His Forbidden Mate
Part 56

“He’s miserable without her,” Xavier, the alpha king, said, coming to stand where Robb stood watching Edward from far away deliberating with the counsel of learners at the scholar’s institute. “As anyone would be without their true mate.”

Edward had been back in the capital for the past six months, living and obeying every command of the alpha of alphas without questions. It was his oath, and so far he had done his job of keeping it. The trial found lady Shewa guilty of murder and malicious conspiracy and also the death of Kemi and Romeo at the parlour. She was then demoted to an omega in the capital. After losing her rank as a beta and title as a noble, the house Black disowned her and disconnected their ties with her. With Shewa’s rank gone, Robb could no longer force his hand into marrying her. But he was back at the capital, attending to royal duties and going along to all Robb’s outreach to unite the kingdom, as well as the neighbouring ones in the war, which he believed was closer than ever.

Edward had been back doing his duties and he wouldn’t even talk about what happened with Kailani and it was as if she never existed. However, once in a while, Xavier would catch him staring into space with a pained look on his face. It was obvious he longed for her and knowing he couldn’t be with her weighed on him immensely. Edward was the master of masking his emotions and intention, and even when he was hurt, he barely showed it. He had always taken care of everyone and everything but barely learnt to take care of himself.

When he told Xavier, their father’s terms for bringing Kailani back from the dead, Xavier knew it was madness. Then Edward told him he had already accepted it since it was the only option he had. In his words, being unable to be with her wasn’t as horrible as living without her, which he called a nightmare. Since then he had shut down every conversation Xavier had tried raising about Kailani and opted to always say what happened was for the best. It wasn’t for the best. He was dying on the inside with each passing day, and Xavier could see it. Edward, who once used to be the optimistic one, now wore a fake smile to keep the questions out.

Xavier once told him to reach some sort of reasoning with their father on his demands, but Edward insisted that would mean going back on the oat he took. Xavier hated talking to Robb and avoided anything that would bring him to making any request from the old man, but this he could not avoid. He could no longer fold his arms and watch his brother suffer in silence, all the while trying to uphold some damn oath to stay away from the woman he loved. This would kill him, and he would not forgive himself if he lost his only brother because of Robb Ainsworth’s stubbornness.

“I understand your intentions might be true and you only want what’s best for him, but you have to agree that this is torture.”

Robb remained silent, and Xavier interpreted his silence as consideration. “Edward always saw something likeable in you, even after what you did to our mother. That’s the good thing about him; he sees the best in everyone, always. I never really liked you. I never saw what Edwards saw that made him believe there was something worth loving about you, but he loved you and fought to make us see eye to eye.”

Robb remained quiet, and this made Xavier wonder if he was even listening to him. This was why he could not like this man.

Still, he had to understand this wasn’t about him, but Edward. “I know deep in your heart you do not want to see him like this. I want you to reconsider your stand. He gave you his word and Edward is a man that doesn’t go back on his words and he wouldn’t ask you to reconsider, which is why I am here asking you to.”

He finished speaking, but Robb remained silent, just watching Edward and acting as if he heard nothing. It didn’t sit well with Xavier, but before he could speak again, Robb did.

“I am sure that must have been very difficult for you to say,” Robb finally said, turning to acknowledge Xavier who had been standing beside him for a while now.

“It is difficult to ask you for anything, but this has to be said, and I know Edward will never say it himself. He is miserable and even though you refuse to accept this, you know Kailani is his true mate. Believe me when I tell you, Kailani is nothing like Zara. She loves him just as much as he loves her and wants nothing more. We do not know why the moon goddess gave him a mate from the commoner’s house, but we cannot fault her decision. We need to accept that she doesn’t make a mistake in her paring.”

Robb heaved a sigh. “No one has ever made him act out before, not even you. He was willing to go as far as not inviting me to his wedding because I didn’t agree with his choice. I didn’t think he had a rebellious bone in his body until that woman brought herself into his life.”

“I didn’t think he kept the company of women until she came along and he spoke about her to me,” Xavier added, and this made Robb chuckle.

“I thought he kept the company of both.” Robb agreed, and they both laughed, “But she has to be his mate. There is no other explanation for this. I thought perhaps time apart would help change his focus, but it hasn’t. I have no option but to believe you when you say the moon goddess doesn’t make a mistake.”

As Edward returned to the inner court of the scholar’s institute to give his report to Robb, he found Xavier and him standing side by side. It wasn’t a sight he saw often, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“What are you doing here?”

Xavier raised a brow. “I didn’t know I needed a reason to talk to my father.” he defended himself.

“Your brother came to speak to me about you,” Robb answered.

He didn’t think the day his brother and father would meet to discuss him would come, and now he wasn’t ready for it.

“What exactly did he speak about then?” he asked, his eyes darting between his brother and father.

“Everything.”