I didn't stop.
Not for a single second did I stop as I plowed through the forest and the mud, having already escaped the Palace Grounds.
I wasn't stupid. I knew they could have an ulterior motive but....
But the opportunity was so tempting.
I'd been sitting in my confinement cell—because, I refused to accept that it was a hospitable and well furnished room—when the magic scroll came.
Queen Kesla had sent it. And she wouldn't take unnecessary risks. So her gesture went a long way in solidifying my attempt to escape.
She'd said that most of the guards stationed around my part of the Palace were already dealt with and if I wished to leave once and for all to rejoin her, then this would be my only chance.
I'd have been a fool to not take It up.
Adrenaline pumped through me as my magic thrashed inside my chest mimicking my dash of excitement. I swallowed thickly as the magic scroll disintegrated into smoke as soon as I finished reading it.
Instead, a magic trail leading me to the Queen formed, visible only to my eyes and the magic tugging me in its direction like a moth to a flame.
I was already dressed in sharp trousers and a blouse, a kicthen knife tucked into my waistband.
It wasn't a hard choice and I was pressed for time.
I snuck out of the room, finding it unlocked much to my surprise. There truly weren't many guards and the few left were unconsciously slumped on the ground.
I didn't question it because time was of essence.
I ran.
Slipping over the shiny rounding paths until I was outside, feeling the crisp autumn air brushing past me.
I was a pawn to both Queens.
One I hated with a passion because Cara had stolen everything that was mine.
The other was the one I'd chosen to side with. And Queen Kesla didn't pick losing sides.
I contemplated making a detour and not following the magical trail she'd somehow created for me to follow but decided against it.
I just wanted to out. Cara might be doing what she was for the greater good and all that nonsense but I was a jaded soul and I didn't care about her empty promises of returning my legacy to me.
Queen Kesla on the other hand had stayed true to all her promises. And I'd bet my life on her this time around as well.
I glanced back once, the full moon lighting up my path and filtering in through the canopies.
Nothing.
There truly was no one on my trail. I couldn't feel any magic, no other presence even as I stretched the tendrils of my dark magic to sense around.
I hesitated slightly, frowning at the easy way I'd been able to escape.
The magic trail Queen kesla had left me was almost at its end. It wouldn't be freedom I'd be granted under her, in fact I wasn't ashamed to say that I despised a few of the things she'd had me use my magic for in the past few years.
However, I couldn't stomach being a pawn for Cara. And Kea wanted to crush Cara.
Our goals aligned. It wasn't that hard of a choice.
I stared straight ahead, licking my lips as I stepped forward. Each step that reduced the distance between me the Vampire Queen weighed heavily on me.
Why wasn't anyone coming for me?
I knew for a fact that Cara wasn't someone who'd let me out from under her thumb so easily. I had to have someone on my trail.
Was the ultimate goal talking to the Vampire Queen? That made sense.
My heart pounded in my chest.
Or was this a sort of test? Had Cara orchestrated this whole scheme just to test me?
She was cunning, she'd know I wasn't loyal to her. I was simply doing as she asked because I had no other alternative.
My heart clenched as I thought of the way she and Xander had rekindled their relationship. And a stroke of bitter pleasure went through me as I remembered how she was constantly sabotaging her chances of a happy love life.
I wanted her to suffer.
She'd gotten the love U deserved from my parents. While I was left to my murderous Uncle and his ministrations, fending for myself and weak for a long time, unable to tap my magic.
I was meant to be Queen of the Witches. And here I was, serving as a mere pawn while my people suffered every day.
I grit my teeth, anger coursing through my veins.
I stepped over the grass, rusted leaves crunching beneath my feet once every minute and all sorts of thoughts passed through my head.
Was the right decision?
Was I simply being played?
What was the point of this elaborate escape?
And yet like a stupid witch, I clung onto the hope that I could escape Adalda and Cara and start planning her demise with the Celeran Queen instead of aiding her.
I barely had 10 feet left and the magic trail lead me to the entrance of a dark cave.
I rolled my shoulders and chanted a few spells for protection, trying to once more sense if I had someone following me or if the cave was inhabited.
That was when my magic zapped me.
I gasped, stumbling a step as I called on my magic.
