The Wizard Prince's Secret Soulmate

Chapter 4

“You seem distracted today, are you alright?” Sara was genuinely concerned for her friend. Matteo was usually a smiling, upbeat guy, who always made her laugh. For him to be in a bad mood, it had to be serious, and she wanted to make him feel better.

“Yeah, sorry, just… a lot on my plate…” Matteo almost scoffed at himself. There was only one thing on his plate, or more like not on his plate, and that was her. Aurora.

When he woke up the morning after their night together, she was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t even left a note or anything, it was as if she had only appeared in his dreams.

Two weeks had passed since, and initially, he had tried to find her, scouring through social media, looking at thousands of pictures of women called Aurora, only to come up empty handed. Not knowing her last name or even where she lived didn’t help his search. He would have looked for the friend she was visiting in Milan, but she never told him his name either. Matteo even returned to that bar, hoping to see one of them, but he just wasted hours sitting there, looking for someone who wouldn’t come back.

He didn’t even understand why he was so obsessed with finding her, after all, not only was he not looking for a relationship, he couldn’t have one in the first place. He would finish his studies soon, and then he had to return to his family and marry the woman they had chosen for him. Being his father’s heir came with responsibilities, and one of them was to carry on the bloodline by creating alliances with other strong wizarding families, regardless of his feelings towards his future wife, which meant he had to give up on his hope to ever find his perfect mate, his anima gemella (twin soul). Although he generally didn’t show how much it bothered him, deep down, a tiny voice he had buried inside, kept telling him that he shouldn’t accept this future his parents chose for him. But his father would never budge on this. He had allowed him to go to university, postponing his wedding day for a few years, but there was no escape from his duties.

He told himself all that, and throughout his life, it had worked well. He never got attached to any girl, he liked them, but he didn’t pursue any deeper relationships, and he was very upfront about it. Sara was his friend first and foremost, even though they slept together occasionally, but there were no feelings involved. She knew that, but of course she didn’t know the reason behind it, or that he basically had a fiancée waiting for him at home. A fiancée he had never met, because every time she and her family came to visit, he had made himself scarce. It was not that he was afraid of meeting her, he just didn’t want to start the disappointment he would inevitably face too early. All he knew, was that her name was Emma, and that she was apparently perfect for him. A perfect, loyal wife, who would make a perfect, doting mother to their perfect, strong children. Just like his own mother, who loved her children, but had grown resentful to his father over the years at forcing her into a marriage based on duty and responsibilities rather than love and respect. He hated knowing that this was his future.

“Is there anything I can do to make you relax?” He saw the innuendo shining through her eyes, and for a moment he was hoping that he could just sleep with Sara and forget all about that one girl he had in his arms for one night, but he sighed.

“Thanks, Sara, but to be honest… I’m not really in the mood right now.”

She tilted her head and looked at him as if she was trying to figure out how to solve a complicated riddle.

“That’s not like you, Matteo. Should I worry? Are you sick?”

Yeah, lovesick, probably. But he just shook his head.

“I’m fine, Sara, I just have a lot going on. Don’t worry about me.”

 She didn’t look convinced, but went back to her books and continued studying.

Matteo’s phone started ringing and he nearly groaned when he was reading his father’s name on the display. Today just wanted to be one of those days, huh.

“Yes, father?” he answered, working hard to keep his voice neutral.

“Matteo, I need you to attend a celebration next weekend.”

As usual, his father skipped the pleasantries and came right to the point. As the wizard king of Northern Italy, he didn’t like to waste time with nonsense, as he said. If not told otherwise, he assumed that everyone was doing fine, the weather was nice and the family members were healthy, so he didn’t bother asking those questions.

“I will be there. May I ask what’s the occasion?”

“Your engagement.”

His fathers voice was distant, but Matteo felt like someone just told him, his dog had died.

“But father, I thought…” he tried to argue, but it fell on deaf ears.

“We agreed that we would wait with the wedding until you got your degree, but understandably, the Gruber family is getting a little tired of waiting for you. Therefore, to reassure them that you do, in fact, intend to marry their daughter, we are going to officially announce and celebrate your engagement to Emma. I’m expecting you to be there, son. Don’t disappoint me.” King Samuel disconnected the call before his son could answer.

