Rosalind
Whoosh!The long sword moved effortlessly as I lightly swung it above my head then brought it down with brute force. The branch got detached from the tree, its dry leaves scattering on the ground. The sky was dark, and only the moon served as my source of light—the sound of the owls chirping served as my audience as if cheering me on.Just like most nights, I sneaked out of the palace to practice my swordsmanship skills. I could do so in the day, but my obnoxious stepmother would probably find a way to distract me and give me some chores. I stopped swinging my sword and paused for a while to catch my breath. The silver metal glistened in the night, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. This was given to me by my late mother—her gift to me before she drew her last breath.I sat down under the tree, leaning on its sturdy trunk. I promised myself that I would stop getting emotional with the thought of her, but her departure still left an ugly scar. My mother was once the queen of the Faerie kingdom, her beauty being uncontested by any of the women in the land. She was the kind of person that you couldn’t hate, for her beauty did not stop on the surface but transcended into her heart. She was the perfect queen that our kingdom could ever ask for.However, her beauty came with a price, as she became the center of envy and attention. On the night of my 6th birthday, she was brutally murdered by an anonymous killer, and we still don’t know their identity up to this day.I mourned and became miserable, and I still think of her up to this day. I thought that my father would be the same, but he was the complete opposite. Not even a year had passed since my mother had died, and he had already found a new woman to marry. I was angry, enraged even, but I didn’t have a choice but to agree to their marriage.The woman, named Desdemona, had a daughter who was my age named Venice. I’ve never been close to them, but I could feel their disdainful stares whenever I arrive in the room. Not long after, my father and Desdemona copulated, and Winifred, my younger sister, was born. From that moment, my life started changing for the worst.Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t the Cinderella story where I get maltreated and abused by my family. Rather than physical abuse, they set me aside and treat me as an outsider in our family. While they all had blonde hair and brown eyes, I was the only one with brown locks and blue orbs—something I inherited from my mother. When you look at us from a stranger’s perspective, it totally looks like I wasn’t part of their family, and Desdemona made it a pact to make me feel exactly like that.Now, at 22 years old, I feel like my stepmother is becoming more and more arrogant. She had influenced my father to think that I was an ungrateful child just because I didn’t blindly listen to her orders. She’s also been spreading lies about my mother in the kingdom, leading some of our constituents to show their contempt for my existence. Feeling angered, I stood up from the tree and mercilessly attacked it with my sword.My gaze hardened as I thought of all the lies that Desdemona had spread to ruin my mother’s reputation. I heard that they’re already planning to give the throne to Venice, but I can’t let that happen. The empire is becoming more devious, and the people will only suffer in their hands. I have to take back what was once my mother’s—what’s supposed to be mine.***The chirps of the birds awakened me in my slumber, their soft tweets serving as a comforting melody in the cold morning. I flipped over on my side and snuggled inside the covers, feeling sleepiness come over me once again.Just then, the door banged open, and I jolted awake. I groggily sat down and glared at the culprit, ready to give them an earful.“Rosalind! It’s time to get up! The people are already waiting for you in the dining hall! Did you forget about father’s announcement this noon? Mom’s already having a fit downstairs,” Winifred said, leaning on my door frame. I glanced at her and saw that she was already wearing a formal gown, with a petticoat and all. Her blonde locks were pulled up in a tight bun, and her face was decorated with light makeup.“Shit,” I muttered under my breath and scrambled to get up from my bed. The sleepiness instantaneously left my body as I ran to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I got so mad yesterday that I trained even harder than usual. As a result, I stayed in bed longer.“How many minutes?” Winifred screamed from my door.“Five minutes!” I shouted back, quickly rinsing out my mouth.