Chapter 36
“Who?“ I asked the question hanging in the air like a guillotine.
She had already spoken to her friend. There was no one else I knew about. She hadn’t had time to get to know anyone other than that small group of teenagers.
That had to be it.
She wanted to say goodbye to the teenagers.
My shoulders relaxed, and even as she seemed to get more tense, she avoided my gaze, glancing out through the front window of the shuttle.
“One of Makrus’s bodyguards was extremely kind to me,“ she said. “I feel bad, leaving without even a thank you or letting him know that I’m going.“
The only person I could think of would be Yreta.
Still, just in case, I would leave room for her to fill in the blanks.
There was something that felt off in the way that her eyes wouldn’t meet mine.
“A bodyguard won’t need such reassurances, “ I replied. “What is her name? I will have the staff send her a reward for taking care of you.“
She said something out loud in her own language, but didn’t put it into the translator.
I tilted my head and waited for her. The pilot shifted in his seat, but didn’t look at us. We would leave when I said we were going to go, not a moment sooner, and everyone knew that was the case.
Her hesitation and silence made my hackles rise.
“His name is Zale,” she said.
My heart dropped through my stomach until nothing was left in my chest but an empty void.
This was a mess of my own creation.
“Zale?” I repeated.
This morning, she had drawn away from me when she saw me.
This whole time, I just thought she was being direct.
I thought she understood that there was a difference between being the mate of Zale and the mate of my position as the Emperor, so she had made it clear what she needed to commit to me, the Emperor.
She had told me everything that she wanted.
Her requests were extremely reasonable, and it was smart of her to work out her expectations in advance, given that I would be dragging her into the spotlight simply by having her exist next to me.
I was the Emperor.
But she didn’t care about me.
She only cared about him.
This was a mess of my own creation.
She agreed to be my mate because she wanted my power, my position, and my wealth. She had thrown away love so she could claim a title - something that I thought I had avoided.
I was a fool to think she wanted me for me.
Yet I wasn’t going to let her go because of it.
“Your seat is there,“ I pointed. “Sit down.”
She began to type something into a translator and then stopped, biting her lip and shaking her head slightly. Then she turned and sat in the seat that I offered her.
I turned away from her, holding my emotions close to my chest, not that she would be able to read them.
I wasn’t going to leave her behind, even though she wanted me for a much different reason that turned in my heart like a tumultuous storm.
Her simple request killed the budding joy that had sprung within me, a feeling I hadn’t felt in such a long, excruciating time.
This was what it meant to be the Emperor.
I could have any woman I wanted.
But I could never have them because they wanted me for me. Even my first mate was a match that was arranged out of duty - something I still couldn’t forgive myself for.
These women only wanted me for my title and she had proved it in blood.
I thought my little hoomon was different.
Well, that was fine.
I could close my heart to her.
If she only wanted me for my wealth, then I would only want her for the child that was growing inside of her.