It was a sensation unlike anything I'd ever felt. And my magic wouldn't listen to me. I frowned, panic seizing me as I tried to pull it back.
But it twined around....someone else's magic.
Clung to it like it was home.
I swallowed as I stood frozen, gritting my teeth before I whirled around.
Barely a hairsbreadth away, stood a Fae male that stole my breath.
I craved my neck upwards, my eyes trailing over his armored chest and broad shoulders until I saw his painfully attractive face.
And I couldn’t pull away as I started to catalogue his features.
Shoulder length blonde hair and a crooked nose. Dark green eyes with a sense of....of...grief and longing shone back at me.
His expressions were muted but a slight widening of his eyes reassured me that I hadn't been the only feel go feel that zapping sensation.
But then I stepped back.
Armored Fae Male.
My entire body rebelled at the idea of stepping away but I pushed through. My breathing erratic as I realized how he could have been trailing me since the start. And the armour had the crest of the Valeryn Kingdom.
He wasn't a friend.
I bit my lip and took another step back, rebelling against the sensation as my magic mixed with his.
A nagging sensation wiggled in the back of my mind but I destroyed it.
It couldn't be.
Earth. He could control the earth.
My magic writhed and I blinked hard. The sound of his uneven breathing filled the silent night and an own hooted somewhere in the distance.
A blast of magic, Cara's magic, swirled in the air.
Yet he stood still as a statue and I saw he had a sword unsheathed.
I had to go. I was close enough.
The second the thought entered my mind, I whirled away.
And vines wrapped around my feet, rendering me immobile. I gasped and then glared at the man, my hair whipping in the air as I pulled my unwilling magic back.
I could easily free myself from these, didn't he know that?
My breath hitched.
Or maybe he did know.
I shook away the doubts, breaking eye contact as I used my magic to light up the vines and burn them.
Except it didn't settle well with me.
A sensation like a rock dropped into my stomach as I burned a part of this unnamed Fae.....
I stopped midway, turning to see his expression and found his jaw clenched.
I exhaled, "Let me go." I wasn't afraid of him.
I was afraid of what I could clearly see was happening between us.
He stepped forth and then shook his head slowly.
Did he ever speak?
I wanted to hear what his voice sounded like.
Right after the thought crossed my mind, I felt my panic.
This was impossible.
I took out my knife and my hand trembled, my magic useless against him.
It simply refused to harm him
"Let. Me. Go—"
The second I finished the sentence, werewolves came unto existence.
Surrounding me, ever present, snarls ready.
A few were in human form but that didn't help ease my anxiety.
Of course it had been a trap.
I glared at every single being, roughly twenty and clenched my jaw.
"Go."
One word.
He just said one word. But my breath wooshed out of me even as I remained captive and the squad of werewolves moved into the cave, a few growling at me.
Once the clearing was empty and silent again, I felt my knees weaken. Eyes connected with his, my lower lip quivered.
"This is not a choice." Harsh words, jaw clenched, the male searched my eyes. "Let us go back."
My wrist burned and I shook my head, a tingling sensation crawling around the skin as I tried to refuse what was happening.
Was he speaking about us or about him taking me back?
I didn't have enough sense to decipher that as I felt the bond snap into place.
The burning on my wrist disappeared.
The bond snapped into place.
The Fae mark of a mate bond crept around my wrist in black and green, like vines that my other half controlled.
My heart clenched.
There was no way I could leave him now.
My heart was writhing in my chest, pounding so loud I could hear it. My magic was going half haywire and half contently wrapping around my mate.
I swallowed and raised my chin. His eyes didn't stray as I planted my feet and refused to move.
Until suddenly earthy vibes crawled up and wrapped around my hands like cuffs. Incredulous, I looked at the tight binding.
I could break free. But I'd tried and seen what had happened. So then why was this male not showing an ounce of a reaction to this bond?
"What is this?" I hissed.
He didn't reply, instead turning his back on me and starting to walk. The vines pulled and I stumbled forth, my mouth dry.
With a hoarse voice, confusion flaring inside me, I asked something I was sure would doom me.
"Name." He paused, my magic tangling with his and my nails itching to dig themselves into his muscular back. "What is your name?" My tone wasn't as unaffected as I'd wanted it to be.
For a while, neither of us moved. No one spoke. No sounds could be heard. It was as if even the forest was holding its breath for his answer.