“Fine. You better be down by five minutes, or father’s going to get mad too!” She said as she walked away, her shoes making a clunking sound on the wooden floors.I quickly changed into a simple white gown and donned some simple gold jewelry. I stumbled as I put on my sandals, but I swiftly got back up. I brushed my hair back to tame it a little bit before running down to our dining hall.My room was located at the farthest portion of the east wing of the palace, so I had quite a distance to run. Breathless, I finally arrived at the dining hall, hastily opening the door that leads to it. The door opened with a loud creak, and all of the attendees turned to me. I heard some of them gasp in shock, and I wandered my eyes around to look at their awestruck gazes.I walked slowly to the stage, where my family was waiting impatiently for me. The attendees' eyes still followed my every move, and I felt insecure under their gaze. Do I have something on my face?I finally arrived at the stage, Desdemona glaring at me as I made my way up.“What are you wearing?” She whispered under her breath. I looked down at my dress then glanced at their formal gowns. Well, I certainly stood out because while they all wore dark colors, I was the only one wearing white.I just shrugged my shoulders and focused my attention on my father, who was preparing to speak.“A pleasant noon to all of you, Faerie kingdom. It has been a while since I have summoned you all, so it’s nice to see some familiar faces,” he smiled. “I have been serving this kingdom for the last thirty years, and I believe that it is now the time for me to step down. My wife and I have been trying to conceive an heir—a son who would inherit the throne, but to no avail.”I softly scoffed. My father still has a patriarchal mindset even to this day.“As we have no choice, I need to pass down the throne to one of my lovely daughters,” he continued.I suddenly became nervous, and I felt my breath getting caught in the back of my throat. Did he set up this party to announce that Venice would inherit the throne? I looked down on the ground. She was the oldest out of all of us, older than me by a few months, but that isn’t enough of a reason to just hand her the throne. I was his original daughter, for god’s sake!“Since Rosalind and Venice are of the same age and we wanted to give our daughters equal opportunities of inheriting the throne, we couldn’t decide on the rightful heir.”I looked back up to my father and felt a surge of hope go through my body. Does this mean that I still have a chance?“Therefore, the palace advisors and I had a meeting about this matter, and we decided on this condition.”I bit my lips and waited in anticipation for my father’s announcement.“As king of the Faerie kingdom, I, therefore, declare that the very first Verlixe daughter who would meet her mate and complete the mate bond, be the one to inherit the throne.”Axel“Axel, come on! We need to hurry up, or they’ll catch up to us.” Sebastian patted me on the shoulder as I looked in the direction I came from one last time. It was way too far that I couldn't see our pack anymore, only the smoke that swirled into the sky. The place I’ve been living in for the last 20 years is about to be burned to nothing but ashes and dirt. The scarring event still lingered in my mind—seeing my father’s blood soaking the sheets on their bed and seeing my precious mother being captured by Logan. I blame myself for not waking up on time to stop the tragedy, but I know that the real villain in the story isn’t me but Logan. Tomorrow was supposed to be my coronation day—the day when I’m finally going to be hailed as the Alpha of our pack, so I opted to sleep earlier than usual. In my slumber, I remembered being woken up by Sebastian, my incoming beta.
AxelI didn’t know how many days we had been on the road since I had already lost track of time. Has it been two days, five days, or maybe even a week? I looked at Sebastian, and he looked just as haggard as me, with dry lips and bulked eyes. We were severely dehydrated, and we needed to find water. Using his wolf instincts, he was able to locate a desolate lake.Sebastian scrambled to the clear body of water and took a good drink. I, however, sat frozen while looking at my reflection. I looked like a completely different person. My eyes are bloodshot and devoid of any emotion; my usual neatly-shaven face had become darker with the growth of my stubble; and my face looked like it had been etched with a permanent frown. With clenched fists, I hit the calm water with all of my might, making it shake like an unresting ocean. My distorted reflection looked back at me in anger, and everything that had happened was relived in my mind. Sebastian looked in my direction,
