My night was going alright even though my father was forcing me to attend the ball tonight say that it was rude not to show up to my own birthday party. So far my plan to slip away during the dancing was successful and I was ready to celebrate my birthday by myself just like I always have.
However, my plan was thrown off when I smelled an unknown woman that was in a corner by the library. She was highly engrossed in a book that she was reading. If I were to guess by the mischievous smile on her face, that book had taken quite a descriptive turn. It was a turn that she liked based on the scent of arousal that was starting to permeate the air.
I cleared my throat and started talking to her, it turned out that this woman was as witty as she was beautiful. When she met my eyes, my inner beast said told me 'She is our mate' I was definitely in agreement but I sensed something dormant in her, I couldn't tell what it was but my beast didn't like it.
So when I offered to escort my mate, who turned out to be Lady Rose of Sicilia, it served as a chance to get close to her and to figure out what in her was dormant. She was no doubt raised as a human, which would give her some apprehension if not outright fear of my beast, but hopefully she would be able to move past it and accept me as her mate.
When we walked into the ballroom, everything stopped as all the guests stared at us. I simply looked at the band and they started to play a slow waltz. I looked at Rose and asked her, "My lady, may I have this dance?"
"You may, my lord." she responded. We began to dance and it was like nothing I have ever experienced before, the two of us were so in sync that it was as if the two of us had been dancing together for years. I could see the smile on her face as the song continued, meaning she probably liked this song. Even though, as far as I could tell, she had never danced but it seemed obvious to me that she was leading me.
Neither of us spoke because we didn't want to break the magic of the moment and when the song ended, everyone applauded us and Rose and I went to sit down.
We went to sit at a table at in the back, where it was quieter. As the band played another song and the guests went to dance, everything went back to the way it was before our grand entrance.
"So, do people normally stare at you when you enter a room?"
I laughed and said, "Lady Rose, I was under the impression that they weren't staring at me but rather the beautiful lady I entered the room with."
She blushed and said, "Why would you call me a beauty, my lord? I am nothing special to look at."
"I suppose a better question would be, what makes you assume I am a lord? "
"Well, excuse me Your Highness, I am simply making a logical deduction based on your speech patterns and your manners, not to mention I haven't seen one guard look at you as if your presence was out of place. In conclusion, you must be the son of a noble and a prominent one judging by the fine clothes you're wearing."
I smirked and said, "My lady, you are quite logical, but I am not a noble." though I was secretly proud of her.
"No, of course not, you're the crown prince." she said.
"What gave it away?" I said with a smirk.
"Highness, you said your fief name is Sovrano. Sovrano means sovereign in the old tongue. Next time that you wish to walk among your people anonymously, make sure you don't use something obvious as your fief name." Rose said with a smirk of her own.
Rose looked around the ballroom and stiffened, "Highness, my mother is coming and if she sees you, she will try to match you with me. You need to leave now if you wish to escape unnoticed."
I understood immediately why she was scared. As the heir to one of the largest fiefs in the entire kingdom, many nobles would want to arrange a match with her. She was no doubt the most pursued woman in the entire kingdom, all because of the power that she represents. I nodded and took my leave out a side entrance and didn't look back .
My wolf was snarling and I knew why, he didn't like the idea of another man with Rose any more than I did. My spies told me that her mother and father were currently trying to arrange a match with the Virilo family, and the negotiations were going well. My mate might end up betrothed by the end of the night. I growled at the thought.
"Jared, my son, what has made you so upset? You look as if you might shift any second?"
"Father, I found my mate. She's the daughter of Duke Arnold of Sicilia."
"That is quite interesting considering that before tonight, she had never danced at any ball."
I smirked and said "Really, I never would have guessed. I found her hiding, with her nose stuck in a book."
"Jared, you are free to marry her, should you so choose. You know that."
"But she may not be Father, I've been told that her parents are arranging a marriage with the Lord Virilo's second son."
"Jared, the law states that if a werewolf finds his true mate, the mate bond will take precedence over any marriage or betrothal. But if the mate is human, she will have to choose whether she will have her betrothed or her mate."
"Father, I'm not sure whether Lady Rose is human or a she-wolf. I could sense something dormant in her. As if something in her was trapped."
My father turned pale "Jared, what you have sensed was a wolf that was sealed away. The specific spell that was used on her can only be broken if she meets her mate before her 26th birthday."
'Someone has trapped our mate' my wolf snarled. My wolf and I were furious that someone would harm a hair on Rose's head. No doubt that whoever sealed her wolf away did it to be able to control her easier, but my Luna would be a powerful she wolf and would not submit to something like that willingly. Someone forced my mate's wolf to be sealed away.