I was Sold to My Dead Brother's Best Friend

I have a theory

As we walked out of the Queen’s office I felt Macy wrap her arm around me and pulled me into a tight hug then gave me a sympathetic look.

“Are you okay? That slap looked like it hurt.” Macy said as we all started walking up the back stairway.

“It did, why did she slap me anyway?” I said as I rubbed my slightly swollen face.

“Because you came close to starving to death.” Mickey piped in as she held the door to the top floor open.

“But what does that have to do with endangering Luke?” They all followed me into my room.

“Well Annie, you and Luke are mates and if one of you dies the other dies soon after,” Macy said as she pretend to pick at something on the bed covers.

“Oh.” It was all I could say, I truly didn't know that and I think the Queen could have done a lot worse than just a slap for inadvertently almost killing her son.

The girls started talking about things but I wasn’t really paying attention to them, I kind of felt bad about what I had done. I might not like Luke, but I don't want him dead. I truly didn't know that would happen if I had died. After a while of mindless chattering the food came and everyone left to go see their own mates before they went to Leah’s party. Susan didn't leave and we sat quietly on the bed for a few seconds before she spoke.

“Annie, have you thought about what you're going to do tomorrow at the council meeting?”

“Not really,” I said quietly, I knew she could hear me; I just wanted to make sure people that might be listening in to our conversation couldn’t.

“Are you considering the first option?” Susan asked in a quieter voice.

“No,” I almost laugh, “I would never allow Luke or Leah to win like that.” I said in almost a giggle, I would never choose that option.

“That's good, so it’s really just a decision between editing the petition or just plain refusing to sign it.”

“Yeah, and that's where I'm stuck.” I said resting my chin on my hands as I chewed my lip.

“I see, do you want to talk about what you're stuck on?” I stayed silent for some time trying to think of what I was having a problem with.

My thoughts were running like crazy. If I chose to do option 2 Leah still wins and gets to be the Queen, and I don't really want that. I fear she would become an even bigger monster and just start destroying everything like her family did in the past. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest as I thought of all the horrible things she could do if I took the second option. The only good thing about it would be I would make sure I was getting away from Luke. His voice from this morning echoed in my mind, 'I couldn't even stand to read the damn thing let alone write it. It took me hours to work up enough strength to sign my name followed by hours of crying alone in my office because even though you hate me, I’m still in love with you.’ , did I believe him? Not really. He has done nothing but tell me lies and trick me my entire life, what reason do I have to believe him. I could still feel Susan's eyes on me and I forgot that she was talking to me.