Love and Chaos Series
The Alpha King’s Ugly Bride Chapter 20

Mia didn't struggle anymore. She stopped when she got to the Palace gate and knew she was back. She knew this was where she would die. There was no more energy to struggle and so she let them lead her inside. They brought her through the quiet hallway that led to her room and then up to her chambers. The two guards had her trapped between them, so she wouldn't escape. They didn't trust her and she didn't blame them. No one could read her thoughts.

She had saved her energy and meet whatever came along with her head high. She wanted to move to the life beyond with a brave face.

While the guard brought her into the Palace a while ago, she had seen no servant, no maid, no one, just her and the guards.

The door to her chambers opened, and the guard set her inside and shut the door.

Her eyes scanned around the room carefully but stopped when they spotted the alpha king. He stood before her bookshelf with his back turned to her. She couldn't make much out of the night, but he was in a black robe and his long hair was in a neat bun. This is it. This is how Mia of the house Asika dies. She told herself and braced up for the worse.

Stretching his hand, he pulled a book out of the shelf. He flipped through its pages quickly, then slammed it shut. He placed it back, making sure it was before he took it out.

Mia didn't know what game he was playing by sniffing through her collections of books, but she didn't want to. She had counted her demise down to this very moment. She wanted it swiftly and had no time to drag around. "We don't have to waste any more time. We both know why you are here, so why don't you just get on with it and do it?"

She would not let him see her cry. She had done enough of that already. Her eyes were puffy and red and if the lights weren't so dim, he could have noticed. She promised she would not beg for her life or pardon, and she intended to keep it.

Xavier stuffed his hands into the pocket of his black trousers and turned to stare at her. His face did not hold the level of rage or outburst she expected to see, and that sat wrongly in her. "Why am I here?" he asked, his brow raised with interest in knowing her theory.

She scoffed. She had cried too hard and counted down to the time of her death. Having to readjust now because he wanted to play around wasn't nice.

"To kill me. The perfect punishment for running away and that way you can be rid of your ugly bride." She hated having to tell him what he already knew.

"There's no law in this kingdom that placed death as the punishment for running away," he told her, rather calmly. "I thought you were smart enough to know that."

Mia was now losing her mind, and she just wanted out of her misery and she hated this long game. "Are you going to kill me or not, Xavier?"

Since being here, she had heard no one take his name, not even his brother, who had defiled him the most. But that's what she just did. She took his name. She had never done that. He was always 'my king' to her, but there was a fire burning within her that did away with her fear and need for cautiousness. She didn't want to die a coward who never faced up to the man that hurt her. If this would get him to do what he needed to do, then she would keep doing it.

He stepped towards her. His expression was unreadable. Her heart launch forward and she shivered on the inside, cold and vulnerable. Yet, her head stayed high.

This was her moment. She could already see the lights.

"Not," he replied.

Her heart shrunk.

This had to be a trick. This was his way of keeping her alive and in mental t*****e. With this, she'd never stop expecting when he'd finally snap and kill her. She thought to herself.

He turned away from her over to her desk, where a bottle of wine and two glasses sat. "But I'd like to know why you ran away. If that's okay with you, my queen."

She would have set him ablaze if looks could kill. Her teeth gritted so hard they made a sound.

He didn't bring her back for this talk, did he?

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she exploded, storming forward. It was a dangerous play, but she never knew one had to work so hard just to die before.

"Why are you so calm? This is me, this is your ugly bride speaking. The one you were forced to wed just to save your kingdom. This is the one you wanted to get rid of for so long. The one you didn't claim on your wedding night because she was too ugly to make you hard! This is Mia Asika, this isn't Zara Michel." she hoped her rant would take off the veil away from his face. Perhaps he had forgotten.

He shocked her once more when he spoke. "I know who you are, Mia, care for a glass?" he stretched out a glass of wine toward her.

Her jaw almost hit the floor, but she held it together. The fury surging through her needed to be acted upon or quenched. Since the alpha king brought none of his fighting gloves; she had to quench it.

With her teeth gritted and her eyes still blazing yellow, she yanked the glass of wine out of his stretched out hand.

Maybe there was poison in it or enough wolfsbane that would choke her to her death.

She emptied the wine into her mouth and gulped it, wasting no time. The content burnt her throat, but not as bad as wolfsbane would.

He didn't poison her.

Xavier pick the bottle and offered to pour it into her glass, but she snatched it from his hand and did it for herself.

He took a little sip of his wine. "I'm glad to know that at least you trust me."

She scowled, knowing what he meant. "I don't. I was hoping there'll be poison in it."

Hurt flashed in his face, and she caught it. For a second, she wondered to herself if the man in her bedroom was the cold-hearted and ruthless alpha king she had always known. If the answer was yes, then which side of him was the lie? This calm side or his ruthless one.

She walked to her bed, which remained the way she left it, and she took a seat on it. She felt the alpha king's eyes on every turn.

"You never answered my question." he reminded her. "Why did you run away?"

"After everything, your question should be, why won't you run away?!"

He gritted his teeth and dragged a long breath. He was losing his last grip of patience and it showed. Good, this conversation was getting too long for her liking.

She took another gla*s of wine.

"I heard you and your mistress at the banquet. I heard your plans to get rid of your bride and make your lover queen in her stead. You both wanted me gone, and I decided to leave. I wanted to leave for so long and that gave me the courage to and I do not regret it. My only regret was getting caught and dragged back here."

"Most maidens would kill for the life you want," he said, and this was the line he had used before he choked the life out of her the day after they got married.

"Most maidens are stupid!"

This made him chuckle and nod in agreement. They both agreed on one thing, after all.

"I'll drink to that."

"Do I die tonight?" she blurted, the question lingering in her mind.

"I know you want to die and a part of me wants you to, but that can't happen. You're my queen, and your place is not in the grave or at the bottom of the ocean. It's by my side."

"Why?"

This change in him couldn't have come sudden. Something must have triggered it and she knew it wasn't her.

He strode over to her, took the bottle of wine from her, and refilled it. He handed the bottle back to her and drank the one in his glass.

"Because my father, the alpha of alphas, has awakened."

At his words, Mia immediately remembered Kai, the shaman she had met on the ship. He had spoken about the alpha's awakening, but she didn't understand what he said and placed no mind to it.

"I don't understand what your father awakening has to do with any of this." She revealed her confusion.

"It means a lot of things are going to change."