(Ethan’s POV)

After two days, I left the confines of my room and Damien followed close behind me.

We hardly spend a moment apart. We took showers together, slept together, eat together and run together. Even now, we were holding hands…

He had read the rest of my letter, we also spoke of the Elementalist’s…Even though I hadn’t much to tell him…And well, there was the cuddling and talking of past stories and favourite things in between all the…Erotic…

It was about time that something was said, and first off, I should explain to the Queen, as she was right in the middle of things.

I needed to tell her that she didn’t have to do anything and that she could stay where she was and who she was, that nothing was to change.

Damien and I were able to have at least one conversation throughout this time and this was one thing that we had agreed upon. The Queen will remain the Queen…

But…It didn’t go as I planned…

As soon as I entered the room to eat lunch, she left…Leaving Owen and us alone.

Damien sat down, looking at me but…

Feeling bad, I wondered if I should follow her…

I know that she knew I had never found my mate…But, why was she acting so strangely?

I stood there for a while, trying to figure out what I should do…

“As you see, my King, now you will have troubles. I am going to train Chance now.”

Owen then left too, making me feel like I ruined lunch.

“Ethan, sit. We will talk to the Queen together after lunch, calm down.”

Trusting Damien, I sat down.

With him, I was just about ready to tell him that I loved him…

With the Queen…I had no words…

Damien demanded one of my hands and held it with one of his own…So, I had to eat with one hand, but we still ate in peace.

I was thinking every now and again on how to talk to the Queen, but I would always get distracted whenever Damien looked up at me…

After we finished, he kissed my mouth, ‘cleaning’ it for me and we made our way to the Queen’s room.

I took a deep breath and knocked on her door.

There was no answer, so I opened it.

“No, I don’t want to talk!”

As soon as she saw me, she yelled this at me and turned her back to me.

Sighing, I walked up to her, taking Damien with me, as he didn’t let go of my hand. “I know you…”

“What, that I’m mad!? Yes! I’m mad!”

Putting my head down a bit, I put away the thought of acting ‘King’ and wanted to do this as her friend. “I’m not going to apologize for finding my mate, Eleanor. But I will apologize for not speaking to you about it until now.”

“I don’t accept your apology! You know what you did!? Your mark disappeared, do you know how painful that is!?”

She turned away from me again and I saw her move her hand to her mouth.

I’d completely forgotten about that…

I put my hand to her shoulder, hearing a small growl from Damien, but I ignored him. “Eleanor, I’m sorry to have you go through that pain. I forgot all about it. I…”

Again, she interrupted me, “So…I don’t mean anything to you now? Is he your new Queen?”

Another growl from Damien, that I had to ignore, and I gave Eleanor a pleading look, “No, Damien is not going to be Queen, because I already have one.”

She looked at me in shock.

I smiled teasingly at her, “You will remain as Queen, mother of the next King. I will treat you as I did before…”

Interrupted with another growl, I quickly added, “Except that we will no longer be intimate.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

I watched as she looked from me to Damien, then back to me, “I can stay? I can stay with Chance? He…He will still be your heir?”

I nodded happily, “My love for Chance can not just disappear, even if I find my destined mate. Damien here had even made a blood oath to state he will not go for the throne, leaving things as they were before.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, “Thank you. I thought you would cast us away. I was already lonely, without a mate, if we were to leave, I was worried we weren’t going to be treated well.”

I patted her again, but was pulled back after two pats. Rolling my eyes, I looked at Damien, “This is my destined mate Damien, and this…” I pointed to Eleanor and smiled, “Is my Queen, Eleanor.”

“He’s mine!”

The Queen, her eyes watery, she smiled teasingly at Damien, “You have a feisty one there, Ethan, are you sure you can handle him?”

When she looked at me and offered a small smile, I laughed, “No…I can’t handle him at all!”

The Queen finally let out a real smile and nodded again, “Then…Are you telling the truth? You will not abandon us?”

I shook my head, “You are the mother of Chance, my eldest child, the heir, you can’t leave!”

She put her hand up to her neck then and lost her smile, “You really did hurt me!”

I lost my smile too, and simply said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think…I never thought I’d be in the situation like that ever in my life.”

“I know, Ethan. You haven’t got a lot of self-confidence, I know you didn’t mean it.” She looked at Damien then, “He was only happy here when Chance was around. Make the King happier!”

Damien let out a smile and then looked at me, I was already completely embarrassed. “Oh, he’ll be happy! Just like last night and the day before!”

I hit him, “Damien!”

“Ethan!”

I looked at the Queen, stopping mid stride, ready to hit Damien again, “Yes?”

