Ch. 17：The Queen's Bargain

“You are arrogant,” the queen said. Those words again.
On instinct, I knew she didn’t like me. Not everyone had to like me but I would gain nothing from making this woman my enemy.
“So I’ve been told,” I responded with a smile. “It’s an honour to stand before you.” The words were flat and insincere even to my ears. It was more of a chore to stand before her than an honour. I didn’t miss the fact that she kept me standing despite the empty seats in the room.
“Let’s not beat around the bush. I’ve called you here because rumour has it that you are Killian’s mate.” Her smile dropped. “Is this true?”
“By the will of the goddess, it is.” I forced myself to hang my head in deference.
“She’s lying,” Scarlett shouted. The queen put her hand on her knees to silence her.
“Do you plan on mating with him?” The question took me off guard. If we were mates, there was no reason for us not to mate.
Mates rejecting each other seldom happened. Of course, my case had to be different, but it was the truth. When the goddess makes a perfect person just for you, it is hard to let them go.
“Yes.” My tone was resolute.
Our sham of a mating already started so there was no way for me to back out now. I didn’t even want to back out. What sane woman would back out of the opportunity to be the queen of her people?
“Do you love Killian?” I blinked at the question. I pressed my lips firmly together to keep them from curling.
Love was such a useless emotion, one that would never fit into my arrangement with the prince. He was not a man to be loved and I was not a person capable of love. He was more of a business partner than a love interest, a business partner that clarified that I would never be good enough for his affection.
“We only met yesterday.” I decided on a half-truth. “It would be near impossible to fall in love with a man I just met but we are mates and Killian is such a sweet man.” I let out a dreamy sigh, my lips pulling up at the sides as Scarlett scowled. “I don’t love him but I am falling in love with him. Fast.”
“That’s good.” The queen’s smile returned. “Since you feel this way, it would be easy for you to leave him.” Her smile turned cruel. I would think she was Killian’s mother if I didn't know better. They both had similar cruel and nerve-wracking smiles.
“I – I beg your pardon.” Her smile deepened as I stuttered. “I don’t understand.”
“You seem like a smart girl so you must know the position Killian is in as regards the throne,” the queen spoke with a drawl, spelling the words out for me.
“He is going to be king,” I muttered.
“Yes, but he would be a powerless king if he does not mate with the right woman.” My heart stuttered and I didn’t know why.
I knew the direction of this conversation and it was something I expected to hear sooner or later but why did my insides tighten as the queen continued?
“Scarlett here, as the world knows, has been betrothed to Killian for some months now and he has called off all arrangements for their wedding since he found you.” I swallowed as the red-haired girl sat up straighter with a haughty air around her.
It was like without her, he could not get the throne, which we all knew was false. The goddess ordained the family of the first wolves to rule over all her creation. Kilian was the last of that bloodline so without him, we would not have a monarch. No matter what happened, he would take the throne. It became his birthright upon the death of Prince Seth II.
“Are you asking me to leave my mate for another woman?” I asked, my curiosity making my voice strong despite me trembling inside.
I did not think she would be this straightforward with warding me off. I expected backhanded insults, word games and whatnot, but not an outright command to get out of the way.
“Leaving your mate for another woman is one way to look at it.” Again, her smile returned. “But I would like you to see it as you doing your mate a favour since you are already falling in love with him.” Her words were mocking, her eyes laughed at me and her body language made me feel like dirt.
“If you have any affection for Killian, you would want the best for him, am I right?” She crossed her legs. “I heard that you started working at the palace last week and you suddenly found your mate in our future king. It is a fairytale that must be getting to your head now but stop and think. Killian is a bastard and you are a maid without a family or a pack. You are a nobody worth nothing to the throne so as his mother, I am asking you to take a step back. Allow him to flourish with a more deserving woman by his side.”
