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.
“Susan, to be honest, I don't want Leah to be Queen,” I said very low, “there is something in me that just hates the idea and I don't think I can ever allow that leech to be queen.” I could hear Susan let out a breath of relief beside me.
“Why's that?”
“I just hate her, plus something that Luke said makes me wonder what she would do if she did become Queen.” I said as I felt the bed move, Susan shifted next to me.
“What was it that Luke said that's making you question everything?” She was looking at me confused, I just shrugged.
“Have you read the petition?” She shook her head no.
“I don't have the authority to read council documents, why?” I did a quick run through about what the petition stipulation were as she looked at me with a horror shock face “Annie I'm so sorry, when did you find this out?” I shrugged my shoulders.
“A few days ago, I just wanted to take a hot shower because I felt so cold and my body hurt so badly,” I said sitting up and leaning against the headboard, “I fell asleep and I couldn't get up and just kept going back to sleep and...” She pulled me into a hug.
“That explains so much, everyone was freaking trying to figure out why you acted that way, but everything makes more sense now.” I wasn't really sure if she was talking to herself or just making a general statement.
“Well,” I said after a long awkward silent moment, “that’s not even all of it.” She looked at me wide-eyed
“What else could there be?”
“Well, I told Luke this morning before I went to that meeting with the Queen that I was not signing the petition and he got really angry.” I said as Susan’s forehead creased up and looked really confused.
“Wait, he was angry, are you sure?” I nodded.
“I'm pretty sure he yelled at me, when I told him, and he sounded pretty angry.” She shook her head.
“I don't understand, I figured he would have been happy.” I could see that she was trying to figure things out.
“I have a theory about it all,” I said, “I think he had this planned all along, he has always wanted to be with Leah and I ended up as his mate, so he did everything that would make me hate him and that worked,” I said almost giggling, “he finally got what he wanted, me out of the picture, literally wants me dead, and he then gets to have his life with Leah.” I felt the sharp shooting pain again in my heart, it was weird it was like a fire poker that's burning hot point was shoved straight into my heart. I almost giggled at the thought that it could be heartburn but Susan started talking and I was pulled out of my thoughts.
“No, I distinctly remember the day he came back with Max after he found you,” she shook her head again, “he wouldn't do that, plus he would never want you dead Annie, he would die too.”
“But if our bond was broken he and that bitch could just kill me off and it wouldn't matter.” She shook her head again.
“No, a broken bond doesn't work like that, in fact there has only been one other vampire that had his bond broken and it almost killed him,” she laughed, “well it would have been better if it had killed him.”
“Why would it have been better, what happened?”
“Josh told me once about it, so I’m not really sure if I can remember it all but this vampire, he was older than us when he was turned I think he was in his mid-30's or so, but when you find your mate you find them younger than you are or at the same age, it’s weird I guess. But what happened when he found her she was already married with two children and another on the way.” She looked sad, “he couldn't bring himself to take her from her children just because he wanted her. So after some time he just tried to avoid and get over her but he couldn't. So, he went to the council and begged them to help him and they suggested that they break the bond. So he agreed to do the ritual. Josh said that it’s like experiencing what you love the most just being ripped away but in the end you still love them and want them more than anything. You just can't see them,” she said as I watched her eyes glaze over as she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes.
“What do you mean you can't see them, and what happened to him after the bond was broken?”
“Exactly what I said, you can't see them, it's like they don't exist anymore but you're still left with all your feelings, the wants, and needs of having them,” she looked down, “he lives down in the basement of the palace now, he went insane and killed a lot of vampires and humans trying to find her, he never did. He is in a room down there, he feeds, and he’s allowed to leave though he never does, he wasn't punished for what he did. Everyone felt bad for what he went through and could not put him to death because of it.”
“Bid the woman's death affects him.” Susan just nodded and I didn't want to know any more about that man.
I felt so bad for him and what he had gone through, all because he loved her so much. As soon as I thought of this man sitting alone in the basement I wanted to see him, I don't know why but I just wanted to talk to him. I could feel my heart accelerating as I imagined what the bond being broken would feel like. My door swung open, Max and Macy came walking in all wrapped in each other’s arms. I just looked away, I am happy for them but I feel almost jealous when I see them and I hate feeling that way. Josh was right behind him as well as Bobby and Mickey.
“So we were thinking we would hang out at the pool tonight and basically get drunk,” Susan said in a chipper and it shocked me how happy she was now then she was a few seconds ago.
“Oh yes,” Macy and Mickey said at the same time, which made me laugh.
Everyone started chatting about mindless things, I could tell they were all basically avoiding the topic on the part which I wish they weren't, and it just made me feel more uncomfortable when it had an awkward silence. Josh was talking about the work he was doing for the king and was not going to drink with us girls all night at the pool. This made me think of something.
“Hey Macy, where is Joel? I haven't seen him in a few days.”
“Oh he had to go with his dad on a business trip, Joel is still to take over his father's place and needs to be trained, sorry I forgot to tell you.” I shrugged.
