XXVIII. A Few Days Of Unspoilt Happiness

"I met with my mother at the semi-formal," I gently choose my words, building up the courage to tell him the actual thing. "And she told me something pretty bad..."

"That there's another hearing the same day as the semifinals?" He asks when I don't continue my sentence. I raise my eyes to meet his eyes and he must've interpreted my surprise badly because I wasn't startled by the fact that he knew, but because I had no idea about this new hearing. "I got the letter the day you woke up. Don't worry, I already have everything planned out. The hearing is in the morning and all my fights are in the evening."

"Fights?" I ask, suddenly worried. What fights?

"What did you think it was the lycan competition? A marathon?" He laughs at the way my eyes grew big enough to pop out on the table. They are actually fighting? To what end? Surely not death, as Phoebe lived to tell me that she had already been eliminated.

"We're fighting on full-Lycan forms until someone gives up or is left unconscious." He continues and I shouldn't be surprise by the brutality of it, as my hunter physical exams were pretty much the same, save for the shifting part. "Don't worry, is forbidden to kill your opponent so there's not a literal bloodbath happening there. Only a good-old, fair fight. This is the reason Lycanthropes never won the competition, as none of them were strong enough to battle against full Lycans."

"Or why girls were never crowned Queens of the Lycans." I add, but he quickly disagrees.

"Oh, but we had queens. And many of them, if I think about it. Don't think that female Lycans are less powerful than male ones." He seems entirely serious, but I still had a hard time believing it. "If you don't believe me, ask Chase. His grandmother was Queen, before my father won the Throne."

I was a bit surprise, but also proud. She must've been an incredibly powerful woman if she battled against all the male heirs and won the crown. It also makes Chase, who I wasn't aware that is also a Royal Heir, a mighty opponent for Asher. Not to mention Hayder, who seems adamant on winning the competition. And not even taking into account all the other powerful Lycans that are also competiting.

But I do believe Asher would make a great King, out of them all.

"Well, at least you'll get angry enough at the trial, so you'll crush your competition," I wink at him and he laughs. He already finished his food and went to put it in the sink. I merely took a few bites, but I wasn't feeling hungry anymore. "Can I come with you?"

"Where?" He asks as I get on my feet to dump my partly-eaten food. He gives me a frown when I throw the food away, but I just my now empty plate on top of his.

"The trial, the semifinals..." he immediately smiles when I speak, agreeing to both.

"And we're still going to Phoebe's mating ceremony, right?" He asks and I nod.

"When is the ceremony, again?"

"Next Saturday," he replies and I immediately wonder if I'll be able to teleport myself back to Boulder back in time to catch the flight my mother booked for me. But I know it's impossible. "And I was hoping that we could enjoy a little trip in Australia after, if we still fly there." His eyes were enticing and I had to keep myself ready grounded on the reality to not accept his offer.

"I have to be home on Monday morning," I say and he just nods, a little disappointed. Even so, if my math helps me, there's a pretty big chance that I won't be in London when my mission is supposed to start. But I'll make it work, even if I'll have to give my mother a call tomorrow morning.

I'll ask her to delay the mission, because there is no way I could miss Phoebe's engagement without Asher figuring that something is going on. He'll find out anyway, when I'll embark on a different flight from his next Sunday and I'll have to explain him why I'm going back to London. Which will be awful, but I'm not going to think about it. I still have a few days of unspoilt happiness, before my supposedly last hunt. And I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy every moment of it.

Starting right now.

I give Asher a quick kiss, before grabbing his hand and making him follow me upstairs. We enter his room and I throw my backpack in a corner, before turning to him.

"You know, I truly believe that you should win the Throne," I tell him, slightly pushing toward the bed. He sits at the end of it and I bend a little to be able to give him another kiss. "But that's not the reason I'm doing it, to be clear."

I take my top off and toss it away, before sitting myself in his lap. "I don't know how you did it, but something changed in my soul when we kissed today," I whisper to him, kissing his neck. One of his hands catches my waist, while the other moves my hand so our lips could touch. I kiss him, but then return to his neck, leaving wet kisses everywhere. "Curse or not, I think I'm in love with you..."

