Lycan King's Forbidden Obsession

The rival gift pt 1

Serena's pov

I was walking back to my room after another supervised walk through the halls, with my mind still full of the image of Alejandro breaking that guard's arm, when I heard voices coming from the throne room.

The doors were open, which was unusual, and torchlight spilled out into the corridor like liquid gold, painting the stone floor in shades of orange and red.

I should have kept walking. I should have gone back to my room and closed the door and pressed my back against the headboard and pretended I had not heard anything. That was what survival looked like. Keep your head down, make yourself small, and do not invite trouble. But something pulled me forward, something that felt like curiosity and fear and that quiet part of me that had been waking up ever since I arrived at this frozen castle.

I stopped in the doorway and looked inside.

The throne room was crowded with nobles, more than I had ever seen gathered in one place. Their golden eyes glowed in the firelight like a constellation of stars, and their whispers bounced off the stone walls and the high ceilings, filling the space with a sound like the buzzing of flies. They were gathered around the center of the room, where Felipe stood beside a woman I had never seen before.

She was beautiful. There was no other word for it. She was tall and slender, with long dark hair that fell in waves down her back and golden eyes that sparkled like gemstones. Her dress was made of silk, deep green like the forests of the southern territories, and jewels hung from her ears, her throat, and her fingers, catching the light and scattering it in tiny rainbows across the floor. She moved like water, graceful and fluid, and when she smiled, her teeth were white, straight, and perfect.

She was everything I was not. Noble where I was nothing, beautiful where I was plain, and Lycan where I was human. And Felipe had brought her here like a prize, like a weapon, and like a message meant for me.

"Presenting Lady Veronica of House Valdris," Felipe announced, his voice echoing off the high ceilings and filling every corner of the room. "A gift for our king. A proper mate. Not a broken human."

The nobles murmured their approval. I saw heads nodding and eyes gleaming and smiles spreading across faces that had looked at me with nothing but contempt since the day I arrived. They had never wanted me here. They had never accepted me as the king's mate. And now Felipe was giving them an alternative, someone they could support, someone who belonged.

Alejandro sat on his throne, his golden eyes fixed on the woman before him. His face was unreadable, a mask of stone and shadow, but I saw his hands tighten on the arms of the throne, and I saw the muscles in his jaw clench and release. He did not look at Felipe. He did not look at the nobles. He looked only at Lady Veronica, and I could not tell if he was considering her or dismissing her or something else entirely.

Lady Veronica curtsied, low and graceful, and when she rose, her golden eyes met Alejandro's without fear. "My king," she said, and her voice was like honey, warm and sweet and perfectly pitched. "I am honored to be in your presence. My family has served the crown for generations, and I would be humbled to serve you as well."

The room was silent. Everyone was watching the king, waiting for his response, waiting to see what he would do with this gift that Felipe had so carefully chosen. I could feel the tension in the air, thick and heavy, like the moment before a storm breaks.

I should have left. I should have turned around and walked away and hidden in my room until it was all over. But my feet would not move, and my eyes would not look away, and I stood there in the doorway like a fool, watching the king consider another woman.

Alejandro looked at Lady Veronica for a long moment. His golden eyes moved over her face, her dress, the jewels at her throat, and the curve of her smile. He looked at her the way a hunter looks at prey, assessing, calculating, and deciding.

Then he looked at me.

Our eyes met across the crowded room, and I felt my heart stop. The distance between us seemed to disappear, and for a moment, it was just the two of us, with no nobles, no Felipe, and no beautiful woman in a green silk dress. His gaze was intense and burning, and I saw something like certainty in his eyes.

He was not looking at me because he was confused or afraid or uncertain. He was looking at me because he had already made up his mind.

"No," he said.

The word echoed off the stone walls, loud and final, and the murmuring stopped. The nobles stared at their king, their faces frozen in surprise, their mouths hanging open like fish pulled from water.