The Alpha's Bride

I remember the first time I met Eris.

She and I were once sworn enemies, competing in household chores and in the battle of our wits. I used to admire her, eventually warming up to her. She was a good friend who humbled me until my father, the great Mikael de Lune married her mother, Daphne Fontaine, an outcast in their own clan. Soon, every competition I had against her only proved her worth as my father's new daughter. Together, they even pitted me against my father! I grew mad... delirious until his death. None of them showed at his funeral, the Lunox tradition of letting go.

Growing up with her not only placed me under her shadow. It is as if they planned it.

-

Years later, here I am, battling an incurable disease that they placed in me so that Eris can inherit the key to the throne—the moonstone.

"Claire," I hear Apollo mind-linking me. "Did you forget? I am waiting for you at the carnival."

I stay silent, savoring every moment that this warm bath eases the pain in my body.

"Please, Claire..." He persists. "Please tell me if you are on your way. I have a suprise for you."

"Let me guess," I respond. "Purple flowers shaped like a butterfly?"

"H-How did you know?!" He exclaims, amazed at my prediction. "I personally picked them for you—"

"Those are wolfsbane flowers, you fool." I carelessly tell him, cutting him off before he has any chance to reply.

If you truly loved me, you would know that my favorite flowers are hydrangeas... I tell myself, forgetting that he is in my head. "Wait. What? You like hydrangeas? Claire, you never told me..."

"You never asked." I hiss at him, furious that he is ruining the bath for me. "By the way, if you see some of Father Yosef's men at the palace, let them in. He asked them to grab some of my things for a trip to the mountains tomorrow."

"Wait, why?" I can hear him worry. "Where are you, Claire? Shall I pick you up—"

"I'm not at Lunox." I cut him off, to stop him asking more questions. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm not at the carnival tonight. But tomorrow, I'm taking a trip with Father Yosef to the mountains. I'm going to continue my research. Indefinitely."

I hear him breath heavily as he refrains from saying anything else. "All right. Just, stay safe. Do you want me to come with you?"

I don't believe it. He's not even wondering why I decided to continue with the research in the mountains! Unbelievable...

But I know why. And it isn't because his love for me is so profound that he would rather overlook my every whim than lose me. It is because he has successfully proposed to my step-sister, Eris, with one of the most romantic proposals ever. I am nothing but his back-up plan for when it does not go as he expected. But it did.

I can hear Eris walk behind him. "She is with you at the carnival? Are you serious?"

"Claire..." He holds his breath. "It's just that I ran into her earlier at the carnival tonight. And when I explained that we were supposed to meet here, she asked if it was all right for her to tag along so that she could give you a proper apology."

His explanation is so long that I almost did not recognize how different it was when he and I were together! I shake my head with the urge to drown myself in disgust.

"Claire, I know now what my mother and I did wrong back then." She also mind-links me. "So, I hope you will accept our apology when I say sorry on her behalf. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive us?"

"So... you think I should really forgive them, Apollo?" I frown. "Both of them? Mother and daughter?"

My body remembers the trembling of my ruptured eardrum, the chills of the numbness I felt from bamboo whips, and the pain of seeing all my mother's belongings burning as it turns into ash. I silently cry as I hear them screaming inside, all at once.

"Claire. Eris was just a kid then! She couldn't tell right from wrong. And she has been regretting it for many years, now, asking you to forgive her. Why is it so important for you to hold onto the past this much?" I hear him trying to reason with me. "Don't you want to move on at least, Claire?"

I can feel the strong tension in his words. What is comforting long ago is now just a forced and yet futile attempt to quicken the pace of the conversation to a treaty. His impatience is finally showing through the facade of what tries to make a relaxed composure on his face, further letting go of the tenderness and care in his voice.

I can feel my heart breaking into pieces, battered and now broken, shattering into dust as the pain only grows more intensely and leaves me speechless.

Eris, merely adding fuel to my fire, sneaks in a smirk, which anyone as naive as Apollo, might mistake for sorrow. It is the same smug look and provoking spirit she had once before, but I will not fall for it again. Eris, Apollo, and anyone can do whatever they want, but no one is going to claim that moonstone except for me.

I will not allow any evil lurking among my people to tarnish the name and legacy of my parents.

"I understand if you find it hard to forgive me, Claire." She bows her head, appearing as if she feels remorse. "I am not going to give up. I won't stop until I have paid my debt on the day you consider me as one of your own."

As the anger in me boils with a secret desire to grit my teeth in disgust, I hold my head and close my eyes to yell as loud as I can in my head, only to let out a small grunt. "Get out!"