“Why does one have a spirit animal? Is it like a pet or something?” I asked curiously.
“I guess we do somewhat resemble the pet dog of a human, but our connection to our humans is far stronger than that of a pet, and soon you will find out that you are also more connected to me than you think. We just haven’t gotten the time to bond over the years, and who knows, my fox form might change as your personality and goals in life change. Every element is born with a spirit animal. The ones born without a spirit animal are born without elemental powers and have some form of other magical power, such as healing or something else. We are here to guide the ones with the elemental powers on the right path.”
“ Elementals? What are elementals?”
“Elements are people born with the magic powers of an element. There are four types of elements: air, water, earth, and fire. It is very rare to find an element of a different power, like light, lightning, or ice. The king is one of those with rare powers. He is the strongest elemental in the nation.”
“Oh, how so? What element does he wield?” I ask, trying not to sound too curious, all though I am practically hanging on every word she is saying.
“He wields lightning. There hasn’t been someone to wield lighting in over three hundred years.” I gasp, but I instantly close my mouth before she notices.
"So, if you are born with a spirit animal, you have an elemental power. Does that mean that I have one of those powers, and if so, why haven't I ever seen any signs of these powers yet?"
"I don't know, but you surely do have them; otherwise, I wouldn't have been here. Your powers must be tucked away very deeply because you haven't been exposed to them and know of them like everyone here who grew up knowing of them." We silently walk through the castle as she talks about all the details and villages in our little mind-link thingy. We turned around a corner, and I collided into something hard—not hard like a wall, but firm in place. I noticed leather boots in front of me, and when I looked up, it was him, standing ever so casually with his hands behind his back and chest pushed out. He lowers his gaze down to me, and I get captivated by those red specs in his eyes again.
“ Watch where you are going Little One. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt, now do we?”
“ Why do you care!” The words left my mouth before I could even think. I don’t know why, but something about his cocky attitude just vexes me, or maybe it is the fact that he kissed me without permission.
I should really try to think before I speak, because Merilla said that he is the king and I don’t want to end up in the dungeon again for speaking too freely.
“ I do care my Sleepinbeautyty.” I was just about to tell him that my name is not Sleeping Beauty when this huge black cat-like thing appeared behind him. I squeal and slowly start backing up.
“My Mate!” I hear Merilla call out in our mind-link as she runs to the big cat creature thing, rubbing against it like a cat.
“Don’t be afraid, little one. It is only my spirit animal.” Kaden says while gently taking ahold of my hand. His hands are big and rough to the touch—a little bit too rough for a king if you ask me—but I like it.
“W-what is that thing?” I tried to ask, but it came out as a stutter.
“That is not one particular animal. I guess in your world he would somewhat resemble a lion and jaguar combined, if I am not mistaken by the books I have read about the human world.” I try to stay calm, but my instincts tell me to run as the big black creature's gaze is fixated on me.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you are the King’s Mate?” Merilla’s voice shocked me in my head.
“ Mate! What do you mean, Mate? I know of no such thing.” I accidentally say it out loud instead of talking in my mind-link thingy with her.
“Mate, as in destined to be together. You must have felt some sort of connection towards Kaden.”
“No, I felt absolutely nothing!” I say it loud enough so that so-called King Kaden could hear me too.
“There is a way that we can prove she is my mate.” He says it casually with that cocky smirk of his.
“I am not going to kiss you!” I almost shouted while yanking my hand out of his grip.
“I like the way you think, and who knew that you wanted my lips on yours so soon again, but that is not the way we do it, Little One?” I hate it when he calls me that, even though I am very, very small against his broad muscular build. From all the guards we have passed today, none of them even came close to his godlike physique. Just looking at him makes my knees want to go limbs. Snap out of it, Meara! I can’t think of things like that. He is an absolute total barbarian.
“Come, sleeping beauty, let's take you to the hall.” He casually walks past me up to one of the guards and whispers something in the guard's ear. I couldn’t hear what he whispered, but my stomach had already turned into a knot. Who knows how they prove that someone is their mate?
God, I hope they don’t do some sort of mating ritual. My palms start to sweat, and my feet are frozen in place.
“Come, Meara, it really isn’t as bad as you think.” Merilla also walked past me, and just a few paces behind me, she stopped and looked over her shoulder.
“ Coming?” I sigh heavily before I walk after her. I followed Merilla as she walked behind Kaden’s big cat thing, Luka. We make a few turns until I am completely lost. I do not recognize the place. Merilla did not show me this section of the castle on our tour earlier. Kaden came to a halt in front of a big door that was painted gold. He knocks twice before the guard opens the door from the inside, and as we walked inside, I noticed how packed the place was.
“What is going on?” I asked, confused.
“You will see soon enough, Little One.” There it was again—that name he has been using since we met yesterday—well, two names, actually. The other nickname he likes to use is Sleeping Beauty.
As we entered the hall, I looked around only to realize that everyone in here was a man. The only other women I see are the two girls who helped me this morning with my corset. Both of them approached us with a piece of silk fabric. The girl with the ginger hair came to a halt in front of me with the fabric.
“Close your eyes, my lady.”
“ Wait. What! Why should I close my eyes?”
“So that we can blindfold you, my lady.” Before I could protest, they wrapped the fabric around my head and tied it in a slight knot.
“There is only one way to truly test if Kaden is your mate. I know it is a lot, but this is how we can prove it is true.” Merilla spoke in our mind-link.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“All the single men will line up, and you are going to stand very still so that each one of them could hold your hand; whichever one you feel the bond with by just holding his hand, is your destined mate.”
“That sounds a little too easy. How can you go off by touching someone’s hand and know they are the one you are destined to be with?” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, even though she couldn’t see it because of the blindfold. I hear multiple of the men laughing and whispering to one another, saying that I am their mate, which only added fuel to my anger.
“Trust me, you will know.” That is all Merilla said before she went quiet in my head.
The crowd was silent as, one by one, the men came up to me and held my hand. After a few seconds, they would take their hand away, and another would replace it. The crowd was dreadfully silent, and my nerves were a wreck. I could feel eyes staring at me as these men came up, waiting for something to happen.
Merilla came to stand next to me. I could feel her fluffy fur against the open skin by my ankles.
“Meara, it is alright. Nothing is going to happen; I am right by your side.”
“Thank you.” I say softly, feeling somewhat comfortable knowing that she is by my side, but not enough to take away my anxiety. Another hand came to mine, and I felt a squeeze.
“ Ouch!” I quickly pulled my hand away; it almost burned my hand. Stepping back, some men started whispering again but were quickly silenced by the guards, I assume. It must have been Kaden’s hand that touched me, but why would he use his elemental power to burn me?
Now I know that I am definitely not his mate. A few moments later, I felt another hand slide into mine. Out of all the hands I felt, this one felt the most welcoming. Butterflies—no, electricity flashed through my entire body. It took me to a place that felt like home, like all the pain and stress from the past couple of months of my mom's passing had just vanished. It is like this specific hand absorbed all my worries until there were only happy feelings left. My chest pounds in my ear, and I can almost feel love. My mind tells me to pull away, but my body does the opposite; it wants to lean in and feed off of it, filling in the puzzle pieces that have been missing for so long.