Blood Legacy (Rewritten)

77. Rightful heir to the throne

"Is she still mad at you?" I tilted my head to the side as I stared back at him, taking slow steps backwards as he advanced towards me.
He'd finally taken me out of that damned room after what happened with my sister and offered himself to give me a tour around the house -or at least some parts of it since it was actually a giant castle- in a sweet attempt to take my mind off of things. And to be completely honest, it was actually working.

"Huh?" His brows furrowed, visibly lost.

"Your mom, is she still mad at you for taking a bite out of me?" I couldn't stop that short and stifled laugh as he narrowed his gaze at me, blowing out a sigh before he lightly shook his head.

"She'll get over it,"

I nodded and turned back around, noticing we'd just entered a very large study room. And this one, just like many others rooms I've seen so far was decorated with classical and expensive-looking furniture, set into a brown and dark red tone.
There was a massive and beautiful desk positioned in front of a large window, its leather chair back-facing it. Rows upon rows of books adorned the wall next to it, stacking a vast library.

Did any of them actually read all these?

I smirked to myself, about to ask him when my gaze lastly fell on the opposite wall.

I couldn't choke that stunned gasp that escaped me as I stared at that incredibly large painting hanging right above the fireplace, finding myself looking at a guy that looked almost exactly like Nathan.

There were very few and barely noticeable differences in their features, the only one glaringly obvious being his eyes. They were of a very dark brown shade, that color reminding me of Nathan's father. He was very handsome and visibly built underneath that black suit too, his expression rather cold and almost menacing as he seemed to stare right back at me.

"That's Darius, my older brother," I startled at the sound of Nathan speaking from right next to me, my head snapping to the side and upwards to look at him.

"And the rightful heir to the throne," he added with a humourless and rather tormented smile, that certain sentence however bringing a thousand questions within me.

"What? B-but-"

"Yes, that was supposed to be your husband,"

What?!?

"Well, he would've been if he wouldn't have found his true soulmate or died in the first place,"

"And if you didn't turn out to be mine, of course," he turned his head to peer down at me, offering me a smile that didn't exactly reach his eyes.

"Whah...But...H-he looks so much like you!" I mindlessly blurted out after a moment, too stunned by what I was seeing and hearing.

He was supposed to be my husband? This guy? I was supposed to marry Nathan's brother initially?

"Wait until you see Clarissa," he said, making my brows furrow.

"Who?"

"Clarissa. That was the name of his soulmate. Who is also dead," he explained, walking to the massive desk before he opened a drawer and pulled out what looked like a photo of someone.

"I'm...sorry..." I quietly said, timidly approaching him.
"It's okay. It happened a long time ago anyway," he shrugged and turned the photo so he could show it to me, my eyes widening and my jaw falling to the floor as soon as I took a look at the girl in it.

"S-she kinda looks like me! This girl looks like me!" I shrieked, entirely freaked-out. She and I shared very similar traits, such as the shape of our eyes, faces and lips, the few visible differences consisting in the colour of our eyes -she had dark green eyes whereas mine were blue and her hair was rather wavy and of a darker shade whilst mine was of a light brown hue and very straight- but other than that we looked basically the same.

"Holy sh- This is so fucked up! I think I have some questions I need to ask my dad!"

He lightly chuckled,
"She wasn't related to you. She didn't even have anything to do with your family. Or your clan,"

"She was actually human," his expression turned sad again as he himself took a look at the photo, gently placing it on the desk.
"And the very reason why I didn't want to have anything to do with you at first,"

My brows furrowed again upon hearing that, feeling that twinge of hurt mixing with my curiosity as I remembered the callous way he treated me at the beginning. And now I was finally about to find out the reason behind it.

"She...He found her when they were still teenagers. He went on a business trip with dad and he stumbled upon her in that city by chance,"

"He fell in love with her at the very first sight. He told me one day that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and that his wolf was desperate to have her next to him. It drove him crazy. He'd barely known her and yet he'd already started to feel that tether, that incredibly strong pull to her. He felt like he couldn't stay away from her, no matter how hard he tried at first so he decided to pursue her and bring her home, even though he knew that he was already betrothed to you,"

"Hell, you were just a kid at the time, just like me," he added with a mild shake of his head before taking a seat on the leathered chair, coaxing me to follow and take a seat in his lap as he'd already had his hand on my hip.

"He had to wait until your eighteenth birthday so that he could marry you anyway but because he'd found her, that didn't matter to him anymore," his arm snuck around my waist, gently squeezing me against him before he continued speaking.

"I think it never did actually. He never cared about duty or what our family wanted. He just wanted to be happy and because he'd had the incredible luck of finding his mate he made her fall in love with him and he brought her home to be with her,"

"I don't think I've ever told you before but destined soulmates are actually kinda rare to us, Carina," his gaze found my own as he turned his head to look at me, making me see that raw emotion glinting in his beautiful green eyes.
"Not every wolf has the fortune of finding their one true soulmate. We were actually very lucky, David, Estefany and I to find you girls. There are very few in our family who have their true soulmates by their sides," he gently grabbed my hand, giving it a soft kiss as he continued to peer at me, offering me a smile that made my heart flutter.

Wow. I actually didn't know that.

"Even so, our father and mother didn't exactly agree at first, insisting that he had to perform his duty and marry you so that he could ascend as king. But since he seemed to be so happy with her they eventually caved and let him be, knowing that they had a spare heir anyway," his expression turned a little sour after those words, visibly affected. He didn't like the fact that they just threw that burden on him, just so that his brother could be happy. At least that I could tell.
Damn. There were so many things that started to make sense now. But not all of them. So with a quiet and timid voice I tentatively asked that one simple question that's been nagging at me ever since he told me that they were gone.

"But...how did they die?"

He didn't say anything at first, offering me a rather sad and dejected smile before he let his head hang forward, lightly shaking it.

"He..." his adam apple bobbed as he thickly swallowed, holding his head hanging low.

But the moment he raised his chin again, allowing me to see those tears brimming in his red-rimmed eyes my heart sunk, feeling so fucking stupid for ever asking that.

Shit. I'm such a fucking idiot.

It was glaringly obvious that he was still hurting for the loss of his brother. Very much so. And I've just reminded him of all that pain by asking that simple and yet so stupid question.

"He killed her. His own mate. The love of his life," he choked on a sob, that frightening revelation actually making a cold shiver crawl up my spine as I stared back at him, so violently shocked.