Word Count: 3690

Chapter Five:

I stared at myself in the mirror, horrified by my appearance. And coming from a girl who doesn't even know how to apply makeup, that's saying a lot. 

My hair was originally pulled into a messy bun, which now lay lopsided on one side of my head, gauze was wrapped around my right forearm because of my mental breakdown Friday night, my eyes were sunken and swollen from crying, and the makeup on my wrists and neck had rubbed off, so my bruises were very obvious in my gigantic sweater that literally swallowed me whole. It was one of my younger brothers', but I had stolen it from him because he never wore it. 

Deciding not to mess with the bruises any further, I brushed out my hair and redid my bun, making it more tight and well kept, then I washed my face with cool water to soothe my aching eyes. 

Today was Sunday, which meant I hadn't left my bed at Jackson and Angelica's place since Friday, which honestly was okay with me. I hadn't eaten anything either, and so my skin looked pale and pasty. 

Pulling on some leggings and slipping on my white converse, I stepped outside of my room for the first time in 24 hours. The room wasn't necessarily my room, it was a guest bedroom that Angelica and Jackson had thought useful - when in reality they actually did buy the apartment because I could sleep in the spare room - but considering I stayed in their apartment so much, it basically was my room, and I would never take Angelica and Jackson's kindness for granted, they treated me like their adult daughter they never had (because I'm the same age as them). 

"Angelica," I called softly, my voice slightly hoarse, "I'm going home, thanks for letting me stay here." I smiled at my best friend when she threw a potato chip at me, which I threw back. It hit her smack dab in the middle of her forehead. "Anytime doll, you be safe now. And don't let anyone see under that gauze until it's fully healed!" She smiled brightly at me, before putting a chip in her mouth and winking at me as I opened the door. 

"It's not like I'd go waving it around anyway!" I called after her before shutting the door and heading downstairs. 

Outside, the day was warm, and the sun spread across the apartment buildings with a soft glow. I relished in the warmth against my skin, something that I loved the feeling of. It's one of the things that I love about the outdoors, because the warmth of the sun doesn't make you feel trapped like harsh LED lights inside do. 

A woman was walking her dogs, a guy was bicycling down the street, and cars were mindlessly swerving down the road, like always. Peace was something you could always find in Esterhaven, there rarely was much crime, nobody disputed over politics, or religion, everyone was happy and content, which is what made this place so welcoming. 

"Mom! I'm home!" I closed the door to my apartment, silently stepping inside and resting my bag against the green wall. I didn't get a reply, so I shrugged it off, assuming my sibling and mother were at the store. My father really could've been anywhere, at the Temple or perhaps at work. It was rare to find him at home during the day. 

I walked into the kitchen to grab an apple, and tensed when I heard footsteps behind me. 

"Where have you been?" 

My father.

I tensed further and turned around slowly, looking up to see the dark eyes of my parent.

"I-"

Without warning, pain erupted across my face. The slap was as loud as a clap and stung my skin. It had been an open-handed smack and I'm sure it left a red welt behind. Just below my eye, I could feel a small cut where my fathers wedding ring had caught me. I staggered backwards, clutching my face, my eyes watering.

I dropped the glass plate I had in my hands and it fell to the floor, shattering into tiny little pieces. 

"I heard you ran the night of the gala," he growled, grabbing my wrist and squeezing it tightly, "you were unkind and insensible to the prince and ran away. You were so rude to the royal family." His grip tightened, and I squeezed my eyes shut. 

I would never call my father abusive, nor would the rest of my family. As my mother would say, he was just "ill-tempered, and in need of something to take it out on." She said my father loved me unconditionally, but just didn't know how to show it, which I highly doubted. 

"You made a fool of our family in front of the Royals! Do you know what this could do to our family?" My father pressed my back against the counter so hard it started going numb, along with my hand which was uselessly dangling out of his grip. 

"Y-Yes sir." I mumbled, looking down to the floor submissively. Giving my family a bad rep is a big no-no. We aren't rich, no, but Mother and Fathers jobs are very high status and good paying. When you say "Jonathan Harvingston" to someone, everyone automatically knows who you are talking about. And now, because of my stupidity, my family will be the talk of the city.

 My father huffed in annoyance before throwing me to the ground, causing me to brace myself with my knees and hands, which landed directly in the shards of broken glass. 

