Alexandria: The Lost Princess

Chapter 17 - Part 2

The door clicks shut, and my heart sinks into my stomach. Kalen stomps out into the balcony, the sheets flying across the floor with a loud thud. Groaning from guilt, I bury my face into my hands. A hand takes my elbow, guiding me over to the couch and I stumble down onto the couch.

Strong hands, pry mine from my face. Kneeling before me, he holds them tenderly, staring at me with a softness in his warm eyes. "You know they aren't an option, right?"

Shame pricks my heart, for being found, for not having the bravery to go through with the jump. Tristan is my family, my fiance and I gave up trying to get back to him. "I don't understand. Why is it so terrible that I want to be with them?" My whine rings through the quiet room.

"Chloe," he says sternly.

"No! You don't get to do this to me!"

"Calm down." Kalen squeezes my hands, and my cries fade to silence. "We can talk about this."

I nearly jump off a castle, and now he wants to talk? I'm in this godforsaken castle already! What more does he want! "Why did you marry me?" I tremble under the weight of my words, memories flowing out of me. "I heard you and Lord Albian," I whisper my confession.

"Off limits," he scolds me.

Tugging my hands out of his grasp, I snarl at him. "Don't avoid this!"

"Chloe," he sighs, sitting down on the table behind him. Our knees almost touching. "You became my property the moment I found you, a contract is only a formality. If the King wants you back, he will have to get through me." A dark glint shines in his eyes. Some type of revenge fills his voice, "One wrong step from him and you disappear forever."

"It doesn't matter! Searching for seventeen years, Kalen! That's insanity! What will stop him from searching again?"

Confidence oozes from Kalen, his hand pats my knee in reassurance. "He can try, you'll be safe in the mountains away from his reach. Thaddeus will not lay hands on you a third time."

A third time? Kalen had been there the first time, but the rest I was alone to take the damage from King Thaddeus. "You know?"

His dark aura disappears, and he lifts a brow in amusement. "I don't need to be here to watch over what is mine."

"Wilfrid," I grumble. Of course, he had told him. But how? When I was sleeping? Kalen is never here! 

"He can be an imbecile, but he is loyal, Chloe. To you and me."

"Loyalty or not, I have no choices here." How can I marry some lord and become a prisoner like my mother? "Wilfrid can't protect me from a husband. Thaddeus will force me to marry someone soon. It's not like I can just refuse to be his princess. I'm a prisoner!"

Kalen leans back, it is like he is seeing me from a new light, the way he is analyzing me with this unknown smile of his. His lip puckers with curiosity. "You wouldn't be the first person to reject their claim to the throne." He shrugs. "Refuse all you like. Don't marry another; that is your choice because of our marriage." My brows press together in confusion, and he leans forward. "But you aren't safe out there."

Frozen under his sudden dangerous words, my heart hammers to life, pounding up into my ears. How am I safe with Thaddeus here? He strokes the wrinkle in my scrunched eye away. "No matters how many years pass, your blood will always have ties to the crown. People will hunt you down, and you will never be free." I shiver, and he cups my cheek, his eyes pleading with me softly. "If you are loyal, I will ensure no one takes you from me." I gasp. He doesn't mean? Looking away from him my face burns with a blush. He chuckles, "If you decide to wed another, you only need to ask."