Chapter 94

Things are…tense in my room all afternoon.

Anton and I sit on the couch for most of it, passively watching TV, not speaking much. The show we watch is a pretty funny one – a familiar old slapstick sitcom. But neither of us laugh. When the hour grows late and it’s time for me to get changed, Anton is very helpful in his perspective on what I should wear, but he doesn’t joke with me at all.

No, instead he simply helps me pick out a cute outfit, and then walks with me out onto the terrace to have a little glass of wine while we wait for Orion or Nic to appear and whisk us away.

The silence fucking rings between us as Anton leans against the terrace balustrade, staring out into the darkness.

Finally, I break. Unable to take it anymore I reach for him on the terrace, grabbing for the fabric of his shirt even though my hand passes right through. “Anton,” I say, my voice tight and squeaky. “Please talk to me.”

He sighs, turning to me, his eyes rich with emotion, though I can’t name which. “What could I even say, June?”

“Tony,” I whisper, stepping close, trying again and failing to touch him. So I drop my hands to my sides and settle for just staring up at him, desperate for some hint, some piece of him that he’s clearly tucking away. “What’s wrong? Do you not want us to go? Why are you so quiet?”

I watch as he clenches his teeth and swallows before reaching out to brush his fingers over my hair. “You’re a Queen, June. What I want doesn’t really matter here – you’ve got to do what’s right for you.”

I huff out a laugh at that ridiculous statement. “I’m not a Queen, Tony –“

“You are though,” he says, giving a half-hearted shrug. “Queen in spirit, queen in…prophecy. What the fuck am I supposed to do about it?”

“Do you…want to do something about it?” I continue to stare up at him, unblinking, desperate to know.

Orion suddenly appears next to us and Anton and I both turn towards him, wordless.

The Prince sets his shoulders and glances between us, frowning slightly, before turning his eyes just to me. “Juniper,” he says, giving a sharp, formal bow. “You look lovely. As usual.”

“Thanks?” I say, anxiously tucking my hair back behind my ears.

God, why is this so weird?

Orion clears his throat and offers his arm to me, bent at the elbow. I step awkwardly forward and wrap my hand around it, looking up at his gorgeous face, his eyes trained only on me. But I can’t help glancing back at my ghost as Orion vanishes us away, wanting Anton close – always close.

When I blink again the landscape has changed but Anton is still there, nodding to me, letting me know that he’s not going anywhere. I smile a little, assured, and turn my head back to Orion –

But before I can fix my eyes back on the Prince, they alight on another figure already standing there in the beautiful candle-lit grove.

A very cute, very perky, very…blonde figure.

My canines immediately extend, a growl crawling up my throat as I narrow my eyes at Beatrice.

“Hi,” she says, either not noticing or ignoring my threat as she pops a hand up and gives a wave to all of us, bending to the side to peek around me at her gods damned mate. “It’s nice to see you! I’m excited!”

My growl deepens and Orion tightens his arm, pulling me slightly closer to him. “I thought it would be nice,” he says slow and quiet. “For Anton to have a little company tonight while you and I had dinner. Besides, if these two are mates, it will be nice for them to have a little alone time.”

“Hey, Anton!” Beatrice says, a little too sweet and cute for my damned preferences. She giggles – giggles! – her shoulders creeping up around her ears as she gives an adorable little shrug.

“Hi, Beatrice,” Anton says, looking down at me as he walks by Orion and me to take his place at Beatrice’s side. Anton smirks when his eyes alight on my sharp little fangs, pressing into my lower lip.

I only bare my teeth more as I see the two of them standing next to each other, my eyes darting between them. God, but they look like crap together. Anton – he’s way too tall and handsome and lovely and blue for stupid ugly Beatrice.

My wolf nips me a bit inside, even as she growls, because my mother didn’t raise me to be a liar.

Beatrice – who I inwardly, begrudgingly admit does look very pretty - beams up at Tony, her hands clasped beneath her chin. A growl raises in my throat.

Do it, my wolf urges, standing tense in my soul, her head low and her teeth bared. Bite her, bring her death on swift wings – let’s watch her life run red down her chest – shift into me, we will kill and rip and –

“You good, June?”

I stand up straight and press my lips down over my fangs as I whip my head up to stare up at Orion who looks at me in wonder, his expression…honestly a little freaked out.

“Yup,” I lisp around my fangs. “I’m…good.”

“Cool,” he says, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb. “We’re over here. You two have a good time,” he calls to Anton and Beatrice, putting an arm around my shoulders and turning me with him.

A little whine slips from me as I look back over Orion’s arm to where Anton stands, looking stoic next to the pretty little blonde who continues to beam up at him. The girl who claims she is his mate.

