Claimed

Althea laughed when he offered to help her with her dress, but the look in his eyes told her that he was deadly serious with his offer, which only made her blushed

No Lam not a child, I can do it on my own.” Althea replied, she smiled at her and wriggled her hand, which thankfully, Alex let go, because if he insistes, she didn’t think she would be able to argue with him in this.

Inside the bathroom, she took her time. Actually, she took longer time than she needed to prepare herself and her heart in order to face Alex later

She knew that he wouldn’t force himself to her like Killian did, he might even relent to mate and mark her tonight and give her more time to accept him.

However, Althea didn’t want it, she didn’t want to let him wait and she didn’t want her trauma with Kilian ruin her future with Alex

“Come on, Althea. You can do this.” She felt so angry with herself because she still let Killian to control her. The thought that he was still having some sense of control over her body and mind was truly disgusted her.

Therefore, for almost two hours. Althea finally made up her mind and walked out of the bathroom, only to find Alex was sleeping He breathed slowly, as he laid on the bed with eyes closed.

Somehow, there was a mix of relief and annoyed that washed over her, but mostly, it was a relief, because she had an excuse to postpone it

She would be ready tomorrow, maybe not tonight, but she would definitely be ready for him tomorrow.

Althea immediately slipped into her night dress and climbed the bed, she laid down on her side and stared at Alex. He must be very exhausted because he had to greet all the guests, everyone wanted to talk with him and he led all the conversation, while Althea could only smile by her side because most part, she didn’t even understand what they were talking about

She had been learning about the state affair, but she still had a lot of things to catch on, since she was not born into the royal family, so it sufficed to say that she had a lifetime of Alex’s knowledge to catch on if she wanted to have such stimulating intelligence conversation with him and his people,

“Good night, Alex.” Althea moved a little bit closer to him and then kissed his cheek, before he retreated and then curled herself to sleep.

She didn’t want to be cuddled, because she felt like she was being suffocated. It happened once and she woke up with panic. Alex had never tried to do it again and Althea felt so bad because of that.

The room was quiet and the sound of the late party had faded in the background, the guests must have retreated to their own bedroom

And when Althea finally fell asleep and her breathing became shallow, Alex opened his eyes. He tilted his head and looked at the girl beside him.

As it turned out, he didn’t even sleep, he only pretended to be asleep, because he knew that Althea was not ready for this. After she took so long inside the bathroom and didn’t come out even after an hour had passed, he knew tonight was not the night and decided to pretend to be asleep.

If he rejected her advance, she would feel bad, but if they proceeded with the next level, she was not ready and he would feel

bad to force it.

Therefore, what he did was the safest option, though it was a little bit childish in his opinion.

“Good night too, lovely.” Alex kissed her forehead and closed his eyes again, this time, he fell asleep for real. Her scent alone

|||

was enough to calm bivnerveA.

The next day, they went for breakfast like usual, but there were a few people, who looked at each other with questioning look

their ryes, because they couldn’t see the mark on her neck.

Last night should be the night, where the king marked the queen, but Althea had not yet bore the mark

However, they didn’t make a big fuss about this, only feeling a bit curious and gossipy. Yet, Althea could feel that, she was well aware of the way they saw her and how their eyes trailed down to the juncture of her neck.

She tried to keep herself composed and not worry about that, especially when Alex didn’t make a big deal out of it.

This morning, he apologized to her because he fell asleep, because he was too exhausted and promised that he would make it up to her tonight. Althea blushed and felt a little bit guilty because she felt relief, while he felt guilty.

“Queen, Althea

Althea stopped walking and turned around to see prince Dane approached her, he was alone and to her relief, Killian was not with him. She didn’t see him in the ceremony too, though it made her sick to her stomach that she looked for him.

But of course, it was different reason

“Prince Dane, it’s nice to see you,” Althea greeted him, she kept her smile, but she didn’t put her guard down, because she knew this man’s appearance wouldn’t be a good thing for her.

“It’s nice to see you too, my queen. Prince Dane stood in front of her, his towered her small body, but the smile on his lips was very warm, if Althea didn’t know any better, she would think this man was decent, only if she didn’t know what he had been up to in the last year to try to drag Alex down. “Is it okay for me to walk with you my queen.”

No. Althea didn’t want to walk with him, she wanted to walk alone.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“Sure, I am going to visit the king