Alder’s POV
“Your Highness, I know that I am nothing in the palace. But I have a right to be treated as a palace member, too,” Mitch said. She came into my office crying, telling me about how Clover pinned her on the wall and threatened her. I didn’t know if I was going to believe her, but she never came to me like this, ever. I sighed and tried to console her. I didn’t want anyone in the palace to see Clover differently, and might cause them to disrespect her.
“Did you do anything that warranted her anger?” I asked,
“I saw her in the east building with the female gamma. I just asked what they were doing there because I didn’t think that they were actually helping with cleaning the rooms. I mean, they were both royals, and I think that the omegas were feeling uncomfortable working while Her Highness was there.” she replied, “I can ask for one of the omegas to come here if you want to know about what they think.” she added,
“No need, you may leave.”
“But–”
“No more buts. I already told you that you could leave.”
“Is it because she is the queen and your mate? That’s why I have no right to say anything about her?” she asked, looking dejected.
“Are you questioning me?” I asked with a stoic face. What I hate the most is when they question my fairness. All this time that I was their king, I promised to be fair to everyone, regardless of their rank. Her telling me this made me angry. Mitch stood up and left my office, so I mind-linked Lance to get Clover for me.
When she got in, I didn’t know how I was going to talk to her or tell her not to be so aggressive with others, thinking it was Mitch who was at the aggrieved party. I’m sure that she’s not going to take it lightly and would definitely think that I was siding with that woman. I could smell her outside my office, and when she got in, I felt troubled.
The last few weeks have been really good for us, and I can already see the day that she will mark me. But this incident will likely delay that even more. She entered my office and asked. I tried to be sensible so she wouldn’t take what I had to say the wrong way.
Then she said OK. I was expecting her to argue and fight with me, but she just said OK. She was angry, and I knew that, so I tried to talk to her more. I wanted to explain to her that it was for her own good, but she was too angry to listen. Then she told me about her being the boss of her own company. She actually had a point, and being the queen is not far from being the CEO of her business. She left the office angry, but I decided not to follow her. I mind-linked Charles instead to know if she had gone back to Mia, and I felt relieved that she did.
I stayed in the office doing my work to distract myself until Lance knocked and came in. “You and Her Highness fought again?” he asked, and I told her about what Mitch had told me,
“And you believed her?” I looked at him and replied,
“Not exactly, I just wanted Clover to know that—”
“Confronting her without asking about what happened already showed that you believe that bitch more than her.” he said, “If I was in your position, I would never ever believe the woman I knew who wanted me for herself, even if she already knew that I had already found my mate. I would rather believe in an omega than Mitch, Alder.” he added.
“She even told me that she could bring one of the omegas. I could ask about what happened.” I told him,
“Did you?”
“No, Mitch had never acted that way before and..”
“So you believe her because of that,” he said, “Anyway, that’s for you to think about. I didn’t want to give myself any trouble regarding you or your mate. Just to let you know, I ate with her and Mia before I came here, and they were talking about training together. I told them that they could do so in the gym.” I nodded, and he stood up. “I’ll go and talk to the head trainers.”
I leaned back and thought. This is not good, and I really need to make things clear to Clover. With everything that’s going to happen in the palace and the training, we will not have time together to settle our misunderstanding if I am not going to do it now. But what am I going to do with her? She’s very stubborn and doesn’t want to listen to me. She doesn’t even open up with me to tell me what she was thinking and making me guess.
A knock took me out of my trance. “Come in,” I said, and Joshua came in. He closed the door and walked closer. “Is there anything you need?” I asked,
“I’m really sorry about this, Your Highness. But last night, I had a vision again about your mate,” he said, and I sighed heavily.
“I already told you that Clover is my mate. I could smell and feel it.” I replied. He is making me feel confused about my own feelings now. “My beast has already claimed her, so it’s not just me that accepts her,” I added,
“I know Your Highness, and, believe it or not, I already like Her Highness now. She is strong, and I can see that she wanted you as well. But I couldn’t just ignore what I saw. Clearly, your mate is a witch.”
“What do you want me to do, Joshua?”
“I don’t know either, Your Highness. You already marked her, so I think there was nothing for me to do about it. I will just tell you this again because that’s what I saw, and I didn’t want to be like that if something happened,” he answered with his head down.
“What do you think of Clover?” I asked. He looked at me, confused. “You’re one of the council members, so you can tell me what you think about my mate.”
“As I already said, I liked her as our queen. I could see that she was strong and perfect for being your mate. Yes, it concerns me that she has not marked you yet, and that makes me think that she’s not actually after you because of your title. But you know well that she needed to mark you to attain the kingdom’s entire potential and strength. The longer she delays it, the kingdom,” he replied.
“Yeah, I know that. But I didn’t want to force her. She’s very difficult, and we just had an argument.”
“Whatever you argue about, make sure that it’s not because of your past flings.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t want to see her in her past relationship or defend her past flames, right?” he asked, and that made me stiff. “I guess my warning came a little too late.” he said and, getting up, “I will leave you now. You have wooing to do., But I still want you to think about what I told you about your mate,” he added, and left. Now, I am worried and confused.