‘Don’t disappoint me’ seemed to be the soundtrack of his life.

He realized that there was no point in studying today, his mind was somewhere else entirely, so he just told Sara that he was done and left the café. What was he going to do with his life? Live it according to his father’s expectations, just to ‘not disappoint’ him? But what about not disappointing himself? After all, he had to live with this decision for the rest of his life, after his father was long gone. 

Matteo briefly wondered what his bride to be thought of the arrangement, if she was eager to marry him, or if she had her reservations, too. He should probably talk to her to find out. And, after all, there was a tiny chance that she might actually turn out to be a nice person. He would try to stay positive for now, that was the only thing he could do.

When he reached his apartment, he decided to see if Raffaele, his best friend, had some time for him. Lately, he was always busy with his new found mate, but Matteo couldn’t be mad at him. Not for that. He recently met Vanessa, and she was an incredibly kind person, but seeing them together, being perfect for each other, had tugged at his heart more than he wanted to admit. When he told her about his arranged marriage, she looked so sad that he had to reassure her, that he was ok with it. Which was a lie, but he couldn’t let her be upset about something that she couldn’t change. Even though he had only known her for a short time, he considered her a friend, and he would do anything he could to make her smile. Thus, the lie.

He dialled Raffaele’s number and his friend answered immediately, as if he had been holding his phone, waiting for a call. Matteo knew that he probably didn’t wait for him to call, but he ignored that thought.

“Hey, vecchio (old guy)! What are you doing tonight? You up for some fun?” Matteo tried not to sound too desperate, but he really didn’t want to be alone in his apartment tonight. Alone with his thoughts, which may or may not revolved around a certain brunette.

“Sure,” he could hear his friend’s answer. “Your place or mine?”

They agreed to meet at Matteo’s place and he scrolled through his phone to order some pizza and beer. It would only be the two of them, and Raffaele was the only one here, who really knew what was going on in his life, so he could be honest about his feelings. He wanted to talk to someone about Aurora, about his engagement, about how screwed he was, and the only person he could talk to, was the only person who knew who he really was. Raffaele was a werewolf, so he didn’t have to pretend to be a human in front of him, which was very refreshing.

The pizzas arrived together with his friend, and they sat down on the floor in front of his couch and tried to decide on a game to play.

“Actually, before we start, I would like to talk to you,” Matteo said as he was taking a sip from his beer.

“Sure, what’s up?” Raffaele knew that something was going on in Matteo’s life, he had heard it through the phone. But he didn’t want to pry, his friend would either tell him what was bothering him, or he would try and help him to ignore it by playing video games and eating pizza.

“My dad called today…” Matteo sighed.

“That’s never good news,” Raffaele scoffed. “What did he want?”

“He invited me to my engagement party next weekend.”

Raffaele’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, aren’t the people who are getting engaged the ones who are supposed to invite everyone?”

Matteo’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“Not if the people who are getting engaged don’t want to get engaged. Or at least one of them, I don’t know about my fiancée.”

“I thought you had until graduation, or did that change?” Raffaele enquired gently. He knew that this was a sore topic for his friend.

“Yeah, with the wedding. But apparently, my future in-laws believe that this is taking too long and want something that is more of a… commitment, rather than just my father’s word.”

They ate in silence for a while.

“I met a girl…” Matteo finally admitted, and Raffaele could feel the hesitation in his friend’s voice.

“She was… I don’t even know what she was. But I met her at this bar, and then we spent the night. And the next morning she was gone, without a trace. I don’t know anything other than her name…” he trailed off as he looked outside at the city lights, just like she had done that evening.

“This is not my first one night stand, Raffaele, but why am I unable to stop thinking about her? I can’t even have fun with Sara anymore, like, what’s up with that?” He put his head in his hands and groaned at his obvious frustration with everything his life had become.

Raffaele stayed quiet, he felt bad for his friend, but there was nothing he could do other than be there for him when he needed him.