I wake up alone.
The bed was utterly cold. I had only a few moments of clarity before the maids stormed the room, claiming that I had been summoned for breakfast. By the King.
I stayed in instead, defying the order. He is not my King. No one tells me what to do in this foreign land.
I didn't ask about Rune either. I didn't wish to know. Waking up alone was a loud enough message. He's back to being the bastard that he is, and frankly, I was too tired to care, to hungry to think. There was fatigue in my bones and I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes.
So I buried my head in the soft, fluffy pillows and drifted off into dreamless sleep.
Upon awakening the following day, shouts reverberate outside my door. Squinting, I witness the door being violently flung open, and my mother storms into the room, her eyes brimming with anger.
Blinking, I push myself up from the bed and manage to croak, "Mom?"
Her gaze fixes upon me, and for a fleeting moment, she freezes, scrutinizing my form. Her eyes descend to the mark on my neck—Rune's mark—and she starts laughing.
When Mother laughs like that, someone's about to die.
She strides toward the closet, her movements tight with tension, and wrenches it open. "Did you give your consent to the ceremony?"
"No," I whisper, stumbling out of bed. My knees are weak, and I can't stand on my own two feet. My vision blurs for a moment, and I shake my head severally before it clears.
Mother rummages through the dresser, but they are empty.
"Did you give your consent to the consummation?"
"No. I—" My voice falters, and I swallow hard. "I passed out. Woke up here, tied up."
With a forceful motion, she slams the door shut, causing it to break off its hinges. She turns to me then, eyes drifting for a moment to the poles of the bed where the cut ropes still lay.
Her lips quiver and she shuts her eyes, running fingers through her hair. "How cruel." She moves so fast, my eyes don't follow, and in a matter of seconds, she has wrapped me in the bedsheets and is pulling me out the door, down the steps.
Her grip is so tight, it hurts. "Where is father?" I whisper, eyes closing as a wave of nausea washes over me.
She doesn't answer, growling silently. The sound of howls and glass shattering several floors down reach my ears and my heart sinks. That can't be good.
Mother pulls me harder and faster, rushing down with an urgency that only she would understand. Is Father alright?
Panic seizes me at as another question drops in my head. Is Rune alright?
Mother swerves last minute, taking me through a familiar hallway, and lycans watch as I am pulled forward in nothing but bedsheets and disheveled hair. I reek of sex, blood and Rune.
A few of them pull up their phones, taking pictures as they laugh at us, and the ones who don't, watch me with disdain and disgust. You will never belong here.
I am used to this treatment, so it does little to ruffle me, but Mother reacts. It happens in seconds. Two. Her hands leave mine and she moves in a blur.
The sound of phones and bones shattering echoes through the hall, coupled with the gut wrenching screams of the lycans she attacked.
When she returns to me and holds my hand, there is blood.
I spare a single glance backward at the three men and women on the floor, writhing in pain. They are covered in slashes and blood, chunks of skin missing.
I turn abruptly, bile rising to my throat. I knew they would be mad, but...I never thought it would be this bad.
Mother comes to a halt before towering double doors, and she kicks it open in one strong movement.
The hall is in complete chaos. Furniture is wrecked, pools of blood gather from where injured wolves and lycans lay, and the those still standing face off, snarling.
A guttural roar cleaves the air and my heart leaps when I recognize it as my father's. Mother and I turn toward the sound just to see Father throw a lycan thrice his size into a wall, cracking his spine.
Oh, dear Goddess.
Mother breaks into a sprint then, pulling me with her. "Ronan! I have her."
Father's head snaps back at the sound of his mate's voice, and when his eyes land on me, I shrink back in the face of his fury.
He looks forward again, roaring in outrage and when I see who his rage is directed at, I freeze.
There, on his throne, Rune sits, watching us all with an air of nonchalance. His chin rests on his fist, and his clear green eyes are devoid of all emotion. His father stands by his side, teeth bared at mine, and his mother stands close to the wall, looking between us with worry.
But my gaze inadvertently finds Rune again and our eyes lock. He looks at me like that night didn't happen. Like he didn't force me into consummating our bond. Like we didn't reach some sort of truce. Like I hadn't fallen asleep to his hand in my hair and his strong heartbeat in my ears.
