Chapter 20 Chapter 20
LENORE
The prince wasn’t back yet.
It had only been a little while after dawn when he left and the sun was beginning to set now. I was… worried. I knew the feeling was odd—it’s not like something bad could have happened to him—but he’d told me he would be right back.
I’d asked the maid that brought me lunch about him, but she didn’t know where he was and Fabien wasn’t on palace grounds. She’d also told me she didn’t have a phone when I asked, so it had now been twenty four hours since I’d last spoken to someone back home.
I let out a harsh breath as I finished applying the ointment Diane had given me for the bruises on my neck. After washing my hands, I glanced around the bathroom, debating whether to arrange my toiletries in here. In my previous room, I’d always returned my toiletries to my bags after using them, and I’d done that for the same reason I refused to unpack: because I wanted to leave the city as soon as possible.
But as soon as possible didn’t seem to be anytime soon anymore.
I opened one of the drawers closest to me, only to find a couple of items that did not belong to me in there and I furrowed my brows. Did the last guest who used this room leave these behind?
That can’t be right. There was no way the maids wouldn’t have cleaned the room and gotten rid of the previous inhabitant's items before letting someone else stay in it.
I opened more drawers, getting even more confused when I found items in them too. Then I paused.
Wait…
I walked out of the room and glanced at the doors in the room which I hadn’t opened yet—I had only been to the closet and the bathroom. Fixing my attention on the one next to the closet, I walked over to it and when I opened it, it dawned on me that this was the first prince’s room.
I was beyond confused now.
I… Why did the maids bring my things to his room?
I could understand him bringing me here after changing his mind about the state he wanted me to be in, but why had everyone just let me carry on like I was meant to stay here. I’d noticed that the room had been much bigger than my previous one, but I couldn’t have guessed it was the prince’s room.
…Did they think the prince and I were sleeping together?
Heat rushed to my face.
I could see how the maids made that deduction. The King had gifted me to the prince after all.
I walked into the closet, running my fingers over the shirts hanging on my right. That cinnamon and citrus scent was heavier here and I found myself sniffing one of his shirts.
What was wrong with me? Even though he apologized, he’d still tried to kill me. He shouldn’t be eliciting these feelings in me.
The way his lips had felt against mine came to mind for the nth time today and I sighed.
He hadn’t apologized for kissing me. He’d apologized for trying to kill me, but not for kissing me, and that fact had been randomly popping into my mind since last night.
Did that mean he didn’t regret it?
I fiddled with the wrist of the shirt before sighing again.
He had to be somewhere in the palace. I should try to find him.
I hadn’t found the prince, but I’d stumbled upon what looked like a training ground. Some pack representatives were there and though I hadn’t wanted to head over at first, I’d assumed Cate was there because I saw the two girls she’d been with this morning.
Most, if not all, of the representatives stopped what they were doing to stare at me when I walked into the field, and my stomach twisted with discomfort. Or maybe it was guilt at the fact that I’d saved myself while all these people would be dying… including Cate.
I shouldn’t have come here.
I spun on my heels, only to find the girl that had been angry with me this morning standing right behind me, and I tensed. She looked angrier now and since I didn’t care about the issues she had with my father’s pack, I slid to the right so I could walk past her. But she blocked my path.
“I thought you said you were still representing your pack,” she replied and I gave her a blank stare.
“I am.”
“From the first prince’s bed?”
My eyes widened. “That’s not—” Pain exploded in the side of my face as her fist harshly connected with it and I stumbled to the right, stars filling my vision for several moments. I could taste blood in my mouth.
What the fuck?!
Snickers rang out from some of the people around us.
“You’re just as nasty as your father!” she yelled while I stared at her in disbelief. She came at me again, this time with a roundhouse kick, and that was more than enough to completely clear the stars from my vision.
I jerked back just in time for her feet to sail right through where my head had been.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I burst out while her friend rushed over to hold her back.
“Grace!”
“What’s the point of the stupid tournament when they’re going to hand the crown to this slut in the end? People are going to die for nothing, but she won’t even get a scratch because she got on her back for a prince.”
I wasn’t the one that came up with the idea of this fucking tournament!
Most of the people around didn’t seem to care about that though—they were all staring at me like this was my fault.
Fuck this.
“There are two princes, aren’t there?” I snapped. “You can go for the other one.”
The look in her eyes turned even crazier and just as she broke free from her friend’s hold, a scream rang out.
My head jerked in the direction it had come from to see a representative with a long blade sticking out of their chest.
I froze. What…
The vampire behind the boy slowly pulled the blade free—it was a sword—and the moment the lifeless body crumpled to the ground, all hell broke loose.