Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I see,” Denev said, smiling back. “In that case, I hope I’m not being too forward, Your Highness, but I’m happy that you will be free soon.”
Seyn felt a pang of discomfort. He’d always liked Denev. He was Ksar’s opposite: friendly, approachable, and nice. He wore his heart on his sleeve. Denev had never made it a secret that he was rather smitten with Seyn, even though he understood Calluvian customs well enough to know that Seyn could never return his feelings in his bonded state. But it seemed now Denev was getting his hopes up.
Feeling a little bad, Seyn chewed on his lip, looking for a response that wouldn’t encourage the foreigner too much and wouldn’t hurt his feelings, either.
Thankfully, at that moment, two other people approached them, and Seyn put on his best smile and turned to them.
The next few hours were spent making nice with people Seyn didn’t care about, putting on his most charming smile and pretending to be oblivious to their thinly veiled insults. It was exhausting. It was infuriating that he even had to do it. But it was immensely satisfying to prove to Ksar that he could totally win people to his side.
Ksar didn’t leave the ball early, as he usually tended to do. Ksar didn’t approach him and didn’t look at him all that often, but his presence across the room energized and motivated Seyn like nothing else could. He would show him. By the end of the night, he would have everyone in this ballroom wrapped around his little finger.
It was early morning as a very exhausted Seyn finally allowed himself to stop fluttering from one group to another and looked around with satisfaction. He could no longer see any pitying looks directed his way or hear the derisive remarks and snickers. He’d done it. He’d proved to Ksar—and to himself—that he could do it.
Seyn looked around the ballroom, eager to locate Ksar and rub it in his face.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
Ksar had left.
He was gone.
Seyn deflated, his smile slipping as a hollow feeling settled low in his gut. The satisfaction and triumph he’d been feeling just moments ago turned into something bitter, and he hated it, and he hated Ksar for ruining everything once again.
“I’m so proud of you, dear,” the Queen said on their way back. “You handled yourself admirably.”
Seyn shrugged, staring at the wall of the t-chamber moodily. He just wanted to get home and feel shitty in the privacy of his room.
“Yes, it went so much better than I expected,” his other mother said, squeezing his arm. “You charmed them all, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have doubted it.”
Seyn said nothing.
“Is something amiss?” the Queen said. “You are not pleased.”
Seyn wondered how she knew; he had his shields fully up, preventing any emotional transference through his familial bonds. But then again, she was his mother. Mothers always knew, somehow.
“He left,” Seyn murmured. “I wanted to prove to him that I could win them back. But he left!”
There was a moment’s silence.
“Who?” the Queen-Consort said faintly.
“Ksar. Who else?”
This time the silence lasted longer as his parents exchanged a look he couldn’t quite read.
The Queen had a pinched expression on her face. “Darling,” she said slowly. “Why do you care?”
Seyn glared at the wall and said nothing.
His other mother was eyeing him with open concern. “The Council is in favor of approving Ksar’s request. You’ll be officially free of him any day now. Why do you still care what he thinks? You have always resented your bond to Ksar. I thought you’d be ecstatic, especially now that you’ve managed to sway the public opinion. It’s effectively over now. You finally got what you have always wanted.”
Seyn crossed his arms over his chest. “Still. I wanted to prove to him that I could do it.”
“Darling, you don’t have to prove anything to him,” the Queen said, her tone becoming incredulous. “He’s nothing to you anymore. Just ignore him. Let it go—”
“I can’t!” he snapped.
His mothers stared at him blankly, the sudden silence ringing in his ears.
“I can’t, okay?” Seyn said tightly. He looked away, running his shaking hands through his hair.
He was immensely relieved when at that moment they arrived at the palace and he could escape his parents’ stares. They had been looking at him as though he’d lost his mind.
He was starting to wonder the same thing.
The door to his bedroom slid shut behind him with an unsatisfying soft click. Seyn strode inside and came to a halt by the table, staring at it. At Ksar’s stupid snow-white cravat on it.
Seyn kicked the table, turning it over.
Something shattered and broke, but he didn’t care. He threw everything he could see through his blurring vision: priceless heirlooms and exotic alien souvenirs, ancient books and top-notch electronics—nothing was safe from his rage.