Theirs to Protect

Chapter3

A week was not enough time. Le’Andra sat at the end of her bed, staring at the packed trunks around her chamber. She didn’t realize that she had so much stuff. Now, with everything she had packed and ready to be taken to the werewolf palace, she was just overwhelmed. She and her father would leave in the morning to travel to the Werewolf Kingdom, where her wedding was to be held in the evening.

She still was not ready for this wedding. She was also still in shock that there were two grooms. What in the world was she going to do? One husband already seemed like too many. And she would have two. Two werewolves. And if they were bossy, she would be in a world of hurt. She did not take orders well. What if they trapped her in the castle because she was Fae? What if the pack didn’t approve of or like her? All of the what-ifs were swirling in her mind.

It also struck her out of nowhere that it might be okay. She didn’t know where the feeling came from or what possessed her to think about it, but now that it was in her head, Le’Andra tried to focus on it. What if the werewolves were kind to her? How would she react if there was no hostility between her and her husbands? She quickly shook her head to empty those thoughts. Of course, they would not be happy to marry her. From what her father had said about his meeting with King Nathan, the princes did not want to marry her any more than she wanted to marry them. This was strictly a deal brokered by the two kings.

So she stood and walked to her now empty bureau. She ran her hand up and down the pale oak. This was where her gowns had always hung. When she was a small child, too little to reach, she had always depended on a servant to reach the dresses for her. The room she had lived in all of her life had been designed by her mother when the queen found out she was pregnant. That is why it had never been changed. The beloved queen hadn’t survived childbirth, and the only connection Le’Andra had to her mother was this room. A chamber near the royal quarters that had been specifically designed with love by the queen. Le’Andra didn’t feel like she missed her mother. It was hard to miss someone you’d never met. But she did wonder what it would have been like to have a mother. Someone she could talk to or confide in. Someone who would understand her and be there to talk Le’Andra through this obligation. Because that’s what this marriage was. It was a royal obligation.

She would never get to experience the boundless love that her parents had shared. And honestly, it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t met someone to fall in love with. Her father had been so protective of her that she rarely met anyone. Add to that the lack of eligible Faemen, and the recipe had been for a disaster that ended with Le’Andra being forced to marry not one but two men she didn’t know and live in a kingdom that she had never seen.

With all of the emotions swirling inside of her, Le’Andra closed the bureau for the last time. Well, maybe not the last time. Surely, she would be home to visit her father at some point. The werewolves couldn’t force her to never see her father again. Could they? Would they lock her up in their castle to never see or speak to her only family again? Would they ever allow her to come home for a visit? Allow. Ha, Le’Andra let the word sink into her. No one had ever allowed her to do anything. She just did. It was a pain for her father when she was growing up. Now it was a worry that her future husbands would try to control her.

Le’Andra glanced around her chamber one last time. The grand bed was made neatly and all of her personal items from the vanity were packed into a trunk. There was really no sign that this had even been her chamber. All of her personal touches have been removed. What a depressing feeling. She picked at her fingernails as she did one more turn around what had been her sanctuary for the last twenty-one years.

Tomorrow, it will be official. She will no longer live in the Fae Palace with her father. She will live at the Werewolf Palace with her new husbands. It just did not seem real.