Give My Quadruplets Back, My Luna!

CHAPTER 6

The day of my wedding arrived, but I felt no genuine warmth or excitement that everyone else seemed to share.

The palace was extremely rowdy—servants preparing for the ceremony, advisors finalizing details, and guests filling the grand halls. I could see pleasant smiles on their faces and hear the soft murmurs of anticipation from the children, but none of it reached through me.

I tried. I really did. 

Over the past few days, I’d made countless attempts to bond with Xaphen. I thought if we spent more time together, he’d warm up to me. ‘We are mates, after all. Shouldn’t he feel the same as me?’

But every time I approached him, he always had some excuse. Busy with royal duties, meetings with advisors, or some vague obligation that kept him away. 

The only time he was ever kind to me was when his father was in the room. He’d plaster on a polite smile and act like the dutiful fiancé, but it was all an act, and we both knew it.

‘Maybe he just needed more time,’ I told myself, clinging to the thought, ‘This marriage is sudden for both of us. Perhaps, given time, he’d see me differently.’

Maybe even care for me. But deep down, my doubts always lingered.

The wedding ceremony was hazy. 

Standing beside Xaphen, wearing a gown fit for a queen, I felt more like an empty corpse. My heart wasn’t in it. Xaphen was distant, barely even looking at me as we exchanged vows. 

His words were cold, rehearsed, as though he were reading a script he didn’t believe in. And yet, I smiled when I was supposed to, recited my own vows as if I meant them. When the priest announced us as husband and wife, my heart sank.

Once again, I was bound to a man who did not want me. It felt like I had entered another prison, and perhaps it was already too late.

The reception was lavish. The kingdom spared no expense, and the guests laughed and toasted to our future. But Xaphen’s mood had shifted once again. He was charming in front of the crowd, showing affection as he held my hand and thanked everyone for coming. 

I smiled and played my part, but my mind was elsewhere.

‘Tonight, we are supposed to mate.’

I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. My wolf insisted that Xaphen was our fated mate, but after days of awkward interactions and forced distance, I began to doubt the goddess. 

‘Maybe if I just… tried harder, showed him that I could be more than just an obligation… maybe he’d see me.’

‘But what if… what if he doesn’t?’

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I remembered Derrick's cruelty. 

That night, just as we returned to our chambers, the door flung open, and a servant rushed in, breathless and pale.

“The king… the king has passed!” he stammered, eyes wide with shock.

Xaphen froze, his entire body going rigid beside mine, and my heart skipped a beat. The king, his father, was dead.

Xaphen didn’t speak. He didn’t cry. 

He stood there, staring blankly at the servant as though the world around him had crumbled. The silence stretched, suffocating, until he finally muttered, “This marriage was doomed from the start.”

His dark gaze shifted to mine.

I stepped forward, unsure what to say but wanting to comfort him somehow. “My prince, I’m so sorry for your loss. I know how much he meant to you. I—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off, his voice cracking with a serious warning. “Everything is going to have to change.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confusion tightening in my chest.

“This marriage… it’s nothing now. My father’s gone. The only reason I went through with it was for him. And now that he’s dead, there’s no reason to pretend anymore.”

All of the blood on my face drained out. 

His gaze clashed with mine, dark with contempt “You have one year. That’s all. One year for you to fulfill your duty as my wife. You’ll give me heirs, and then you’ll leave. After that, I don’t care what happens.”

The floor gave away under my feet, and I wished it would have drowned me instead, “You… you want me just to be a vessel for your children?”

There was no warmth in Xaphen’s gaze as he looked at me, “That’s what this marriage is. I’ll give you whatever you need to stay comfortable for a year. You give me my heirs, and we both move on.”

There, the memories of Derrick came crashing down on me.

The way he’d treated me when I couldn’t conceive, the way he’d blamed me for our struggles to have a child. The abuse had started then, growing worse as I remained barren. I’d been terrified it was my fault, that something was wrong with me.

Now, standing in front of Xaphen, I wondered if history was about to repeat itself.

“What if…” I hesitated. “What if I can’t give you heirs?”

His jaw clenched tight. “You will.”

“But what if I can’t?” I repeated, my throat tightening. “What if it’s me? What if I can’t conceive?”

Something shifted in his eyes for a heartbeat, but then it disappeared instantly. “Then that’s your problem,” Xaphen stated coldly.

Tears welled in my eyes, “You’d… you’d cast me aside if I couldn’t bear your children? Is this why you married me? To abandon me as soon as you get what you want?”

He didn’t answer, but the silence was enough. 

I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. I had no idea if I could give him the heirs he wanted. The fear of failing him, of being trapped in another loveless marriage where I was nothing more than a disappointment, was suffocating.

But I couldn’t let that fear paralyze me. I needed to survive this, somehow. I needed to protect myself, even if it meant agreeing to this cold arrangement. 

“Fine,” I whispered, “I’ll… I’ll do my best to give you your heirs.”

He nodded, “Good.”

Without another word, he stormed away, leaving me alone in the vast, empty room. I let the tears fall freely now, my chest tightening with a mix of anger and despair. ‘So this is it? This is my life now?’

I still had no idea how I would get through this year. The thought of being used for nothing more than producing heirs made my stomach turn. But I had no other choice. This was my life now.

‘He’s still our mate and husband,’ my wolf insisted. ‘This isn’t like last time, Junia. We can still make this work.’

I shook my head, feeling more lost than ever. ‘How could this possibly work? How could I ever hope to build a life with a man who always looked at me with that same uncaring look?’ 

But for now, all I could do was survive.

Maybe, just maybe, Xaphen would change. Perhaps he’d see me as more than just his wife in name.

And maybe, just maybe, I’d find the strength to fight for the life I deserved.