"Have this cleaned up by the time I get back." He snapped and nudged his foot roughly into my side before leaving, the door slamming behind him. 

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. My right wrist dangled uselessly next to me, while my left palm and already bruised knees had blood and shards of glass protruding from the delicate skin. 

Ignoring the pain, I started brushing the broken glass into my palms and gently dumping it in the trash bin behind me.

"Father loves me," I mumbled trying to make myself believe it, "Father loves m-"

There was a knock that tore through the silence of the house.

Father must have forgotten something. I walked up to the front door and gently placed my hand on the knob, pain tingling up and down my arm. I opened the door expecting to see my father staring down and me and insulting me for looking a mess. Instead, four royal guards stood in front of me, the crowned prince standing in the middle of them.

"Ahah!" Prince Adrian exclaimed animatedly, "Miss Jade Harvingston of Esterhaven you ar- woah why are you crying?"

I blinked in surprise and brought my hand up to cheek my tear streaked face. The prince frowned at me and reached out to grab my wrist.  Realizing I was bloody and mangled in front of the prince of Aldmist , I slammed the door as fast as I possibly could, not caring that I could get thrown in jail for that.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I shouted through the door, leaning against it and locking it tightly.

"I came to collect you, we are going to the palace as soon as you're packed." I heard him near the door and try the handle. When he realized it was locked he leaned in closer to the crack in the door and whispered, "I told you I'd find you."

I just about wanted to scream right then and there "WE ARE NOT MATES!" but refrained from doing so, knowing that I could be reprimanded.

"Go away." I whimpered holding back a couple of tears.

I sound like a crybaby, I know. But having someone think you are mates when you know you aren't, have your father hit you, and have the so-called soul-mate show up at your doorstep isn't really my idea of a good week.

My cheek still stung from being slapped, and my wrist was throbbing for an icepack, but I remained still, frozen by the prince's words.

"If you don't let me in I will personally break down your door." He rumbled, power oozing from the edges of his voice.

"No." I replied softly.

As soon as the word fell from my mouth my door was completely obliterated.

---

When Adrian arrived at his soul-mates door step, the last thing he expected was for Jade to open the door with tears in her eyes and a large red handprint on her cheek. Instead, he was expecting a smiling Jade who jumped into his arms, kissed the living daylights out of him, and then introduced him to her family, not a door being slammed in his face.

Prince Adrian was known as heartless, soulless, emotionless, cruel, and evil, which he would agree with if he was asked. After the Aldmist Civil War, he was nicknamed "Torture Timmy" by his colleagues, because of his skills at making people talk - with or without torture devices. But here Adrian stood, his heart aching with the feeling of his mate rejecting him, and wondering what to do to get her to open the door for him.

When the small girl on the other side of the door said no to him - and no one ever dared say no to him - he was enraged. In a flash, Adrian had slammed against the door and the wood went splintering everywhere. His guards did nothing but shrug and smirk at the underlying strength their Crowned Prince had.

There in the corner of the room, stood Adrian's quivering mate who held a fire-poker out as protection, her eyes shiny and full of fear.

---

Letting out an ear-piercing scream I shot for the corner of the front room where a fire-poker was and grabbed it, ignoring the feeling of glass digging deeper into my hands. Prince Adrian glanced around the room a couple of times before his eyes landed on me, his green eyes filling with worry and concern.

He stepped forward slowly, tilting his head to the side, "You're...bleeding?" The prince stepped closer, his hands held behind his back.

Shaking, I held the metal poker in front of me. "Stay back!" I snapped, wary of his nearing distance to me. My head was spinning around me and I felt slightly dizzy. I braced myself against the wall, watching in silence as the four guards stepped over my broken down door.  

"Go pack up her room, I'll deal with her." Prince Adrian acknowledged the guards, who brusquely fled the scene to look for my bedroom. I glared at the prince, "'Deal' with me? Seriously?" 

"You're hurt." The prince said carefully, ignoring my comment and stepping closer. I pressed the sharp end of the fire-poker to his neck, and watched his Adams Apple bob up and down. "Get out of my house and go back to your pretty little castle on the hill, M'kay?" I seethed.

The prince frowned deeper, "I-"

He was cut off by me pressing the poker harder against his neck, his eyes widening slightly.

"Get. Out."

Not once did I think about using my persuasion powers, which probably would have helped me greatly, but my mind was foggy and I was wayyy to emotional to be bossing around a prince.

