15. You Are Mine #2
“No! God no! Rydel is a piece of shit. I don’t like him at all. But I have to keep him as one of my companions because his father is the Commander of the Southern Front Army.”
“Then why did you defend him all the time? I could have knocked his teeth out that night after dinner. He insulted my mother!”
“Because you don’t want to punch a Nocturne noble at your first royal dinner! Do you want to be shunned by the whole court? I was helping you, not him,” Damien said, then curled up his lips a little. “I slapped him afterward, if that’s any consolation.”
I looked away, trying to hide a small smile that crept up my face. “I would prefer to slap him myself.”
“You may yet get another chance to slap him in front of thousands of people during The Games in a few days.” A flicker of mischief flashed in the prince’s eyes.
“The yearly gladiator games, this time it will happen right before my Mate Selection Ball. Warriors from all clans are welcome to sign up. I’m sure Rydel will sign up since he likes showing off and beating weaker opponents so much. You can teach him a lesson.”
The Games ... yes, I’d heard about them.
The northern clans had a similar tradition, except it was always held in winter, rather than summer.
The warriors from different clans met in matches, and once upon a time, the fights always ended in the death of at least one participant.
Now it was much less grim and more like a sport, though it could still get bloody at times.
Each match consisted of three rounds, the winner had to win twice to be declared the victor in one match.
In some years, to add more entertaining value to The Games, we northern warriors would also fight enormous, vicious beasts. But I doubt southern clans could stomach that kind of brutality.
I had been the champion three times in the Northern Games. And I couldn’t wait to teach some smug southern bastard who looked down on northern clans a lesson they wouldn’t forget for life.
Except, there was one concern ... I raised my finger to touch my neck through the high collar. I knew his mark was still there, settled into a rosy pink. I hadn’t reapplied the mask perfume in the past hour, and my scent was leaking out, tangled with that light note of his alpha scent.
“I can’t ... I’d have to shift into my wolf form at some point, too dangerous,” I said despondently.
Damien nodded. “You are right. It’s probably not a good idea ... I’m sorry.”
“It was not all your fault,” I said dryly. “I invited you to do it ...”
Damien blinked several times, as though I’d just said something he never expected to hear.
“What?!” I snapped.
“Nothing, just ... I never thought you’d admit it one day,” Damien said. The grin spreading on his pretty face was wide enough to make me regret my momentary candour.
“Fuck off,” I grunted, though my mouth was curling up on its own.
He chuckled, and then we sat in a comfortable silence, watching the resplendent fireworks light up the firmament. His hand moved right next to mine, and I didn’t move my hand away when his pinky finger brushed against mine.
We tried to find Johnathan about half an hour later, but he had already left. We then went to get our horse, ready to head back.
When we were close to the palace gate, I told Damien that Johnathan had seen us.
Damien wasn’t alarmed, though. He brushed it off as though there was nothing to worry about. “Johnny will never do anything to harm me. He’s like my little brother. He may be pissed off at us for a couple of days, but he’ll get over it,” Damien said reassuringly.
I halted my horse briefly, asking, “What about my brother?”
Damien also halted, looking at me curiously. “Is he interested in my proposal?”
“He is, but I don’t want him trapped in a lie,” I said. My voice hardened. “He should marry someone who actually loves him and cherishes him.”
“But that’s the easiest way for me to stay close to you so you won’t suffer from the mark.” Damien’s brows knitted together.
“I’m not going to sacrifice my brother for ... whatever this is.” I gestured at us, unsure how to even categorize our ... relationship. Did we even have a relationship?
Damien considered my words carefully, the crease between his brows never easing. Eventually, he sighed in resignation. “Very well, we’ll have to find some other excuse to see each other, then.”
I nodded gratefully, then looked ahead. The heavy silhouette of the palace was looming near. I said to him, “You should go back first. People shouldn’t see us coming back together.”
He rode up beside me, and before I could react, he suddenly grabbed the front of my tunic, pulled me toward him, and firmly planted his lips on mine. My yelp was sealed by his mouth, but I didn’t struggle.
It was a tender kiss, no teeth involved, almost too chaste considering what had transpired between us. But before I could think too much about it, he let me go, then spurred his horse and galloped away.
I watched him disappear down the road, swallowed by the night, and I bit my bottom lip, tasting the lingering scent of him, so that I wouldn’t call him to come back to me.
And then an unsettling thought came to me: Was Damien too calm about the fact that Johnathan knew about us? And Johnathan also acted as though he was not surprised by the affair between two alphas at all.
It was almost as if ... this was not the first time it had happened.
Damien’s Diary Entry, Day 10
June 22, Last Quarter,
I generally avoid being the third wheel, but when my mate was about to go on a date with someone else, someone, not me, I was determined to be the most insufferable third wheel the world had yet to see.
Johnathan didn’t want to tell me about the date, but I knew him too well not to know he was hiding something. Under my ruthless grilling, he eventually cracked and admitted he had asked Fenris to go watch the fireworks contest show tonight.
I hope I had kept my expression straight, because I was busy trying not to snarl at John. I blackmailed John into allowing me to tag along, though Fenris didn’t seem happy to see me at all.
Didn’t he even miss me just a little bit? It was almost three days since the last time we spoke, surely, he at least missed my scent ...
He did eat the candied apple I bought him, though. It felt ... nice, watching him eating the food I gave him, especially when his tongue quickly licked away the red sugar stuck on his lips ... I’d like to see him doing that a lot more, maybe directly from my hand ...
I also managed to piss him off again by coaxing him into a dart-throwing contest. He was so adorable when he was being competitive.
I intentionally lost to him, thinking he’d be happy that I surrendered, but it seemed to have the opposite effect ...
It felt like no matter what I did, I just made him angrier with me.
Not that I didn’t enjoy it, though. I must have some serious issues ...
I didn’t know what happened after I left Fenris and John to grab drinks in the tavern, but when I got back, the air was strange, and Fenris suddenly left, almost ran out of the tavern. I gawked at John. “What the fuck did you say?”
Johnathan gave me a meaningful look, the kind he usually gives me when trying to tell me that he knows my secret. Fuck ... was I that obvious?
I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised ... John has always been observant, and he knows me better than I know myself sometimes ...
“Go after him,” he said with a resigned sigh.
I didn’t need more encouragement. I caught up with Fenris in the back alley. We argued, we shouted, he told me he was not mine, I told him he sure was, it was very unproductive, until he got so riled up so much, that he kissed me.
We alphas can be unpredictable.
I took him to the secret spot that Eric and I found when we were little. It had been so many years since I last went there, and it hadn’t changed much. It felt a little weird to bring someone else there, but it also felt ... right.
When we sat on the slanted tree, watching the fireworks lighting up the entire firmament above us, I tentatively touched his hand with my pinky finger. It was so ... schoolboy-like, I know, but I just tend to act childish whenever I’m close to him.
I stole a few glances at him, watching those kaleidoscopic colours as they lit up his handsome features, and his smile was even more splendid than the fireworks.
And I thought, perhaps, after all these years, I could finally move on from Eric’s death, and perhaps I could still find happiness, after all.