Book2. Mina - The Drowned Palace 4

Book2. Mina - The Drowned Palace 4
Andromeda moved closer, a dagger in her hand, which only made Mina dig the fang deeper into the princess’s neck. Riva swallowed hard as she held her palm up, silently telling her people to stay put.
The serpent flicked its tail, one move away from striking Mina with it.
“Release her or die,” Andromeda threatened Mina.
But the Queen of the Ocxoas refused. There was too much rage running through her veins. Something had snapped inside her, and she needed to let it out. If not, she would explode and scream until she couldn’t anymore.
A dry, humorless laugh escaped Mina before she started speaking, her tone icy cold.
“Death doesn’t scare me. Death means an ending, yes. But it can be an ending to suffering, to a miserable life. Some might even look forward to it. I did too. And do you want to know why?”
Princess Riva held her gaze as she replied, “No.”
So Mina continued, “You will never truly understand what it is like to be rejected by your own kind—not because of who you are as a person, since they don’t even bother to get to know you in the first place, but because they see the color of your skin, of your eyes first. Being a descendant of a mermaid and half gypsy hasn’t been easy, and all my life, I’ve had to put up with people like you—who hate me simply because I exist.
“And I might have endured all that if I had a loving family. But even that was stripped away when my parents died, and my uncle took me in.
“All I received in my uncle’s house was hatred and mockery. Especially from Rosalyn, my cousin. She is everything I never was and never will be—beautiful, with fair skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair—and she made sure to remind me of it every single day.”
Mina wasn’t sure why she was telling them all that, but once the words started spilling out, there was no way of stopping the flood. So she kept going.
“The only one who loved me, whom I knew I could rely on, who made life worth living after losing my beloved parents, was Hugo, Rosalyn’s brother.”
Something flickered in Princess Riva’s eyes. 
“Then the war started, and Hugo left to fight. I won’t tell you how hard it was not having him around, especially when the man I loved started courting Rosalyn. Then he asked her to be his wife, and she rubbed it in my face every chance she got.”
Despite loving Jayden with all she had and was, and seeing King Liam as nothing more than a friend, those memories still cut sharply into her soul. The words Rosalyn had once said still tried to bring her down, but Mina refused to kneel anymore.
“It wouldn’t have hurt that much if she had at least truly cared for him, but it was his status she was actually after. Still, he was happy and so in love, and that was all that mattered.
“Hugo returned home because of an injury, just in time for Rosalyn’s nuptials. While I hated seeing him in pain, I was grateful that I hadn’t been alone when the man my heart yearned for made vows before the Gods, promising to love and cherish Rosalyn for the rest of his life.
“While I was devastated and heartbroken, having Hugo home helped me move on. I even started feeling happy again. But it was short-lived, because Hugo was different. And while he was still close to me, it wasn’t like before. He was there physically, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
“And then the war ended. Soldiers returned to their families.
“One morning, he came to our house—the one who had won the war. He was looking for Rosalyn, claiming that she had promised to wait for him, but he had no idea that while he was bleeding for our kingdom, the woman he loved was making vows to another man and playing two men against each other.
“He was angry, and rightfully so. He wanted to expose her, and while I wanted Rosalyn to pay for what she had done, I couldn’t condemn her husband or her child to such cruelty, such suffering, such heartbreak. So I asked him to wed me. Little did I know back then that one question, spoken in desperation, would change the entire course of my life.”
She didn’t regret it. Because being with Jayden was everything she had never dreamed of or hoped for. It was like drinking water after being thirsty her entire life. Like seeing light after living in darkness for an eternity.
“It was supposed to be a union of convenience between two people who had their hearts shattered because of the same person, but I don’t know when it became so much more.”
Her anger was slowly evaporating—one drop at a time—and her tone turned raspy.
“Maybe when he saw beyond my skin color or my eyes. Maybe when he looked at me and saw the real me buried under years of pain and suffering. Or maybe when he claimed me as his and promised that we would be happy together, despite Rosalyn cursing us to be unhappy together.
“He protected me when I was vulnerable and refused to give up on us when I was afraid that the curse would end us. He saw beauty where everyone else saw the opposite. He became my friend, my lover, my protector.
“And I fell for him—my heart and soul belonging to him completely—even before I realized he was my soulmate. My other half. Because of the curse, we didn’t feel it when we first touched, but even so, we kept choosing each other.”
Jayden was her only option. There was no one else for her.
“He took me to Isyleon Island and marked me as his mate, because, you see, he is not human. Not entirely. Like me, he’s a halfbreed, his blood mixed, and together, we were whole.
“While he wasn’t willing to allow himself to fall in love once more, it didn’t really matter, as I loved him enough for both of us. And knowing that his Beast truly wanted me and had never liked Rosalyn had been more than enough for me.”
Pain shot through her heart as she remembered that his Beast was no more.
What is gone is gone forever.