Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne

Wasn’t it?

Doris clenched her chest and felt the pain pulse beneath her hand. Why did his rejection hurt so much?

He was a beast, a horrible man. She didn’t want any of his affection—so why was she crying? Doris

furiously wiped her tears away and picked up the last of her coins before she headed to her room.

It must have been because of the mark he’d left on her, it was making her heart feel strange towards him

when her head knew better. This was nothing more than a nightmare that wouldn’t release her. His

hatred and disgust of her was enough to push him far from her mind. At least she knew he wouldn’t try to

call on her now. She wondered what he would do if he saw his mark on her neck, would he be horrified

at himself that he marked a maid like her?

Doris had barely gotten to lay down for five minutes before another maid showed up at her door. The girl

popped her head in the room without a knock, Doris almost stumbled out of bed. “Lady Melody asked

you to serve her and Prince William for dinner tonight, Doris. You’d better hurry before she gets mad.”

Doris cursed silently and asked herself yet again why Melody decided to choose her of all the maids in

the castle to be her lady’s maid? Doris made Melody angry by just existing, surely there were other girls

in the palace she liked enough not to glare at all day. Perhaps she only wanted someone she was

allowed to yell at, that must have been it.

Prince William was the last person in this kingdom she wanted to see, but now it seemed it would be

unavoidable. Doris only wondered what Melody would do this time to embarrass her in front of him and

make her torture worse.

The second Doris arrived to Melody’s door, she was already scolding her. “What took you so long?

Prince William has been waiting for ages for you to serve us! How dare you make the prince wait for

you!”

“I apologize my lady and majesty.” Doris curtsied, her eyes anywhere but him.

“Just serve the dinner already.” Melody huffed at the table and crossed her arms over her chest like a

child. Prince William wasn’t looking at either of them.

Doris brought out their dishes and carefully set each one in front of them. The smell made her stomach

turn, it’d been a while since she had a moment to eat anything more than a snack between her duties.

Melody never let her snack around her, she always had to slip away before she could eat anything.

After they finished their courses, Doris cleared the table and brought coffee out to serve. She made the

mistake of locking eyes with Prince William for just a moment—he stared at her with a look of pure

hatred in his gaze once again. It was like a fire in his blue eyes, no one had ever looked at her like that.

The sight startled her, she stumbled a bit and the hot coffee splashed over the rim and scorched her

hand.

Doris gasped, quickly setting down the tray to hold her hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry—“

Melody gasped as if she was the one who got burned. “How dare you—“

“Out.” Prince William’s deep voice cut through the air and silenced both of them. Doris dared a glance at

the man that wouldn’t even look at her as he ordered her out of the room without a trace of pity.

“What are you waiting for?” Melody said after a beat. “Get out of here!”

Doris bit her lip and turned to leave without another word. She felt nothing but agony in every inch of her

body. It was hard to tell if her heart or hand hurt worse, but at the moment she didn’t even care anymore.

She was just glad to be free of both of them. For a wild moment, she imagined herself running out the

front doors of the castle and never looking back. If she wasn’t a maid bound here by the alpha king, she

would have. One day she would get to throw away her horrible uniform and wear whatever she wanted.

She would serve no one but herself and stand up to anyone that tried to step on her and make her feel

small and weak.

Doris wasn’t weak, even if everyone else thought she was. She knew she wasn’t. She’d survived blood,

sweat, and tears over the years at the palace, she wasn’t about to give up now because of a rotten

prince and his cruel lady. Not when she was so close to being free of them both. Doris looked down at

her red hand and knew it would leave painful blisters by the morning, she could already feel the areas

they would hurt the most.

Fresh air dried some of her tears. Doris wandered into the gardens and found a bench to rest on. Slowly,

she inhaled the scent of grass and flowers and tried to calm herself down. He was not worth her tears—

neither of them were. Only the pain from her hand was reason enough to cry—nothing more.

“Oh my, did you burn your hand?” A man appeared at her side, Doris almost flinched away from the

stranger but he smiled at her. He looked a little younger than herself, perhaps 18 or 19. He had an

innocent lopsided grin that was laced with concern as his eyes flickered down to her hand she cradled in

her lap. He was handsome in a boyish way with light eyes and light brown hair, but Doris didn’t recognize

him.

When Doris didn’t reply, he gently went to raise her wrist up to have a better look. “That doesn’t look

good, let me see—“

“Excuse me,” Doris snatched her hand away from him. The last thing she needed was a stranger

touching her burn. “Who are you?”

He blinked at Doris as if he was confused by her question. “You don’t know me?”