Chapter 3 Grape

"We ambushed the poor girl. She was crying for the most of it." Queen Jane sighed as she placed her chin on her delicate fist.

"I know, we should have told her about it." King Medus sighed. They had been talking about this for the past hour now. But none of them could easily accept what they had done. They knew that she would do well eventually.

"They were tears of joy, I am sure." Queen Livea waved it off, "This was for the best of our entire population. Terra is in ruins and Persus is a small country. Us joining together is for the best. Persus is helping the wolves of Terra build their land because of this union. What more could we want!"

The king and queen stayed silent and just nodded.

"Eavesdropping as usual?" Marcus asked as he walked towards his father's room and noticed Lucian hearing in.

"Well, when you're not allowed in any conversation, you learn to let yourself in." Lucian shrugged, "Why did you do this? You broke her heart."He did not much care about her, but seeing her cry that way... he had felt pity.

"Don't tell me you care about what the pathetic princess thinks." Marcus chuckled and, they began to walk through the palace.

"She's not pathetic, and I don't, but she was looking forward to marrying you. Why didn't you want to." Lucian looked at his younger brother, who's blue eyes sparkled in the sun. The living replica of his father and mother.

"I like another girl, and I am not interested in marrying a timid daisy from Persus. I want a tiger." Marcus grinned,"a wild woman. That's why I told dad to make you go up there instead."

"Yeah, and him threatening to tell everyone about... me. Was enough. Thank you for that." Lucian sighed, his jaw clenching.

"You're welcome, she's cute, you know." Marcus raised a brow,"Silver wolf, pretty face, powerful. And that ass-"

"Don't." Lucian warned and Marcus chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. He truly loved poking the bear when it came to Lucian.

"Enjoy your wedding, it's in a week, isn't it."

Lucian didn't reply to this and Marcus decided to taunt him further, "I heard she's been crying since the day you got engaged."

His teeth grit together, Lucian did his best not to respond but some part of him felt... guilt.

"She hasn't eaten either. She really hates your guts. Wonder how it'll be on your wedding night. She obviously hates you... will you force her to-"

"I'm done with this conversation." Lucian walked away, fuming for a reason unknown to him. He did not care at all for the girl, but he knew this wasn't the way to talk about her. He didn't intend to force her in anything. He would even leave her to be if she wanted him to be. Perhaps he should make it clear to her? Maybe that is what it would take ...

Had she really been crying? Lucian wondered to himself. And had she really not eaten?

"Something ails you young prince?" A cold voice asked and Lucian turned to find Queen Livea exit out of his family's wing of the palace.

"Oh no, my queen just worried about the princess. I have heard that she has refused food or any socialization." He replied.

"Aurora? Oh, she hasn't eaten?"

"Were... you not aware?" he asked, his eyes slightly narrowing.

"Been busy." She smiled although the smile did not reach her eyes, "Don't bother yourself with it, young prince, she could stand to lose a few pounds as it is." She bowed slightly before walking away leaving a dumbfounded Lucian.

Did she really just say that? He frowned in utter disbelief. Some mother.

In the darkened room of Princess Aurora, she had just awoken from the tenth nap of her day. She had completely gone down the drain overthinking herself till her head hurt. She had cried so bitterly that her eyelids were red and her lips were swollen.

She made her way to the bathing room where her maids had prepared a nice cold bath for her and submerged herself in the flower lined water.

Exhaling slowly, she leaned back and thought about the whole thing. The fact of the matter is, she was engaged. She always knew she would have an arranged marriage, and although she hated Lucian for what he had done to her friend, she had no choice but to marry him. He was her alpha and her mate, the moon had declared him to be so.

Werewolves only got one mate in their life, and it is said if a werewolf lost its mate, its life would be cut short. They were meant to live together.

Aurora sunk under the water and emerged once more, trying to wake herself up. She lathered herself in the finest smelling soaps, trying to make herself feel better. Maybe even happy? After all she was still uniting the kingdoms just with a different mate.

When she was done, she stood up and let the water fall off of her body. It took a few deep breaths for her to actually leave the room with a towel wrapped around her body.

She felt much better, maybe she could just ignore him for the rest of her life, and he would also do the same?

"Had a nice bath?" A voice asked, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she found Lucian sitting on the couch.

"What the hell!? What are you doing in my room?!" She hissed as she looked around wondering how he came in when her door was locked.

"What? Can't your fiancé enter his beau's room?" He asked with a smirk. He had a plate beside him, and he stood up with it in his hand. It had cut up fruits and cheeses on it.

"What is tha... why are you here?" still not over his sudden intrusion she tried to back away from him.

"I heard you haven't eaten and came to offer you some food." He said, and she looked at the plate. It was actually very appetizing and after the relaxing bath, she was actually feeling hunger. However, she would rather lick a dead cockroach than eat food from his hand.

"I am not hungry, and I will certainly not eat food from your hand," She huffed, "And why are you acting all caring all of a sudden. I know what kind of person you are, I have heard your stories. This is all an act."

Lucian smiled but his eyes showed that he felt a tinge of hurt by her statement.

"If that's how you're going to be," he picked up a large, juicy red grape and walked towards her.

Aurora frowned and began to take a few steps back till her back touched a table, and she could not walk back anymore.

Lucian walked up to her, his face a few inches away from hers," You need to eat."

"I don't want to." She whispered, suddenly very conscious of the fact that she was only in a towel. But she could not look away from his fiery green eyes that stared back at her.

Lucian observed her face, his eyes roaming over her, focussing on her beautiful honey eyes rimmed with large eyelashes and her full lips that had a natural pout to them. His eyes stayed over her lips for a second too long, causing a strange feeling to crawl up her legs. Lucian rested his hand against the table behind her. He smelled like a forest freshly rained on, and it swarmed every sense of her.

He raised the grape to her lips and commanded her in a low voice, "Eat."

She blinked hesitatingly and took the grape in her mouth, her lips brushing past his fingertips.

For a few seconds, it felt as if the air had stopped moving, and they had both stopped breathing. Aurora moved slightly to try and break the spell his eyes had her under, this caused the knot of her towel to slip, which was in the back. With a swift movement, Lucian caught the towel in his hand, not letting it fall.

Aurora's eyes widened and Lucian took a step back and turned away, letting her adjust her towel.

"Sorry." He muttered,"Will you eat the rest or-"

"I will. You can leave." She managed to say and watched him walk away.

Suddenly very aware of her dry throat, Aurora took a giant gulp of water, very upset with the fact that her face was red and hot. And the very same feeling stayed in her gut as well.

Lucian wasn't very better, he cursed himself and wondered what it was that he was even doing! And why did he like doing it!??

Never in his life did he think watching someone eat a grape would be so.... Nevermind, Lucian had to distract himself. He had a kingdom to run soon.