My heart must have been pounding a thousand beats per minute, and I felt so light headed I thought I would drop to the floor any second. My eyes flicked up to catch Raif turn and start to walk towards the stairs and I couldn't help my desperate reaction. "Wait!" I flung myself at the bars and called after him. "Raif!"
Not once did he hesitate, or even look back. I stepped away from the bars as he disappeared up the stairs and shut my eyes in an attempt to contain my frustration. What the hell was I going to do? Never had I thought, in my whole life, that I could ever be someone's mate. Ever. It was a concept beyond my imagination and I didn't even begin to know what to do with it.
The weird thing though? I actually wanted it.
I looked up, remembering that Noelle was still in the room, though she was being respectful and just silently waiting for me to process it all. My heart was pounding out of my chest as it so often seemed to do these days and I gripped the bars of my cell tightly because I could barely contain whatever this feeling was. I felt like I could run a fricken marathon.
"What do I do?" I asked, resisting the urge to jump up and down or jog in circles or do something crazy. My entire body was singing with energy and it felt like the further away Raif walked (even though I obviously couldn't see him anymore) the more antsy I became. I could literally feel his absence growing more and more.
Noelle's face scrunched up in something of a cross between regret and confusion. "Well, there's not much you can do. I don't know if you remember, what with everything that just happened, but the prince is here and you're about to be condemned to death. I don't think this changes anything." She said grimly, and with each word my heart sunk lower.
"But I have a mate! How does that not change anything! If they kill me, he will die as well!" I said desperately. I still felt like running a marathon, but the purpose had taken a three-sixty turn to the other end of the spectrum. It wasn't just a matter of my life anymore, it was a matter of his.
"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. You know I want you to live Shandris, and I'd do anything I could to help, but there is nothing anyone can do at this point." She shrugged and offered her wrist to me. "You need to feed. Trust me, no matter what happens you're going to need all the strength you can get." She reasoned and I took her wrist without thought.
When I was done she wiped her hand across her dark jeans and rolled her sleeve back down, then said farewell and walked off. I was alone. That thought hadn't really meant much before I had a mate. A mate that didn't even want me. I slid to the floor in despair and ran my fingers through my wolf's fur. Maybe it was better this way, that I was going to die. Would it not be better to be dead than to live a life where everyone hated you, no one trusted you, and you were even outcast by the one person you bound to for eternity?
Torrent whimpered as he sensed my sadness through our bond and he licked my hand in an attempt to comfort me. He didn't know what was going to happen, and I found myself reluctant to even tell him. My only companion, and I was about to leave him utterly alone.
I closed my eyes and lay there, god knows how long but eventually I slipped into sleep with my hand still woven into my wolf's soft, dark fur and his intent amber eyes watching over me.
"Shandris." I heard the farmiliar voice but I didn't want to get up. Even though my spot on the floor was increasingly uncomfortable and I could feel my neck was terribly sore from sleeping in a bad position, sleep was much more preferrable than getting up and doing... anything.
"Ow" I said, and rubbed my leg after someone had, presumably, kicked it to get my attention.
"Well, get up then. The prince is ready to see you." Lucian said and stood his warrior stance outside my open cell door. I opened one eye first to look around, and then I opened the other one. As I stood up, my wolf did too, and he took to my side instantly. Lucian wasn't the only warrior there either; Geoffrey stood off to the side, and Hunter stood next to him. I had a full escort, awesome.
The absence of my "mate" put a hole in my heart though. As much as I didn't want it to effect me, it did, because it only confirmed the harsh fact that he hated me. Hell, if he could I'm sure he'd be the one to stake me.
Lucian stepped forward and bound my hands behind my back. They didn't even bother with handcuffs because vampires could break out of them and they were just plain uncomfortable. He then took position at my right side, Hunter stood behind me, and Geoffrey stood to my left. They begand to walk and so did I, and thus began my walk of shame. I tried to keep my head high, but it probably only looked to them like I was being smug.
They led me all the way across the mansion and stopped me briefly in front of the biggest pair of wooden doors I had ever seen. We only stood there for a minute though, because the doors soon opened up to reveal a serious-faced Launa, who waved us inside without even sparing a glance at me. I tried not to look around the room too much, there must have been at least a hundred vampires inside, but I couldn't help myself. It must have been half an acre in length and at least as wide, all polished wood floors, all modern wood paneling on the walls, a carved white wood ceiling with a hand-painted mural of angels (ironic), and a platform with large wooden desks with dark granite tops to finish it off. The audience all stood, there were no chairs, and as I was led towards the platform I received a million murderous looks. Hey, it wasn't like I was guilty or anything.
My escorts stopped me two yards before the platform and just stood there. We waited a few minutes before a side door opened and in walked four guardians, followed by the prince and his assitant who was a scrawny, geeky looking fellow with floppy brown hair and intelligent hazel eyes, followed by four more guards. The prince took his position behind the middle desk, his assitant standing just behing and to the right of him, and his legion of guardians stood against the back wall.
The prince looked down at some papers that were spread neatly across the desk, and then his gaze found mine. I did what was right and averted my gaze to the floor, nodding my head in deference. His eyes, which were such a light blue that they looked white from a distance, felt like they pierced right through to my soul.
"Is there any reason I should not condemn you to death? You mercilessly slew your own kind and aided those that would seek to destroy our kind as a whole." He said grimly, though his face showed no emotion.
"Yes, my lord. I have a mate." I said quietly, and I almost didn't recognize my own voice.
The prince looked surprised for all of a few seconds, then looked around. No one spoke up and he looked slightly amused, like he knew that no one would want me. "This mate, where is he? And what is his name?" He asked.
"I know not where he is, but his name is Raif." When I said it there was a collective gasp, so quiet it was almost unheard. Still though, there was no one that stepped forward, and silence reigned over the large room like an elephant.
"Bring me this man. Now." The prince ordered to Hunter, and he nodded before walking off at a quick pace. What seemed like seconds later, he came back into the room with another set of footsteps following him, and my heard raced at knowing he was near. He walked up to where me and my guards were standing, and he gave a quick bow of respect to the prince. "This woman, she is your mate?"
"Yes, my lord." Raif answered without emotion, and I noticed he had flinched when the prince said mate.
"Ahhh, but you do not want her?" The prince asked, clearly enjoying this new twist.
"As much as any man would want a woman who betrayed her own people and savagely murdered dozens of them. I do not claim her." Raif said harshly, and though there were no words spoken by the crowd, the general atmosphere was one of approval. Ouch.
I held back unwanted tears that wanted desperately to escape my eyes. I could handle this, it'd all be over soon anyways...
"Well, seeing this new information come to light has certainly brought new things to the table. As you can see, this man does not want his mate, and what is life with the very one designed to love you completely against your existence?" He gestured towards my mate and I. The crowd nodded in agreement and he smiled wickedly. "Therefore, Shandris, you will not be put to death. You will be freed so that you may endure the judgement of those around you, and even your own mate. A fate far worse than death if I do say so myself. Enjoy." He said, and abruptly turned on his heels and walked out the way he had come in, ignoring the uproar of the crowd's protests.
I stood there, frozen to the floor with shock. How could he do this to me? My eyes wandered to Lucian and Hunter, who both were shaking their heads sadly before they resumed their positions around me. Before I was escorted out of the room, escorted more for my safety than my imprisonment this time, my eyes looked to my mate, who was standing there like a stone statue and just as emotionless.
Hunter gently touched my shoulder and I nodded in acknowledgement and began to walk. I had no clue where I was going to go now, but I was free. No more running.