Is This Real?

Is This Real?
Maddie

“He’s going to come after you.” My friend, Terri, doesn’t even look at me when she says the words. We’re both sitting on the edge of the creek by her house, the last reliable source of water in the area, our dresses hiked up to our knees and our feet in the water while we each scrub our respective families’ laundry on our washboards.

“Who?”

She halts mid-scrub to side-eye me. “Seriously?”

“You’re not talking about the prince?” I ask. “You know I don’t like talking about him, Terri.”

“I know you don’t, but that’s only because you think it’s all over between you,” she replies instead of answering, which most definitely does answer my question. “I don’t blame you. If I was mated to the prince and thought he didn’t want me, my heart would absolutely stop beating.”

“This isn’t helping,” I remind her. She knows quite well that I’m barely surviving day to day. Well, it’s only been two days since I made it home, but every minute without Zachariah feels like a torturous eternity.

“But I think you’re wrong,” she says. “I think he does want you, and I know in my heart that he’s coming after you.”

“It’s nothing but a fairytale, being in love with the prince,” I say.

“Fairytales are based on the truth, you know.” She returns to scrubbing one of her dresses, a jade-colored gingham that really captures her bright green eyes and complements her rich brown hair. “Besides, the Moon Goddess doesn’t make any mistakes. You felt the bond. You said he did, too. It’s real, and that kind of a bond doesn’t break. The Goddess is particularly attentive when it comes to mating the royals. You were born for him.”

“Says the woman who has never met the man,” I remind her, shaking my head. “I can’t be the mate of someone like that. I’m pretty sure I’m the Moon Goddess’ first mistake. She meant to hit some other woman with her love arrow.”

She chuckles, bending over more to rinse her dress. “And I’m pretty sure Her aim is true. You, my friend, need to be more confident about how wonderful you are.” She rings out the dress and glances at the clean clothes in my basket. “You finished up? I think I’m ready to walk this home.”

I nod, finishing one more careful wring-out of one of Katy’s dresses. “I’m ready.”

We lift our respective baskets and start walking back to her farmhouse. Once there, her mother meets us in the yard. “I’ll handle hanging these,” she tells us, turning to me. “Maddie, I’ve a bundle of fresh herbs for your mother in exchange for a bit of her sourdough starter. If you don’t mind, Terri can go home with you and bring it back for me.”

“Of course,” I tell her, turning to Terri, who nods.

“Excellent. I’ll go grab the herbs.” She hurries back inside and comes out with a sack.

With the bundle safely tucked around her shoulder, Terri and I start the long walk back to my house, each of us holding one handle on my laundry basket, the heavy wet clothes much less of a burden when shared.

Thankfully, there’s no more talk of princes and mate bonds as we stroll through the tall grass. She’s moved on to other topics, specifically her new makeshift business: doing chores and watching children in exchange for whatever the families can spare, which though it isn’t much, is still contributing to her parents’ farm.

“It feels wonderful to be independent and valuable,” she says. “I mean, I know I’m valuable on the farm since I do a lot of work. But being able to bring in something extra every day or so really gives me an energy charge.”

“I bet it does,” I agree. “Maybe I can get in on this business of yours.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” she says. “I’m so glad you’re back, Maddie.”

I smile at her. “So am I.”

We round the last corner toward my farm and make our way through the orchard as she continues to discuss the opportunity. The trees on this end are even worse off than I’d imagined, but listening to Terri’s enthusiastic tales about the different work she’s been doing in Brindle Pack makes me feel more confident for the future. If she can do something like that to contribute, so can I.

I’m just thinking about the different things I can do when we reach the end of the orchard, and the farmhouse comes into view. I stop in my tracks, all my breath leaving my lungs.

“Maddie?” Terri’s voice seems like it’s floating out of a cloud. “What’s wrong?”

There’s no mistaking that blond hair, that confident stature of the man standing near my house. He holds himself as a man about to claim the throne.

Prince Zachariah.

