The moment she said the words, she felt something inside her chest go silent. A door slamming shut. A warmth that had been humming there for weeks, gone. She had rejected the mate bond.
Luther had knelt in front of her, the most powerful man in the realm, and offered her everything. And she had told him there was someone else. She had watched his face crumble, watched him accept her rejection with quiet dignity, watched him walk out of the room without looking back. He was gone now.
And the silence where he used to be was unbearable. It had all started so stupidly. With wine. With a dare.
With her inability to say no. Rosie had never learned to say no. Not to the extra glass of wine during the servants’ celebration in the palace kitchens. Not to the furious housekeeper demanding someone deliver refreshments to a noble guest.
And definitely not when her friends dared her to be daring for once. She had stumbled into what she thought were empty chambers, found a bath already drawn, and climbed in. The water was perfect. The wine was buzzing in her veins.
She had closed her eyes and thought, this is what brave people do. Then she had opened them and found a man in the doorway. He was enormous. A mountain of muscle, the largest man she had ever seen.
Dark hair, dark eyes, a face that looked like it had been carved from stone. And he was staring at her with complete and total shock. “What are you doing in my bath? ” he had growled.
Rosie had blinked up at him, wine still warm in her veins, and smiled. “You should get in. ”
He hadn’t gotten in. But he had wrapped her in his cloak, carried her to his bed, and held her while she slept.
And in the morning, she had snuck out before he woke, mortified beyond reason. Only then had she learned the truth. She hadn’t stumbled into just any lord’s chambers. She had gotten into the bath of Luther, the Alpha King.
The man her kingdom was negotiating an alliance with. The man who was engaged to Princess Parisa. And he thought she was the princess. The real princess had found her the next morning.
Parisa had been calm, elegant, and utterly terrifying as she listed Rosie’s crimes. Theft. Trespassing. Impersonation of a royal personage.
Potentially treason. Prison, at best. Hanging, at worst. “There might be another option,” Parisa had said.
Rosie had agreed to anything. The plan was simple. Rosie would pretend to be Princess Parisa. She would court the Alpha King.
And she would make him end the engagement himself, because Parisa’s father would never accept a refusal from his daughter. The only acceptable outcome was for Luther to break it off. So Rosie had been pushed into the princess’s dresses, had her hair done in elaborate styles, and had been sent to dinner with the most terrifying man in the realm. Except he hadn’t been terrifying.
Not to her. He had been patient. Gentle. He had noticed she was nervous and softened his voice.
When she had blurted out that she was sorry for getting into his bath, he had told her he was enchanted. That he had been able to think of little else since. And he had looked at her like she was something precious. Rosie had tried to discourage him.
She had tried to be demanding. She had asked for shoes, and he had sent her fifty pairs. She had played the piano terribly, and he had called her enchanting. She had tried to make him jealous, and he had told her she was the only one he could see.
Every attempt had failed. Because every attempt had made her fall a little more in love with him. The princess had grown frustrated. There was one more option, she had said.
A compromising situation. Rosie would be found with another man, and Luther would end the engagement himself. Rosie had refused. She couldn’t do that to him.
“Let me remind you of your situation,” Parisa had said coldly. “You have been impersonating a princess for weeks. When this ends, and it will end, do you think he will forgive you? Do you think he will want a maid who can’t even read?
”
And then Parisa had told her the truth. She loved someone else. She couldn’t marry Luther. And she couldn’t bear to live with a choice she didn’t make.
Rosie had agreed to the plan. She had been waiting in the blue receiving room with the man Parisa had chosen. The man had been instructed to simply be close to her, to look compromising. It had felt wrong.
Every second of it had felt wrong. But she had done it. Then Luther had burst through the door. He had moved across the room before she could blink.
His hand had found the man’s throat. His eyes had gone red at the edges. She had cried out, desperate, frightened, and something in her voice had cut through the rage. He had let the man go.
And then he had knelt in front of her and told her she consumed him. That his only wish was to remain at her side. That he loved her. And she had broken his heart.
“I cannot be yours,” she had whispered. “There is someone else. ”
He had looked at her with such pain. “If you truly choose otherwise, then reject the bond.
Formally. And I will not fight you. ”
She had said the words. And she had felt him die a little inside.
Now, ten days later, Rosie was still in bed, staring at the ceiling. Her friends tried to get her up. Miss Harrow threatened to fire her. She didn’t care.
It hurts where she used to feel him. Then she heard shouting in the hallway. A man’s voice, booming with authority. Her father, the king.
And Parisa’s voice, cool and composed, explaining something. “… King Luther was already quite formidable when he was lucid. ”
Rosie’s world tilted.