“Luna, it sounds like you presume to know more than the goddess.” A familiar chill spread inside me but I did not allow myself to cower. Her words and tone were biting. Scarlett’s gloating smile from beside her irked me.
Her words were cold and cruel enough to affect someone else but not me. All my life, I’d heard people call me a nobody. My mate rejected me for this reason. I accepted I wasn’t worth much and that in the grand scheme of things, I had no relevance – not to my mother who abandoned me, not to my mate who rejected me and not to my pack that bullied me.
The queen’s words would sting if I hadn’t heard them a thousand and one times already. I was worth noting to the throne? Good. That was why Killian chose me in the first place.
“If the goddess says I am to be the prince’s mate and the future queen, then who are you to say there is a more deserving woman to be by his side other than me?”
I came in here with the thought that I could show her I was harmless so she didn’t target me, but I was stupid to think anything I did would matter to her. To her, I was an eyesore, a damper on her plans to make her person the queen since the king had no regard for her.
“Little girl, you are playing a dangerous game,” Scarlett snarled but the queen held up a hand to silence her.
“I will give you time to think on my offer,” the queen employed a diplomatic tone. “I did not expect you to give up your mate just like that and I also did not think you would turn rude to me but I understand you are still living in a fairytale.” If this woman knew the first thing about me, she would know I never lived a fairytale. I was born into a nightmare. “Take time to think my words over. If you want, I will give you a good settlement for this. You understand, right?” Her charming smile returned.
How much could convince me to give up the seat of the queen?
“I may be nobody now but please do not insult me. Soon, I will be your queen.” I watched as Scarlett grew red in the face. She reminded me so much of Bella and coupled with the things she’d already done to me, I felt a deep loathing in my guts for her. “If you’ll excuse me.” I left the queen’s chambers without a backward glance, my heart in my throat and sweat on my forehead.
Should I have played it safer? Would it have been better if I laughed like a fool and gave them the illusion that I was a naïve idiot? No. No matter what I did, those women would cause trouble for me. It was better I showed a strong stance before they thought to override me.
Where did I get that confidence from? I pondered.
I was not one to bow with ease but speaking so brazenly to those who could ruin my life with a snap of their fingers was not my style.
Killian.
He promised to protect me. I did not trust the man but I knew he was a man of his word. After all, everyone he said would die at his hands ended up dying at his hands.
I had just gotten to the corner of the main palace when Mary and another maid cornered me.
“Do you think you are better than Scarlett now because you are mated to the bastard prince?” Mary their leader snarled.
“You have a lot of audacity talking bad about the future king, Mary.” My voice was soft to show my tiredness but she must have taken it as a sign of weakness.
“What? Don’t you know your supposed ‘mate’ murdered his brother to become king?” She sneered.
It was a rumour the whole kingdom knew about but of course, there was no evidence. Killian was the only one that had anything to gain from his brother’s death and coincidentally, his brother died the night he returned from war. It was easy to believe he would kill his brother as he was a cruel murderer. A part of me also thought he did it but I was not about to admit it to these girls.
“If you continue peddling baseless rumours, you’re going to meet a sorry end soon,” I muttered. “And if you’re going to talk nonsense, you better say it far from me. I won’t listen to people talk bad about my mate.” I heard a rustling as if someone was coming but I waited and no one came.
“What would you do?” Mary sneered.
“I’ll tell him,” I answered. “Since you’re itching for death, I will do you a favour. Maybe when you’re publicly executed for blasphemy against the royal family, others will learn not to talk nonsense.” She paled and something inside me raised its ugly head. “Don’t bother me anymore.” The girls let me pass with ease.
Killian offered me a seat without power but I still felt power coursing through me as I left the scene. Never had I been able to stand up to my bullies like I just did but thanks to him, I could shut them up with a single threat.
I returned to our room to see Killian sitting on the bed with a frown. He opened his mouth and I thought he was going to offer a greeting but the words that came out of his mouth had me frowning.
“I did not kill Seth.”