Crave ✔

Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

       It was three weeks before I saw him again- the King of the North, and I was starting to highly doubt the opportunity would ever arise. Most of that time was spent being poked and prodded by the few doctors the village had. Everyone in the town knew about the gold-power, about the healing abilities I sometimes had- but no one knew why.

       They had seen me use it the only other time it let me, on a little girl who decided to play too close to the town's center fire. But no one understood it- especially me. I felt like I had been put under a magnifying glass and all but dissected so they could find out why the power wanted the King so badly. It was exhausting.

       When I wasn't at the healing shop or sitting through boring exams with the Elders, I was practically locked in my room and only allowed to leave with an approved escort. It was insufferable. It was like no one trusted me anymore- or no one trusted what I was capable of anymore. They didn't understand that I was still the same me- just a me who couldn't control whatever's inside me and apparently mated to the King.

       The King-

       The King of the North- my mate.

       It truly seemed like a ridiculous notion. Ever since I was a child, the entire town told me it was impossible for someone like me to have a mate. But the Elders have never been proven wrong before, and maybe it was the King who had been mistaken.

       What exactly would he get from claiming me, though? The gold-power? If he was willing to go through the trouble of all this mockery just for a little unexplored magic, he could have it. After all, it seemed to want him more than me anyway.

       If it trying to kill me was anything to go by.

       Besides, I didn't know a lot about mates, but what one would leave theirs for weeks on end without a care?

       "Emrie?" I glanced up from the dark trees I had been staring at through the window pane to see Leikos standing in my opened doorway, a worried frown creasing his forehead.

       "What is it?"

       It wasn't Lei's fault I had been condemned to live my foreseeable future locked away in my room, but I couldn't help but feel like he didn't do everything he could. I didn't feel comfortable here anymore. I-I felt like a new species everyone wanted to desperately tear open to see what was inside.

       It was maddening.

       His dark eyes turned their gaze out the window I was perched against as his rather large body leaned against the old wooden door frame. He and his sister were the same kind of shifter, their whole family was, and their bodies were built more lean and toned to fit their animal than other shifters were. Like the family that shifted into bears on the other side of town, they were more- large and hairy than anything.

       "The heavy snow will be falling soon. I want to leave for the Lower Kingdom before then."

       "I'm still going?" His eyes flickered down to mine and he raised a dark eyebrow.