In a blur, I was on the floor, with the prince straddling me, the clang of the fire-poker sounding somewhere behind me. A gasp escaped my mouth as my hands were grabbed and forcefully placed above my head, then a cry of pain, because prince Adrian was squeezing my surely sprained wrist.

"Why are you hurt?" He asked, his eyes trailing over my face, examining me. I tried to kick him in the place that well...makes him-him, but he just gripped my wrist harder which made me cry again. "Don't make me repeat myself Jade."

I shivered at the way my name sounded rolling off of his tongue, and immediately shook it off.

What the hell am I doing? Assaulting a prince is a capitol offence! Treason!

"My father..." I mumbled, squeezing my eyes shut to keep me from seeing the stars that were now dancing around my vision. "You're father hurt you?" Prince Adrian deadpanned.

I nodded grimly, feeling like I just betrayed my family. If my father were to see me now, he'd call me a weakling, and I'd end up with a bruise on my stomach.

"Where are you hurt?" The prince slowly let go of my arm, and I sighed in relief. My wrist was now throbbing, and I silently prayed to Fate that there would be an icepack in my future.

"My palms and knees have shards of glass in them, and my wrists are bruised...and then there's my cheek..." I trailed off slowly pushing myself up after the prince climbed off of me. Without my consent he picked me up and was holding me bridal style.

"Um..What the hell are you doing?" I raised an eyebrow at him as he headed for the door.  

Prince Adrian smirked down at me, "Just carrying my mate out of a hellhole." 

Mate. Mate. The word sent shivers down my spine. But I knew I couldn't fall into his trap. His ever so masterfully made trap. I'm not his mate, and I never will be. I don't- can't have a mate because I was born without a Mate-Tattoo. The person that would make me happy, make me smile and laugh, give me children and love me unconditionally, he doesn't exist. And no matter how much I beg and plead with Fate to let that man exist. He doesn't. I guess I am unfit to have someone who could possibly fathom loving me. 

"I'm not your mate." I growled, struggling to get out of the Prince's grip. Prince Adrian's jaw clenched as he gazed down at me, his cold eyes wandering over my face before glancing at the stairwell we were going down. 

"And why do you say that?" He raised a single darkly colored eyebrow, a contrast to his white hair. 

Prince Adrian was a masterpiece. And I'm sure any self respecting woman would say the same. He had a tall stature, broad shoulders, a defined jawline, and his white hair was perfectly cut, even though it was currently sticking to his forehead from sweat. He was a handsome prince, and hopefully a fine gentleman. Yet as I stared at him for awhile longer, I hadn't realized I had been set down on the hood of a black escalade, and a small man was currently reaching at me with a knife. 

"What the hell?!" I shoved the man away, ready to jump off of the hood of the car when I heard Prince Adrian speak. 

"Calm down Jade, he is my doctor." The Prince's words were brisk, sharp, and held the authority that he seemed to always possess. I grumbled a few curse words in distaste and held out my hands, "my knees are fine but I would much rather prefer not having shards of glass in my hands." 

The bald man seemed skittish, like a deer that had seen hunters charging towards it with their rifles raised. Except the hunter was Prince Adrian and the doctor was the innocent deer. He slowly neared me, switching out his scissors with a pair of tweezers and carefully took my hand, flinching when he made contact with my skin. 

"This may hurt, M-Miss..." He paused waiting for my name, "Jade." I sent him a soft smile and a glare at the prince who stared darkly at us both. "Jade is fine." 

The doctor nodded and started using the tweezers to pull out the glass that was embedded with my skin. When he noticed I was indifferent about the pain, he slowly started digging into my delicate flesh, the tweezers grabbing the glass firmly. 

I cast a glance at the prince, who was still staring at us as if he were ready to kill. "I'm sorry. But please do remind me again, why, exactly, you're here?" I said it as rudely as I could muster up, my teeth were clenched tightly together. 

"I'm taking you back to the Royal Palace," Prince Adrian shrugged, sending a glance over his shoulder. "Oh?" I raised an eyebrow at him, annoyance evident in my tone, "And why is that?"

The Prince shrugged again in reply, "Because you're my mate." 

There was that word again. The word I loathed. The word I had learned to hate with so much of a burning passion I would dare Fate to make the mistake of saying it and face my wrath. The word that forces me to lie to everyone. The word that swears in my fate that I will never have a true love like Jackson and Angelica.

