Mated To The Cruel Prince novel Chapter 857

Chapter 857: Welcome Home, My King

Azreal projected confidence as he strode through the corridors toward his room, his wings tucked tightly behind him. However, beneath that calmness, a knot of anxiety coiled tightly in his stomach. He was spending the night with Gabbi. The thought thrilled him, sending a strange mix of excitement and dread through his veins.

The anticipation of lying beside her quickened his pulse even though he knew there would be no actual mating tonight. No matter how much his instincts screamed at him to claim her, mark her as his, it was not happening. The only good thing he would end up with was a blue ball.

Mating with Gabbi would complicate everything. His people still didn’t accept her, and they were looking for any excuse to end her. If they by chance felt threatened, or felt she might betray them, they wouldn’t hesitate to act. Mating with her now would bind him to her irrevocably, leaving him vulnerable if anything went wrong.

If Gabbi betrayed them, if the unthinkable happened and his people had to kill her, it would be agonizing for Azrael. But without the mate bond fully solidified, there was at least a small part of him that could bear the pain without succumbing to madness. Mating and marking her would seal their fate, with no possibility of turning back. It was a line that, once crossed, could never be undone.

But still, he wanted her.

Although his people’s judgment seemed harsh, even cruel, Azreal understood where it came from. They had been hurt before. Unlike the Fae, who had slowly been accepted by humans, the Valravn were branded as monsters. Their bird-like features made them outcasts among humans, creatures to be feared and loathed.

Azreal thought back to the stories passed down through generations. Long ago, they had lived in relative peace among humans, though they kept to themselves, intentionally isolating themselves from the larger world.

Their seclusion made them mysterious, and with mystery came human curiosity — a curiosity that often led to cruelty.

Drusilla had been the first human to betray them.

The story of the young human was etched into the collective memory of his people, a cautionary tale passed down from generation to generation to remind the younger ones why they never mingled with the humans.

Drusilla had been a human woman, a beautiful maiden who stumbled into their village while fleeing from her killers. Of course, in the end, that had been a set-up for Drusilla had only been on a mission.

Injured and helpless, King Galadriel as of then, had taken her in, nursing her back to health. He had fallen deeply in love with her.

There were whispers that she was his mate, though no one wanted to believe that such a bond could have existed between a human and a Valravn. Not after she had betrayed them in such a way and insulted the mate bond.

But Drusilla had deceived them all.

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