from your house.

Silently, I wished it took longer than a lifetime to set out but in a few hours, I was already standing close to a carriage and the castle—Wolveshire Citadel stood in the back, looking like the part of the past that I will never return to.

The wounded sister in me wanted to cry and fight with her brother but the Princess knew there were no words to be said or heard.

Surprisingly, my whole family stood at the entrance. Mom, Dad, and Dustin. Dad and Mom shared the same sentiments and didn’t even bother to come to me but my brother tried.

However, I had nothing to say to him and I didn’t want to break by saying goodbye so I stepped inside my carriage. They became three small frames that I stared at from the round window in the door until…eventually, they faded into the fog that surrounded them like they never existed.

My heart leaped back to them and my body wanted to hold onto someone, but I knew…in this life, I was always going to be alone.

…The love that I want, doesn’t exist.

On the way, I missed the only best friend I had. Nora—The Queen of the West. I wished she was here. At least, I could say goodbye before disappearing from this world.

I don’t know why…but it just feels like I will never return even when my anger fades, as if someone is going to lock me up and torture me for life.

“ Princess. You should eat something. ” Renee suggests from her spot on the seat opposite me.

She is the only one allowed to go with me and I feel guilty because it seems I ripped her out of her world to join me on this path.

“ I might throw up later if my secret gets exposed. ” I smile, shaking my head.

All emotions are mixing up, becoming a dangerous lava inside me.

“ Don’t say such things, Princess. You are scaring me. ” She sighs.

She doesn’t even know the kind of numbing fear I am feeling right now. My mind tells me that I will succeed in hiding the mark on my neck from Aleister until I find this man who must have returned to the South because we can’t find him in the North but my heart keeps beating out of rhythm, disagreeing with this line of thinking.

Something feels wrong and a piece of the puzzle seems to be missing.

“ We are close, Princess. ” The warriors following the carriage announce from outside.

My spine stiffens as I sit straight and peek out of the window. Darkness surrounds the forest that is on both sides of the small road in the middle.

“ I think he returned to the South after what happened. When we get there, start looking around immediately. We must find him, Renee. ” I say to her.

“ Yes, my Princess. ” She nods eagerly.

As we near what seems to be a stone-made high wall, my heartbeat gets out of control all over again. The imposing greyish doors stand in front of the rolling carriage, looking like a giant beast.

An ear-piercing screeching noise sounds around us. I flinch, staring at the doors that open. The fog spreads to the small opening, leaving me awed.

For a few moments, everything remains silent and nothing appears in front of us. The carriage comes to a slow stop, and we wait. A mixture of curiosity, fear, and nervousness makes me shudder.

For more than a century, no one from the outside world has ever set foot beyond these walls after the enmity between South and the other three Kingdoms of the werewolves started.

No one knows what lies behind this wall, or what kind of monstrosity the Southern people hide in their lives.

A frame of a man emerges from the darkness, followed by a few more. My heartbeat speeds up as I stare at the dark figures.

A warrior from our side starts in a loud voice, “ The Princess of the North is here as the promise goes and— ”

“ Cut the crap. No one needs an introduction to your Princess. We have lots of them here. ” A snappy voice sounds from the other side, stunning me.

“ Mind your tongue. You are addressing the Princess. ” A warrior yells angrily.

“ What’s happening, Princess? ” Renee yelps.

“ What if we don’t? ” Another man from the South chuckles.

“ Then, we will have no choice but to cut it off. ” The atmosphere becomes tense with his declaration.

“ Come. Do it. ” A scoff follows, making my heart race.

A moment later, war cries sound in the air, causing Renee to jump to my side. “ Princess, we must return. They are— ”

“ Give me the crown. ” I utter softly.

The noises in the background intensify as I take my eyes off the escalating scene and look toward the red cushion in the corner of the carriage. I decided not to wear the crown but it seems, I must do it now.

“ That’s not a good idea. They wanted us here and now they are disrespecting you. We need to go back and let your brother know what they said. ” She grips my arm as panic reflects in her eyes.

I glance at her before sighing and reaching for the crown on my own. Renee tightens her grip over my arm but I jerk out of her hold and open the carriage’s door.

“ I told my brother…something. ” I whisper, stepping my foot out.

“ What? ” Renee mumbles.

“ I said I will never return. No matter what people do to me here… ” I get out and stand close to the door. “ I will never go back to my family again. So, Renee, we are alone in this. Let’s fight our way through whatever comes at us. ”

“ Princess. ” Renee looks stunned but I don’t have time to comfort her right now.

I step out from around the door and lift the crown to my head. It’s a silver band with blue jewels in it. Silver—to show that it doesn’t hurt a Lycan and blue jewels—to show the color of my house.

As I emerge from the carriage, the tangled people stop and turn to me. I fix the crown atop my head, and smoothen the creases on my heavy chiffon dress leisurely.

“ Princess. ” Renee stumbles out to follow me as I start to walk.

There is no urgency in the way I walk ahead, but my heart sure doesn’t know when to stop beating fast.

“ My Princess, you should stay inside the carriage. We will deal with these people and take you back safely. ” A warrior suggests politely.

I shift my focus to the faces of the Southerners that are clearing up as I get close. They are watching me with their eyes that are a familiar grey. Their frames are big, unlike the men in my Kingdom who are muscular but lean.

Rough hands and hard thrusts flash before my eyes, making my body heat up. It’s odd. I shouldn’t even be thinking about that man right now.

“ Princess— ”

“ Take me to your King. ” I ignore the people who are coaxing me into hiding and turn to the biggest man who stands in the middle, glaring at me viciously.

“ Ask your dogs to retreat. Only you are permitted to go past the wall. ” He sneers, disregarding protocols for royals.

For a second, I stare at him, at a loss for words. I expected humiliation but why are these people…behaving like I slaughtered their families or something?