‘I will not…eek. Will you cut it out?’ He got another scolding before she headed into the closet to get dressed for the day. I guess the fairy was in attendance because she’d chosen a flowing dress that reached well below her knees. “Come on little birdie, let’s go find you something to eat.” Not this shit again!
Natalia
What on earth happened to me in the night? I looked at the atrocity on my neck after running out of the bathroom upon seeing it the first time and returning again to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me. That it wasn’t some trick of the early morning light that was now easing its way through the French windows that lined one whole wall of the bathroom.
I got a strange feeling in the pit of my tummy as I ran my fingertips gently over the mark. It felt like molten heat had travelled from the deepest part of me to that secret place between my thighs and I grew breathless-twitchy. To the point where I had to squeeze my thighs together to help ease the ache.
My mind drifted on its own until I got a quick flash of him, my tormentor, and pulled away from the mirror with a loud gasp. I looked around half expecting to find him standing there behind me, watching. My skin felt flushed, my nipples hardened and tingled in a way they never have before and for a split second I felt like I were drowning.
Why was the memory of him so strong this morning? Why can I feel him, as if he were here? The bruise on my neck throbbed in an odd way and I felt his presence even stronger when I ran my fingertip gingerly over it once more. I pulled my hand away with a hissing sound and stared at it in wonder.
It stuck out like a beacon that drew the eye against my otherwise unblemished skin, something I’ve never liked and have gone to great lengths to avoid. No sunspots for me.
So why am I so fascinated by it? Almost as if I can’t bear to look away. I looked at it one last time trying earnestly to recall what I might’ve done to bring it about. If I didn’t know better I’d swear it was a love mark, something a passionate lover might share with his beloved.
But I don’t have one of those and the only man around here is Patrick…. Again I saw a quick vision of that enigmatic captivating face. But he didn’t look the way he did that night when he held me against the tree. Instead he looked…softer, gentler, as if in a dream. I scoffed at my fanciful thinking. Sure; the Crown Prince and future ruler of the immortal world has a soft side.
As if just the thought of him opened up a hidden door in my mind, I relived every moment I’d spent with him that night, which wasn’t much. But even as I thought of those fleeting moments something else tickled the at edges of my mind. I started to reach out for the memory whatever it was but the thing on my neck felt as if someone had suddenly held a burning candle against my soft sensitive skin.
Whatever is the matter with me? I’ve been feeling odd ever since I awakened this morning come to think of it. And there’s a strange feeling here that has never been before, or at least, not that I’d ever noticed. A kind of presence in the air that was just out of my reach.
It’s not a bad feeling, not threatening in the basic sense, but still I feel more than a little bit unsettled by it. Ah, yes, it’s that time, how could I have forgotten? Maybe that’s why I’m so out of sorts, why my body’s acting like it has a mind of its own. And why I seem to be mooning over that rascal in my mind.
Better not run into him again, not for the next few days anyway. My nymph doesn’t seem to have any resistance to his seething charm and she’s already imagining things; wild things. I still haven’t been able to contact my parents to verify if what Patrick said is true. And because just the mere mention of him and anything to do with imprinting makes my sisters nervous I’ve steered away from it, though I know it’s silly to do that. To think that by just ignoring it that it’ll go away.
Annalise is right, I don’t have to succumb to his advances I can walk away. And the thought of what happened between my ancestor and his is more than enough of an incentive to send me running hard in the opposite direction. I’ll have some aftereffects of course, but nothing compared to what had befallen her.
Though even as I had the thought, something, some hidden part of me rebelled against it. It’s as if a part of me had already accepted, had already given into the inevitable. He hadn’t seemed that dangerous had he? And I already knew I felt some kind of attraction to him, why else would I allow him to take such liberties?
But this would change my whole life, and there’s no escaping the fact that we’re so entirely different. I’ve done some digging on my own and know that it’s never been done, not before or after the debacle from the past.
There’s no point in asking why, why now? Why me? why us? I’m very well aware that these things are out of both our hands. But he’s the crown prince, the one who’s set to rule. And though there’s been a schism between his people and mine all these years, the sky clan is still ruler over all.
I guess I can look at it the same way one would an arranged marriage. Something my parents had decided on without any input from me. But the truth is they wouldn’t have chosen him for me, not in a million years. And that brought me back full circle to the problem at hand.
If someone else, anyone else, had imprinted on me, it wouldn’t have been so big of a deal. Most mates go on to have happy lives together. Once the female accepts her mate their love and devotion to one another is pretty much set in stone.
Very rarely has someone refused an imprinted mate but the times that it’s happened, the rejected party has ended up living an abominable existence, some have even died strangely enough. Meanwhile the rejecter doesn’t get off scotch free.
Sure he or she can go on with their life, but they’ll never have a true mate and from what I remember will never live a full and complete life. So these are my choices: Be torn to shreds by the vampyre prince in the heat of passion, or live a life of loneliness and misery. Some choice.
As my mind went to what-ifs I recalled vividly the feel of his hands on me. I could even smell his scent, as if he were here now. Could hear the timbre of his voice as he called my name. Wait, when did he call my name like that? I wracked my brain for the memory of that night but couldn’t recall him saying my name the way I heard it now in my head.
I too knew his name but have not had the courage to utter it beyond the safe confines of my mind. Of course I knew it, we all do and that’s another reason this all seems so unbelievable. If I were to mate with the future ruler of the immortal world shouldn’t there be more fanfare?
Shouldn’t my parents and aunts be here to prepare, or trying to hide me away somewhere? Their absence both confirmed and posed lots of unanswered questions for me. On the one hand if it’s true that the one who imprinted on me is Crown Prince Lucien Star, then no one would be allowed to interfere.
And on the other, because of that dark past that looms between our clans, shouldn’t my parents be here now, protecting me? Instead they’d gone statically quiet when they never have before. I can’t imagine that they’re afraid of repercussions, especially not my dad; but their glaring absence is something else to worry about.
But what if I reject him, come to think of it, with him being who he is, can I even? Wouldn’t that mean sudden death anyway? And what about the rest of my clan? Will they be eliminated if I refuse the future ruler of our people?