Greymoor Academy: I Accidentally Bonded With Four Lycan Royals!

Maisie

Kara, it would turn out, had made it her mission to give me a tour of every nook and cranny of the stone castle in thirty minutes.

She bobbed up and down with nervous energy, zinging this way and that with so much energy, it was almost difficult to keep up.

We barely spent any second in the large library lined with shelf after shelf of archaic looking books that caught my interest before she took my wrist and pulled me along with her down the length of the hallway.

”And this is the garden,” she pointed over the large field of wild, beautiful flowers of every kind and color, trees of ripened fruits that grew nearly tall enough to reach the skies.

It seemed everything in the ridge grew past what was considered normal. Even the apples were larger than my fists. The air here was richer, the grass greener. Even the skies seemed close enough to touch.

”It is even more beautiful than the gardens in the royal residences,” she said, plucking out a red rose and handing it to me. A group of beautiful women–one full bred Lycan female with red tresses and honey brown eyes who peered at everything like it was all beneath her, and three hybrids, who followed closely behind her–walked past us as we stood on one of the garden’s trails.

Their gazes zeroed in on me, and their lips curled into varying degrees of sneers.

”Careful, Kara,” the redhead said. ”Hanging out with outsiders and traitors might leave an ugly stain.”

I just got here and they already hate me? What did I do?

”Don’t worry about Rin,” Kara said. ”She’s just angry that my brothers won’t bond with her. And with you coming around now, she feels like her place is being threatened.”

”Her place?” I mused, letting her guide me away from the gardens where I noticed a number of women flitted around in pretty gowns and heavy jewelry, cooing over each other softly, tittering behind their fingers.

My brows arched when they giggled louder every time a Lycan male walked past. What was this? A bride selection? What century were we in?

”Trinity is Bastian’s past lover. They always share their lovers, so I suppose that is why she feels entitled to Kisten and Ryder, as well.”

I nodded, but when I kept staring at the women in bewilderment, Kara added, ”They heard the princes were coming. They do this every time there’s an important event that brings the males at the ridge to the castle. Mothers bring their daughters in hopes to get noticed and chosen. Here, our males prefer their females docile and delicate, and so the girls like to stand in the gardens, amongst the flowers, in hopes it makes them appear gentler and more... agreeable.”

I tried not to cringe at that. Things really were different in these parts. The complete opposite, actually, with females making the choices instead. I tried to imagine what it would have been like growing up here if I hadn’t been stolen away.

I couldn’t even picture it.

Kara’s expression was one of irritation as she casted it along the giggling group.

”You don’t agree with this,” I realized.

She fiddled nervously with her hands. ”I love the gardens. But I love reading better.”

She glanced down at her shoes, her blonde brows drawing together in a frown. ”The others, they don’t speak to me much because I don’t share their interests. They say no man wants a woman who will talk his ears off with all of her knowledge. They’re always talking about being wives. And having litters. They tell me when I turn sixteen, I’ll become a woman and then they’ll speak to me.”

I froze. ”How old are you?”

She seemed unhappy. ”Fourteen.”

I turned to Kara. ”None of that is true. I know we’ve only just met each other, but believe me when I say you do not have to shrink yourself to be loved by anyone.”

”Like he loves you?” she said, looking over my shoulder. Only then did I notice the soft gasps and sighs from the women. I followed her gaze, turning around, and found Soren watching me from the archway leading back to the castle.

Had thirty minutes already elapsed? I barely even noticed.

I caught my bottom lip between my teeth, feeling heat spread along my cheeks. ”Something like that,” I murmured.

Goddess, but why did he have to look so dashing today? Now all the women were staring at him with fuck-me eyes, while they reserved only death glares for me, like they weren’t busy ogling my man.

Yes. He was mine.

”He is kind,” Kara said, and ducked her head when her face heated. ”Very kind. He snuck in to see me after the attack that happened on the night of the Hunt. He told me you were worried about me but you were too stubborn to ask anyone to check if I was alright, so he came on your behalf.”

She smiled. ”He told me he couldn’t come empty handed and because he didn’t know what I liked, he brought me your favourite flowers and ice cream flavour. He swears you love them so much you sneak into the kitchen to steal them at night.”

Oh goodness. I was about to melt into a puddle.

”I thought then that if I was going to give anyone my virginity, it would be to a man like him,” Kara said unabashedly.

I gasped. ”You are too young to have thoughts like that!”

”You’re not much older than me,” she scowled. ”And you have four Erasthais.”

”I’m eighteen,” I declared, affronted. ”And when I was your age, I was thinking about becoming filthy rich.”

”I don’t need to think about riches. Mother is Queen.”

Soren made his way down the steps, oblivious of the attention of the entire yard on him as he made a beeline for us. He halted a few steps away, plucking the rose out of my fingers, and I looked away shyly when he tucked it into my hair with a soft whisper that might have been, ”Stunning.”

Alright. My legs had officially become jelly.

”I hate to interrupt you both, but I have to steal her away now,” he said to Kara.

To me, he said, ”It’s time.”