“Oh, sounds fun.” To be honest I wasn't even very interested that I hadn't seen Joel; I was more concerned with possibly finding Josh a guy to hang out with so he wouldn't feel like the odd man out.
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you he will be back in about a week.” I was about to respond to Macy but someone knocked on my door and it opened.
Luke stood in the doorway dressed in dark pants and a black button down shirt that was rolled up half way up his for arms. I looked away from him quickly knowing he was all dressed up for Leah and his engagement party. I resisted the urge to growl at him and make him leave my room, plus I never said he could come in.
“We need to go or we’ll be late.” Luke said as I just looked out the window and realized how dark it was and how big the moon was. I heard them getting up, I also heard kissing noises and rolled my eyes.
“So is there any chance that we can leave early if we arrive early.” Bobby said and chuckled.
“Let's hope so” Max said as my door finally closed, the room stayed silent for a long time.
“Can we go drink now?” I said as I watched the moon fully appear over the tree tops.
“Yes!” Everyone said at the same time.
They left my room to go change into swim suites, I grabbed a pure white suite. I felt it was good for a night swim because it matched the moon in a way. I heard a knock on the door and hurried to open it. Mary stood in front of me looking a little confused.
“Annie, I was just coming by to remind you of your meeting with the Queen in the morning and she said to have an answer for her by then” I nodded.
“Thank you Mary,” she started to walk away, “oh wait, can I ask you something?”
“Yes Annie.”
“The man who lives in the basement, what’s his-“ She looked down and interrupted me.
“You mean Egon Morris?”
“Is he the man that broke his bond?” She nodded.
“Yes, prisoners are only held in the basement, he chose to live there.”
“Oh, I see, thank you Mary.” I said with a small smile, but she did not look happy and looked mad almost.
“Annie, do not go down there to talk to him, he is not going to be of any help to you,” she said in a cold flat tone, “I don't know who told you about him, but trust me when I say Egon will not help you in your situation.”
“Okay, I just wanted to know his name was all.” She nodded and quickly turned and walked away.
Mary’s words freaked me out slightly but I forgot all about them.
We had a few drinks and I was laughing my ass off about old and largely embarrassing stories that everyone was sharing. Yes there were times when Egon would pop in my mind but I quickly shoved all thoughts of him away, I just kept on feeling that I really needed to talk to him. A long time passed before I was wasted and we were all just lying on chairs, it was all funny for no clear reason. I remember hearing a weird clicking noise, but it disappeared, then it was really loud and seemed to be getting louder by the second. I was frightened out of my mind when I heard a high pitch scream that was a few feet away.
“How dare you not come to your prince and princess’s engagement!” I opened my eyes; I guess I didn't realize I had started to drift off to sleep. As I looked around to get a grip, which was not stable to say the least, I could see that Macy, Mickey, and Susan were having the same reaction I was, and I started laughing again and they soon followed.
“Why are you laughing? You think this is some type of joke?”
“No, but I think your make-up is” Macy said as she raised her hands up and both Mickey and I tried to give her a high-five, I failed and almost did a face plant but I caught myself in time.
“When I become Queen, you are really going to regret saying that bitch.” She said pointing her finger at Macy.
“What have I told you about threatening my mate?” Max was standing in front of Leah, I could just feel the anger radiating off him.
“Luke!” She screamed and I rolled my eyes and thought, how great, everyone comes out to join our girl’s night. I looked over and saw Josh and Luke talking to each other. I glanced over I saw Mickey already cuddling into Bobby’s lap and arms like a cat, I started laughing.
“Bitch, stop laughing.” I growled at her and was about to get up and attack her.
“Sit down Annie,” I heard Bobby say as I looked over at him in shock, “don't even think about it.” He winked at me and I just glared at him as I looked back at Leah who standing in front of us as Max still stood there blocking her view of Macy.
“Leah, we had this discussion earlier today, you are not threatening my friends, you need to stop telling people we are engaged and that you are a princess, you also have been informed that if my bond is broken you only get the title nothing more, you will not have any privileges besides the name.” Luke said as he walked up and stood next to Max.
“But it’s not fair; those three just publicly humiliated me by not showing up to our party, why are you not upset about this? Plus are you really going to let Annie get away with undermining you and turning your so called ‘friends’ against you.” She screamed and I started laughing again.
“First, nobody is getting punished, Annie had nothing to do with who came and who didn't, and your party was not an official royal party so they had no obligation to go.” She screamed and stormed out as we all laughed watching her stomp away.
“I have some business to deal with and will see you all tomorrow.” Luke said.
“Luke, why don't you stay and relax with us?” I heard Max say sitting next to me, I rolled my eyes.
“Thank but no, I know when I'm not wanted.” With that he walked faster back toward the house and there was a lot of silence after that, mostly due to everyone but me making out with their mate. I'm not really sure when but I quickly drifted off to sleep.