There was a rough timber to his voice when he finally deigned me a response.
"Leon. Leon Fickaal. Vice General of the Valeryn Army."
And just like that, I felt my heart break.
I'd just found my soulmate. Meant to be mine, to love me, care for me, make me his first priority....
To give me the affections I'd been deprived of since I was born to an extent.
He was meant to be mine forever.
A pairing between a Fae Male and a Royal Witch who could use both Dark and Light magic....
It was unheard of.
But so was the mate bond between Cara and Xander.
It still happened.
And I knew I hadn't been wrong when I felt our bond.
Horror coated my entire being, my lip quivering as I exhaled.
Of course Fate would be cruel to me.
Everyone knew who Leon was.
Not the Vice General. No, that was new.
But everyone knew he was Princess Sera's bodyguard. Maybe more. Rumors of their forbidden live had long since been in circulation.
And he was grieving.
I could tell now.
From that sad look in his stone cold eyes, the clenched jaw and the obvious ignorance of our bond.
My heartbeat sped up.
He was mourning his lover's loss. He had loved the Fae Princess.
My dry lips parted.
I'd lost my mate even before I had found him.
That tiny hope that had sparked to life inside of me, telling me that I could finally be loved, be something more than a pawn in a centuries old war....
That hope was gutted and skewered by the very name of my mate. His very existence.
And I'd still go back.
I'd still work for Cara.
Because I couldn't stomach the mere idea of having distance between him and I. Not anymore. The thought made me bitter. I already craved his eyes on me, his attention. And yet he wouldn't give it to me. Not an ounce of it.
But still.
I'd consider him mine.
Even if his heart beat for another. Even if he was haunted by a dead lover. Even if he would never accept me.
Realization struck me.
Cara most probably knew, she orchestrated this whole trap. That woman was always thinking ahead, always laying down traps and planning victories.
She might have been a hero for most but for me she was nothing but the villain of my story.
Cara would use this development against me. I wouldn't put it past her to use this bond to have me do her bidding.
More than once, I'd gathered strength and bitter satisfaction from what I knew of her relationship with her mates. How messed up they were now. And how everything concerning them was like daggers to her heart even if her males stayed unaware of the extent of the effect of their mere existence.
It had been trap after all. She could've known somehow what Leon would mean to me and so cruelly, she'd showed her hand.
My hatred for the Queen only increased tenfold.
Bitterness coated my heart and anger filtered in. She had stolen everything from me and reduced me to a mere marionette.
How much more did she want?
She was not my sister. She was nothing to me. And she would never make me change my mind. We were nothing alike.
But there was one thing even I couldn't deny: Cara and I...? Neither of us knew how to give up.
I had survived so far and I would reclaim my Throne too.
I was a Queen of my people, a proud race of power.
And I might have been a slave, a servant, a forgotten heir, a replaced daughter.....
I'd grown up surviving on scraps, using the hand Cara had dealt me. I'd been resilient. And that wouldn't change. I was denied affection and aside from Keely, I had no genuine connections with people.
But I would not be a second choice for my mate.
It was easier said that done of course but whatever kept me from spiraling down my dark thoughts.
A grim resolve had me clenching my jaw and I buried my insecurities, my shattered heart and my dead hope deep into my fractured soul.
I blinked furiously as the stinging at the back of my eyes increased. Tears were useless.
I inhaled sharply.
"Let's go."
I might be in vine grown shackles at the moment but I could escape them if I so wished.
The shackles of Leon's mate bond were ones that would tie me down irrevocably.
Those were ones I couldn't escape.
And I wasn't sure if I even wanted to.
•○•
A/N
So I hope this little (long) peek into Britt's mind was interesting for you all!
We had a new development and how do you think Leon and Britt will fare? Any comments about Britt's character?
It's one heck of a pairing. And we'll be meeting Queen Kesla again in next chapter. Few more answers, few more mysteries. Heheh.
I hope you enjoyed nonetheless and I'm sorry for my slow updates. It's been so hectic. But either way, thank you for reading! I'm so glad dyou all are still here with me and each of your comments means the world <3
Don't forget to vote and comment, you know I always look forward to your messages🤗❤️
Take care everyone and till the next update then!
~Sky