I threw my hands up in the air, swaying my hips and smiling widely at Brandon who was still blushing profusely. I probably looked like a weird piece of seaweed but who cares, I'm having fun.
I danced and laughed with Brandon for a solid hour before he had to get back to work.
I headed to the drink table, grabbing one of the shots of tequila they had laying out before downing it, followed by a few more. Once I was feeling buzzed I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a very tall very buff fae man.
"I'm so sorry miss, but I noticed you and couldn't help but wonder who you are. It is very rare that I don't know one of my own kind, after all, I am one of the high commanders." He said proudly.
I extended my hand to him.
"I'm Opal." He turned my hand over, kissing it lightly on the back before straightening back out.
"It is very nice to meet you. I must say you look beautiful tonight, you're catching all the men's attention."
I smiled a little shrugging. I've never been very good at taking compliments.
"Thank you, I've also noticed a lot of the women looking at you." I actually hadn't but oh well.
He chuckled a little before nodding.
"Us fae, always the center of attention, aren't we?"
"I guess we are." I smiled. "I'm sorry but I actually don't know what your name."
"Of course, my name is Halo, Halo Sarrin."
"What kind of fae are you if you don't mind me asking?"
He stepped back a little extending his arms so I could take in his appearance. "You seem like a smart girl, what do you guess?" He said with an excited smile.
I examined him for a few seconds before I noticed all of the red accents in his clothes. I looked more closely and found smilier streakings of glimmering red in his hair and around his eyes, barely noticeable unless you looked for it.
"You're a fire fae!" I excalimed excitedly.
"I knew you were smart! I am."
"Can I ask how you got an invitation to this party? I couldn't help but be curious, dragons are not generally very fond of fae."
"Of course..." I trailed off, desperately scrambling for an excuse. "I saved the Prince's life." I blurted out. Okay, I can roll with that, this might work.
"Wow! That is amazing! Is it the Prince who's wedding this is?" He asked excitedly like a girl reading a gossip magazine.
I giggled, "No, no, I saved Prince King."
Confusion crossed his face but before I could comment on it we were interrupted by the tapping of a microphone up on the top of the large staircase where a man in a smart suit was standing smiling at everyone.
"If I could get all of your attention please!" He said and everyone quieted down.
"Why did you look confused?" I whispered over to Halo but he didn't respond, lifting his finger to his lips and turning back to the man speaking. Stupid fae, always so polite.
I huffed a little but did as he said and turned my attention back to the man.
"First I'd like to thank you all for coming, I know the journey must have been long and hard but we really appreciate you all coming down to join us to celebrate the marriage of my son. As you all know he is my first born and next in line for the crown, now that he has joined with such a strong wife I have a feeling it is almost time for me to step down."
That's weird... I thought King was the next in line. His name is King after all, he did that because he was going to become King.
Everything started to click into place as the current King continued his speech. The reason everyone pitied her when they heard he was her mate, the reason they couldn't sleep in the same room together, the reason she was always locked up, the reason why she wasn't invited to the party or even informed that it was happening, and the reason Halo gave her that look of confusion.
As my nightmare was coming together before my eyes I felt a tug on my arm. I turned around to see an extremely panicked looking man, desperately trying to discretely drag me away but I wouldn't move an inch.
I fasted myself to the ground using my earth abilities, making it nearly impossible for him to move me, not without ripping my feet off.
I looked Rob in the eyes but all I could feel was betrayal. I turned my attention back to the king to hear the rest of his speech, ignoring the begging man trying to pry me out of the ground without hurting me too much.
"I am very excited to present to you your future king and queen together as man and wife, life partners, for the first time ever!" He said and the large doors opened confirming everything I'd just put together.
King exited the doors holding the hand of a beautiful woman. By her skin tone and the little bit of teeth I could see poking out of her mouth it was clear she was a vampire. I felt my heart stop and I couldn't move.
They stopped right at the railings at the top of the staircase, smiling down to all of the people below who were clapping and cheering, both the vampires and dragons more enthusiastically than others. I couldn't even feel Rob tugging at my arm anymore, the sight of King leaning down and placing a kiss on the vampire consumed all of my senses.
Pain exploded in my chest and I could feel everything getting a little blurry. After about a minute of staring down admirably at the vampire he finally lifted his gaze. He scanned the crowd until he landed on me. He stiffened noticeably and his eyes widened.
I could feel my own burning and beginning to fill with tears. I saw a look of regret and pain shoot through his face and I couldn't help but feel the need to make him feel better. STUPID MATE BOND!
I finally gave in to the tugging on my arms, letting Rob drag me away from my worst fears. I couldn't help but continuously pinch myself, trying desperately to wake up from the dream that I was no doubt in but nothing seemed to work. I couldn't wake up. I was stuck in this reality.
