Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne

Chapter 24 He lied to her

"I fancy girls, unlike you." Prince William's words were laced with poison as he held Jack's glare.

Jack's cheeks turned red, he cleared his throat. "I suppose you would find pretty maids more important than becoming responsible enough for your own territory. It's no wonder the Alpha king doesn't trust you enough to become a leader."

Prince William's blue eyes darkened into a storm, he looked as if he were about to jump across the table and rip out Jack's throat. He slowly began to rise from his seat before someone slammed their fist down hard against the table. Doris flinched and saw the alpha king himself throw them both a murderous warning.

"That is enough. This is not the time for your pathetic arguments." King Charles spoke calmly. He never needed to raise his voice to be heard.

The room stilled when they heard the king speak. Prince William seated himself again and flicked a spec off his shoulder as if it never happened. Several people threw nervous glances at each other before their conversations cautiously started up again when the king didn't say another word.

Luna Queen glanced over her shoulder at Doris, an unkind smirk on her red lips. "Look what a mess this maid has caused. You seem to have taken all of the attention from my birthday party."

"Oh! My lady, I'm so sorry—" Doris started, Luna Queen held up her hand to silence her before she turned away.

Doris deflated a little. For a moment, she was worried Prince William and Jack were going to go at it with one another right in the middle of the party and it would've all been her fault. Somehow.

Doris hadn't really witnessed much of the royal affairs up close. Usually, she heard things second hand from Beth or other maids in passing. She knew that Prince William and Jack Anthony had never really gotten along, but she'd never heard the reason why. Perhaps they were both hot heads and couldn't seem to see eye to eye.

Melody's own glare could have scorched Doris into ash if it was fire. Doris pretended she didn't know Melody was openly glaring at her and looked down at her hands. It was a small mercy that they were in public, Melody couldn't harm her in front of all these people without someone interfering.

Doris decided it would be best to keep her head down for the rest of the party. Then, she would at least be less likely to lock eyes with another royal. There were more than enough servants attending to their every need, Doris doubted they would have even noticed Peony wasn't here. Mr. Carson most likely would have, but no one else. Perhaps she would have reason to leave soon—

"Speaking of girls..." Luna Queen said a little loudly. Doris glanced over curiously. "When are you going to find a lady for yourself, Prince Daniel?" Luna Queen asked. Prince Daniel? Doris hadn't noticed the youngest prince was in attendance today, she must have missed him when she was looking over each royal. He was one of the best warriors in the kingdom and led one of the biggest packs among the princes. He rarely stayed at the palace, Beth told her he usually only came back for events so it shouldn't have been a surprise he was here today. Doris honestly wasn't entirely sure what he looked like, she hadn't seen him up close before. He was always off with the royal military or taking classes. They had never really crossed paths before since he didn't venture near the library when she worked there.

"Ahhh... well..." The boy spoke quietly. Doris couldn't see him from where she was standing. She was about to move—

Melody appeared at Doris's side and pinched her arm so she would look at her. "What do you think you're doing here?" Melody whispered. She plastered a fake smile on her face so those that looked at her wouldn't think she was being cruel to her own lady's maid. Though, Doris was sure most of the people had already heard what Melody did to Doris, so she wondered why Melody even bothered pretending.

"I was asked to stand in for another maid." Doris clasped her hands in front of her. She refused to fake a smile to someone so awful.

"Which maid?" Melody hissed, a threat in her eyes.

"I didn't catch her name." Doris lied. She wasn't about to throw another maid under the bus and let her be mistreated by Melody like Doris had been. Even if she hardly knew Peony, nobody deserved to be on Melody's harsh end. Besides, Melody already saw Doris as a liar and a thief. Her reputation couldn't get much worse.

Melody narrowed her eyes at Doris before she quickly cleared her throat and plastered on another smile before one of the royals noticed. Doris only blinked at her. "Stay out of the way and stop interfering with the royals."

Doris nodded silently and looked down at her hands again as Melody returned to her seat. It was hopeless trying to defend herself to someone that would never see her as anything but wrong. Doris smoothed down her skirt and took a deep breath before she lifted her eyes back to the crowd. Everyone still seemed to be enjoying themselves well enough. Wine was flowing and laughter was loud. Many people kept glancing at the table of royals as if they were props or part of the entertainment. They all looked as if they couldn’t believe they were in the same room as them.

