The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 15

My heart fluttered. The thought of that one day being true, maybe even in a few months made me keep quiet.

“What can I get you two to drink?”

“Water,” Candido said. “Red wine for me, a sweet, white for her. And we’ll start with stuffed mushrooms and the petite fillet mignons.”

“Excellent choices!” The waiter scurried away, and I stared at Candido in shock, but he didn’t look up at me as he scanned the menu.

Why hadn’t he said anything? We both knew that Sibyl was his betrothed. I didn’t know why exactly they were betrothed, why Candido would agree in any way to marry such a mean woman, but everyone knew. They didn’t seem intimate at all, but he hadn’t ended their engagement.

What was he thinking? Why wasn’t he saying anything about who I actually was? I dropped my gaze to my menu. Maybe he liked the sound of it just as much as I did, or maybe he was glad to escape his reputation as the Alpha King. The waiter was incredibly young and bright. He’d probably never even seen Candido on television. Besides that, it was rare that Candido mingled with people outside of the Full Moon Pack. Very few people could recognize him on sight.

Would the waiter have just assumed I was Sibyl if he recognized Candido?

Did he really think we looked good together? Candido was a big man, standing next to him I always felt small and delicate despite being so overweight.

When the waiter returned the wine, Candido ordered two entrees, but they were both entrees I would have ordered. Candido liked steak, but he didn’t care for seafood, let alone with pasta. As for the other, he preferred his pork sweet instead of savory. He liked garlic mashed potatoes over sweet potatoes and he couldn’t stand asparagus. He’d eat broccoli, but it wasn’t his first choice for a vegetable.

Yet he’d ordered it all. The waiter left, and I leaned toward Candido.

“What about you?” I asked. “You didn’t bring me here to eat by myself, did you?”

Candido’s lips twitched. “I am only simplifying dinner as you like to steal from my plate.”

I pouted. “You let me.”

A small smile spread on his lips. “I do.”

He shook out his napkin and lay it over his lap. “How was school?”

“Not as peaceful as I wanted it to be.”

“You’re talking about Linda.”

I chuckled. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you know about it.”

He lifted his glass and swirled his wine. “What I don’t know is why.”

His eyes jumped to mine, and I worried my l*p. “It’s… complicated.”

I shook my head. “No… it’s not. I lost my temper.”

“My little girl has a temper?”

“I’m almost twenty,” I huffed. “When are you going to stop calling me that?”

His eyes darkened, and a strange jolt went through me like when I’d seen him shirtless for the first time.

“… your age has nothing to do with you being my little girl.”

I swallowed and picked up my glass of wine to sip, hoping to buy some time to gather my thoughts.

“You only like wine if it tastes like juice,” he said; his tone was amused but not mocking.

“I could drink red wine,” I huffed as the waiter brought our appetizers.

“Red Moscato does not count,” Candido said with a smirk. “Now… you were saying about Linda?”

I huffed, and my shoulders slumped. I looked up at him, hesitating.

“They… were talking about my mother.” I took a deep breath. This would be the first time I’d ever talked about my mother with Candido in detail. “Bella… they called her a mistress.”

I shook my head, remembering how the fury took over me.

“She called my mother a mistress wearing her necklace… that should have been mine, and I….”

My voice trailed off, and I looked out of the window over the city. “I lost it. Maybe I shouldn’t have shoved Linda’s face into a plate until she bled. Maybe I should have just walked away, but I couldn’t. Not then…”

“Not now,” he said. I lifted my gaze. “You are a very different person than you were when you fainted in front of my car.”

I nodded. “Thanks to you.”

“No,” he said. “I may have paid the tutors, though that was a questionable expense given how much help you need.”

I giggled at that.

“But the rest of who you are now was always there,” Candido said. “The good and the bad.”

“Are you saying there are bad things about me?”

“Your fears.” I froze, staring into his eyes as he stared into mine. “The things you hide behind your smile. Those things are still there too, but now you are safe enough to let those things out, to deal with them in whatever way makes you happiest.”

I grimaced. “You think it made me happy.”

“I think not letting Bella get away with bad-mouthing your mother, taking ownership of the power you’ve always had, makes you happy.”

I smiled. “Power? I felt a bit like I was channeling you all fury and coldness. Bella looked terrified.”

Candido’s lips twitched into a smirk. “Perhaps you were. I take full responsibility for it.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You mentioned your mother’s necklace,” Candido said. “Are there… other keepsakes that have been taken from you?”

My eyes burned and I looked away. While Candido was more than just my guardian, he was also my closest confidant, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. I thought back to what I told Bella at the party, about making peace with it, but it was such a lie.

Every time I saw her, I’d think of my mother and the life I should have had with her. Every time she sneered at me and the glint caught my eyes, it felt like a fresh wound being torn open.

“I’d rather not think about it… I’d rather not even… talk about it,” I sniffled and dabbed at my eyes. “After all, it’s… been so long. It’s all tainted. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see it and not think of Lilian, Bella, and Steven, so it’s best not to—not to dwell on it.”

Candido didn’t look like he agreed, but he sipped his wind. “How were classes?”

I smiled, happy to have something else to talk about. I told him all about my boring literature class and the bit of gossip that wasn’t about me floating around the school as we ate. It was trivial, boring, like always, but no matter what I rambled on about, Candido always listened.

He never made me feel like I was annoying him or wasting his time.

If anything, he seemed happy to simply listen to me, to talk to me. I couldn’t remember any time in my life aside from Candido and Claire that I always felt listened to.

Suddenly, I went quiet. I looked at Candido, my eyes burning as I wondered if my mother would have listened to me and what she was like. I’d gotten stories from the few staff that had remained on the property. They were how I got to see my mother for the first time and how I found out that Lilian and Bella had taken all her things for themselves.

Would we have had a good relationship? Would she have liked Candido?

If she were here, would I have ever met him?

I didn’t know, but I tried not to dwell on it.

“What is on your mind?” Candido asked.

I looked into his eyes and tried not to choke up as the words came out.

“You’ll never leave me, right?”

“Never,” he said without hesitation. It seemed that I had barely gotten the words out when he replied. He stared at me as if I was the only thing in the world, and for a moment, I felt like we were completely alone in the universe. “I will never leave my little girl.”

My eyes burned with tears, but I held them back and smiled at him sweetly.

“You’re… the best guardian I could ever have,” I said. “The best I have ever had… I love you.”

Hedy’s voice trembled, and my cheeks burned as I realized what I’d said.

“I love you too, Hedy.”

The words rang sweetly in my ears, but there was a pang of grief too. Love was beautiful, but I knew it wasn’t the same kind of love.

I looked down and reminded myself of my plans. It wasn’t the same love now, but it would be in time.

As we left the restaurant, I swore I saw a familiar face. She could have been Sibyl’s sister, and a small part of me was gleeful. I knew Candido had never taken Sibyl to this restaurant, but we came all the time. It was one of my favorites.

The Sibyl look-alike turned and looked right at me. Her eyes jumped between me and Candido as he led me out of the restaurant, and I smiled up at him.

“Thank you.”