Chapter 1 The mate who refused me

“Oh my! You look so beautiful, lady Greta!" Aria, my maid and best friend smiles softly as she weaves the last ornament into my hair. 

"You are going to be a bride soon, you must be so excited.“ Another maid says.

Their faces are beaming with joy, and maybe mine should be too. 

Yet, I'd be betraying my family and everything I stand for if I were to smile. 

Afterall, I am getting married to a monster.

“We're almost done, just a little fix and you'll be ready to meet your… husband. “ The third attendant informs, irritation and mockery obvious in her tone.

I have been the luckiest of all slaves captured after the great war.

Most were sold off, killed or made to face a worst fate. 

But my case is different, I had been assigned maids and taught how to be a good woman, trophy, wife. 

The maid's hostility is understandable. 

I nod, sitting there like the doll Nyx has taught me to be. The air smells like petals and perfumes, the dark walls of the room seem to be closing on me, as if refusing to let me go after two years of keeping me captive.

And I can't be more glad to leave this prison, even if it means I would be thrown in another. 

" It's all done." Aria announces after a minute. “You should check yourself in the mirror." She helps me up and leads me to the mirror. 

The sight before me catches me off guard despite my bitter judgement. No dress has ever complimented my silver-blue hair as much as the sky blue dress I have on.

The way it flows down my waist like the ripples of water, the collar is a v shape that reveals the ocean wave mark on my collarbone, the sleeve is long and broad.

I look ethereal… surreal, just like my marriage.

My hair is braided back in the princess style I once used to love when mama braids it for me. At the thought of her, tears fill my eyes. 

How i wish she was here. 

“Where is she?" Nyx's voice breaks me out of my trance. I blink away my tears, letting my eyes rake over my room. From the blue queen sized bed I had spent countless times crying on, to the window I sit by and read. 

Everything seems perfectly arranged for a doll. 

Maybe I'll miss it, maybe not. 

“She's all dressed, Lady Nyx." Aria replies.

"Then get her out here.“ Her blazing green eyes appears at the door, then her whole body appears, lovely green dress that hugs her curve, and that dark hair I have always been jealous of.

At least no one calls her a siren.

"What are you doing standing there? The ceremony has begun.“ She announces, making my heart thump against my rib cage as I walk towards her.

She leads me out of the room. " Remember, six months. That's how long you have, kill the Demon lord or lose your head .“ She repeats the instructions King Larkin had told me two months ago.

I remember how hard I shook when I stood before him in his throne room, unable to see past my feet as he told me to kill his own brother. 

How ironic.

They've ruined so many people yet they want each other dead. My brothers were always each other's keepers.

Never betraying each other and always having my back.

My mind goes blank when we stop at the front of a large door that I know leads to the beginning of my new hell.

Nyx stops, so do I, fingers digging in my hand, she speaks. “Do not fail the King, or your family will be killed in front of you, right after which I will kill you myself, slowly, painfully, till you beg for your death." 

Her soft words send a shiver down my spine.

“Yes, Lady Nyx.“ I whisper, not looking her in the eyes like I had been taught.

I can feel her burning gaze on my skin during the few minutes of silence which the soft sound of violin from the ball room fills, then she tugs me forwards.

Shoulders squared, breath heavy, eyes lowered, I enter the hall. The whole place quietenes, I can feel different eyes on me, from the kings councilor to the members of the high society, to the servants.

Everyone whispers of the siren.

Ena growls inside me, I can feel her clawing at my chest to let her out. 

But I can't. 

Not only because the moment Nyx and King Larkin knows I am not the Omega I was presumed to be, my family will lose their head, but also because I have never shifted before.

The gazes on me are heavy, judgmental and filed with scorn.

Perhaps, if the Demon Lord wasn't my husband to be, a slave like me wouldn't even have the chance to stand in front of these people.

If it weren't for Nyx's cold hand wraps around my arm, I would have turned on my heels and walked out the door.

Golden chandelier shines brightly above me as I finally reach the last step and climb the altar.

Normally, my husband should be here now but he isn't.

A sharp slap to my face, but I can only swallow the lump in my throat and wish he comes.

The crowd begins murmuring, as a few minutes later, my husband to be still isn't present. Neither is the king, my eye keeps straying to the large door.

He has to come, or I will lose everyone that matters to me.

I meet Nyx's eyes and she smirks, forest green orb mocking. “Cursed bitch." I hear her mutter and my heart sinks further, it's like he's not going to com-

The door of the large hall is bursted open, making everyone snap their gaze to the entrance, the air turns unbreathable, suffocating.

A large figure appears in what seems to be casual clothes, his booths are dirty, and if I didn't look into his eyes, I would think he's an angel who ended up in the wrong place during a stroll. 

The moment my eyes collides with stormy silver eyes, I still, Ena, my wolf growls from within.

And i knew my life will never be the same.

The large aisle that separates doesn't stop his intoxicating rain and thunder scent from rushing through my nose and clouding my judgement.

Because, walking towards me in deliberate steps as if he doesn't have a care in the world, is my mate.

Roderick Aloysius.

Prince of the Lark Kingdom.

“The demon Lord." Someone from the crowd screams and I hear gasps as a body flops to the floor.

Not one or two.

Both men and women faint as if they had just been shocked by lightning.

But I don't care about that, nor the rumours planting him as his parents killer or the instructions I had been given.

All I care about are those stormy silver eyes that are fixed on my sky blue orbs.

My breath hitches, and I can barely breathe as he finally reaches the step that leads to the altar.

His eyes flickers, glowing white when he gets closer, but instead of claiming me like I expect, My mate turns to Nyx. “Is this the girl my brother choose for me?" 

His rough voice sends ripples of excitement through me, until his words click in my head and my heart constricted, feeling like it's being squeezed by an invisible hand.

“Y-yes my Lord." She bows slightly.

The Demon lord finally looks at me, eyes raking over me with lips downturned. “I will not marry her." He announces and my body jerks backward in shock.