Suddenly I stopped myself from walking, falling to my knees. I just stared at the ground in disbelief, I pinched my arm so hard it had begun bleeding but I couldn't bother caring. I couldn't feel it, all I could feel was the betrayal.
I couldn't bring myself to cry because I just couldn't process or believe what I just saw. I kept replaying it in my mind, him smiling down at her, him kissing her, all along he thought he had me locked up in my room, desperately waiting to spend a couple minutes with him every day.
He used to look at me like that, we were so close at the mental hospital, even the first moments of being here but something changed. I just sat there desperately trying to pinpoint what went wrong when it came to me. He started changing as soon as he heard I was a fae... I knew dragons didn't like fae but-
My thoughts were cut off by a large shadow blocking the light of the lanterns lining the paths and lighting up the trees outside. I looked up to see King and instantly felt the pain was through me all over again.
"Let me explain." He said desperately but I couldn't bring myself to respond. He knelt down across from me, grabbing my hands in his.
"I didn't do this because I didn't love you. You are perfect, I do love you."
Weird time to say 'I love you' for the first time...
"But, Opal, I need a queen. I am next in line and need to rule over the dragon folk. They need someone they can admire and respect ruling them and... You're a fae."
I felt the pain blooming and spreading as he continued.
"Tatiana is a very powerful vampire, a princess, she can take care of the needs of the people and we have been friends for as long as I can remember so I knew I wouldn't mind spending my life with her. Once we got back here and I knew you were a fae I called her and we set this up. If you were anything but a fae I would've made you my queen but I can't have you be weak. I have never had a weak spot and that's what you would've been."
I couldn't comprehend what he was saying. Even Rob agrees I'm stronger than a normal fae, but as soon as he heard of my race he didn't even think about giving me a chance. I'm not good enough for him... We were fated to be together, how could I not be good enough? How is the princess enough, if she were as perfect as they all say she would've been his mate, but no, it was me.
I looked up to him with confusion racing through me. "If you knew from the beginning then why did you keep me here? Give me false hope? Why didn't you tell me and let me go, move on?"
Anger crossed his face. "We might not be able to be together to the public but not other man can have you. You're mind and only mine."
Anger started to flare up in me at his words. "You were just going to keep me here, locked away in a room, just there to, what? Give you pleasure when you felt like it? Otherwise you just pretend I don't exist?"
He became a little uneasy and worried but never denied my words. As he sat there, staring at me with pity I could feel heat spread throughout my body, I could feel the grass begin to sizzle beneath my body as my body temperature continued to rise with my anger.
"Stop this, Rob is going to bring you back to your room and we'll talk in the morning."
"YOU THINK I'M GOING TO STAY WITH YOU AFTER EVERYTHING?!" I cried out in exasperation. He can't be serious.
"Who ever said you have a choice." He replied coldly. He stood up, bushing his pants off and started back towards the hall.
My anger grew and grew until my vision began to blur and I started to see red. I could feel power flowing through me strongly, ready to burst from my body.
I let out a scream of frustration and it all left my body. Wind began to blow so strongly the gigantic hundred year old trees started to drop to my feet. The ground began to rumble and crack, the plants growing into spiky vines, ready to defend me. From the crack in the earth hot lava began to spurt out which I was easily able to bend to my will. It lit up all the lands around me on fire while the hall began to collapse from the earthquakes shooting through the ground. People came shooting out of the building.
Once I was sure everyone was out I let it crumble to the ground. People were running out, trying to flee. A couple stopped to stare at me but ended up getting dragged away by their friends and family. King was now facing me, his eyes wide and face red, a look of dread and regret covering him.
Next thing I knew there was water from a nearby lake flying overhead towards us, swirling around with the wind to create a gigantic tornado of sorts above me.
I stood up, fury still raging through me.
"You think I'm too weak?" I asked brokenly while everyone disappeared, even Rob nowhere in sight.
"Opal." King responded but he seemed more excited than sad. "Lets go back to your room and talk about this."
I scoffed, letting all my elements come back to me, staying in a close circle around me, keeping me protected but not harming anyone or anything else. I felt out my room and set in on fire.
I heard a roar above my head and recognized it immediately. I swarm of dragons all flew down, led by my favorite white beauty. She landed next to me, slightly blocking me protectively while she roared again at King, making him step back a little.
"Ice, stop this. Go back to your barn. All of you go back to you barn!" He shouted to all the dragons but they just continued to circle me.
I jumped onto Ice's back, ignoring the yelling King, not showing a hint of emotion on my face.
"Good luck reigning over a kingdom of dragon tamers with no dragons." I said coldly before Ice shot into the sky, flying far away from the disaster I'd created followed by their entire flock of dragons.