"I. Am. Not. Your. Mate. For the last fudging time!" I glared daggers at the prince, watching his eyes darken and his mouth set in a thin, grim line. 

"You are my mate if I say you're my mate." The prince spat, before climbing into the Escalade and slamming the door behind him. 

I glared at the empty space where the prince stood moments before, as if he was still standing there with that over-looking gaze. This cannot be happening to me, especially not today. I mean, seriously? Fate just loves to play games with me, he loves to give me so many obstacles, like a show horse would.

"J-Jade? Miss?" I whipped my head towards the doctor, who stared at me wide eyed, his glasses slipping off of his nose. "I have g-gotten most of the glass o-out  of  your hands, b-but when you get t-to the palace you'll need the Palace Doctor to take a look a-at you." The small man in front of me stuttered, his eyes looking down to his fidgeting hands.

Ignoring the mans instructions, I glanced off into the distance where the road led to the very center of town, silently calculating how fast I would need to run to escape one of the guards. "How fast do you reckon...Prince Adrian could run?" I ask in mock curiosity, my head tilted ever so slightly and strands that had fallen loose from my bun landing on my shoulder. 

The doctor frowned, furrowing his eyebrows and creating wrinkles on his face. "I-I'd assume...very fast." He stared at me for a moment longer, "Why d-do you ask?" 

I shrugged my shoulders, glancing back at the road, "Oh...just because...this!" I shoved the man away and dashed off towards the road, my converse hitting the pavement so hard it echoed over the apartment buildings. I heard the wail of the man behind me, his words shouting out into the warm air of spring. There were more shouts, followed by footsteps echoing behind my own, ready to snatch me up and make a princess out of me. A soulmate out of me.

I pushed my legs further, kicking up with the pavement, my hair falling in my face. Casting a quick glance behind me I realized the guards were only perhaps ten feet behind me, but the prince...he was three. 

Remembering to actually use the powers Fate gifted me, I shoot my eyes up to the sky.

Wind. 

I lift my hands up and wave them behind me, gusts of powerful air hitting the guards and the crowned prince hard. They shouted out in surprise and I smirked before quickly running into a crowd of teenagers who had only just realized I was being chased by royal guards and the prince, or they were completely oblivious to my race for freedom. 

I was starting to slow down, the people I was shoving past on the streets were glaring and shouting out their disapproval while also creating blockades which were difficult to get through. The streets here were brick, like an old town, and the sidewalks molded into the street like something from a movie. I was about to head into the market when my wrist was grabbed tightly and I was pulled into someone's chest. 

Struggling at the arms of my attacker was no use, and I was suddenly pinned against the wall of an alleyway, staring into those dangerous green eyes only Prince Adrian could have. His long strong, and muscled, arms caged around my head as his breath fanned across my face. His pants were intermixed with my pants as we tried to catch our breaths. 

"Let me go," I growled squirming beneath the princes arms and trying to slide under, instead, he lifted his knee right into the middle of my crotch area - talk about awkward - and hoisted me up to his eyes.

"If you ever do...." He paused panting softly, "Do that again...there will be a worse punishment than whats already coming your way." The Crowned Prince smirked down at me, a devilish smile of his like lightening in a storm, his eyes swirling with emotion. They held a fury so strong, a fire willing to burn anything in its path, a challenge.  A challenge for me. I willingly excepted, staring straight back into his challenging eyes with the same amount of fury, with the same amount of fire. 

"I'll do whatever the hell I want, Prince." The one difference between our eyes were I knew much better then to let my feelings seep into my eyes. They were devoid of emotion, and I noticed from the princes movements that it unnerved him greatly. 

His eyes narrowed, as his smirk grew. He dipped his head into my neck and pressed his nose against it, letting out a soft hum. I gasped at the soft tingles that stretched out across my skin from where his nose touched. "And I'll do whatever the hell I want, Jade." 

The Prince's head raised from my neck, and tufts of his white hair fell into his face. My eyes widened in realization, as I shoved him away. 

"I-It was you." 

---

Hey lovely readers, how are you today? 

This chapter I think may have been the longest I have ever written...which is very, very surprising so please remember to vote and comment because of this lovely accomplishment. 

What do you think is going to happen next? 

On a totally unrelated note...I have 46 days of school left! (Not counting weekends) How long do you peeps have? 

Have a splendid day and remember to be good to each other!

Love you xoxo 

Bye