A Romance Sort of Thing

Chapter 17: Two Princesses

My palms were sweating, my heart was beating so hard it felt that it would pound right out of my chest. Beads of sweat formed on the side of my temples. I avoided my gaze from Zayden and his fiancé. I tried to focus all my attention on Ryuu as I followed him up to the King and Queen.

Ryuu bowed, "Your Royal Highness, Your Majesty."

Fuck. I didn't know how to react; do I bow too?  I was standing there dumbfounded hiding behind Ryuu, wishing I could somehow become invisible. My whole body was trembling, I felt that I was going to collapse at any second as my head felt heavy and everything started spinning slightly.

"Ryuu Hayashi," I heard the King acknowledge him, "I am assuming that the one standing behind you is Princess Lillith, as I requested?" My heartbeat picked up, he had pointed out that I was standing behind Ryuu, which was probably seen as rude to them. Shit.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Ryuu turned to face me, "it's okay Lillith, there's nothing to fear" he whispered to me.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward so that I was standing beside Ryuu. My wolf, boasted with pride, making me feel much calmer. I bowed the way Ryuu did, except I did it much less gracefully and much more awkwardly. I glanced up at the King, he was a scrawny man of average height, dark brown eyes, and his age showed. Wrinkles defined his face and his hair was a mixture of black and gray.

"Your Majesty," I tried to keep my voice level and confident. I didn't want to give Zayden the satisfaction of seeing how much he pained me or the fact the King and Queen terrified me.

A slight smile rested on the Kings face, "you can call me King Aiden, and my wife, is Queen Aya," he gestured over at her proudly. She gave a satisfied smile. Her age showed too but her hair remained with color, black, long and wavy. She was petite and very gorgeous, even in her older age. I noticed she had a much darker skin tone than the King, which was probably why Zayden had such a perfect skin tone. My wolf grimaced at the thought while I tried my best to look confident.

"Zayden had informed us your training was going exceptionally well, what do you think?" King Aiden asked. I stiffened slightly at the thought of our training.

"I feel like I learned a ton and everything has gone well," I replied shortly, unsure of how to answer.

"Very good," King Aiden said with satisfaction. "We are going to have Ryuu continue combat training with you since Zayden will be busy with many preparations. Zayden will, however, with any spare time he gets, train you for royalty duties," he finished.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I had to fight the nauseous feeling. I saw Zayden stiffen at his father's words.

"Of course," I said as confidently as I could but my voice shook slightly. It didn't pass the King's notice though as he looked at me with a slight surprise.

"Unless you prefer Ryuu to train you in Royalty as well? He's perfectly capable of doing so," King Aiden suggested.

"Actually, I would prefer Ryuu to train me," I said, noticing Zayden stiffened even more and stared at me intensely.

I avoided his gaze, he didn't deserve my attention. "If that is okay with you, of course," I glanced over at Ryuu, unsure if he was willing to do that. He grabbed my hand gently as he bowed down, kissing the top of my hand.

"Anything for you, Princess Lillith," he smiled warmly as he let go.

Instinctively, I glanced over at Zayden and quickly looked away. Zayden eyes were like piercing daggers aimed at Ryuu. His hands were clenched at his sides so tightly that his knuckles were white. He was jealous of Ryuu, yet it seemed like he didn't care for me at all. Or he was greedy. The thought angered me, especially since my sweet cat liked him so much. He deserved any pain he felt if it even compared to how he hurt me. He knows how much it hurts us, my wolf whimpered, he still rejected us.

"Very well then. Ryuu may train for both. I do want you at the ceremony tomorrow, Princess Lillith, everyone must come especially anyone of royalty," the King spoke gracefully, ignoring any tension he had noticed. He cleared his throat, "also, you must know you are welcome to come to see us anytime, we are here if you need anything," he said politely.

"Thank you, Your Majesty" I replied with a smile I was faking, it made my cheeks ache.

"I would also like for you and Jessie to spend some time together. She will soon be a princess and I think it will help both of you adjust to how royalty works," he gestured towards the blonde woman. My breath caught in my throat as I gulped, why? Out of all people it had to be her.

My body felt as if it froze in place. Everything King Aiden just said was nothing I wanted to do or be a part of. Maybe we can chew on Jessie's neck my wolf growled. I heard everyone shifting their weight a little in the room like something made them uncomfortable. I realized they could hear her growl because her noises came from me. I felt slightly embarrassed as my cheeks heated up slightly. No, I told her, I refuse to let us be with someone who treats us poorly and cheats. 

"Yes, Your Majesty," was the only thing I could say as I kept down the anger I felt at my core.

Audience:

**How do you think Lillith is going to handle the ceremony?

**How do you think Lillith and Jessie will get along?

Enjoy my lovelies!

xoxo