CHAPTER 85
THIRD PERSON’S POV
Emily opened her eyes and the bright rays of the morning sun almost made her blind. She quickly squinted her eyes shut, and opened them after a while. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the day, she hopped of her bed, looking around for something, or rather someone. Where could he be? He never left their chambers before she woke.
Nonetheless, she dragged her feet into the bathroom for a shower and mouth wash.
All the while she bathed, she had just one thought in mind. Him. She didn’t know how she had become so whipped by him, but by the goddess, she couldn’t help it. Whenever she was alone, the only picture that came to her mind was his face. When he smiled, how white his beautifully arranged set of teeth were, the way he looked when he paid complete attention to her. The boisterous sound of his laughter, anytime she won him in a game of chess. Emily was smitten! And for the life of her, she couldn’t understand how she went from ‘not wanting their bond’, to ‘fiercely wanting to protect what they shared, with all she had’.
She was supposed to go see her father today, after they were done with the council meeting. She knew what he wanted to discuss with her, and couldn’t even blame the poor man. He deserved an heir to his Alpha position, from her. Ever since she was little, he and her mother had never made her feel bad for being their only child, and a daughter. She knew they badly wanted a male child, but that didn’t stop them from caring for her as was supposed. When she started becoming of age, she made a promise to herself, to birth a son who would take over from her father.
But then, it seemed like the moon goddess wasn’t on her side, because the more she hoped and waited for her fated mate to show up, the more the years flew past her. She was devastated, but never let her hope die.
It could only come as a shock to her, when she attended the king’s father’s birthday alongside her parents, and found out he was her mate. Oh! She had literally cried herself to sleep that night. Her skin crawled with the thought that she was going to spend the rest of her life, catering to the sexual needs of a man almost twice her age. Now, when she looked back at the past month, she could only release a sigh of gratitude.
She was thankful that he made her stay, if not she wouldn’t have realized how wonderful he was. She had always thought he was too old for her but now, all she could think was how beautifully he aged. For his age, he was quite hot, and she couldn’t even lie about it. Xavier made her realize that there was a lot to the mate bond, than sex. All her life, she had just anticipated finding her mate, so she could birth an heir for her father. Now, being with Xavier took all of that pressure off her. She had expected he would adamantly insist to have his way with her, but he didn’t. He had only tried to kiss her once, which she actually thought felt really good. But because she was scared of her unusual reaction to his closeness, she pushed him away.
Ever since, Xavier hadn’t tried to be physically intimate with her. One would have thought that would dampen the flow of their relationship, or his kindness towards her, but surprisingly, his kindness increased immensely.
When she was with him, he actually did feel like a parent. But a parent she badly wanted to kiss and…. do a whole lot of other nasty things with. Was she normal?
Most especially, she felt threatened now that his ex wife who happened to be a very young and beautiful woman, was back in the palace. Emily tried to ignore a lot of physical contacts between her mate and his ex wife, but it was so difficult to.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she took her time applying her body lotion, and moisturizing her face and lips. Her heart began to lurch again, making her groan! This was one thing she hated about being attached to someone. She always had this helpless feeling of wanting to be around them at all times.
She wondered where he could be, and that was when she realized he was definitely at the council meeting as well.
“How long until they are done?” She muttered to herself, taking in a deep breathe and releasing it.
She turned to her bed, and that was when she noticed the flowers on the bedstand. Rushing over to pick the up, she happily sniffed in and smiled at the thought that he always gave her flowers, not his ex wife.
‘Get his ex wife outta your head! We are his mates!’ Her wolf chastised, and she let out a small frown. Her mind went back to the first day Brienne had showed up in the palace. Xavier had been clearly surprised to see her there. The way he had hugged her when she broke down in tears after narrating how her lover had been taken, made Emily feel a kind of way.
Emily actually felt sad for her, but even sadder about the fact that she was using her mate as a ‘shoulder to lean on’. Xavier didn’t seem to mind either, as he literally held the crying woman for as long as she wanted to remain in his arms. That night, he had returned to their chambers later than usual, and had just gone to bed without so much as a conversation. Emily had told herself it was nothing. Maybe he was just so tired after receiving such a news after a hectic day.
The following day hadn’t been any different, he had left for the council meeting before she could wake up, making her feel like he was just too concerned about the entire issue, because Brienne was involved.