She had burst into the study, ignoring everything, demanding to know what had happened. Parisa had looked uncomfortable. “His Majesty, King Luther, has disappeared after losing control of his wolf. We found his room destroyed.
Some guards were harmed when he left the castle. He’s disappeared into the forest. We’ve sent search parties, but… ”
Luther.
Feral. Alone. Because of her. Rosie had turned on the king with a glare that made him blink.
“You are speaking about my mate. It is absolutely my concern. ”
The room had frozen. Parisa had stared at her.
The captain had stared at her. And suddenly it had all made horrible, devastating sense. Breaking a mate bond was dangerous. Lethal to some.
Luther had gone insane with grief. “I will go to him,” Rosie had said. “My mate would never hurt me. I will find him.
And I will bring him back. ”
She hadn’t asked for permission. The forest had been dark and wild. The captain had left her at the river, where Luther had last been seen.
She had followed his scent, stronger than anything she had ever tracked, even though it was wrong. Darker. More animal. Threaded with pain.
She had made herself a promise. If she couldn’t bring him back, she would shift and join him. He wouldn’t be alone. Wherever he went, she would be there.
Then she had seen him. The largest wolf she had ever seen. Dark fur, nearly black. Massive shoulders.
His eyes were glowing, wild and unfocused, and he was growling. He had pounced. She had hit the ground hard, the wolf above her, teeth bared inches from her throat. For one terrible moment, she had thought she’d lost him completely.
Then she had tilted her head back and bared her throat. “You don’t have to be lonely anymore,” she had whispered. “I’m here. ”
The growl had changed.
He had sunk his teeth into her neck. The pain had lasted only a second. And then the bond had snapped back into place, and she had felt everything. His pain, his despair, the grief that had driven him past the edge of control.
When her vision cleared, she was looking at a man. Her man. Her king. “Princess?
” he had asked, his voice rough and confused. “I’m not a princess,” she had whispered. “I’m just me. Rosie.
I’m a maid. I clean floors. That’s all I am. ”
He had frowned, trying to understand through the fog.
“You said there was somebody else. ”
“There wasn’t,” she had said. “Parisa loves another. That’s why I pretended to be her.
Because she needed… I’m sorry. I wanted so badly to be your princess. Because I love you.
”
He had stared at her. And then he had smiled, and her breath had stopped. “There is no other? Only me?
”
“I don’t think you understand,” she had said. “I can’t even read properly. ”
“I don’t care what you can or can’t do,” he had interrupted. “I know what you are.
My mate. My equal. The woman I love. Now claim me.
Make me yours as you are mine. ”
She had pressed her lips to his neck. He had groaned, begged her. And she had bitten down.
The bond had ignited, and everything had fallen into place. Rosie sank into the lukewarm bath with a groan of relief. Eight months pregnant, and the summer heat was making everything worse. “Better?
” Luther asked, steadying her as she settled against him. “Much. ”
His hands moved to her shoulders, massaging with the careful pressure he had perfected over the past year. She leaned back against his chest with a contented sigh.
“I seem to recall a similar bath,” he murmured against her ear. “Though you were considerably smaller and considerably more drunk. ”
“I was very drunk,” Rosie conceded. “And you were very patient about finding me in your bath uninvited.
”
“I was completely undone. I believe my exact thought was, I’m going to marry this girl and I don’t care what it takes. ”
“You thought that while I was naked in your bath asking you to get in with me? ”
“I thought that approximately thirty seconds after you told me I had a nice voice.
Everything after that was just confirming what I already knew. ”
Rosie smiled, one hand resting on her belly where their child was performing acrobatics. “Your heir is very active today. ”
Luther’s hand joined hers.
“Parisa sent word she’ll arrive next week. She wants to be here for the birth. ”
“Good. ” His approval was genuine.
The alliance between their kingdoms had strengthened considerably, helped by the fact that Parisa had personally trained Rosie, vouched for her, and helped her transition into queenship. They had both gotten what they wanted. Parisa was with the man she loved, and Rosie was with hers. “I still can’t believe I’m going to be a mother,” Rosie said quietly.
“A year ago I was scrubbing floors. ”
“A year ago you were already my mate. You just didn’t know it yet. ”
Their child kicked firmly against Luther’s palm.
He laughed, delighted. “Strong. Like their father. ”
“Who is supposed to be in a council meeting right now?
”
“They can wait. My mate is in a bath. I have priorities. ”
She laughed, and he caught the sound with his mouth.
And they stayed there until the water went completely cold.