RosalindI watched as my family scrambled to get ready for the ball while I wiped the tables. You’re probably wondering why a princess is wiping the tables, but my stepmother said that this is my punishment for dressing inappropriately during my father’s announcement party.Tonight, my father arranged a ball for every royal and esteemed creature—the Unity Ball as we call it. Werewolves, vampires, witches, and every known creature out there are invited to the Unity Ball. It is held every year in different kingdoms, and this year, it is our kingdom’s turn to host the celebration. My father insisted on hosting this year’s celebration in hopes of his daughters finding their mates. Let me correct that—I bet he only wants Venice and Winifred to find their mates since I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t want me leading the kingdom.Right now, they have all been dressed up because the ball will be starting in less than an hour
AxelAm I…dead? I spread my fingers open and felt a soft and pillowy material. Fuck. I died without even getting revenge on the bastard Logan. A light and feathery sensation went over my cheek, and I felt comforted by the action.I slightly opened my eyes to see what was going on, and a blurry outline of a female face went into my view. Is this the angel that was sent down to take me to heaven…or maybe hell? The angel is currently tracing my features, and her touch feels so real. It’s like I’m still alive or something.Suddenly, my heart started pounding out of my chest. Shit. Do ghosts have hearts? How is this possible? Maybe I am still alive! Then who the hell is this woman in front of me? Did she actually save us from uncle Richard and his men? If she did, then she must be a very dangerous creature. Did she bring me here so she could kill me herself?Thinking that I couldn’t let this keep going, I used the strength left
Rosalind“This should be enough,” I muttered to myself as I walked back to my room. The Unity Ball is still in full swing at the event hall, so I didn’t have a hard time sneaking into the servant’s chambers to get some of their clothes.Just as I entered the room, I heard the bathroom door open.“Oh, good. I came right on time. I borrowed these clothes from the servant chambers, so I hope you won’t mind wearing such clothes. Well, I am giving them to you for free, so really, there’s no room for you to complain—”I stopped in my tracks when I saw a handsome and muscular man standing in front of me. He was wearing nothing but a towel, and droplets of water cascaded down his beautiful pecs and abdominal muscles, the steam from the shower emanating from his skin.My eyes trailed down to his body then up to his face. Hell. Is this really Axel? His once dirty face was now shaven clean, and his eyes we
Rosalind“That we’re mates.”Sebastian covered his mouth while Axel tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Can you repeat what you just said?”“We’re mates,” I said in all seriousness.The room was engulfed by tension, and the silence was killing me. If it is true that he doesn’t have a wolf right now, then that must be the reason why he’s not feeling the mate bond.He still didn’t say anything, so I kept on going. “That’s why I’m asking you to marry me…because we’re mates.”The silence was broken when Sebastian patted Axel on the back. “Come on. Just marry the poor girl. I don’t even know why you’re resisting. She’s too cute,” he said, pinching my cheeks.I smiled up at Sebastian. He’s such a nice person! Axel glared at Sebastian, so he let go of my cheek. Sebastian cleared his throat and rais
RosalindI felt my throat get caught in the back of my throat. Love? I’ve never really thought of that. While thinking about it, my chest started hurting once again. What’s with this feeling? It seems like I really did eat a lot back at the party. I should control my portions from now on.I scoffed and gave him an incredulous look. “Me? Falling in love with you? As if. I’m just doing this so that I could claim the throne,” I said, raising my chin up.He nodded his head. “Good. Good. I’m glad that we’re on the same wavelength.”I internally frowned. Alright. He doesn’t need to be this happy while talking about the topic. Does he really hate the idea of falling in love with me?“We’re going to part ways by the end of this anyway. Once we both get our objectives, I’ll be leading my pack while you’ll be leading your people. There’s no use in falling in love with e
RosalindI was awoken by the sound of snoring accompanied by the bright gleam of light coming from the curtains. I woke up with an annoyed look on my face and searched the room for the source of the sound. I glared when I saw Sebastian with his mouth open, snoring away without a care in the world.I ruffled my hair and squinted my eyes to see the time on the wall clock. My eyes widened in shock when I saw that it was already nine o’clock in the morning. Shit. I can’t believe I just missed breakfast. I quickly threw the covers away from my body and scrambled to do my morning routine and get dressed.After my quick routine, I felt like I had forgotten something. Oh! Where the hell is Axel? I searched the room with my eyes, but there wasn’t any trace of him. I frowned. Didn’t I tell him not to go anywhere?I turned to Sebastian and thought about waking him up. After thinking for a while, I shook my head. I think he’ll appreciate