Roselyn's eyes sprang open when she heard the sound of footsteps outside the closed door of the room where she was currently held captive.
She had no idea when she fell asleep, she only remembered the heated argument between the Dark Fae Prince and the Vampire before the former got summoned somewhere and she was once again left behind in the room with her attacker.
But as her eyes looked around the room, she found no traces of Kaito there. It seemed like he too left the room at some point after she fell asleep because of exhaustion. It seemed like the vines wrapped around her body were sucking on her energy and draining her out.
Quite a smart move by her captors if she should be fair. They were making sure that she wouldn't be in a state to use her powers to break free. But breaking free and running away was the last thing on her mind. What she needed at the moment were answers.
She just got to know that she had mates - a soulmate and a bond mate, but to her utter bad luck, both of them belonged to the Shadow Realm. She couldn't grasp how she and River could be soulmates and exactly how a mere bite led to the initiation of a blood bond between her and the Vampire.
She was fully aware that a bite between a shadow born and a light born was forbidden in both the realms but she never had any idea that a bite could also result in a mate bond.
In the Light Realm, people bonded with their mates through their souls and there was no exchange of blood needed for that. However, it seemed like things worked differently in the Shadow Realm.
Unfortunately, there was no one to answer her questions. The Prince was too busy at the moment to give her any sort of explanation and the Vampire dude barely cared to provide her with an answer.
The door of the room flew open, pulling her attention toward her visitor. She was expecting to see either the Vampire or the Dark Fae Prince but the person who walked inside was neither of those two. Instead, it was a very beautiful woman with soft blonde hair that reached her shoulders, fair skin like snow, cute dimples, deep hazel eyes, and a perfect figure.
If Roselyn didn't know better, she would have mistaken the lady for a light fairy or elf. The woman was that pretty. Everything about her seemed perfect until... she opened her mouth and ruined that perfect image.
"So you are that so-called Princess Roselyn, the royal halfling and the illegitimate child of the Light Fae King." It wasn't a question. The woman was pretty aware of exactly who Roselyn was, just like Prince River and Kaito. "Hii, I'm Levine Winters, fiance of Crown Prince Felix."
Her introduction made the reason behind her haughty attitude pretty clear to Roselyn. She wasn't in the mood to drain her energy by talking to someone like the haughty Princess Consort standing in front of her, so she just ignored the woman.
"How come you have such an attitude? Is it because of your title as a Princess or because you are Prince River's mate? Because let me tell you, if it's the former, you should remember that this is the Shadow Realm and not your Light Realm. And if it's the latter, then you are in for a big disappointment. I'm not sure if River has informed you yet about it or not, but he's going to sever the soulmate bond."
Roselyn couldn't keep her expressions neutral even if she tried. It wasn't like she was happy about the unexpected bonds or with her unwanted mates, but still hearing about the Prince planning to sever the bond created a ping in her soul.
"You look surprised?" The woman actually seemed a little bit taken aback by Roselyn's reaction. "Aren't you aware that a bond between those from our realm and your realm is forbidden? It's the greatest taboo of both our realms and such a bond can never exist." The woman informed Roselyn with an arch of one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
Roselyn did recall her Grand Tutor once telling her about the no-connection rule between the Light and the Shadow Realm but it didn't include anything about soul bonds. Probably because such a thing had never happened ever before in the history of the two realms.
She took in a deep breath before she looked straight into the eyes of the woman as she asked, "When are you guys letting me go?"
Yeah, her priority returned to getting out of the Shadow Realm. Since her bonds with both men were taboo and were meant to be canceled, then she had no more answers to search for. She just wanted to return to her realm as soon as possible.
"That... I have no idea. I'm here to take you to get ready for the council's next meeting. Looking at your current state, you definitely need a bath and a set of new clothes." Levine spoke as she pointed at Roselyn's ruffled clothes and her tangled mess of hair.
"Council meeting?" Roselyn asked and found the woman nodding her head in response. "Yeah, our council will be conducting a meeting with the Light Royal Family. So, you need to be there. After all, it is your future that will be decided in that meeting."
Her future? What were the councils going to discuss? Was the matter this serious that the two councils had to hold a meeting, something that probably happened for the last time around hundreds of years ago?
From Levine's words, she did get that her bond with both the Shadow men was a great deal but just how big the issue was, she still had no idea about it.