Marked As His: The Curse Mark (Book 2)

Royalty

I didn't know much about the hierarchy within these forests, but I did happen to recall hearing rumors about a princess being stripped of her crown. Could it have been this girl?

I quickly released my grip on her and bowed, "my apologies your highness." I awkwardly said, not knowing what else to do.

First, she was silent- then, she laughed.

"You're the first person in a long time to actually treat me like royalty," she said with a smirk, then she stuck out her hand and I helped her up, "my names Jade-" she said with a relaxed smile.

"Why are you wandering around these forests?" I asked her.

"You tell me first," she replied.

She seemed to have a those quick responses to everything I said, it was as as if she couldn't trust anyone.

"Well- I'm Claire, I ran away from my mate's pack. They despise of me... I caused a lot of their friends and family members to die, I can't face them anymore."

"I see... well, I've been out here for a while. My parents were both murdered by a prince of low status who forcibly married me, I caught him planning to stage my 'accidental' death. I had to escape in order to live, but now I live without my title of queen."

We both stared at each other in shock and began to chuckle at how casually and easily we were able to tell one another such personal information.

"It seems like we both haven't had anyone to talk to in a while, huh?" She jokingly said- but she wasn't wrong.

I made an immediate connection with her, she seemed a lot like me. Stripped of a lot of things from her life, then aimlessly wandering around, feeling like there's no place where she actually belongs.

"Here," I handed her my backpack, "there's not much in here, but you should change into some of my need extra clothing. I also have a pocketknife so I guess we think the same." I smiled at her.

She was reluctant to take my bag at first, but after moments of short hesitation, she grabbed it with a "thank you."

She was just about my height, maybe a little taller. Her hair ran all the way down past her back and had a mesmerizing red color that stained it. Her hair was voluminous and scruffy, but somehow remained soft and sleek. Her face was pure, her eyes were gentle and her overall appearance was just beautiful.

Jade stuck with me for the rest of the day or rather, I stuck with her.

We must've been walking and talking for at least five hours before I realized that I'd never shared so much information with another person in my life. She was so easy to trust and she had a presence unlike any other person I'd ever met. She was a natural leader and had nothing but good judgement towards my words. Some of the great qualities a queen should have.

When night fell, we took a break to rest for the night. But even then, we didn't sleep. We just spoke.

"I've been thinking about what you've been telling me all this time about the war your dad waged, your mate and his pack." Jade spoke, "you keep telling me that they hate you or that they can't forgive you, but you've never given any exact examples of who said those words. Is it a feeling that they hate you? Is a hunch or is it the truth? Your mate also sounds like a huge sweetheart, I would die if any man ever spoke those words to me. I also notice that when you speak of 'your pack,' you never state that it is yours, you only state that it is 'your mates pack', so do you truly feel like their leader? Do you feel like they belong to you?"

I was shocked by the truth within her words. When I first met Jade, I took her as an immature girl with a bad attitude but she's so much more than that. She was full of so much thought behind her words, she was so well spoken and asked me questions that would make me question my own thoughts.

It was actually really, really nice.