Hekate’s Bride

I’m angry.

I don’t think I have ever been this mad in my entire life. I have held it in, fuming for the entirety of the night. It only increased when I tried to sleep to somehow find a way to talk to Hekate.

I had spent hours with my eyes shut, screaming into the darkness that was my mind, but he hadn’t come.

I’d thought of it as a dream, but he had really marked me, and now, my body is shifting.

The flashes, the rage, the red haze, my hormones being haywire, my body getting softer, bigger, my colour becoming surreal, and my skin having the stupid glow that they do–I’m turning into a fucking Lycan!

Sitting through classes, being unable to concentrate is a pain in my ass and as soon as the bell is rung, I am heading back to the Star Hall, where I know His Stupid Highness is going to be.

Well, he isn’t there for once with his betrothed.

It just makes me madder and I know if I checked, there is smoke coming out of my ears.

I find him a moment later. In the cafeteria. I stand by the door watching him smile charmingly at the lunch lady as she piles his plate with food.

I watch him snake his arm around Ginevra’s shoulder, pulling her closer to him. I watch her place a kiss on his cheek lovingly and her eyes go dreamy like–

My vision turns red, and before I know it, I am making a beeline for them, shoving whoever is in my way out of the way.

I am causing a ruckus as I move but I don’t care. He doesn’t get to be happy when he’s ruined my life. How can I rule after my father when I’m turning into a lycan? How can I find ever find a mate when I’ve been marked and my life is changing to fit around that of a man who’s rejected me after putting his stupid mark on me?!

Ginevra turns upon hearing the gasps as I storm in their direction and she inserts herself between me and Rune, opening her cherry stained lips to speak to me.

I shove her aside with half a thought. I would be startled by the strength in my arms but I’m too angry to care.

Rune’s full eyebrows pull together in a frown that shows his disdain and absolute disapproval and if I even had any previous thoughts of speaking to him like a civilized princess would, it goes up in smoke.

I swing my fist and it connects with his nose. The sharp crack of breaking bones renders the cafeteria quiet; renders my world completely still, leaving just me and him in it.

His slender fingers rise to his nose and his green eyes drop to his blood stained finger. His dark green gaze snaps to mine and his lips draw back from his teeth in a feral snarl. “You do NOT–”

My hands are moving again and my fist lands on his cheek this time, snapping his head back. “Stupid rotten cunt!”

I say a lot more horrible words mother would never be proud off and I scream bloody murder as I try and try to hurt him. Over and over again. He isn’t fighting back. He doesn’t need to. I am being held back by arms that drag me farther away from him.

It doesn’t stop me from screaming out my frustration.

I end up in Vesper’s office and I don’t think I can talk my way out of punishment this time.

He’s been getting on and off calls, most of which I suspect is Rune’s father, judging from the way his shoulders slump and he takes on a pose of submission. His face only grows tighter and tighter with fury and even my wolf hearing that’s becoming sharper can’t pick up on what it is being said.

My fingers massage my bloody knuckles as I await him and I release deep breaths, shutting my eyes.

What was I thinking?

Well, I know what I was thinking but no one else does. They don’t understand. Won’t understand a single thing I’m going through.

Chancellor Vesper drops the phone with a thud, startling even me, and I start, raising my gaze to meet his.

He isn’t looking at me. Instead, his hand moves tightly and his fingers circle around a black stamp that he raises and hits on a scroll.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

“Sign that,” he says, extending it to me and my heart slows when I see what’s written on it.

SUSPENDED.

“Suspension?! Why–”

He slams his hand on the table and I flinch. “Do not ask me questions, Blackwood. You brought this upon yourself. I am beyond happy to have you taken off my hands. Put your thumb on that and get out of my office. Now.”

I suck in my lower lip, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry, alright? You don’t understand–”

“I do not care what your reasons are. More than half the students here have it worse than you do. Nothing of which you would know anything about since you are more interested in pummelling them than relating with them. It goes without saying that harming even a hair on the head of a royal has consequences not even you can escape from. The prince. Heir to the throne. The King wants you out of the premises for a fortnight. He has deemed you harmful and wishes you to reflect upon your actions away from the rest of the students.”

“Two weeks and–where am I supposed to reflect upon my actions? Are there dungeons here or what?” I ask, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. See? I knew Rune’s father didn’t like me.

I grip the pin by the edge of the scroll and my thumb, wincing a little at the sharp sting. I press the blood welling on my finger against the scroll before it heals over.

“You will be called upon when the portal is ready for use, by dusk.”

My eyebrows narrow. “I’m going home?”

Who knew all I had to do to leave this hellhole was beat up their golden prince? It would seem like an enticing idea if getting expelled didn’t also mean losing access to school. Classes, tests, exercises and the merits for attendance. Two weeks without them?

Perhaps, that is the Lycan King’s aim. Getting me out school completely.

I withdraw my finger and steal a sharp glance at Vesper. He’s mad, I can tell. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. I tell him so and he ignores me, waving dismissively. “Turn in your devices before you leave.”

“Sorry,” I whisper as I rise from my seat.

He glances up then. “We do not raise rabid animals here, and we do not take kindly to students who cannot keep their emotions in check. The schools were built to raise cultured men and women who will lead the realms to a brighter future without the threat of the Void and the Hekate, not harbor people who act just like him,” Vesper says and his eyes soften a little when I shift uncomfortably. “I do hope when you return, it will be for the better.”

I don’t tell him that his priced prince is Hekate.

Truth be told, only Goddess knows how that happened.

So I crack him a grin of mischief instead and say, “Try not to get her pregnant before then.”

He blinks.

Then his face turns ashen upon realization. Yeah. The nurse. His lips twitch and I speed out the door before he can decide to hurl the Goddess’s figurine on the table at my head.