His fucking mate.

God, I suddenly wish I had been raised by much less moral and loving parents.

Because it would be so much easier to just kill her right now.

Instead I turn away, scowling as I do.

Orion looks down at Juniper as they walk across the magnificent terrace, wondering…well, if she even sees any of the things he set up for this date – the flowers and the candles and the view. It’s gorgeous up here – this clifftop escape that his father had created for his mother when she first moved here so that she could overlook his domain.

But Juniper – she just…scowls. And looks miserable.

Orion clears his throat, not really knowing what to do. “Would you like a drink, June?” he asks, falling back on his manners as they arrive at the little table that’s set up for them.

“Yes,” she grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. “I want six.”

Orion laughs a little, shaking his head as he pulls out her chair. Juniper sits and he calls up two glasses of the red wine she introduced him to – he likes that, quite a bit – and settles in the chair across from her. “Six? I’d have thought that with everything that went on last night you’d be a little turned off alcohol.”

She flashes her teeth at him, her eyes narrowed, but Orion smirks when he sees that her fangs have retracted – that her threat is more metaphorical than actual now.

“Yeah, well,” Juniper says, leaning against the table and picking up her glass, taking a long swig. “I may die tomorrow, so…may as well drink up now.”

Orion sighs, leaning back against his chair, his head dropping a little. “You’re not going to die tomorrow, June.”

“How do you know that?” she murmurs, taking another long sip of her drink.

“Because,” Orion says, giving a half shrug. “You’re my mate. You survive until the end. It’s fated.”

She goes still, her wineglass perched on her lips, and Orion blinks in surprise at this response.

“Wait, did something happen?” Juniper whispers, eyes wide. “Did – did your wolf feel a bond?”

“A bond?”

“Yes, Orion, a bond!” she snaps, leaning forward to glare at him. “How do you know that I’m your mate!?”

“Because of the prophecy, June!” he says, leaning forward to stare at her. “You know as well as I do – it’s been very clear! You fit all the bills – way more than any of the other girls! You’re marked as the future Queen of the Underworld – you’re my mate!”

She stares at him and then exhales a huge sigh of…

God, is that relief?

Her head hangs back on her neck and her eyes drift shut as she returns her wine glass to the table and then presses her palms flat against the tablecloth.

“God, Orion,” she murmurs. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“Juniper,” he sighs, “at the best of times I don’t understand you. But why, at all, would that be frightening?”

“Because,” she says with a groan, lifting her head and shaking it at him. “I thought you were saying that your wolf said something. That you knew that I was your mate – that it was more than prophecy.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Does it need to be more than prophecy?”

“Well, kind of!” she says, her teeth pressed together. “There is a confirmation of the mating bond in my world, Orion! People feel it – it’s undeniable! It’s not just a bunch of old men in a library tower making declarations and reading old books!”

“It’s more than just old books, June,” Orion says, crossing his arms and glaring, just a little, at his intended bride.

“Look, ‘Ri,” she says, reaching out a hand, clearly not wishing to offend. “I’m sorry – I don’t mean to dismiss the prophecy. But this isn’t precisely…stunningly romantic, is it? You and me becoming a couple – getting married, even - just because some prophecies pushed us together like two dolls, making us kiss? I mean, are you even into me?”

Orion blinks at her, surprised. “You’re beautiful, June. Of course I’m into you.”

“’Rion,” she sighs, leaning forward and shaking her head. “If the past two days have taught me anything, it’s that this kind of commitment should be so much deeper than just thinking someone is pretty. All the girls in this competition are pretty. I’m asking if you’re like…in love with me. On a deep level. Or even if you feel like you could fall in love with me.”

“Does that even matter?” Orion asks, anger starting to brew in his chest. God, why is she being so frustrating, when this is so obviously what’s happening? “There’s more to this than romance, Juniper – there’s a damn world at stake –“

“I know,” she whispers, interrupting, nodding as she holds his gaze. “But Orion, if it’s your mate? It should be more than attraction.”

Orion goes still for a moment wondering…why the hell Juniper is talking like this. Because it honestly sounds like she’s trying to talk him out of this. Trying to persuade him that they’re not mates – that she doesn’t want to get married, be his Queen.

Which is…god, as smug as it sounds, is a prospect he never even considered before.

“Wait,” Orion snaps, leaning forward to study Princess Juniper Sinclair. “Are you…are you even into me?”

Juniper stills for a moment, and her eyes flick once – just once – to the left. Back in the direction that they came.

Back to where the other two – Anton and Beatrice – are having their own little date at their own little table, not twenty feet away.

And Orion goes still. Because even if it was only a flickering glance?

It tells him everything he needs to know.