On the day that Audrey and the supernatural officials had left for the territory boundary, Xavier had stayed back with Brienne. She understood Brienne needed the moral and emotional support, but she couldn’t help but feel the distance between she and Xavier lately. They barely had time to talk and converse like they normally would. Most of all, he hadn’t tried to be intimate with her again. She felt he had become more unconcerned about that, due to Brienne’s presence.
She particularly felt angry at herself, because she couldn’t focus on being worried about Audrey. All the while, she would find herself walking towards the balcony where Xavier and Brienne sat, stealing glances and trying to reassure herself that nothing more was happening between the two.
Now that she was looking at the tulips he had brought her this morning, she couldn’t help but reassure herself that all was fine. Atleast, that was one gesture he hadn’t stopped making since Brienne showed up at the palace.
Walking back to the vanity mirror and looking at her face, she convinced herself she was beautiful enough. And she was worthy enough. And…. she was going to try and get him to spend some time together today. After she was done seeing her father, she would go to her mate’s study and keep him company until he was done with all he had to do.
Playing chess all on her own to pass time, she eventually fell asleep. When she woke up, it was almost evening. Just then, her father’s voice filtered through her mindlink, telling her to come meet him at the palace gardens. Apparently, the meeting was over, and she was more excited to go see her mate after speaking with her father.
“Don’t worry, you’d just spend a couple of minutes with father, after which you would go and spend the whole day with Xavier.” She smiled to herself. Almost immediately, a frown replaced her smile. What if Xavier decided he was too busy for company? That could happen, right? But he had never made it seem like he was too busy for her, she reasoned. Whatever the case was, she was gonna make an effort.
Very quickly, she made her way out of their chambers, and straight to the palace gardens. Just as she got there, she was surprised to not find her father.
‘Father?’ She tried mindlinking him, but couldn’t seem to connect through. But he told her he was going to be here, right?
After waiting for some long minutes, she eventually turned and made her way back into the palace. Just as she walked past the large living area, there was Xavier, looking quite lost in whatever he had been discussing with Brienne. She wasn’t so mad, until Brienne hit his arm playfully.
He had been so focused on his ex wife, that he even failed to sniff her around. Unable to contain the sadness in her heart anymore, she ran up to the only person she felt she could actually talk to. Audrey.
On getting to Audrey’s room, she was already in a fit of tears. She stepped into the open room, and hadn’t expected to see Layla there. Layla had been quite concerned about her, but she couldn’t bring herself to not be equally mad at the daughter of the woman presently causing her sadness. Audrey seemed to have understood the situation, and excused them both to have a more private discussion at the king’s chambers.
After a few minutes of crying and explaining her predicament to Audrey, she felt a lot less heavy. Audrey hadn’t disappointed in terms of giving her the right advice, and telling her how to go about fixing things. Maybe following Audrey’s advice would really help her. She had to be bold enough to approach Xavier today.
Emily spent the rest of the evening with Audrey and Ryan’s new mate; Rosa. After a while, Layla informed them that it was time for dinner. It hadn’t been long Rosa ate, so she declined joining them for dinner. Emily also figured that the lady was trying to avoid laying eyes on her mate.
She hadn’t quite gathered the full gist, but she knew Ryan and Rosa had started off on quite a rocky terrain. She hoped that they got to straighten things out though.
Throughout dinner, Emily didn’t say a word to Xavier, still feeling somewhat angry at him. Xavier on the other hand, could feel the weird energy from his mate, and couldn’t bring himself to talk to her, for the fear that she’d only ignore him.
‘Hey’. He finally muttered through their mindlink, but just as he thought, she didn’t say a word in response.
He felt like groaning in frustration, partly because they hadn’t really had so much time for each other lately.
‘Could that be the reason she’s mad?’ His wolf asked, and Xavier really wanted to believe it. He was still actively trying to woo his mate, and such a reaction from her would only mean that he was making progress.
After they were done with dinner, he mindlinked her.
‘Would be in my study to wrap up something with Logan. Let me know if you need anything, love’.
‘Okay’. She replied, actually having in mind to follow him behind.
Xavier left the dinning room, and Emily followed behind. The moment he got to his study, he held the door open, rather than try to shut it. Looking up at her, she swallowed in embarrassment. He definitely knew she had been following him.
“Come in.” He invited, and she took slow and steady steps in. When she heard the door close behind her, she turned back to see him staring so intently at her.