The Prince's Fiancée | ✔

Chapter 2

"Jackson left."

That was a surprise. I didn't think that he would have gone on ahead of everyone else.

"Did he have some work to finish up at your office?"

Kevin winced as I said 'your'.

"No, Liz. He really left. As in, he's gone for good. He left our kingdom and allied himself with them."

He said 'them' so venomously. I didn't know who he was talking about, but I had a clue. I immediately felt bad for even thinking that. There was no way Jackson was the one Malekh said was going to join his alliance- the one who wanted Ashton to keep his promise. I shook my head, but Kevin nodded.

"It's what you might be thinking. He betrayed our kingdom and has allied himself with the Spade Kingdom," he growled and punched the sheets. "Damn it!"

"I... I can't believe it," I whispered. "But Jackson is so good. And they're evil. If only you guys knew what they were planning to do."

Kevin sighed again. That explains why everyone had been so dejected when I'd asked about him.

"You should have gone after him instead of sitting around waiting for me to wake up."

"Don't start blaming yourself now, Liz. The king sent some squads out to track him down and bring him back. In the meantime, we were to stay here and play off his absence."

"That's messed up," I murmured. "I can't help but think that if I never got involved with Ashton then none of this would have happened."

"How is any of that connected to this?"

"Because Jackson wanted Ashton to keep his promise."

"Promise?"

I frowned, realizing that Kevin still had no idea of what had happened between Ashton and Malekh. I explained everything I could about the time I had spent with Malekh and Demetri and what I had learnt. I made it as detailed as possible so that in case I forgot anything later, then he would remember.

Kevin listened in surprise, then his expression changed to sadness and ultimately anger.

"He made that deal a few weeks ago?!" he yelled, jumping to his feet. His body was shaking with anger. "And he's blocking telepathy on top of it," he growled, storming to the door.

"Wait, Kev," I called as I ran towards him and tried pulling him back. "Just leave him alone."

"Leave him alone?" he growled, whirling around to face me. His face was contorted with rage. "He should have left you the f*ck alone if he was going to hurt you like this!"

I winced at his language, but I could tell he was getting angrier by the second.

"I don't care anymore," I protested.

"You're just saying that, but I know that deep down you're feeling sad," he murmured.

I pasted on a small smile, but he saw right through it.

"I just don't understand what happened," I sighed. "But if I think about it too much I might really cry and that's the last thing I want to do tonight."

"It's the soulmate bond," Kevin sighed, allowing himself to calm down a little.

"It's such a stupid thing," I hissed. I walked over to the bed and sat down.

Kevin decided to leave Ashton alone for the time being, but I could see that he wanted to give him a piece of his mind... or his fist. Whichever came first.

"I just feel bad for everyone else," I sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Ashton's mom, CaVaughn, Brooke, Micah, Armani... I feel like I'm disappointing them after they put their faith in me."

"They already knew that nothing was definite. I'm sure either way, they're proud of you. You really tried."

"And failed." I sniffed.

"You did not fail," Kevin said, flashing me a smile. It was comforting, but it didn't convince me.

"I let you down too," I mumbled.

I stared at the sheets, but Kevin lifted my chin to look at him. "Liz, don't you ever say that. There's no way you could let me down. Sure, I wanted everything to work out, but not if it's going to make you miserable like this everyday."

A tear managed to escape my eye even though I tried to close my eyes to prevent it from falling. Kevin crushed me to him in a hug. I rested my forehead on his shoulder. He was always there for me when I needed him. Even when he was in pain too. It didn't seem fair to me.

I wrapped my arms around his back in a hug. He had lost one of his closest friends and was angry with his best friend. He was the one who needed this.

"If any of us failed, it's me," he said suddenly. I pulled back to look at him and he gave me a sad smile.

"I could have been a better friend to you. I trusted Ashton too much and look how that ended up."

"You're already the best friend I could ask for," I dismissed. "You care deeply about both me and Ashton, so it can be hard to balance at times especially when we both want different things."

He thought about that for a moment, and then asked in a soft voice, "Do you regret finding out about us?"

I shook my head. That was easy to answer. "I don't. Before I found out, I had so many unanswered questions, but now everything falls into place. Besides, I got to meet some amazing people and make new friends too. I hope we can still be friends despite... this."

"Did you and Ashton really break up?" he asked. "Like for real?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I sighed. "I thought it could work, but I guess I was wrong. I'm so upset because it's like he doesn't care about any of this, as if it was all a lie."

"But you didn't officially break up."

"It was official enough. I gave him a chance to explain himself and he didn't."

Kevin was silent at this. After a minute had passed, I looked up at him. His brows were furrowed in concentration.

"You're still trying to believe in Ashton, aren't you?"

"It's not like that. I was just thinking about something- a reason why he could be doing all of this. Then again, I could be wrong," he answered.

"Oh?" I asked, sitting up. "What would that be?"

He smiled. "That's something you and Ashton need to figure out together."

I scowled at him and he chuckled and pulled me back down beside him. We talked together through most of the night until the exhaustion of the day finally caught up to me.

"Goodnight, Kev."

"Goodnight, Liz. Sweet dreams."
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Hey lovelies! Thanks for reading!

Jackson's gone! Now he's with Malekh and Demetri. Did you figure out that he was the one who'd joined them?

And there's trouble in paradise between Elizabeth and Ashton. Do you think they can fix their relationship?

Leave a comment and a vote❤
See you in the next chapter!