All I could feel now was rage. Rage for the witch queen. I scanned the crowd with my eyes, burning daggers at whoever my eyes met.
Lana saw me panicking as she tried to hold my hand to keep me calm. “Are you alright? You don’t look okay.”
I gritted my teeth, cursing so loud that a few other witches turned their heads toward me. Curious gazes landed on me, thinking how I must have gone insane.
At this point, Lana was so scared of me that she hesitantly backed away as her voice trembled. “Your Highness? What is the matter?”
I snapped my head at Lana. “The matter? Lana, it seems that the queen is mocking me.”
She gasped. “What?”
I pointed at the stage, where Ace was looking toward the front with a straight face on, not even noticing me.
Did he even come here for me? If he was not noticing my scent, ignoring my mind link, then what did he come here for?
I felt that there was something more to this. I had to know.
In an instant, my feet dragged me into the front, going for Ace and bumping past others. I received angry yells and complaints for my rude behavior but I didn't care. Right now, all my attention was on Ace and I had a few million questions.
Not seeing him for a long time was too much for me and I felt like letting my tears out.
However, just when I managed to get nearer, a few other guards caught up to me and cast a spell on me.
I stumbled on my feet and fell flat on my face. I felt like I broke my nose as I heard a few bones cracking, but I didn’t care. All I feel right now was rage for the queen. I knew she had been scheming. Prepared this for me to get on my nerves! That bitch!
“Fuck you, Queen!” I yelled, knowing that would be the best way to grab her attention. That damn coward! I needed to see her now!
“Who is this human?” asked the few guards. “Woman, you are not allowed here, you seem to be lost.” The guards tied a few strings on me, pinning me to the ground as if I were a criminal.
A few gasps were heard from the crowd, along with some panicked expressions. “What? How come a human was let inside?”
“Oh, my goodness! What are you doing guards? Imprison her!”
I suddenly felt hands and heard a scream from the far back. “Wait a minute, guys! She is not an enemy!” I knew it was Lana coming to defend me.
At this commotion, I glanced at Ace, who happened to hear it and I kept my gaze on him until he could feel me as our eyes eventually met.
I smiled at him. “Ace!”
But, imagine the horror on my face when he didn't even blink at me. His eyes just trailed on me for a split second before he went on and dueled with the others.
“Alright, the game is about to start!” A loud horn was played and Ace started attacking all the other werewolves, like some crazy animals.
All were fighting for their lives.
If this was the witches’ kind of entertainment, then I didn’t even want to be one.
Especially seeing my beloved mate fighting for his life and not even recognizing me.
“Kira!” Suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice in my head and I knew it was the queen.
“You bitch, what did you do Ace?” I yelled. I struggled against the rope of the guards but their spell was too strong for me to break.
“How are you doing sweetheart? Have you seen my gift for you?” asked the queen through my mind. On the outside, it seemed that everyone continued on with their lives as they watched how Ace and all the other werewolves fought to the death.
I was still tied to the ground and couldn't move. I could see that Lana was trying to negotiate with the guards to release me. She must not have realized what was going on.
I gnawed on my teeth. “Come down here bitch and I’ll burn you alive.”
My threats didn’t even faze her. Instead, she was laughing at me in my head. It was too irritating for me to stomach. I wanted her out of my head.
“I made him my war slave,” the queen responded, and it irked me to watch Ace in front of me. I couldn't fathom how he couldn’t recognize my face.
“How did you get him here?” I asked, trying to buy some time. I could feel my hand burning, and I wanted to burn the rope tied around me so I could go to Ace.
“I didn’t, he willingly came to my territory and I welcomed him with open arms.” Damn it. So Ace was really coming to save me. Except he came alone.
“And I forgot to mention to you, he won’t know you.”
I scoffed at that. “Whatever spell you put on him, fuck you. I’ll get back at you, bitch.”
I’ll prove to that damn bitch that no little spell can make Ace forget me. I knew he was just pretending. He wouldn’t just forget me like that.
He had a strong mentality and will. He could break through whatever the damn spell. As soon as I felt the rope loosened and the guards distracted with Lana’s speech, I instantly sprinted to the front and got closer to Ace. I almost got squashed by the other warriors on stage and I grabbed Ace by his face.
