The man was sinfully handsome, his dreamy blue eyes with purple flecks was especially enchanting. His pink lips, his perfect nose, and long silver hair made him look like a real life angel. He was tall, at least six feet, his muscles were visible through the long white shirt he wore. One side was tucked in, while the other was left out, giving him a rugged beauty which one could drown in.
But at that moment, he spoke, shattering the angelic image Amaris had built around him.
"You must be the whore that old man brought home. I wondered why he insisted we meet, now I know why. And you still dream of being my mate, go to hell!" He snapped and pushed past her.
Tears immediately formed in her eyes and she bit her lips hard. For some reason, his words hurt way more than Gavin's rejection. She didn't care about Gavin, and she never met the one before her, yet she felt as if a million daggers plunged straight into her heart on hearing his harsh words and arrogant dismissal.
"Auren! Stop right there!" Harvey's voice thundered from the doorway, but the arrogant young man continued on his way up the spiral stairs of the castle.
As he wanted to rush after him, Amaris instinctively grabbed his arm, stopping him. He sighed heavily and held her shoulders.
"Don't cry, he will come around. What's yours will remain yours. I will talk to him."
"There will be no need, your majesty. I will just stay out of his sight. I can't have both of you having issues because you did me a favor by rescuing me."
"Silly child…" Her words left him speechless, not knowing how to reply or soothe her.
"Can you inform the tutors that I won't complete the rest of my classes today? Thanks." She hurriedly said and ran to the left wing without waiting to see if he truly permitted her, to her own room, far away from the heartless Auren and his scathing tongue. How could he?
The moment Amaris hit her bed, she covered her face with a pillow and cried, not believing she was rejected by two mates in a row. The bed that used to bring her so much comfort now became her hiding place to cry her eyes out.
*****
The next time Amaris came out was after two days, when she heard the helicopter pick up prince Auren for a function. She spent the last two days huddled up in her room, not stepping half an inch outside her room, all in a bid to avoid Auren.
She slipped down to the kitchen to see if the food was ready, but even before she arrived, she could hear the voices discussing her with disdain.
"Why do you think prince Auren hates that new girl the alpha king brought back? He's normally cold, arrogant and dismissive. But seeing him blatantly insult and look down on someone was a different level altogether."
Silence stretched for a while and she immediately hid to listen.
"Maybe he just disliked her at first sight."
"There's another possibility, she's the alpha king's illegitimate daughter."
The words dropped like a bombshell, startling and frightening the hell out of Amaris, cold sweat immediately appeared on her skin due to the level of her distress.
"Have you ever seen the king treat someone that nice? But he had been treating her like some royalty, from using rare herbs and sacred healers to remove her scars in his bid to make her battered face flawless, to hiring private tutors and personal trainers. None of these are things people do for a total stranger, and I even heard him arranging with the beta to open a trust fund and procure a credit card for her."
"Being the alpha king's illegitimate child has the highest probability. He was right there on time to rescue her, looking all panicked and flustered as he urged the healers to save her. He didn't even treat prince Auren as well as he treats her."
"Even more is their appearance. Can't you see the similarity between prince Auren and that stray? They both have silver hair, and blue eyes. The only difference is the shade of blue, and that the prince has purple flecks, probably because he was born with potent magic. While the stray is latent. How rare is silver hair? Less than 0.5% of people have it, all from noble bloodlines. Old people might have silver hair after aging, but natural silver hair on a youth is a different case altogether."
Amaris staggered, mistakenly hitting a nearby trash bucket, startling the maids. Her chest was pounding, her head felt light and she was barely standing.
'Is that it? The reason he's suspiciously kind and doting to me. Was he the father who abandoned me all along? Is that why Auren hates me? But how can we be mates if we're related? No. It's impossible. Something is not adding up here.'
"She heard us." One of the maids whispered fearfully.
"What if she heard us? She's the useless daughter of a shameful slut. What can she do? She should be grateful she's here receiving scraps of charity."
"She will forever be an unwanted stray, she will never be welcomed here. Prince Auren will never accept her."
"Get out, you gold digging, freeloading whore." One shouted, throwing raw eggs at her, which landed squarely on her face.
The voices made her dizzy, her chest tightened painfully, her breath shortened as she found herself slipping back into the cold damp prison in her mind, the iron bars shutting her tightly behind.
"Presumptuous!" Alpha king Harvey's angry roar had her returning to the present, and the maids shivering in fear.
"How bold of you to insult my ward in such a demeaning manner. You must not want your tongue anymore."
He released a hint of his aura and they all collapsed to the floor, on their knees shaking. He turned to Amaris, his eyes blazing with a mixture of anger and heartache.
"And you, why are you standing here crying? Why aren't you teaching them a lesson? Or have you been bullied too much to the point you have forgotten how to defend yourself? Are you trying to bring disgrace to my name by being like that?"
"I'm not your…illegitimate child, am I?" Amaris stuttered, her eyes filled with fury and pain, emphasizing the word illegitimate.
"You're not biologically related to me. But that doesn't make you any less of my child. From the moment you arrived, you became my ward. And no child of mine, blood or not, is allowed to be a pushover." Even though his voice was admonishing, harsh even, Amaris felt a slight tinge of warmth in her heart.
He slapped her back, a scowl on his face.
"Chin up! Stand tall, shoulders squared, be firm, your eyes sharp, radiate confidence."
His words were all cold like that of a general barking out orders, but she obeyed them all, taking deep breaths to regulate her emotions and steady herself.
"You're now a member of this family. The next time a servant bullies you, you will be in deep trouble if you don't discipline them. Don't embarrass me by being a pushover. If you're done sulking, come let's eat."
Turning to the maids, he said, "As for you all, your bonuses for six months are cancelled, and your salary for the current month will be docked in half," His eyes cold and unforgiving, keeping tabs on their faces.
*****
"Welcome, Prince Auren."
Amaris froze, the chicken thigh half way to her lips. Her ravenous appetite immediately disappeared, and she swallowed heavily. Her first instinct was to run away. When did he return? How come no one heard him? Or was she too busy enjoying the sumptuous meal, making her unable to understand anything else? She had never eaten something as good as the ones in the ice castle, so she tends to be engrossed whenever there's food before her.
"Don't worry, I won't stop you from gobbling food like the starving runt you are." His mocking voice snapped her out of her daze.
Without warning, anger bubbled up inside of her. What the fuck? The maids a few minutes ago, then Auren. This shit following her has to stop—now.
"You…" Amaris snapped, hitting her hands on the table, looking up with fire in her eyes. Auren gave her a side eye and dug into his food. But not even his casual dismissal could stop her.
"I know I might be freeloading off your family, but your dad is the one paying the bills. What gives you the right to insult me? You freeloaded off of him too, till you grew up. No, you still do. How are you different from me?"
"Except for the blood relationship." She muttered the last part knowing there was indeed a huge difference between a biological son and a stray taken in.
Auren froze, the next instant his face darkened and he gritted his teeth in fury. While Harvey nodded in approval.
'That's how a celestial should behave'.
Auren took deep breaths, and suddenly smiled.
"I won't bite the bait, and I most certainly won't demean myself to your level." He bit back and returned to his meal.
Harvey broke the silence again, this time, every single person was stunned speechless.
"I have decided that Amaris will join you at Lunegarde Academy."
Even Amaris herself was nearly frightened out of her mind.
'Lunegarde academy? I don't even have a wolf talk more of magical abilities. Isn't that signing up for death?'