The Alpha King's Hunt

Chapter 24

She'd been cheering me on from day one with John although she openly admitted he wasn't her type. When he mated and married she'd been angry for me as I'd fought back the sadness. So I knew she was being genuine now, the shock, excitement, and slight anger on her face.

"You're kidding me! Your mother gave him the gown to bring to the Kingdom!? Why!?"

"I have absolutely no idea," I admitted truthfully. "But I saw him."

"How did he....look?"

"I don't know. Fine, I guess." I groaned, sweeping a hand over my face. "Good. He looked good. Ugh."

Sophia walked toward me and I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry Val. You really have been doing a great job keeping me put together and keeping our reputation intact. No wonder you've seemed off lately!"
I felt myself blush, knowing that seeing John briefly wasn't the reason I seemed "off." If only she knew what I daydreamed about...

"I'll head down to the kitchens now," I offered, slipping away from her and toward the door. "See if I can dredge anything else up. You're just bathing?"

She nodded, smiling softly at me, and I realized this was the first time I was tired of seeing the pity in her eyes. I might have botched things up with John and lost him to someone else but at least I had experienced the confusion of love and lust.

It took a good amount of time to get down to the kitchens, even using the servants hallways. It was close to lunch now and the area was bustling with people putting the finishing touches on meals ordered, rushing hot dishes to suites, and the lower omegas cleaning up after everyone.

Making sure to smile at the latter – I knew what it was like to be overlooked constantly – I slipped and dodged through the tight hallways until I was standing just inside of the kitchen entrance.

Ana was ordering two young boys around as they brought in boxes and baskets of vegetables. Their faces were sour, but they did as they were told, glancing surreptitiously at a tray of pastries cooling nearby.

Ana's face was stern, but it was obvious she was going to let them both leave with one.

"Hey," I called lightly, giving her a slight wave.

She saw me and grinned, shooing the boys out of the way.

"Did you hear?" she asked excitedly.

"About Daniele?" I asked. "Yeah – Sophia just told me. No idea where she heard it, or how it reached her without reaching me."
There was no blame in my voice; it wasn't Ana's job to keep me informed. But it was nice to have someone else on my side here, far away from home.

"She won't be going home," Ana snorted, turning back toward the tray and making a fuss as the boys each filched a pastry, but smiling as they ran. "The Queen is too kind. And Gabriel, of course he thinks the whole thing is ridiculous." She rolled her eyes. "By the way – how did it go with him?"

I flushed, feeling guilty. I'd seen Ana a handful of times during and after my short tryst with the king, but hadn't given her any tidbits of information, not entirely sure I could trust her.

"Good," I ground out. It was obvious from the look on her face that she didn't fully believe me. "I, uh, got that issue out of the way," I said lamely. It was a half-truth. But her eyebrows raised as she set about cleaning off the huge stainless steel table in the middle of the room.

"Really? Enjoyable was it?" She grinned at me and I tried to fight back the memories of my nights with him, knowing it would only cause me to blush more.

"We got it out of the way," I said shortly, trying to ignore her laugh.

"Well that's good. You can go about your business now and not have to worry about avoiding him. Besides, you should focus on Sophia – word is she's very close to the top of the list!"