He groans under my kisses and then holds my thighs tighter. We only raises from the bed so we could switch roles; now he was staying on top of me, devouring my neck and leaving trails of kisses on my skin. "You're starting to feel a tiny bit of the love I have for you, my Aline..."

I grip his body tighter against my legs when I feel his teeth sinking into my skin, "Then make me feel all of it," I tell in a moan, his eyes raising to meet mine. "I'm all yours."

"No, you're not," he argues, slowly lifting himself off of me. I frown, not understading what the hell is he doing. "Not yet, at least. You're still not convinced of our bond, and I want you to truly understand what being mated means. Because I'm not doing it for the Throne, Aline, but for us. I want to be with you, for the rest of my life and after that. Are you ready for this?"

I pounder a moment, analysing everything and I just shake my head. No, I'm not ready for whatever having a soul mate implies, nor I believe I will ever be able to truly understand the bond as he does. But I'm on limited time here and I do wish to spend the last days of my life with him, and him only. He hugs me tightly and buries his face on my hair.

"I want you more than anything, but I can also wait for you until the end of times, if I have to." He tells me softly, making me sigh. If he would only know how close is the end for me, would he still lose time like this?

But I didn't say anything when he got up and went to the bathroom. I took the opportunity to change into my sleepwear, then stepped into the balcony. I lit a cigarette and looked up the sky, resting my body against the glass door. Little less over a week from now, I wonder if the night sky will look as beautiful as now. Will there be more stars shining? The dust'd finally be brighter than the palace in my dreams? I wouldn't know.

Nothing shines when you're six feet under.

***

"Don't make me regret it," says my mother before hanging up. She finally approved my request to delay the mission, so I'll fly on Sunday from Sydney and have a few days to prepare before Jez and I will head into the Unseelie Kingdom.

I hope that the situation won't worsen until it, because my mother managed to worry me when she let me know that other suicide squads are being sent in the faerie realm. Every fae kingdom is being searched, because the Changelings started dying and people are freaking out. Even the human news are talking about the recent growth in children deaths and whether there's a virus the cause of it all. Of course they won't ever suspect that the creatures from their fairytales are to blame, but things to get complicated for us when people start panicking. Because of our entrance to both the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms, my country is especially affected by the recent kidnaps and which disturbed me most is that a hunter's kid was also taken.

This is why I felt so bad for delaying my mission, especially because I'm throwing everyone's timetables out of the window, but I can't do anything about it. I must stay in Boulder and go to Phoebe's mating ceremony, or I may not be able to take part in the mission at all. If Asher would know that I plan to enter the Unseelies' territory and risk my life... I honestly don't know what would he do, but I would probably be forced to drop the mission because of his reaction. And I can't do this, I will not refuse to do my job.

"Aline, did you fall asleep in there?" I hear Asher's chuckle and I quickly jump into the shower. I let the water running so he won't hear my conversation with my mother. He went down for breakfast, but I said that I'll take a shower and eat later. I didn't imagine that I'll have such a hars time convincing my mother to approve my request.

"Of course not, I'll be out on a second!" I reply, quickly washing my body and hurrying to get out of the shower.

I step out, wrapping myself in a towel and I brush my teeth. I peak a glance in the mirror and I decide to also brush my hair. I put it into a messy bun that now looked like a cat's puked hairball. I'm starting to be more careful about my looks, but not because I do care about Asher's impression on me now. Of course I want to look my best around him, but I also want to feel good with myself. The past weeks I've neglected myself in ways I never did neither when I was at my worst of worst, in sixth form, but now I'm finally better. Ever since I woke up I felt a different kind of energy started flowing through me, making me feel powerful, beautiful and... loved. Or maybe not loved, but cared for definetely.

When I entered the bedroom, Asher was examining two shirts. "Are we going anywhere?" I ask and he turns around.

"Which one?" He asks and I immediately point towards the simple, white one. The other white shirt was dotted and even if it might look more interesting, I always preffered a classic look on men.

"I promised you a date, remember?"