Chapter 17

Athena rose from her bed with a dulling pain in her heart, one she tried so much to ignore but kept coming back. Everything about her was slowly succumbing to the absence of the annoying footman. She tried not to think too much of him but kept failing miserably every single time. She even snapped at Damien when he tried to make a joke about Alex's absence. She didn't want to be his mate but that didn't give anyone the right to talk carelessly about him in her presence.

The gossipers around the palace have found a new rumor to spread, some said she discovered that he was not her mate, others said he rejected her cos of her stone heart, the bold ones went ahead to say that he had had a fill of he Rand decided that she was no longer worth it. All these Athena heard through the use of her discreet footmen planted across the village. Some of her footmen had wives that blended into the villages and got useful information for her.

A knock on the door startled her and brought her out of he