Not My Mate (On Hold)

Chapter 2

--> An annoyed Caden (When he's talking to his parents.

Riley's POV

I let out a deep sigh in relief as I threw myself down onto my bed. Every muscle in my body was aching and my feet were hurting. Even keeping my eyes open was a struggle. I was glad my work was done for the day. I was absolutely run-down. I wouldn't be surprised if I did twice as much work than most times.

This noon I had been scrubbing the hallway floor for over an hour before Elise, my friend, stopped me, claiming that if I kept scrubbing any longer, I would abrade the tiles.

I just wasn't mentally there today, my head kept wandering off to Caden. I couldn't shake off the thoughts about what is going to happen in 2 days.

I sat up in my bed, staring at the baby blue clock on my desk. It wouldn't be long before my mom came home from work as well. We worked the same job, only is she responsible for a different wing in the castle.

My dad was, beside his duty-bound borderpatrols, a palace guard, he had promised to be home early tonight.

He wanted to discuss what will happen on the day of my birthday. Hopefully he has a solution or a least an idea to delay being discovered.

'Like they can do anything about it. It's going to happen someday Riley.' Rue stated.

'I know you want to be with our mate but it simply can't happen.' I snapped back.

'He'll find us, I'm sure of it, you should just give in, it would save everyone a lot of trouble.' She stubbornly replied, or was I the stubborn one?

'We'll be a disappointment to him. I won't let myself be a burden to him or the kingdom.' I added with a sigh, 'it doesn't matter anyway, he already hates us.'

'Why's that?' Rue questioned.

'We ran from him, we hid from him for 4 years and all that time he has put so much effort in finding us, he'll hate us for what we did.' I pointed out. After that I tuned her out, not able to take any more of her nagging.

Dear God! Sarah, I forgot I had to pick her up today after work. She's my 5 year old sister. When she was little my parents couldn't afford a day-care so a family friend offered to help out back than and it became a habit.

Sarah always stays with Cleva after school. She's amazing, she used to babysit me as well when I was younger.

Quickly grabbing my worn-out shoes and slipping them onto my swollen feet, I locked the door behind me before hurrying my way to Cleva's place. It wasn't that far, with a steady pace it only took 5 minutes to get there.

"Riley! It is always a pleasure to see you." Cleva smiled widely, showing of her pearly white teeth when she saw me, hurrying through the door.

"I'm happy to see you are well Cleva." I chuckled.

"How have you been lately? I haven't seen you these last couple of weeks." She queried while offering me a cup of hot, steaming tea.

"Had some busy days." I replied, too tired to chitchat. "How are you?"

"I'm fine darling, getting old though." She chuckled, wrinkles showing by her eyes. I held in my breath, I knew what was coming next.

"So you're turning 18 in a few days, so I've heard." She smiled brightly. There it was. I cringed at the thought, I had really hoped she wouldn't bring up the subject. But I knew it was inevitable. Most people were ecstatic to turn 18. It meant finding your mate.