Arranged | Jinkook ✓

Chapter 1.0

It was ridiculous.

This whole thing was ridiculous. Antiquiated and obsurd and honestly he wanted nothing to do with it. But his mother had been prattling on about it for actual weeks now, and no amount of convincing, no amount of sad, pathetic doe eyes was going to get her to reconsider.

It was tradition.

And how would it look if he didn't follow it? Him, next in line to inherit the throne. Prince, titled and crowned, going against centuries and dozens of ancesters that apparently knew so much better than he did.

He didn't care.

Because he didn't want this. Didn't want to participate in some trite ritual that was meant to find him his future mate. But it was that or allow his parents to chose for him, and he would be damned if he allowed that to be taken away him too.

...

"Excited for tonight?" No, of course he wasn't. Because he would be entering one way and leaving another and that thought alone was enough to make him panic. "I saw some of them arriving earlier. I gotta say, your parents really out did themselves finding you suitable canidates."

"How can you talk about it like that?" Like it was so simple. Like it was picking out what he wanted for breakfast.

"Probably because it's not actually happening to me." Which, okay, that probably did make sense. Being granted an outside perspective probably did make things look pretty different.

"What if I don't like any of them?" It was a natural fear. After all, his field of choice was relatively narrow.

"Considering your mom hand picked them? I doubt it." All of them have been hand selected personally by his mother. And that should have made him feel better. Only -

"Yeah? And look at how well she knows me." Which was not at all.

"So, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this." He wasn't. Had been sworn to secrecy. But what could the harm honestly be now? "But it's possible that one of them is going to be Jimin."

"Very funny, Tae." The three of them had once been so close. Best friends. Always together. Inseparable to a fault. Until Jimin's father has passed and his mother found another mate.

And that wouldn't have been a problem. If it hadn't been someone from another coven. They didn't allow outsiders into their mix. Hadn't for centuries. And so that had been the end. Three young boys watching in horror as they were ripped apart, unable to reach each other for literal years.

But why would Jimin be one of the candidates being offered to him? Because that was tradition too. That he was supposed to sire his mate. And Jimin -

"I'm serious, Kook."

"Jimin can't be my mate. He's already one of us." And he couldn't see them changing that rule either. Certainly not for him.

"Look, I'm just passing on what I was told. I guess we'll know soon enough if it was right." Because there were only hours left now. No longer could he count down the days and take comfort in how many were remaining. Because it was only hours now. Minutes.

And he was counting everyone.

...

It was law that all who remained unmated in the village report themselves to partake in the process. Normally, there would be some preference attached to that request. But he had none. And so it doubled the work load for all those involved.

There had been nearly two hundred. Nearly a fourth of them had been too old. And a fourth of the remaining had been too young. There were some right on the cusp, but most of them were thrown back to the metaphorical wolves.