decide to tell them all that I’ve learned from the celibates.
“So, if you keep her from her sisters, if you do not fall in love with one another, all of this could turn very bad for the entire world?”
“Essentially, yes,” I agree.
“Well, I did the right thing then,” Godiva snaps.
Growling, I lean over my desk. “What did you do, witch?” I shout.
“How have you been feeling, Your Majesty?” she asks, arching a brow.
“What did you do to me, witch?”
She smirks, obviously pleased with her craft, her spells, whatever in the gods name she’s done to me. “Naught to you, Your Highness,” she states. “But I have created a spell for your queen. A binding spell for her and her true love.”
“I do not believe in love, so you’ve wasted your time,” I spit.
Godiva smiles, it’s wide and almost catlike. “Your gut tells you otherwise, Your Highness.”
“How do I fix it?”
“Allow yourself to feel for your bride, Your Majesty. You’ll find that Queen Sybilla is worth your efforts and vulnerability.”
The witches don’t wait another moment. Together they turn around and waltz out of my chancery as if they own this castle. Sarding witches.
“Jarin,” I bellow.
My butler appears, his eyes wide as he’s unused to my sour moods. In fact, I’ve not been in a sour mood in years, usually I take it out on a woman, needing release to raise my spirits. Though, the only woman that I want is one that I do not wish to see at the moment.
“Whiskey, Jarin. Bring me an entire bottle.”
He dips his chin and a few moments later my chancery is full of my men, including sarding Merek, and we drink. A lot. All of us, even Lief and Frederick whom I instructed to lock the doors of Sybilla’s chamber from the outside so that she could not leave.
SYBILLA
I don’t sleep a wink. Somehow this is a very bad habit where Elias is concerned, me not sleeping and me feeling like absolute shit. Narrowing my eyes at the still closed and locked door, I stomp my foot.
The sun has risen, though it seems humid, which hasn’t been normal and I can almost taste the water in the air and smell the rain.
The castle is beginning to wake outside and in, and yet I’m still here stuck in this stupid fucking room. I stomp my foot again with a huff before I walk over to the tall wardrobe that holds all of my dresses and undergarments.
I don’t know how I’m going to tie the ribbons in the back of my dress by myself, but I’ll be damned if I stay in my nightgown and wait for the asshole to grace me with his presence.
Fucker.
I struggle with the dress, tying the ribbons in the back to the best of my ability, which is pretty damn awful if I do say so myself. My breasts do not feel supported at all, in fact, if I had a full-length mirror, I’m sure I would be appalled by how they look in this dress.
Reaching for the silky panties that the dressmaker included with my undergarments, I tug them up beneath my dress before I slip my feet into a pair of suede brown booties. Smoothing my hands down my pale gold dress, I wonder what is to become of me next.
Being thrust into this strange, unbelievable world wasn’t enough. I had to be tethered to some asshole king who ditches me. Now he’s back and locks me away in my room, ignoring me. Narrowing my eyes at the door, I decide that he can just go right ahead and fuck himself.
My stomach clenches as soon as I think those thoughts. Placing my hand over my belly, I let out a whimper as the pain consumes me. It’s more intense than I’ve ever felt before, it’s crippling and my knees give out beneath me, causing me to fall to the stone floor.
Closing my eyes, I take several calming breaths. I inhale through my nose, exhale out of my mouth in an attempt to ease the pain that has suddenly wracked through my body. Balling my hands into fists, I clench my teeth as I continue to breathe and eventually, the pain eases.
Slowly, I stand to my shaky legs just as the door flies open behind me. Spinning around, I come face-to-face with the man himself. Not only the King of Bunafi, but the king of dickheads. My eyes widen at the sight of him.
He’s wearing the same thing he wore