The Alpha King's Claim novel Chapter 74

The Alpha King’s Claim chapter 74 by desirenovel

Aero

“We agreed there would be no girls here,” my twelve-year-old self cried out in disappointment when I saw my long-time friends Adamar and Adaen approach me with a tiny creature in tow. A pipsqueak. So easy to crush, so frail-looking. Wearing a white ankle-length dress and sporting a short hair, she hid behind the twins who obviously towered her.

My fae friends and I decided we wouldn’t admit a girl into our circle, much less into our hangout spot, but look at them now. They had broken their promise and I was left complaining about it.

Adamar, the older twin, tossed an arm over my shoulder and flashed his pearly whites at me.

“Let Ysanna be an exemption, Prince Aero.”

“Yeah, she’s our future boss,” added Adaen.

I lifted a brow at them, disgusted at the sudden idea in my head and disgusted at the tiny creature with saucer-like hazel eyes with bits of green and purple still looking at me.

“Why? Are you two going to marry her?”

“What?” the two chorused.

“No! Yuck,” cried Adaen.

Adamar on the other hand laughed, releasing me and doubling over. They sure know the idea of marriage despite their young age and well, I was the same too and this was one of the reasons why we clicked, turning to friends immediately despite us as different species.

“She’s too fragile to become our wife,” Adaen explained. “Plus, she can’t marry. She’s to become the High Priestess of our realm.”

“A priestess eh? That’s weird,” I remarked, then left it at that, transferring my attention to the box I brought with me still lying on the grass.

“What do you want to do now?” Adamar asked, following me.

“Father brought this game from Earth. You want to try it?” I told him, raising a board game called ‘Snakes and Ladders’ high up in the air.

“Sure! Let’s play!” Adaen butted in, leaving the pipsqueak behind a tree trunk, alone and staring at us. It was freaky, but I just ignored her…

The images blurred gradually and I was brought to another memory of my childhood. This time, I was two years older, growing taller than my fae friends. My mother still continued her illicit affairs with the male servants in the castle and father was either trying to keep a blind eye to it or he just wasn’t aware of her immorality. I frequented Salviste Lake to escape my mother and her crazy group of handmaidens. I considered myself lucky to be able to escape them even. This place was my only solace. I could play around the golden lake and be myself. Be at peace.

“Why are you here? Where’s Adamar and Adaen?” I asked, looking down at a crouching form behind a cotton shrub next to the biggest tree in the lake. Ysanna glanced up but didn’t answer me. I could see her sobbing though, nonstop tears streamed down her flushed cheeks.

“I hate girls. I hate crybabies. I hate crybaby girls,” I announced, sneering at her.

I left her alone, but since she was hiding in a spot where I loved to take a nap, I wasn’t able to truly leave her.

Two hours later, she was still sobbing. It somehow hit my conscience.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, peeking through the leaves and stems.

She wiped her eyes dry and nodded slowly.

“Here, eat it all,” I handed her half a loaf of bread that I pulled out from my satchel. “Don’t waste it.”

She grabbed the bread, sniffed it before taking a bite. I felt good as I watched her do it. With a small smile leaking from the corner of my lips, I turned around and left her spot. For two years since I met this freaky girl, never had I heard her voice.

Not until now.

“Th—ank you,” I heard a soft voice say.

Looking back, my eyes rounded and my mouth gaped.

“So you really can speak,” I exclaimed.

Crouching down to her level again, I stared at her and asked, “Are you afraid of me? Is that why you didn’t want to talk?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she continued munching.

“You didn’t need to be afraid of me. Yes, I hate girls but I guess, you’re an exemption.”

She looked up and inside those big hazel eyes, I saw a flicker of gratitude.

“You don’t seem to be the same as those handmaidens who maltreat me,” I sat down near her and gazed at the calmness of the lake. “You’re harmless so you’re good. In fact, you look so weak that I want to protect you.”

“Pro…tect me?” she asked softly, still chewing her food.

“Yes, protect you,” I nodded and smiled towards her way. This was ever the first time I showed kindness to the opposite sex ever since I promised to hate them.

Ysanna didn’t reply. Silence reigned around us until I decided to change the subject.

“Do you have parents?”

“N…o,” she muttered whilst shaking her head.

“What no?” I asked. “You mean you don’t have a father and mother because they’re dead?”

“Mother is dead,” she explained, her eyes starting to show sadness.

It was too late for me to backpedal now.

“And your father?” I continued.

I waited for her to share anything, but she didn’t anymore. Again, silence was her constant answer. This should have irritated me, but it didn’t. I pitied her instead.

I didn’t ask any more questions to her that day. I just continued to sit next to her as she observed the golden lake and the bugs playing around it.

“You should fight back then! Don’t allow yourself to be bullied. Stand up if you think it’s the right thing to do!”

I was speaking by experience. I fought back. I tossed my weak self and found ways to escape from my mother’s twisted games.

A sense of realization shown brightly in her eyes as I said it.

“Thank you, Prince Aero. I’ll keep your words to heart.”

After wiping her tears dry, she bent down and picked up a stone near her feet. It was that kind of stone affected by the elements of both realms: the roughness of Phanteon and the luminous quality of Ehnrelil. She handed it to me and said, “A gift, as a sign of our friendship.”

’Friendship,′ the word rang in my head. Then and there, I realized, it wasn’t the kind of relationship I wanted to have with her. My mature state of mind wanted more. I wanted to possess her. I wanted to own all of her.

But, I saw it a damned idea in the end. She was to become a priestess and such position entailed her being free from any forms of relationship.

“Yes, friends. We will be friends forever,” I told her with a pained smile. I accepted the stone and placed it in my coat pocket, treasuring it that very moment.

“I’m going to give you a gift too. Will you come back here tomorrow?” I asked.

She quickly nodded. “Yes, I will. It’s a promise.”

‘A promise…’ I thought with utter disappointment. Ysanna never came back after that or on any other days thereafter. Adamar and Adaen were the same, but their absence didn’t impact me as much as hers did.

Days after, I found out from my father that the realm of the faes had closed their world for good. This would have been an understandable reason why she didn’t show up anymore, but still, I couldn’t accept the fact that she broke her promise that easily.

She could have used whatever power she had, that same one when she escapes her tower, but she didn’t. Instead, she left me with a false hope and that broke my young heart so much that it added to my already growing hatred of women. I felt deceived. I felt betrayed.

I had shut myself after that. Deciding to never again be fooled by a female.

Returning to the present, I cringed. How ironic it was to be slapped in those same words again right on the face.

Serena stared at me filled with love in her eyes. Awarding me a gentle smile, she slowly sat up and reached to touch my face.

“Aero…” she stated.

Now that I was wiser, I realized her voice was of the same quality as before, only now it dripped with confidence.

Her hand moved to trace my jaw just like she usually would after a good sleep, until…her eyes slowly rounded with recognition.

“Aero!” she cried out, her mouth opening wide in surprise.

I grinned at her, my eyes turning dark with quiet rage and delicious mischief.

“You’ve grown, pipsqueak.”