Chapter 21
Fiona POV
“Andy!” Princess Chloe greets her husband with a smile and a kiss before turning to me. “This is my husband and mate, Andy.”
Andy, pretending as if we’ve never met, smiles kindly and holds his hand out. I glance at it then at Nolan who watches with a
plain expression. Andy clearly doesn’t realize that Nolan knows about our relationship. If he did, I have a feeling this greeting
would be entirely different.
So, to keep the charade going, I grab Andy’s hand and shake it.
“I’m King Nolan’s personal assistant. Fiona Davis.” If he wants to pretend, we can pretend, but I narrow my eyes slightly, letting
this scumbag know that nothing between us has disappeared. He still betrayed me, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Davis,” Andy says, pulling his hand away. I don’t miss how his gaze darts to Nolan, but still, Nolan says
nothing. No words for his son–in–law. Ouch. That must hurt Andy’s pride more than seeing me here.
Andy blinks a few times then turns back to Princess Chloe, pulling out an extravagantly wrapped gift box. The smug look on
Andy’s face changes to a happy smile when Princess Chloe squeals in excitement.
She takes the gift from Andy, thanking him with a slightly too long kiss before tearing the package open.
“OH, my gosh. Baby, this is gorgeous,” she exclaims, and I can’t help but look over when she pulls the expensive diamond
necklace and earring set out of the box. A stab of annoyance and a bit of hurt hit me in the chest.
Andy had never been this attentive or loving in our relationship. We’d been in love, or at least, I thought we had been. But
watching them now, watching as Andy kisses and touches her, as he helps her put the necklace on and passes her the earrings
when she’s ready, I realize we were never like this.
The soft way he treats her; he never treated me that way. Not even on my birthday.
Again, they lean in and kiss for a little longer than is appropriate, only pulling away when Nolan clears his throat.
“Remember, we’re in a public place,” Nolan scolds them. They pull apart briefly before kissing again and then diving into the desserts. I try not to watch as they begin feeding each other in that overly exaggerated way couples do, nearly gagging when Andy
moans softly at the chocolate cake Princess Chloe feeds him.
Turning my eyes down, I focus on my own food. However, I find that I have lost my appetite. Just because I don’t love Andy
anymore doesn’t mean I want to watch him acting affectionately with his new wife.
I curse the slight pain in my heart. I have him for what he did, but we were together for years and I had pictured a future with him.
Seeing him like this makes me sick.
Nolan shifts in his chair, catching my attention and making me look up at him. The icy cold and emotionless expression breaks
for two seconds when he cringes at their actions, but soon enough, it falls back into place.
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Like always, I can’t tell what he’s feeling.
“Do you know how we met?” Princess Chloe suddenly asks, making me look at her. “It’s an amazing story, really.” The little sigh of happiness tells me I’m about to hear the story whether I want to or not.
“We met at a press conference for my father’s company, and it was love at first sight, us being mates and all. Andy was working on the project for my father, and ever since then, we’ve been inseparable,” she tells me, beaming with love. I try not to gag and nod instead.
“Our mate bond is so strong and so deep that if we are separated for too long, both of us feel pain,” Princess Chloe says, and I look between her and Andy. He nods, takes her hand in his, and kisses the back of it.
Andy leans in and wipes the icing off the corner of the Princess’s mouth before pouring a glass of water. I’ve never seen him so attentive, even when he helped me with my thesis paper. He’d said a few good words about the paper I’d worked insanely hard on, but still, I was grateful. The way he treats the Princess is so different.
He leans in for another kiss, and I avert my eyes. Obviously, he saw me as nothing, as a cheap trinket that he could throw away when he found something better.
Nolan’s eyes catch mine and the hard warning in them has me looking at the table again. Crap. He probably still thinks I’m pining after Andy. Of course he does, I was staring at Andy. I remind myself to be more careful. I don’t need to arouse any more suspicion in Nolan than he already feels.
I can’t lose this job, especially if it allows me to give Andy the punishment he deserves.
“It’s such a special gift from the Moon Goddess that means we’re more special than other mate,” Princess Chloe says, bringing me out of my thoughts. In that moment, her words strike a familiar interest and concern in my mind.
Before going to prison, I remember reading an article and researching a drug that has a side effect of pain if it’s not taken every few hours. I didn’t think much of it, but as Chloe talks about the pain in her chest when she and Andy don’t see each other for
more than three hours, a hint of suspicion begins poking at my mind.
It is not unusual for mates to feel pain when they are apart, but usually that doesn’t start happening until the mates have been bonded and in love for decades. I’ve never heard of an instance where newly mated couples feel the pain of separation. Not this
early, anyways.
I glance at Nolan, wondering if he also feels pain since he and his mate are separated. He doesn’t look like he’s in pain, but I don’t
know.
“I love how rare and special our bond is,” Andy says, kissing the Princess’s cheek. The suspicion rises within me. There’s no way a couple who has only known each other for one year, and that have only been fully mated recently, is feeling the bonded pain of
separation.
It’s impossible to have this situation, which makes me even more suspicious of Andy and his overly affectionate actions. It could
be that he truly loves her, but my gut tells me that something is wrong. There might be something worse going on here.
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Just as the thought enters my mind, Andy passes a glass of water to the Princess, and she drinks it. Could he be taking advantage of the side effect of the drug I studied?
The Princess drinks the water, smiling happily. She’s shown nothing but happiness the entire time Andy has been here, and I hate to think that something bad is happening.
I glance at the King, taking in the calm expression on his face. Surely someone would’ve caught him if he was drugging her, right?
A chill skitters down my back as I look at all of them.
There’s definitely something wrong.
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