1
Athena -
“Athena, you will be getting married to Caspian Crown, the son of the Alpha King,” my mother said, her eyes fixed on me and I froze, wondering if I had heard her right.
“Irony Pack owes the Alpha King a debt, and they have demanded a true-blooded Thane, but Belle cannot be given to Prince Caspian since she has her own man now, so you will be filling in for her as his bride.”
My mother’s words sank into me like stones. Caspian Crown. My groom? Belle has a man now? Who?
I slowly turned toward my father. In silence, he looked away, leaving me to the mercy of his wife, the Luna of Irony Pack.
That was when it dawned on me that the decision had already been made, finalized.
My heart thudded from the looming doom I sensed is ahead.
Caspian Crown. They call him the most arrogant royalty that has ever lived, a man bedridden for nine long years. Words about the luxurious Crown castle he lives in never lie, but they whisper of a survival-of-the-fittest within those walls, the same castle where Prince Adrian lives.
I swallowed hard, shaking my head slowly while meeting her gaze.
“This is cruelty, Mother,” I murmured. “This is unfair.”
“Life… isn’t fair, Athena,” she replied, jutting her chin as she always does, a movement that never ceased to make me wonder how a person could change overnight. “The date for you to go into the castle will be set, and you…”
“I can’t marry Prince Caspian,” I interrupted, my voice trembling despite myself. “I’m already with Adrian, and Caspian Crown happens to be his half-brother, Mother. What are you trying to do here?”
Silence fell at that question. My father’s voice broke it, quiet but firm.
“Our pack has been indebted to the Crowns for years, Athena. They wanted our daughter as a bride for the prince, and we cannot refuse.” He cleared his throat, reaching for my hand. “We would have let Belle do her duty as the true-blooded Thane, but we just got our biological daughter backafter so many years, and you certainly don't want to see us send her into a difficult situation again...”
“And I am the one to fill in for her, cleaning up her mess, getting overshadowed by her,” I murmured sadly, and my words caught him off guard. Tension flashed in his eyes, but my mother’s expression remained sharp and venomous.
“You should be grateful, Athena,” she said, her voice cold. “We are giving you a way to heal your broken heart.”
I looked at my foster mother in disbelief. She used to be kind and patience with me, but everything changed after Belle returned.
“We saved you from the streets and nurtured you into who you are today. Surely we deserve repayment too, don’t you think?”
“Mother!” I shouted.
“You are an orphan, Athena!” she snapped, her eyes burning with unfiltered hatred. “The girl who we found and saves from the filthy orphanage, and Belle is the real Thane. You only fill in for her because she went lost but since she’s found you should know your place. You owe us your life, and as repayment… you will shoulder the burden of marrying the comatose prince to pay back the life we gave you.”
My heart shattered at her words. Years of silent suffering stung my eyes, bringing forth tears but I blinked them away.
“But I have a boyfriend, Mother! You’ve always known that… it’s Adrian Crown, Caspian Crown’s step brother.” I still tried to resist.
“It’s finalized, Athena. Prince Adrian isn’t even yours to begin with.”
“Adrian belongs to me,” I replied almost immediately. “You’ve seen us together, kissing! How can you say he has nothing to do with me?”
“He said it himself,” she snapped. “And honestly, do you think a man like Adrian Crown would choose you? An orphan?”
That word tore through me.
Orphan.
My mother’s favorite dagger. A word that makes me realized I was never truly theirs.
“It has been finalized, Athena. Prince Adrian has made his choice and…”
My mother was still speaking when the door of the council hall where we all are opened.
It’s Adrian Crown, one of the two princes of wolf Dynasty, the biological son of the Alpha King.
He promised to come today to ask my adoptive parents for my hand in marriage, and to publicly announce before the entire pack that I am his lover.
My bottled-up grievances finally found a way out. Just as I ran toward Adrian, ready to throw myself into his arms, Belle appeared.
Her hand tightly wrapped around Adrian’s. They looked… intimate, too close to be a mistake.
I froze, staring at him in disbelief, wondering what exactly is going on.
“Adrian… you said you were coming to propose today,” I asked in disbelief. “Wasn’t it supposed to be me? Why are you with Belle?”
Adrian’s gaze faltered.
“It is,” he said quietly. “But the one I’m proposing to… is Belle.”
My heart sank to the depth when I caught the sight of that same ring he had branded for me, the one he promised if I became his wife, will be mine now on Belle’s finger.
How could the same man I had loved, the one I had stayed and suffered for while he was bedridden, betray me so completely?
So, the man that Mother mentioned Belle was with is Adrian?
No wonder my parents demanded I step in as a substitute, to marry a man considered dead, infamously known as the most stoic and ruthless prince ever when tragedy hasn’t befell him.
My heart sank, heavy and cold, as the truth settled in like poison.
Just when I was fighting against the marriage my parents arranged for me because of him. But he... he was already back with the ex who once abandoned him.
I no longer resisted, as if I had lost all my strength and means. I turned to my parents and said,
“I agree to the arranged marriage.”
