When the Spring prince arrived with his entourage, the whole manor was chaos. There were servants everywhere, running to the other end of the manor just to get a plate of food, or some towels.
Obviously, father was not happy with the havoc, but he couldn't exactly face the Spring Court with a scowl on his face when he was asking for an alliance, could he? The Spring fae were to be here until the ceremony ended, and then return to the Spring Lands with me. After all, the female had to return with the male.
For days I had been trying to get Eden to talk to me, but he always found ways to avoid me, or never looked me in my eye. It was...unsettling. I had never seen him like that, before.
I was walking to the library, when I found him talking to Syra.
"Eden. How nice to see you here."
He blinked. "Oh. Hello, Auralyn."
"Syra, can I borrow Eden for a while?"
She shrugged. "He's all yours. I was just warning him that if he did anything stupid, I would make sure his face would never be the same."
Eden clutched his heart dramatically. "I would never."
"Eden, come here, now."
He stalked towards me, and Syra walked away after a moment of hesitation.
"So...hi!"
I glared at him. "You've been avoiding me all this time, and I've tried so many times to talk to you! What's wrong with you, Eden? You would never agree to this out of your own will."
"But, I did." His voice was filled with remorse, as if he wasn't the one who was at fault.
"What do you mean you did?"
"King Enro has my mate."
I gaped at him. "Your father?"
He snarled. "He's not my father. He never was, never will be."
"But you've always talked about him! Saying he was amazing, and always treated you well."
"I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about my actual parents."
"Who?"
"I was brought up by servants. There were two who took really good care of me, so I think of them as my only parents."
"Oh."
All this time I had thought that Eden had an easy life. I guess I was wrong.
"But how does your father have your mate?"
"He doesn't have her, but he knows who she is. He said he'd tell me once the ceremony was over. I can find my mate, Auralyn! This is the person I've been looking for my whole entire life!"
"You'd be stripped of you bond. How will you find her?"
"She said that she'd wait for me." He sounded confident.
"She's never said a thing, before. Why start now?"
"Maybe she's finally realised I'm perfect for her?"
I sighed. This was even more messed up than I thought.
"So you won't cancel the ceremony?"
He looked offended. "And give up the chance of finding out who my mate is? No way."
"You don't even know if King Enro is telling the truth! How can you be so gullible?"
"He swore he would. He swore on his own life."
I scowled. If Eden wouldn't do anything, then I had to take action.
"Fine. Do what you want, but don't expect me to cooperate."
"Auralyn."
"You better keep your mouth shut, okay?"
He shrugged. "No promises."
I scowled again, and he chuckled. "If you keep on scowling, you'll soon be as ugly as the Spring queen."
My eyes widened. "Quiet! You could get killed for that."
He grinned. "They wouldn't kill their only heir."
I let out a small smile. "Don't take your chances."
He waved at me and walked away.