Chapter 32

Thorne

Thorne Blythwitch had dreamed about his mate since he was a young boy. It was hard not to when his live had been so miserable as a boy. A mother dead when he was eleven and a father who couldn’t give two shits about him. Flash forward and he was then sixteen, with no parents at all and nowhere to go.

In the times between when he was eleven and when Queen Victoria took him in at sixteen, Thorne thought a lot about his dream life. His mother and father, welcoming him into their arms. A mate by his side, preferably the one he was fated to. It was his dream.

So why had he rejected Zora when she was presented to him?

Why had he cut the bond he’d been begging for his whole life.

He was replaying the moment in his head. The words he’d said. I reject the bond.

“Idiot,” he cursed under his breath. He had been sitting outside the Auditorium for a better part of an hour after Zora shifted. He wanted to stab needles in his eyes and rewind it all back.

But he couldn’t. For multiple reasons.

Firstly, a broken bond was unrepairable. Thorne couldn’t go back to Zora. Even if he tried to make her his chosen mate, the magik of the fated mate bond was gone.

Secondly, he was betrothed to the Princess. He couldn’t have beytrayed Victoria like that. She did so much for him, dragged him out of the hellhole he was in. The prospect of the Princess was greater than Thorne’s own personal want for happiness. He couldn’t let Victoria down.

But, what would it like to be happy?

“Fucking idiot,” Thorne swore under his breath again. He ran his hand through his hair, yanking it out of the braid he’d woven into the top.

“Yo!” a voice called out.

Thorne lifted his head towards the sound. He saw a shadowy figure in a Kelly-green suit trudging through the woods behind the auditorium. He narrowed his eyes slightly and used his wolf sight to hone in on the man. He slumped down when he realized who it was.

“I’m not in the mood,” Thorne snapped. “Fuck off, Kairos.”

Kairos raised his hands in defense. “Easy killer,” he snorted. “I was sent to check on you.”

“I’m fine,” Thorne rubbed at his eyes. “Now can you please leave?”

Kairos said nothing. He sat down next to Thorne on the bench. Thorne lifted his head to glare at his friend. Kairos kept his face schooled and gaze towards the ground. He fished through his pockets and procured a cigarette. He shoved it in his mouth then snapped his fingers and the end of the cigarette lit up.

“You shouldn’t use magiks for something so trivial,” Thorne scolded in a know-it-all way.

“And you shouldn’t break a mate bond,” Kairos mumbled around the cigarette. He pulled on it then blew it out of his shoulder. He shrugged.

“But here we are,”

“You know why I did it,” Thorne said softly.

“I don’t actually,” Kairos leaned back on the log. “So, if you’d care to enlighten me.”

Thorne dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Victoria has done everything for me,” he dropped his hands into his lap and glanced at his friend. “Everything, Kairos. When my father died in combat, she was the first one to offer to take me in. She got me into Alpha Academy, despite the fact I am not a High Alpha or even from the families of Knights. She did it all. I cannot let her down by not allowing the Princess a chance at my hand.”

Kairos nodded slowly, reveling in the silence. He took another drag of his cigarette before holding it in his lungs and speaking.

“She could take my hand, you know,”

Thorne sailed his fist into Kairos’s shoulder, causing Kairos to choke on the smoke in his lungs. Then, he burst into laughter. He punched Thorne back. Thorne sat on the log and dropped his head into his hands again.

“Not fucking helping,” Thorne spat.

“But it’s true,” Kairos went on. “There are four of us that the Queen picked for this mysterious princess. You, me, Max and fucking douche-bag Lunerly. Twenty-five percent chance that one of us gets her.”

“Yeah,” Thorne mumbled. “Great.”

“Your chance at happiness shouldn’t be twenty-five percent,” Kairos continued. “Probably less than that. What if this Princess is a mega bitch?”

Thorne chuckled slightly at that. He nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” he said. He turned to look at Kairos. “You would’ve been okay if it was the wolfless girl?”

Kairos’s lip twitched. He took another drag on his cigarette. “If she made you happy, yes. If she was truly, honestly, your fated mate? Absolutely,” Kairos shook his head. “Something about her is up though. It wouldn’t surprise me if she somehow awoke some dark magik to curse you as her fated mate.”

“I don’t think a wolfless could do that,” Thorne mused. “Especially one as fragile as her. Though,” he paused and cocked his head in thought. “I suppose she isn’t a wolfless anymore.”

Kairos licked the front of his lips. He sat in silence for a moment before pulling on his cigarette. He finished it then flicked the filter off into the dirt.

“She’s still weak,” he bit out. “And there’s no room for weakness at Alpha Academy.”

“What else can you do?” Thorne asked. “You’ve already beaten the shit out of her. If that won’t keep her down then what will?”

“Dunno,” Kairos mumbled. “But I know she’s harboring some big secret. And it’s not that she’s your fated mate.”

“She couldn’t have known,” Thorne added, brows knit. “No one ever knows who their fated mate is. Unless there’s signs but I’ve avoided her like the plague.”

Kairos shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He shoved his brown fringe off his face then sighed before standing. He brushed off the front of his pants. Thorne stayed sat. He eyed his friend suspiciously.

“No mate for you?” he asked.

“No,” Kairos said quickly. “Nothing. Not even a thrum.”

Thorne hummed. He could sense his friend was lying. But Thorne knew better than to poke the bear that was Kairos Moonraiser. He figured, when the time was right, Kairos would tell him whatever it was that was bothering him.

Kairos looked down at Thorne and extended a hand. Thorne took it and hoisted himself up. He stood and let Kairos clap him on the shoulders.

“You looking to party?” Kairos said.

“Please,” Thorne said. Kairos laughed and swung his arm around his friend.

“Maybe get some leggy blonde to get the redhead out of your head, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Thorne agreed.

Later that night, a leggy blonde had herself perched in Thorne lap. She held a glass of whiskey on her lap and was feeding it to Thorne at an alarming rate. Still, Thorne was stuck with thoughts of Zora.

The way she looked when he broke the bond replayed again and again in his head. No matter how drunk he was, he couldn’t get rid of her. Every time he closed his eyes, he was met with her hazel-gold gaze and her cries of pain.

It was stained behind his eyelids like a plague.