He looked at me with confusion.
“Ace, it’s me, please, remember me, it’s Kira.” I tried to muster a strong voice, but my voice broke.
I grabbed his hand, but he pushed it away. I felt my heart breaking into two pieces as he had never refused my touch before.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Leave this damn stage, woman, or you’ll get killed.” I fell to my knees, feeling defeated.
“Ace, you can’t forget me. No,” I mumbled.
I had expected that he would instantly hug me... he would embrace me and never let me go.
This was the opposite.
I chuckled, feeling like the world had collapsed into me. I burst into laughter, bitter at everything as I looked at the crowd.
Well, well, well, if things were going to be like this...
“Uhm, Excuse me, woman, please leave the stage imme- diately, you are putting your life in danger there. Guards!” he emcee yelled in panic. The guards came to pick me up. I smirked at them, and looked at the sky, knowing that the queen was watching.
“Leave her to me! This is under the queen’s orders!” Lana yelled in a commanding voice and the guards instantly with- drew their hands from me.
“Take care of your pet, Lana.” They glared at me and walked away. The crowd was giving me looks and mumbling now, and Lana was about to come to me when I did the unthinkable.
I grabbed the emcee’s microphone and started to say to the crowd, “Everyone, I have an announcement to make, I am the late Queen Selyse’s daughter.”
I waited for the crowd’s response, but all I received was silence.
Until I could hear laughter while the others were throwing garbage at me. Water bottles, some scraps, some stones, and some unknown things that I didn’t know the name of.
“Leave us, women!”
“Stop that nonsense, pig!”
“Is she crazy?”
“No way would that damn bitch of a queen leave a child, she's rotting in hell!”
Their shouts of insults were heard and echoed across the whole stadium, but I stood high. I looked at each of their
faces, their disgust and hatred toward me. Some believed me, some thought I was crazy and threw things at me.
I saw that they clearly hated my mother for what she did to them, abandoning them for a human and me.
I could feel my ears ringing and I heard the queen laughing in my head. “Ah, honey, you think they'll love you? You're wrong. They hate the queen. There's a reason why I kept you a secret here. You should have kept it that way— now look at you.”
Lana instantly came to my side and grabbed the micro- phone from me. “She’s just joking everyone, please forgive her.”
Once again, I was escorted out by the guards, but not before glancing at Ace on the stage to see if he cared, to see if he had by any chance a reaction.
But I only saw him staring blankly at me, emotionless.
Lana grabbed her cloak and threw it on my head as she grabbed my arms tightly, squeezing through the crowd who were shouting at us.
“You’re lucky I was able to stop the guards... what was wrong up there?” Lana mumbled.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she said when I couldn't reply. “You can’t live in the kingdom peacefully if you're sabotaging your reputation like that.”
As soon as we were out of the crowd and at the fields, I faced her. “I thought I was the rightful heir. Then I should have the throne now. And what better way to start than to tell them I am here?’
“It's complicated. The citizens are still not healed from the past, the queen wanted to slowly introduce you to the public,’’ she tried to explain but I scoffed.
“That’s bullshit.”
 She crossed her arms in front. “Why do you hate the queen so much? She did everything for us.”
“Because she’s a damn bitch,” I snapped.
Lana’s eyes widened, not expecting to hear that from me so she looked around. Checking if someone heard us.
She then mumbled, “You know you could get sent to the dungeons for saying that, please be careful with your mouth,”
I rolled my eyes, having to be kept in the dungeons is the last thing I was worrying about right now.
Seeing Ace standing on that stage seemed to awaken something inside me. Rage. And will.
I had to get us both out of here.
Both Ace and I were being held hostage. And the longer Ace was gone from his pack, the more the others would panic and trail behind him—they would for sure come after him.
Especially Beta Markus. I just had to put my faith in him.
For now, I had to redevise my plan on how to keep us alive here. I looked at Lana and patted her on the back. “Oh Lana, the queen did really keep everything a secret from you except to take care of me here.”
“Why, yes. That's my job as I swore to the Late Queen Selyse to protect you.”
I blinked at her, and her mouth seemed to have said some- thing she shouldn’t have said as she gulped.
“What was that, Lana?”