Page 2 of War of Her Heart

When it was time for our family’s weekly dinner with the Sovereign and his family that week, I tried to fake a headache, but my father didn’t believe me and made me go anyway. I couldn’t bear the thought of looking at Calum after what had happened, but I didn’t have a choice.

Of course, I had to sit in my usual seat right next to him, but I avoided looking in his direction until he said something I couldn’t ignore. “Father, do you think the arranged marriage thing is something that I really have to do?”

I choked on my drink at his words. I gasped for air while everyone at the table gave me a mix of concerned and disgusted looks, then I quickly quieted myself and brought my attention to the napkin in my lap.

“Son, we’ve talked about this,” his father said, sounding almost remorseful. “It’s a tradition that must be followed. Something like that is not up for discussion. I wasn’t given a choice. I had to marry your mother.”

“Wow, thanks for that,” Celine said with a bite to her words.

“Oh, Celine. You know that I fell in love with you.” Thank the gods I was looking down so they didn’t see my eyes nearly roll in the back of my head at his response.

“But Father, what if I’m already in love?”

Fuck me, I thought.Here it goes.

“Calum, what are you talking about? The only person you’re ever around is Vi—” He stopped mid-sentence when he looked down to see that Calum grabbed my hand and set it on the table with his covering it.

“You little bitch!” Celine screamed at me as she jumped out of her chair.

“Celine! Sit down and shut up,” the Sovereign commanded his wife. He had always been a very calm and collected man, but I had never seen him look so angry.

I turned to my father to see the fear in his eyes. Fear of what would happen to me for putting myself in this position.

My father had always thought he had to protect me because of my heart condition. He called me his little bird. He’d always done everything in his power to ensure I was safe, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to protect me from this.

He couldn’t protect me from Celine.

She was the worst type of creature you could ever imagine. Beauty that acted as a mask for the evil that was inside of her. Her beauty was exotic in the realm filled with brown haired, brown eyed fae. She had porcelain skin with crystal-blue eyes and long hair as white as the snow that fell on the mountaintops during winter. But what made her horrible was how her insides contradicted her outsides. She was hateful, vengeful, and power hungry. She would put on a show for the Sovereign, though. If he was around, she would act like a helpless deer and always made sure she was never at fault for anything that happened.

She didn’t care about her son’s happiness. He was just a pawn that she could control and use to her advantage.

She had been planning his arranged marriage since the day he was born. She wanted to make sure his future wife came from whichever realm that she could gain the most from.

If I was in the picture, it would ruin everything for her.

“This ends immediately. You two may hate me for this but it’s for your own good. The longer this goes on, the worse it will hurt because no matter how you feel, Calum will be marrying someone else,” Calum’s father said as he got up and left the room.

My father looked at me with such worry in his eyes. I know he wanted to stay—to ensure I was safe from the evil that shot daggers in my direction—but his duty was to our Sovereign, and he had to be with him. My father quickly walked after the Sovereign to catch up with him.

After Celine made sure her husband was out of hearing distance, she got up from her chair and walked straight over to me. She bent over so she was right in my face and said, “How dare you. We let you move in with the Commander as a courtesy and you repay us by doing this? Corrupting my son? I will make you pay for this, you little whore.”

“Mother, stop,” Calum whispered. I looked over to him to see him looking at his plate. He was strong and confident in everything he did except for anything that had to do with his mother.

She was in control. Always.

Celine stood up, smoothed her dress, and walked out of the room. I was hurt that Calum couldn’t take up for me more than he did, but I knew my place.

The Sovereign’s order didn’t stop us from being together. We just continued to sneak around and spend every night together.

After a while, we got less inconspicuous about our relationship. I know that Calum’s father knew we were still together, but he never said anything. He was a good man, and he knew that we were happy. If there had been a way out of an arranged marriage for Calum, he would’ve found it. All he ever wanted was for Calum to be happy—unlike Calum’s mother who never showed her son love.

If I could’ve chosen which one of Calum’s parents would’ve died fighting a Reacher, I would’ve pushed Celine into the Reacher’s den myself.

It’d been three years since Calum’s father died, but it felt like yesterday. His death tore my father to pieces. He was sworn toprotect him in duty, and he was also his best friend. He couldn’t have prevented what happened that day, but he still blamed himself. It didn’t help that Calum’s mother blamed my father too.

Calum, on the other hand, hadn’t shown any emotion. Anytime I’d tried to talk to him about it, he changed the subject. It’s like showing emotion would make him weak. He was immediately given the title “Sovereign,” but he wasn’t given the control of the realm. Instead, the Advisors of the realm were given the power to make the decisions, which would have been fine, except that his mother had snaked her way into quietly controlling the Advisors behind closed doors.

The Advisors had been Calum’s father’s Advisors during his entire rule, and they had gotten to know Celine personally. . . Well, the version that she wanted them to know.

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