-HER-

"He told me he didn't want me because I'm ugly!" My words hung in the empty room for a while, ringing in both of our ears.

The Queen's piercing dark blue eyes stared at me for a second longer. She snapped when my words finally made sense to her.

"What?" She asked. I didn't miss the disgust laced in her voice.

Was it for me? Was she disgusted by me too?

"H-he told me he didn't want me because I'm ugly!" I spoke again. I'd never known that my words could pierce my own heart again and again. I cried in silence.

A part of me was surprised that I was even crying for something so small. It wasn't the first time that someone had called me that. Growing up, people did say that I looked different but it'd never hurt me this much.

The only thing that was making this hurt was the fact that my mate had cited this as a reason to reject me. It was both- very stupid and atrocious.

... but he was being honest, wasn't he? A small voice spoke inside me. I instantly shook it away but I didn't want it to be true.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and I sniffed but I didn't dare let another sob out as the Queen's eyes bore into me with so much weight, it felt like she was going to crush me with her gaze alone. I was very much tempted to throw myself in her arms and cry but I contained myself from doing so.

"That bastard," She muttered under her breath as her eyes grew slightly blurry. Was she mind-linking someone?

I couldn't tell. Her body looked very tense and her jaw and fists were clenched. It somewhat scared me to see her angry. We all knew what happened when she was angry. Everything burned.

"What else did he say to you?" She demanded next, taking a step closer to me. I shook my head in response while her eyes burned into me.

"Celeste," She breathed, taking another step closer to me and placing her finger under my chin, and lifting my face up. "Stop crying. I'm sure he didn't mean it,"

"I'm sure he did," I chocked.

"Ezekiel could be very rude sometimes. He-"

"Please... I know he meant it very much and the worse is that he didn't really reject me. He simply said that he didn't want me because... because..." I trailed off. I swallowed hard, wishing that it would help me forget the words but it wasn't that easy, was it?

The Queen clutched my cheeks, her fingers almost digging into my flesh painfully as she forced me to look at her, "I'll make sure he pays for this," She promised. The dark tone of her voice made me shiver.

I could feel her regal power oozing off her body and taking over me. Without realizing it, I found myself lowering my gaze in respect but my mind was already running a thousand miles per hour, wondering what it was she was going to do to make him pay. I couldn't help but wonder if it s really possible to make someone like him pay.

He was simply impossible.

"W-what are you going to do?" I asked her in bewilderment. Her eyes hardened.

"You'll see," Was all she told me.

~

"So are you going to tell me or not?" Regulus asked for the nth time while we were training the very next morning. Ares and Augustus weren't far away from where we were training. Even though they were acting as if they were very much busy with their training, I knew that they were close and listening. Growing up, we all had mastered the art of eavesdropping. It was very efficient, especially in times like these.

It wasn't as if they hadn't asked me about yesterday's incident in the first place. They asked and threatened me a lot to get me talking about what happened. Although I didn't cave in that easily. I held my ground, as I always did.

Oh really? A small voice in my head questioned me but I ignored it.

After some bickering and throwing insults back and forth, they shut up. Only Regulus was the one with the thickest skin and a lot of determination and a heck lot of patience. He didn't back down so easily. I was afraid that I was going to break in front of him but I kept pushing the idea away.

I felt Regulus's silver eyes burning holes into my skin. He was watching me very closely. His tall figure stood right behind me, his arms crossed on his chest, his face void of any emotions, and his chiseled jaw clenched with burning determination. I ignored him and continued kicking at the dummy harder and harder. Imagining it to be Ezekiel helped me even more. I was able to go on even though my legs and back were hurting.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Regulus silently watched me destroy the fifth dummy before I moved on to the sixth one. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ares and Augustus move closer as well, just to make sure that they were within audible distance. I let out a very low growl as a warning but they really didn't seem to care.

"Celeste!" Regulus growled. I stopped all at once and growled back at him, going even as further as flashing him my canines. Every time he asked me the same question, it fed the anger within me.

I felt so close to bursting at that moment.

Why didn't he just give up and keep his mouth shut like everyone else? What was his problem?

After I talked to Nefret last night, no one bothered me about it again. I was sure that she had ordered everyone to not speak to me about this. Even my mother didn't dare ask me what had happened and where I had disappeared but Regulus, he seemed hell-bent on getting an answer out of me.

I wasn't supposed to speak about it. Heck, I couldn't even talk about it, thanks to a very certain someone named Ezekiel casting a spell on me. Also, his threat rang in my ears every time. I was very much concerned for the well-being of Pax. I was afraid to let him wander alone so I had one of the wolves keep an eye on him all the time.

I turned around and kicked the dummy hard, very hard as soon as Ezekiel's face flashed in front of my eyes. I wanted to hurt someone... I wanted to hurt him! I wanted to hurt him very badly!

Could you really hurt him? The small voice questioned me again but I ignored it.

"Regulus," I breathed, delivering another kick at the dummy, "If you don't stop asking me that again and again, you'll be next," I threatened. The dark tone of my voice gave away how serious I was about this.

Silence followed my words. Only the sound of my kicks and grunts remained in the air. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ares and Augustus move slightly away from me. They did the sensible thing but Regulus kept standing close to me, watching me like a hawk, waiting for me to start speaking. His inexhaustible patience reservoir was starting to frustrate me even more.

"Celeste," He spoke again, daring to take another step towards me. With my checked teeth, I kicked the sixty dummy hard, so hard that it instantly got destroyed.

"Why don't you want to speak to us?" Regulus question. I stopped at this moment. I closed my eyes, clenched my fists and jaw. I was on the edge now and if he pushed me again, I'd have to attack him.

"Because I don't want to talk about it," I gritted, "I'm not obliged to explain myself every-time!" I growled out loud.

"Don't you trust us?" He questioned. My chest vibrated with a thundering growl before I turned very sharply on my feet and glared at Regulus. He looked very calm and composed even though the air around us buzzed with tension.

I felt this urge to hit him as well since I had exhausted my quota of destroying dummies for the day. If he didn't intend to stop anytime soon then I wouldn't think twice about practicing my blows on him.

"What made you think so?" I asked him, glaring at him. Maintaining his calm, he took a step close to me. His eyes searched my face briefly before he replied, "You're not telling us where you disappear yesterday and what happened to you. Do you have any idea how scared we got?"

I took a deep sigh. Regulus was still very calm and composed.

No one could win Regulus when it came to patience. I prayed that he gets paired with the most annoying creature across all the dimensions and worlds.

"I know," I breathed, "I couldn't help it," I gritted and stormed out of the training room before he could bombard me with more questions.

_

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