Talking to my father.

“Maddie, I’m starting to worry,” Terri says. “What is the—” She stops cold, dropping her side of the basket. I do the same, the added weight suddenly too heavy for my one-armed grip. I’m not even sure I feel my hand anymore. “Is that him?” she says in a whisper.

I nod, not sure I have a voice, either, the way all the air is rushing out of me.

“Oh, my Goddess,” she whispers. “He—he’s looking this way!”

I already know it. I feel it deep in my bones. His gaze whips across the field over a hundred yards away as though he’s right in front of me.

“Oh, my Goddess. He’s coming this way.”

Each footfall feels like a hopeless eternity. It takes every ounce of energy to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground and not run out to meet him like a hopeless romantic.

It’s been easy to pretend none of this really happened, despite the ache that haunted my heart since they made me climb into the carriage and drove me away from the castle. Once I was home, the familiarity of this place made the castle seem so far away, distant, like a dream. I let myself believe that’s all it was, that there was never a handsome prince whose emerald-green eyes burned into my soul.

But this man walking toward me, as real as the arm attached to my shoulder, sends a rush of emotion that overwhelms me. The breeder selection, my suite in the castle, Ellie, the Alpha King, those towering spires stabbing the very sky, the mate bond, the kiss... all of it shifts out of the shadows.

He... came after me?

He’s reached me, just in front of me, though he doesn’t reach out to envelop me in an embrace. A part of me mourns the loss, and I don’t think it was just my wolf. Still, his lips curl into a smile that brightens his strong jawline.

“Madeline.” He breathes my name rather than speaking it.

“Your Highness,” I return.

“Zach,” he corrects me.

I can’t help but smile back. “Maddie.”

“Maddie,” he repeats. “I like it.”

“You came all this way,” I say.

“I did,” he confirms. “Are you well? Did they harm you?”

“No,” I reply. “No one touched me. Four men... they just said I had to leave.”

“That was not my doing.”

“I know.” And somehow, I do.

Though I feel the bond pulsing through me at Zach’s presence, I’m now acutely aware that Terri is standing right beside me. Maybe I’d better wait until we’re alone to have these conversations with Zach.

“This is Terri,” I say. “My best friend.”

“Pleased to meet you, Terri,” Zach says kindly.

But my friend is frozen, her mouth having dropped—and somehow becoming stuck—open. But she’s not looking at the Crown Prince. Her eyes are locked across the field on the man he must have brought with him.

Zach seems to notice, ignoring that Terri hasn’t answered him. “I brought my Beta with me, Lucas,” he says, and he waves the man over.

The dark-haired man begins walking over as if in a trance.

“Lucas,” Terri says once he’s closed the distance.

His eyes are transfixed, as much as hers is on him. My best friend is mated to the future Beta? Can this all be true?

She still hasn’t spoken, so I step in for her. “Pleased to meet you, Lucas,” I tell him. “Her name is Terri.”

He repeats the word as if it contains the most enthralling syllables he’s ever combined.

“Well,” Zach says, turning to me. “Perhaps we can talk somewhere else.”

I nod, and he reaches out his hand to me. Wrapping my fingers around his feels like I’ve stepped straight into a dreamworld. I feel the warmth of our bond thrumming through our physical connection, and he leads me across the field and up to the barnyard fence. Looking back, I see that Terri and Lucas are caught up in their own conversation.

“This was unexpected,” Zach says, nodding toward them.

“I’ll say,” I agree. “What are the chances?”

“I’m sure none of this has come by chance,” he says.

The statement sends a warm tingle through me.

He’s my mate....

But I can’t forget what happened back at the castle. I can’t forget the evil words April said right in front of me. I know Zach defended me, but for how long? Won’t there come a time when he’d wished he’d rejected me and chosen someone highborn like her?

I swallow down the uncertainty and focus on our bond, the connection pulsing strongly with his hand still in mine.

He’s here, I try to convince myself. He chose me.

How can this be real?