The King’s Tainted Mate
Chapter 58

Perhaps exploring the capital in the face of company was not the best way to do it. Not the royal kind when I was in desperate need to forget, if only for a moment. My mate was not bad, but he wasn't Myrna. Not that I wished to be beside my sister while at it either. What I wished for Myrna was to claw her eyes out for daring to put a spell on my mate and binding him to her.

I couldn't deny, however, that being in the crowd, pretending to be something we were not, was always more fun with her, more fulfilling...more distracting. Of course now that I knew the real her, I'd realized that that was because her pretense went deeper than the laughter that the whole experience promised. While I indulged in the fun of it, my sister had gone ahead and coveted, schemed until the pretense became her reality.

My mate on the other hand, as much as I had relished his presence, had seen it more for what it was not, making the whole reason I'd chosen to visit the capital almost pointless. He was not half as bad, except he said the right things, worried about the right things, worried about me, reminding me of everything I wished to escape just for today. But perhaps I couldn't blame him solely for the unfulfilling experience as the day would not have been the same either way.

Truthfully, it was strange to have to pretend that we were poor. The very idea was a constant reminder of the change that had graced my life. Forgetting was easier before as we took on roles that were the very opposite of the life we led in the forgotten village. Pretending to be noble ladies dressed in our less than glamorous garments claiming that was so because we came from a far away kingdom, had been fun. Many saw through it, but kept up with the pretense because it was a good source of laughter. As I stood in front of the window to my chambers, eyes staring out into the darkness, I wished I was still laughing now, or still keeping up my pretense. I wasn't. Because fate had yet again spun its wheel and my life had taken another unexpected turn. One that I had hoped would be a possiblity once, but was now hating with every fibre of my being.

"Here you go child." Liira handed me a cup of something warm that I sipped mindlessly. She had come running once called upon when we reached the palace. I had insisted I was fine and not to trouble the matriarch, but Elian wouldn't have it. Not until his grandmother declared the same verdict.

Someone sighed. My mate perhaps, I was not sure, as my mind could think of nothing else but the presence I'd felt in the market place. A familiar presence. Family. I had family!

I had not seen their face, but their scent and their very presence was something that even now was as clear as day in my mind. There was no mistaking it. My wolf had wished to rip out of me, the desire to bond burning, but my fears had come true, yet again. I was not wanted...

As magically as they'd appeared in the crowd, they'd disappeared too. Leaving me with a gaping hole in my already fragile heart. How unlucky was I?

"How is she doing?" My mate inquired. It was a simple enough question, but the concern that laced his words eased some of the hurt that had lodged itself in my heart. He did not know it, but his presence and all the soothing words he'd whispered in my ear the entire ride from the capital, had been the thing to keep me sane.

"She's strong. They are both fine." There was no hint of worry in Liira's tone, thankfully. The last thing I wished for was to have my grief affecting the child I carried. My only true family.

"Thank you. grandmother."

"I will see you both in the morning." Liira left and my chambers were once more filled with silence. If only my heart would be as silent too or if only there was a way to keep it from beating at all.

"Your mother and father have been nowhere near the capital. Neither has your sister." My mate said and I only hummed to that. I had expected it. Fate was responsible for many things that had befallen me, but even I knew that there was no way what I'd felt at the capital had anything to do with my regrettable family. Not that the new one was any better. "The search around the capital yielded nothing too, but that does not mean I will simply give up. Whatever is going on, we'll get to the bottom of it."

"Perhaps I'm just unlucky." I let out a painful chuckle. Despite his resolve, the words of comfort, I still felt as though something was wrong with me.

Warm hands took mine and spun me around. "No you are not." The conviction in his tone did nothing for the hole in my heart. And the more he sought to dispel what I thought or believed, the more anger bubbled. I had seen it with my own eyes, walked the dreaded path, felt it as life squeezed out of me, leaving me dangling at hell's doors.

"How do you explain no one wanting me then?" I held back the tears that sought to spill. I would not cry. Not for anyone who'd not cared about me as they should have.

"Anyone who lets you go is the fool and the unlucky one. I should know." Regret flashed in his eyes, but it was gone just as quickly. "Besides, we still do not know what the truth is."

The truth. He kept saying that. Had even begged me not to rush into making any conclusions, but how could I not when everything pointed to the very fact.