Like I'm some stranger.
Tears well in my eyes, and I squeeze my mother's hand. I don't want to be here. I have no idea what I was thinking that night. I knew Hekate would leave and Rune would be back by morning. I knew he would be cruel to me again, possibly reject me.
But I thought it would make a difference now. I thought that being his mate and wife would make a difference. I had let myself...hope. For more. Goddess, I was so stupid. Just how many times do I have to get rejected before I finally accept the truth in front of me?
That he needs to be Hekate before he will ever look at me like I mean something. That he needs to be insane before he will touch me, or make love to me. That he needs to be out of his damned mind before he sees me as more.
And Goddess, it hurts so much. In my heart, in my body.
"You cannot take her from here," King Fenrir asserts, and my mother snarls, her gaze filled with murderous intent.
"She did not consent. Should you refuse to release our daughter, we shall wage war against you and your court," Mother hisses.
King Fenrir laughs. "You would never win."
"And you would have the blood of an entire race on your hands for your son's foolishness. And when the Void takes you, you know who to blame for that," Mother counters, every word as sharp as a sword, cutting deep and snatching the stupid smile off King Fenrir's face.
"Kaida, you must understand—" Queen Zephyr begins, but my mother raises a single finger, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"Do not say my name. You watched this happen. You let this happen. You watched him mark her. You permitted your son to bind my daughter against her will and take her forcibly. And now, you have the audacity to implore understanding?!"
"Kai--"
"And after? You didn't think it was important to inform us?!Did you even speak to her? Did you fulfill the responsibilities of a mother-in-law after the mating ritual? Did you even provide her with fresh clothes to wear? Two days and she still has blood on her, all the while you celebrate ruining her life. You are the worst, and I am not surprised that he turned out this way!"
King Fenrir growls in warning and Father steps in front of Mother, shielding her from him.
And of course, through it all, Rune says nothing, acting like it is of little concern to him. I want to hit him, hurt him, but I know it'll end terribly.
"Call off your hounds. We're leaving with her, now," Father commands the Lycan King, his tone firm. "The treaty is null and void."
King Fenrir pauses. The entire hall pauses. Even I pause to look at my father. Ending the treaty between races is no small thing. There will be no supplies coming from either realms. There will be no safe passages through either kingdoms. The peaceful relationship we have established for centuries will be dissolved.
What it means is that any Lycan found within our borders will be taken as prisoners, or possibly killed on the spot. It goes the other way around too.
What it means is that each realm will have to face the Void on their own, with no help from the other.
What it means is suicide for both races.
"You cannot call off the treaty on such a trivial affair," King Fenrir says, but his voice lacks surety.
Father takes a step forward, causing the lycan guards to brandish their swords. Unyielding, he stands his ground. "My daughter's life is not a trivial affair. You have insulted an heir loved by her people. Be grateful I didn't bring the entire army with me."
"Ronan," King Fenrir tries again, and I am surprised by the switch in his tone. "We have been friends for years--"
"Yet, you did this. Should you wish to fix this, have your son come to my castle and bend the knee in apology."
"The Prince bends the knee to no one," King Fenrir retorts, and my gaze turns toward Rune. A genuine amusement glimmers in his eyes. Cursed bastard.
"Very well then," Father says, a diplomatic smile stretching his lips. "I hear half your lands are infected, and we both know who has the best chance at saving us all. Judging from the cracks in the earth I noted on my way here, you have at most three months before the Void covers Lycanthia. More than enough time to evacuate my people to the human realm where they are most welcome. You have nowhere to go, Fenrir. Your pride will never let you beg them for refuge for your people. The same pride will destroy you."
"Seize them!" King Fenrir bellows, but the growls from my father's men keep his guards in place.
He growls in frustration as we start to retreat from the room. "And in the event that the treaty is dissolved, how, pray tell, will my son be received into your home, should he wish to apologize?"
Father's answering smile is the creepiest thing ever. "As my prisoner."
Mother tugs me along and I look back as we leave. At Rune. He's never going to come for me.