“Please be good with Chance, I don’t want him to get upset. Don’t…Leave him alone when you…Start your family.”

Before I could answer the Queen, Damien’s talked first, “Eleanor, I have already accepted Chance as my own, and it is obvious to me that Ethan adores him. Chance might be more fed up with that old bastard, before he gets fed up with me and my precious mate.”

Damien’s words had shocked me when I heard ‘accepted Chance as my own’, I was filled with happiness. I…Wanted to cry!

It was probably the biggest worry I’ve had since finding my mate! That I was not going to let Chance go, that we were a packaged deal…And so easily…

Looking away, I swiped my eyes quickly and let out a breath as though I had been holding it in all this time…

I felt…Like a load had been taken off my shoulders…

My mate was really such a blessing!

But…Ah, normally emotions never ruled over me like this…Since finding my mate, they are all over the place!

Would I want to change it though?

…Hell no! No regrets! I never felt…So alive before!

“…Old bastard?” The Queen’s voice entered my ears.

“Owen.” Damien said, and when I looked at him in confusion, he just let out a small chuckle.

“Oh. He’s…Always been someone I couldn’t figure out.” Looking back at the Queen, I was completely lost…What are they talking about!?

“You think there’s something strange about him too?”

I saw the Queen frown and have a far away look in her eyes, “I know I saw him before I became the Queen, but I can’t seem to remember when…”

“I thought you did meet him before becoming Queen.”

She shook her head, “No, I mean years before. He…Ah, I don’t know. I think some do know though.”

“Who!?”

…Hello…There’s a King here with no idea on what you are talking about…

“…Ah, well, in the older generations, I’ve heard whispers. It sounded like Owen wasn’t as close to the late King as he is to you now, Ethan…I think he was…Somebody else.”

Owen close to me and not to my…Father?

…I wouldn’t have a clue, I know very little about the royal family. All I know is that I’m the only remaining male there was left.

Owen seems to know more about them, but however often I ask, he never answers.

Thinking though, now, I think it was about time that I demand some answers from my mother!

With this sudden urge to fulfil, I then looked at Damien, and said, “I have another person who I want to talk too, maybe she will know.”

“Who?” Damien asked.

“My mother…”

I had to introduce her to Chance as well!

…Should I do that with these questions at the same time?

Dammit, I know I should show her Chance, but I was also keen on knowing what she knows!

I felt like both Chance and this information was just as important…

It sucked, that I had not seen her very much…Really, wasn’t I such a bad son…

Even if Owen stopped me from seeing her and made me very busy, I still should have found time somewhere!

…It really was a strange occurrence though, how nobody has opened their mouths about Owen. I’m sure there was a number of people here that were here when the late King was, but none of them had told me anything when I had asked them!

Even the rare times when I was drunk and had thought of such questions, no one answered me!

With an order from me personally, to anyone who works here…They still wouldn’t…

I had not done anything in return back then, only thinking that perhaps they didn’t see me as a King and that I couldn’t blame them…But now…Courage went through me and I got all angry that people did not tell the King what he needed to know!

Am I somebody else, or…Is somebody else the King!?

Frowning to myself, I desperately started to wonder what my mother knows, even if it was about the late King, but I’d prefer it if she would tell me more about Owen. I also still wanted to know how I was conceived in the first place as well! Why…Why had she never told me before!?

Way too many questions!

The Queen happily let us go, knowing now that she had nothing to fear anymore. It was good to finally be back to being friends with her, actually I thought it wouldn’t be this easy, but she told me that it was because we were never more than friends. That…If she had deeply cared for me, it would have hurt a lot more than it has.

For the first time, I was glad that she hadn’t fallen in love with me or whatever. If she had, what would she be doing right now?

It was sad that she had that much free time on her hands to even know this…As for me, I hadn’t thought about her feelings towards me much at all…

I was not only a bad son…But a bad husband…

Wait! Now I had my mate…Will I be a bad mate too?

Being with your destined mate, surely one doesn’t treat them badly…That’s right, the Queen wouldn’t even be my Queen if her mate had not perished…

I could only sigh, knowing that she will never be as lucky as me in that regard.

I decided then that I should do my best to look after her, to keep her with Chance and not completely ignore her. After all, weren’t we friends?

It sure was nice, that I had a friend here, if she had been someone else, things might have turned out differently. Perhaps, if I had another Queen, that Queen might not let me be with my mate and might have threatened me with…Well, she would probably know that I was an Omega…

I shivered to the idea…

There’s was no point continuing to worry about this though, as it wasn’t real…

Having some doubts about things…I guess I was just questioning everything now…Which I didn’t like…

I already had enough problems!