Rejected Luna Of The Cursed Alpha

They Cannot Erase The Fact

"Some trees are really noisy," he stated, looking directly at me with his eyes.

I gazed at him, confused.

"The wind makes them noisy, just saying, since you said you prefer trees, you've been listening to the trees."

“I have had nobody else to talk to.” My words escaped before I could even stop them.

Only then did I realize that he was smiling at me until his smile disappeared.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean..." Apologies automatically followed.

"You don't have to." He cut in on me before I could finish my apology.

I looked at him for a brief moment before I hurriedly turned my head away from him. There was silence for some seconds while we listened to the sounds of the festival being held.

"I never thought kings wandered alone like that," I murmured after some time.

"Neither did I expect strangers to ask questions to kings."

"In that case, we are both wrong."

Another smile appeared, this time a little bit smaller than the previous one. “Maybe.”

“Speaking about strangers, you never asked for my name.”

“Yes, James told me your name."

"Well, you never did tell me yours."

"Draven," he said.

"Suits you," I replied shortly.

"Yours suits you better."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "So... is that why everyone looks like that when they see you?"

His face took on an unreadable expression. "They show respect."

I leveled a look at him. "They are afraid of you."

He gave me an odd look. "You noticed?"

"It was hard not to."

"I have never intimidated them before."

"No," I replied, raising an eyebrow. "You think they should?"

"I believe..." He frowned as if trying to formulate the right words. "People do not fear a person because he says so." His eyes bore into mine. "They fear a person because they understand that they have a reason."

"And do you think people have a reason to fear you?"

He did not reply at once but turned his gaze past me onto the lanterns. "Sometimes," he whispered, "they transform what they do not understand into monsters."

My eyebrows shot up. "Do you mean that they do not understand you?"

"I mean..." He let the sentence trail off. "That they prefer being afraid of the unknown rather than understanding it."

Somehow, I felt the burden of the thought sink into my stomach. I examined him anew. Not the immaculately dressed, golden-clad, and jewelry-wearing king that I was accustomed to seeing in the capital city.

This king wore dark clothes, a pair of gloves on his belt, and shoes worn from wear. There was an unassuming air around this king, as if he did not feel that it was proper for him to wear any differently.

"You keep looking at me."

I was startled out of my thoughts by the voice. "I was not," I protested.

"Were you not?"

"I was...observing," I corrected.

He raised an eyebrow.

“There is a difference," I said.

“Yes.”

“You seem... I was about to say you do not look like what I thought you looked like.”

“And what did you think I looked like?” he queried.

I grinned sheepishly. “I do not think that I should say it.”

“You have begun already.”

“I thought that you would be…” I studied him again and shook my head again, “…much older.”

It was this time the king’s turn to be surprised. “Much older?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Why?”

"No idea why, either," I giggled softly. "Maybe it is because everyone speaks about you as if you were a thousand years old.”

He laughed, not with laughter but rather with an almost-laugh that I oddly found satisfying. "You appear disappointed."

"I'm relieved."

"Relieved?"

"I've already met a frightening king before."

Silence followed as the words hung in the air before his reply. "Your husband."

His words were not a question but nevertheless, I nodded before clarifying, "My former husband."

No words of assurance nor comfort did he offer me but rather only said softly, "Do you miss him?"

I looked at him with an open mouth. "I don't know," I replied softly.

"This is not an easy question to ask."

I opened my mouth but no words formed. It would have been clear enough.

Not for him.

Awhile passed before I shook my head. "I miss who I thought he was."

The wind rustled the leaves above us.

With much thought, he spoke, "There's a difference."

I looked at him.

His eyes were not upon me but were staring up at the moon. Oddly enough, it was as if he could see right through me.

Perhaps it was the way that he said it, the loneliness in his voice, his body language, something that had been asleep for eons.

And all of a sudden, without reason, I was overcome by an overwhelming loneliness.

It was not like the agony of being rejected by Kael, nor was it like the sadness of the Luna presentation ceremony. No, this was something altogether different, something that I almost longed for.

For this was not the sadness that I sought after.

It was this overwhelming urge to clench my fists, to clutch at something, anything.

I frowned at myself and pressed my hand into my chest.

It was not my own emotion that filled me.

I recognized this through some strange kind of instinct.

But then again, I immediately realized why I was feeling this way.

I frowned and stared at Draven, who was still gazing at the moon. Perhaps it was his gaze, or his loneliness in his voice, in the way he hung his shoulders, but there was something about him that resonated within me.

Perhaps it was because he had been lonely his entire life.

Maybe that was why he spoke the next part with so much gravity, with so much solemn comprehension. “There is a difference between what you were and what you are,” he said in soft tones.

I looked at him, really looked at him.

He wasn’t looking at the moon anymore but at me.

His next words, spoken with quiet certainty, shocked me with their foreignness. “They may take your child away from you, but they cannot erase the fact that he is yours."

They may take your child away from you, but they cannot erase the fact that he is yours.

No one had ever said that to me before.

But it was the truth.

It was as accurate as a statement could be, but it did make me feel better.