A Lover and A Liar

Not Yet

"A-about myself?!" Alina stuttered, not expecting him to say that.

What now? She had repeated the lies countless of times on her head, not leaving anything behind, but when he looked at her like that, with so much expectation and amusement written in his emerald eyes, she felt no different from the little fifteen-year-old girl that had been forced to lie to the young Prince on his birthday night, just before casting a spell that would destroy the rest of his life.

One of his brows quirked up, that barely-there smile still playing on his lips, causing her heart to make a little squeeze as a response. Damn it, he was so bloody attractive. So gorgeous. If the Goddess these wolves believed in were real, she had created him herself; tall and built just for it to be elegant instead of bulky, and the face and the green eyes so perfect, the hair separated in the middle, wavy and a dirty blonde color that she felt she could run her hands through all night... Oh, she was so gone.

"Alina?" he woke her up from her daydream. "Is it that hard to talk to me about yourself?" Walking around her, he went to one table behind her back. "Tea?"

She was surprised he had tea on his bedroom. "Only if it's green... please."

The amusement never left his eyes as his smile grew a bit bigger. "Green tea. Check," he spoke more to himself. "What other?"

She gulped, taking the cup from his hands. "I don't know what you're talking about." Their fingers met just slightly, but it was enough for the sparks to erupt on her skin, making her hands tremble. It was unfair how weak she was for him.

"It only makes me more curious how secretive you are, lovely," her mate told her. "And I'll unfasten you. No matter how long it takes."

The words, the double meaning behind them, his gaze, everything caused Alina to burn from inside, her cheeks flushing slightly. "There's just nothing interesting about me." This wasn't a lie, at least. "Just an average witch, with average powers."

Julian brought the cup to his lips, leaning on the table but not sitting properly, with his legs crossed. "There's absolutely nothing average about you, Alina. You're just the opposite of it. Everything about you is... mesmerizing."

Her heart skipped a few bits, Alina was so aware of it. "Well, I... thank you," she mumbled, almost shyly. Get a grip, Alina. 

"You still live at the witches' Royal Court, right?" he questioned. "With your father, one of the Queen's lords?"

The question pierced right through her heart, but Alina knew she had no choice but to lie. Not yet, she told herself. I'll tell him everything, just not yet. "Yes, of course. It's... pretty similar to here." Surely, she had no idea how it was there. How it was to belong in a coven, let alone to the most powerful one. Royal blood ran through their veins. And Alina never even dreamt of being one of them. Those dreams for poor little girls like her had always been forbidden.

"What about your mother?" Julian kept asking questions she couldn't answer.

"She died." Alina looked down at the green liquid in her hands. "When I was just one."

Both her parents had died when she was just one year old, but she couldn't tell Julian this.

"Oh," he whispered, "I'm really sorry."

"She was a light-witch." He hadn't asked her to keep going, but Alina felt like it. Like she could at least tell him this part about herself. "Light-witches are rare, and their powers are made to protect. Bring goodness and fortune to creatures of this world."

The smile that split on his face was genuine. Pleased. Happy. "So you're a light-witch?"

"A half one," Alina explained. "My father was- is," she corrected herself immediately, "a potion-maker." At least this was what her grandmother had told her. They almost never spoke of her parents. Whenever Alina had brought that conversation up, Granny Margot had cut if off, until Alina had grown up and stopped asking one day. It was to no use when she knew she wasn't going to get any answer, and the belonging in her house didn't give much information about her parents either. All she had were a few grimoires of her mother Granny Margot held dearly, not once leaving Alina flip through them.

All she knew about the two people that were supposed to be her family, protect her, love her unconditionally, was that they were killed. To protect her. From what, or who, or why, Alina wasn't aware of.

But perhaps that was one of the reasons Alina had a motherly love for her grandmother, after she had became sick and lost her magic. It didn't only have to do with her light-witch nature, or how much she owned Granny Margot for keeping them both alive and safe, it was what she felt she owned her grandmother after her daughter had died in an unfortunate accident... Protecting Alina.

"I've never witnessed you use your magic, though," Julian pointed out for her. "Except when you covered us in leafs," he laughed, "That day, before things got... pretty messed up."

Guilt was what appeared on his face, and somehow, Alina knew it didn't only have to do with that day, and with Cedric. No, it ran deeper than that. And she wanted to know it. She wanted to know it all. She wanted to soothe him, make him smile, and everything else she was supposed to do as his mate.

...Only that he didn't know she was his mate.

"Your round," she said, drawing his attention. "Talk to me about yourself."

A corner of his lips twitched upwards. "You're using my lines now, lovely, it isn't fair."

Alina shrugged, acting as if him giving her that endearment didn't just take her breath away every time. "You set no rules," she pointed out. "So I want to know; why do you hate your father?"