“Prince Daniel, sit up!” Luna Queen demanded. Doris glanced over to their table but couldn’t see the boy still. Luna Queen sounded more than annoyed, she rolled her eyes to the ceiling and let out a breath of irritation. “I asked when you were going to get a lady for yourself? Your brothers have already accomplished that. Surely you’ll be following their footsteps soon, hmm?”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Prince Daniel cleared his throat. “I hadn’t thought about it much.” He answered. Something about his voice was rather familiar, but Doris couldn’t exactly pin it down. Perhaps she’d heard him speak before and just didn’t remember when.

“Haven’t thought about it? You’re almost twenty years old, I’d say it’s a good time to start.” Luna Queen lifted her chin and took a sip of her wine. Doris wanted to slowly move over to catch a glimpse of Prince Daniel for herself, but there was already another server stationed by him. He must have been slouching quite a bit for her to miss him.

Doris gave up trying to see the prince and looked over at the other ones. Prince Martin had his head bent in conversation with his lady. As if he felt her eyes on him, he looked up and smiled at her. Doris smiled back kindly and bowed her head to the prince. He looked as if he wanted to say something to her, but she was too far for her to hear it. Doris was glad to see he was just as kind as she remembered him being. It'd been a while since she'd last seen him in the library, she wondered if he'd found another poetry book to write his thoughts on or if he was still fond of Moon Rising.

Doris moved her eyes over him and accidentally locked gazes with Prince William again. She held her breath as he tilted his wine glass back and took a long sip with his eyes still on her. Why was he looking at her? His gaze felt like a caress as his eyes traveled down her form, she forced her eyes away from him and stopped herself from touching the mark on her neck. He was nothing but a rotten, emotionless man that didn't care for anyone but himself. He must have been extremely drunk already, that was most likely why he wouldn't stop looking at her. She hadn't seen him since she laid bloody at his feet.

When he did nothing but confirm she wasn't worth anything to him or this palace. He didn't care what Melody did to her, he only cared that Melody act more like a lady and not punish her out in the open. Doris swallowed as she remembered the way it felt to be kicked so hard she could barely see. Her voice left her from screaming so much, her skin under her dress still had large bruises from where she kicked her the hardest. For a moment, it hurt when she realized he didn't care if she lived or died — but then reality settled back in and she remembered he wasn't worth her pain.

Doris refilled several empty glasses as they sampled some of the appetizers. Luna Queen was still trying to wring answers from Prince Daniel who only seemed to want to disappear from the conversation.

"What are you doing down there!" Luna Queen hissed at the prince. Doris glanced over to see the top of a dark head duck under the table. "You are a Prince, you should not be crawling under a table!"

"I dropped my fork!" He said, Doris tilted her head a little and tried to place where she'd heard his voice before.

When he did nothing but confirm she wasn't worth anything to him or this palace. He didn't care what Melody did to her, he only cared that Melody act more like a lady and not punish her out in the open. Doris swallowed as she remembered the way it felt to be kicked so hard she could barely see. Her voice left her from screaming so much, her skin under her dress still had large bruises from where she kicked her the hardest. For a moment, it hurt when she realized he didn't care if she lived or died—but then reality settled back in and she remembered he wasn't worth her pain.

Doris refilled several empty glasses as they sampled some of the appetizers. Luna Queen was still trying to wring answers from Prince Daniel who only seemed to want to disappear from the conversation.

"What are you doing down there!" Luna Queen hissed at the prince. Doris glanced over to see the top of a dark head duck under the table. "You are a Prince, you should not be crawling under a table!"

"I dropped my fork!" He said, Doris tilted her head a little and tried to place where she'd heard his voice before.

“They will get you a new one! Are you mad?” Luna Queen tried to keep her voice down, but several people had already turned their gazes towards the table to see what was happening. Doris pressed her lips together to keep in her laugh. She knew she would get thrown out if she laughed at the royal party, but it was so silly to see a prince acting this way. It was like he was trying to hide under the table to get out of his conversation with Luna Queen, not that she blamed him. The woman was quite intimidating.

“Get up. Now.” Luna Queen demanded. The talking lowered a little in the room, but didn’t silence completely. Slowly, Prince Daniel gripped the table and brought himself up. Doris almost dropped the wine when their gazes locked.

It was David—

David was Prince Daniel?

He lied to her.