Chapter 67
G
I stand at the back of the line of harem consorts, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with Gwen as she keeps looking back to glower at me. Blessedly, after a time, the line starts to move forward and I am saved from continued awkwardness.
Yet, as I move closer and closer to the front of the Hall, I am filled with anticipation and trepidation in equal measures. Samuel is somewhere inside of there. Is he waiting for me? Is he eagerly observing each consort that enters, hoping that the next one will be met
As excited and hopeful as those thoughts make me, my next ones fill me with dread.
Samuel isn’t alone in that Hall. Somewhere there, likely beside him, stands my sister Leah. Ever since my disgrace, she’s treated me terribly, as if I was someone less than human. She took glee in scolding and punishing me. She loved to flaunt that Samuel now belonged to her.
That will not change now, just because I am a consort to the King. Her mistreatment will continue. And, if things hold to how they’ve always been, Samuel will stay silent at her side, enabling her foul behavior.
Maybe Bethany is right. Maybe I really need to move on from him. It’s so difficult though, when for so long, he was the most important in the world to me. How can I change something so fundamentally build inside my person? Loving him feels like a core of my being?
The line keeps moving, my feelings churn within me, making my stomach upset. It’s too late to back out now. Caleb would likely punish me for trying to escape, so I keep my feet moving.
My part of the line turns the corner and I see the entrance to the Hall Tristan stands there looking bored. Inside the open doorway, I hear the announcer give the name of every girl that enters
This is a show, I remind myself. A power play to help Caleb appear strong.
To keep from embarrassing him, I need to hold in my emotions
Yes, maybe that’s how I will survive this. I’ll bottle everything up and keep a firm, expressionless mask over my face.
The line becomes shorter and shorter. Eventually, it’s even Gwen’s turn to enter. The announcer says her name and she steps forward into the Hall. There’s polite clapping from within
Form here, I can see how full the room is. There are many, many people inside. Doesn’t this break some kind of fire code?
Who’s going to correct a king?
“Harper,” Tristan says, annoyed. I startle, realizing that I haven’t moved forward when I’m supposed to. “Go”
Swallowing my nerves, I desperately pull on my emotionless mask and step into the Hall.
“Presenting Harper, formerly of the Riverwood pack.”
I step into the room to the sound of polite claps. Glancing around, I see many faces I do not recognized, occasionally dotted with a slave or consort that I do know,
More than a few people are looking at me curiously. Perhaps they know the story of my disgrace.
“Is this that Harper?” someone whispers, and my assumptions are confirmed.
“To think the King would take on someone as disgraced as her,” says a whispered reply. “Was it kindness? Or fool judgement?
The first voice loudly hushes the other. “Do not dare speak ill of the King within these walls. Not if you want us to be able to
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Chapter 67
leave them.”
H
From that conversation alone, as humiliated as I am, I realize the King has a tough battle ahead of him to convince these Alphas to not only work together to hold back the invasion of the north, but to also listen blindly to him.
I can’t decide if I want to sit in on that eventual meeting of the Alpha Council, or to avoid it as if my life depended on it.
A bunch of pompous, angry Alphas in one room never ends well, especially for innocent bystanders who can’t really defend themselves. My little knife isn’t going to do much against the full fury of an Alpha.
Well, that
that’s a concern for a later time. Right now, I only need to concentrate on surviving the night
1
The other consorts are mingling, so I attempt to as well. As far as I can tell, Caleb has yet to enter the room. I use this newfound freedom to weave through some of the Hall, mingling, but also searching for one specific face among the others.
Then, two strangers part ways, and in the new gap that they made. I can see Samuel standing just beyond. 1 freeze, my breath catching in my throat. I want to remain indifferent, but I can feel the tears starting to rise in my eyes.
For the majority of my youth, Samuel had been a source of comfort and strength. I’d followed him, loved him, planned my entire life around him.
Now, he’s here. So close and yet so distant. And I’m frozen, unsure once more if speaking to him might be one of the worst decisions of my life.
Last I’d spoken to him, on the phone, he’d said some very cruel things to me. The fact that he married Leah only shows that those horrible things might have been genuine.
I should avoid him to protect my own heart,
Yet the tiny hope that lives inside of me pushes me forward, and before I can even realize fully what I’m doing. I’m approaching him.
“Samuel,” I say his name like this is a dream where we’re still in love with each other.
He turns around, sees me, and for a moment, that same affection I’d always known flashes across his eyes.
“Harper,” he says, almost in wonder.
He’s as handsome as he’s ever been, but there are heavy bags under his eyes. He’s started growing a beard. Unusual for him, he’s always preferred to be clean shaven. Even his eyes are slightly different, far–away somehow, like he’s not fully there even though he’s standing right in front of me.
“How are you?” I ask him, meaning it honestly.
“He’s perfect, thank you,” Leah says, materializing beside him. Maybe she’s always been there and I just didn’t notice. Or maybe she sprinted from across the room when she spotted me approaching her husband
I prefer the second thought
Unlike Samuel, Leah looks better than ever. Her hair has been recently dyed and fashioned. Her makeup looks professional. Her dress is a stunning deep blue color that fits her well. Diamonds hang from her ears, neck, and fingers,
She places her arm up on one of Samuel’s shoulders, letting her left hand dangle. On her finger I see a familiar engagement ring paired with an unfamiliar wedding ring.
I knew they were married, yet seeing the evidence so clearly, and having it rubbed in my face so thoroughly, hurts me as much as if she’d stabbed me.
“He’s a bit tired, though,” Leal continues with a laugh. “We’re still going at it like newlyweds. I swear, he can’t keep his hands
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Chapter 67
off of me
Bile rises in my throat.
Π
In my head, again, I knew that to be married meant they were having sex… But to be faced with it… To have it thrown at me.
Leah truly hates me through and through.
“That’s none of my business,” I say.
“You’re right.” Leah snaps. “It isn’t.” Glancing around, she motions to some of the nearby consorts. “I was watching the harem as they came in. Did the King put you last out of shame?”
“No, it’s “I mean to tell her that it’s the opposite actually, but she doesn’t let me finish.
“No wonder. You are clearly the ugliest among them” She laughs again, louder. “The King must have been furious when he realized some poor sap pitied you enough to let you into the harem Such a vile, detestable thing like you has no place beside the king”
Leah smirks at me, and my own hatred for her grows inside offic.
Would anyone say a word if I chose to slap her?
D
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