Suddenly, the abrupt question made him freeze in his place.

Alina grimaced. "Too personal, right?"

It took Julian a few seconds to react. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't think talking to you about him is a good idea."

"Why?" she insisted, walking to him so she could catch his gaze. "Julian, why?"

He shook his head no.

"Julian." Boldly, she cupped his face, feeling the blonde stubble tickling her fingers. "Why can't you just talk to me?" Alina asked in a pleading tone.

Julian let out a sigh, "I feel like you're the only one who doesn't know. Like you're the only one that doesn't compare me to him," he explained. "Some call me kinder, some others weaker. But I just want it to stop altogether. I hate it, Alina. I hate it so much."

Her heart ached for him. "Then tell me. Everything. I'm an outsider, aren't I? I'm not one of your subjects so you can talk to me freely," Alina told him. "Nothing would ever make me think any less about you, Julian. I promise."

It seemed these were the words he wanted to hear, because he gave her a sad but thankful smile, and that was it.

He talked. He told her everything, since the very beginning. Since years ago when his father had forced Evelyn to marry him although he had been the one to murder her father, and the way he had treated her, his attempts to r**e her after finding out she was mated to Arthmael. How Arthmael had ended up being his illegitimate son he had had with his own mate, and how King Robert had ended up dead from the hands of Evelyn's twin brother, now King of the elves.

And then his sister's journey of hate and love she had had with her mate, until she had finally accepted him.

And on God, how much he had spoken. There was no way all these things had happened to this strange family. Was this how it was living in a Court?

"...So yeah," he finished his own story. "That is how I took the throne and tried changing the things around here."

"I'm sorry but your father was a bloody sick bastard that deserved worse that having his heart pulled off his chest."

For her complete shock, Julian laughed at her words, that sound that gave butterflies deep in her stomach. "You have a filthy mouth for a Lady, don't you?"

Only then Alina realized he had made her feel so comfortable that she had forgotten to play someone she wasn't. A Lady who was supposed to have manners, the opposite of what she really was.

Her eyes stared at the window, away from him. "I suppose I do, yeah."

"And isn't that amusing?" Julian chuckled. And if he kept looking at her like that, Alina was sure there was no way in this world they were going to stay friends. Not even for a few hours.

But as she studied his face in silence, there was some kind of sadness written among the beautiful features; it had been there while he had talked about his family as well, almost as if he felt like he had disappointed them somehow. Alina couldn't even imagine how that could be true. Not when her mate was as perfect as he was. Not when he cared about people like she had never had before.

He inspired her. However, she didn't think she could tell him this. Not yet, she repeated in her head, two words that had now turned into a mantra for her. Not yet. But there would come a time when she told him everything. Every single thing she thought and felt about him.

"I heard your story, and I still don't understand how your psycho father has anything to do with you," Alina got right to the point, because all she actually wanted was for him to open up to her. "Why is he haunting you?"

Julian's eyes roamed all around his room, meeting everything else but not hers, pained evident in the way he tried forcing a smile on his face. "Am I like him, Alina?"

The question, and the strained voice made a lump down her throat.

"Sometimes, I feel like I am."

Alina shook her head firmly as soon as the shock of his question was over. "Never," she said in a firm voice, but it didn't seem to convince him.

"But I keep treating them like he did. Showing them I'm the King when I have no other argument to make, and it's making me feel sick," he explained, removing the golden crown from his head like it suddenly heaved a lot on him.

Her entire life life Alina had thought royals had it easy. That they could have everything their heart desired, but things inside here were as twisted and cruel as they were outside there. Her heart broke for him. He deserved better than he thought he did.

"They love you," Alina simply told him, what she knew was the truth.

"Do they?" he doubted.

"Julian, it's impossible not to." Only when she had said it, watching as his eyes went big, she realized she practically confessed to him. "Trust me," she added, "I know what I'm saying."

"I want to kiss you," Julian admitted, although he looked surprised at the words that had left his mouth. "So goddamn much."

Alina could hear her own heart pound like crazy, try to come out of her rib cage, so she was damn sure he could hear is as well. "Friends aren't supposed to kiss, now, are they?" she tried escaping his sudden hungry gaze that was no fixed on her.

"No. They aren't." His words didn't match they way he kept looking at her.

Playing with her hands nervously, she took a few heartbeats to finally meet his darkened eyes. Had his wolf came to the surface? Did he want her? Did he feel her as his own?

"I- I think I should go." Her voice was merely a weak whisper.

"Yes," he let out a low growl, convincing Alina his wolf was taking control. Pushing the soft Julian she knew back. "You should go, little witch. Now."

Opening the door from behind, Alina rushed out of the room, her heart almost giving her up as she kept picturing the desire in her wolf mate's eyes.