The Devils Bargain

Chapter 37

I told Keial I was staying, but... I haven't seen him since that night.

Now that I was mated to Keial, I knew he was no longer inside the palace, anywhere near the Forgotten Valley or the surrounding forest.

He had disappeared, and nobody could tell me where he was.

This was frustrating, the least he could have done was to tell me where he was going.

After everything I said, it still felt like I knew nothing about him, what he did, where he went, and what he thought.

I was supposed to be his mate, but I still felt like an outsider.

"Felix?" A soft voice made me snap out of my thoughts, and turn around.

"It was you." Her gentle smile lit up her face, as I watched her come over to me.

Zeri.

I stood up and looked behind her, then around, to see if she was alone, and from the look on her face, I knew that she was.

If Gregor were with her, he'd be glaring at me.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked, looking up at me curiously. "And alone?"

I scratch the back of my neck and then shrug, not really wanting to get into the brutal details of my still complicated relationship with her brother, the King... who is now my mate.

"Just taking a break." I smiled back at her.

"What are you doing here alone, where's commander Gregor?" I asked her, and immediately watched as her face turned sour and then back to normal.

"Hmmm." She hummed, trying to hide her obvious emotions.

"Well... the last time I saw him he was by the fountain, so who knows where he is by now?" She cheekily said, with her hands behind her back and her big innocent eyes staring back at me.

Ah, so she ran away from him again... go figure, if I was her, I would too.

He must be going crazy, trying to find her.

"He must be quite exhausting to be around." I laughed and she nodded her head and then patted her poofy dress.

"Only when my brot- the King isn't here." She mumbled.

"I... he's just protective, I don't have many friends here... or none at all." She smiled weakly, as her eyes met mine.

"You're kind of my only friend, and perhaps the only one who wants to be my friend within these walls."

The way Zeri spoke made my heart clench, and it wasn't from the way her voice sounded broken, but the way the light went from her eyes like she really believed that.

I didn't believe that nobody wanted to be friends with Zeri, she was beautiful, and kind, not to mention she was probably the most selfless woman I'd ever met.

"Well, it's the same for me too." I hinted for her to follow me as I started walking back.

"What do you mean? Is my brot-" She stops herself, and blushes. "The King is also protective of you?"

I couldn't help but snort as I shook my head.

Keial, protective? Maybe in his sick way but I don't think Keial is anything like Gregor, at least not that I have noticed.

"I don't know him well enough to think so... we... we rarely talk." I force out, as my jaw clenches.

"I don't even know where he is right now, isn't that hilarious? I'm his mate but I don't know anything." I laughed bitterly, hating that I hated myself for caring.