Worth Waiting For

Chapter Fourteen

"Of course, he's dead. He's a vampire." My mother chuckled as cupped my cheeks. When she saw the pained look in my eyes and felt the tensing of my muscles, her face fell. "He is a vampire, right?" She asked as her hands on my cheeks stopped dead.

I didn't want to answer her. I just wanted to keep quiet, go up to my room which most probably has not been touched since I left, and sulk in the corner for a few weeks. But I knew that my parents would not let this go. They would not understand my situation. I let go of the enforcers shirt who immediately took off through the door and out of our sights.

"Answer you mother, Ashlynn." I heard my father order from his throne. Typical. I had just returned, and even with the state I was in, he still did not leave his throne to welcome me back. He truly did not care about anything other that his wife, my mother.

"He was not a vampire." I said softly as my mother's hands dropped from my cheeks. I could see the expecting expression on her face as she waited for my next sentence. "He was human." I added as my head fell and I stared at my hands currently clasped in front of me.

I heard my mother gasp and I couldn't bare to even look up and see my father's reaction. I know how much he hates humans. Although he never told me why, his hatred isn't normal.

I was about to turn and run for my room when tough hands grasp my arms from behind. I remember that touch. I hated that touch. It was a touch that was more than enough to cause me to run in the first time.

"Ah, Lucas." My father's voice confirmed what I already knew. "It seems that your fiance is back and more to the point, her Beloved is dead. There is nothing stopping this union now." The words my father said hurt. How could he be so careless? How could he not love his own daughter? With the amount of time he needed to spend with my mother conceiving and keeping me in her womb, and now it seems he just doesn't care.

"Great news." I heard Lucas's rough deep voice say behind me. They sent shivers down my spine and I could physically tell the difference between the shivers Mal sent through me and the uncomfortable shivers Lucas did. "We should prepare for the wedding at the soonest."

I shrugged out of his grasp and backed away. I did not want him touching me. How could my parents force me to be with a cruel manipulative person who only cares for his multitudes of concubines.

I noticed my mother's face fall into a grimace at my actions which I knew would be coming sooner or later. Even my own mother has moments when I can't tell if she ever cared for me. Or if this was the real her and the one I see is just an act to keep my routed.

"Ashlynn." Her voice hard and laced with her authority. "You are being rude to your fiance. I would advise against that." I was expecting to wince at the power within her voice but it never came. I felt nothing towards her. Odd. I didn't feel the need to obey or the need follow her every whim. I looked up at her trying to keep my face void of the pain I felt.

"You chose him." I told her putting authority in my voice, if she could not control me, maybe I could somewhat control her. "I have and never will condone this marriage. Especially to that filth." I motioned towards Lucas with a disgusted look. He merely laughed and turned to me. I noticed my mother wince at my words which made me think that maybe I was outranking her at this moment.

"You are to be my wife." Lucas said as I heard the familiar detachment in his voice that only occurred when he was truly angry. The smile quickly disappeared from his lips as an angry scowl formed across it. "And there is nothing you can do to stop that." He walked over to me with a domineering look on his face.

"You will not regard your fiance as 'filth'." My mother ordered once she regained her composure. "He is your father's right hand man and the next to be king. He is to be respected."