Bride of the Sea-King Alpha

Lyra

“Do you honestly think that wolf king will actually notice your looks?” My oldest sister sneers at me as I apply my makeup.

I watch in the mirror as my eyes redden at her harsh words.

“Daddy’s giving you away as a sacrifice,” she continues. “That filthy wolf will probably eat you alive after having his way with you. Disgusting.”

The knot I’d felt growing in my stomach all morning suddenly feels like solid lead. I meet Anastasia’s gaze in my heart-shaped vanity mirror, my eyes wide. “Do you really think he’ll kill me?”

I’d heard as much, especially as the servants gossiped in the castle since I’d been promised as a bride to the Sea-King Alpha. Some say he is hideous and smells of raw sewage mixed with brine. Others say he is the most beautiful man in the world, with a physique so powerful no mortal man could ever best him. But all of them say he’s a beast, a cold-hearted murderer that my father must appease, or our people will no longer be allowed to harvest the ocean’s bounty.

She smirks, pulling her lips to the side under her prominent nose. “Of course he will. Did you really think you could marry a wolf shifter and still be alive after the wedding night?”

“Anastasia, stop it.” Ailsa, my other older sister, younger than Anastasia but two years older than me, marches into the room, her golden hair flowing over her shoulders like silk. “You shouldn’t scare her like that on a day like today.”

Anastasia shrugs and shakes her head at her only full-blooded sister. “I’m just trying to prepare her.”

“I’ll be the one to prepare her, thank you,” Ailsa tells her.

“Okay, well, bye ‘sis,’” Anastasia says to me, her final word dripping with sarcasm as she slinks out of the room.

“Don’t listen to her,” Ailsa says, grabbing my pearl-studded brush and gathering my hair. “She’s jealous.”

“I don’t see what she has to be jealous of.” I inhale slowly, trying to calm the jittery butterflies that have taken residence right above that lump in my belly. “She’s a high princess, betrothed to the handsome Ethan Snowthorne of the Winter Realm. I’m just a low princess, being thrown at an angry wolf king so he doesn’t kill us all.”

She pauses, holding my hair in a ponytail before twisting it into an updo. “Stop calling yourself that, Lyra. Your mother is just as loved by our father as hers and mine was, maybe even more. And my mother would roll over in her grave if she knew how Anastasia had turned out. You have to ignore her.”

“Ignore who?” My mother, Queen Consort Iridessa, steps into my room with her usual graceful countenance. Her sleek auburn hair is several shades darker than mine, which is more of a copper-tinted blonde so bright I often hide it under a hat so I don’t blind anyone.

From the moment I was old enough to know I was a princess, I wished I was more like my mother: brilliant and confident, with an unmistakable air of elegance. If one hadn’t known my father had a former wife, the Queen Regant Amelia, it would be impossible not to see my mother as the true monarch. But because she is his second wife, the kingdom does not recognize her as a real queen.

“Anastasia,” Ailsa replies. “She’s been bothering her about her fiancé again.”

“I’m sure your sister is just being protective,” Mother says.

Ailsa finishes up my updo, leaving curled tendrils hanging on the sides, then she pins in my small tiara. She leans in and pats my shoulder. “You look beautiful. I’ll give you two a moment to say goodbye. I’ll see you downstairs.”

Goodbye…

It’s not a word I wish to say to my mother or to Ailsa, and moisture soon pools in my eyes as my sister quietly steps out the door.

“You look so beautiful, sweetheart.” My mother adjusts the puffy shoulder on my dress sleeve, though it’s already fine. I’ve chosen my favorite gown for the trip, a soft lilac A-line with lace embroidery. She holds her gaze down, but I still see the glint in her emerald-green eye as tears begin to well up. “The Sea-King Alpha is a lucky man.”

“Have you ever seen him?” I ask, hopeful.

But she shakes her head. “I have not. Only your father has, when they were arranging your union.” She bites her lip and continues. “You mustn’t worry about the chattering around the castle.”

So, she has heard it too.

“Those people have never seen the man, either–or any shifter, for that matter.” She holds up her head, forcing her lips into a smile. “I’m sure he’s handsome, given that he’s the king of all the sea-facing lands.”

I nod, trying to fake a smile, but it’s not his looks I’m worried about.

I stand, and she pulls me in close, the scent of her gardenia cologne sweet and comforting. “I will miss you,” she whispers in my ear. “I’ll find a way to visit you soon.”

We pull apart, and I’m already sobbing. “You won’t be at the wedding.” It’s a statement, not a question. Such things have already been decided without our input.

She places her index finger softly on my chin. “I will always be with you, my little Lyra. Just look in your heart, and you will find my love.” She pulls something from her pocket, a velvet box. “I want you to have this. It’s from my mother, your grandmother, who you’ve never met.” She pulls out a diamond necklace, its main stone encased in an elaborate floral setting.

“It’s beautiful,” I say as she wraps it around me, fixing the clasp behind my neck.

“And so are you, Lyra.” Reaching for a tissue on my dresser, she dries my tears and adds a little more mascara. “There. You’re all ready to go, my dear little girl.”

I giggle despite my sadness. “Mother, I’m twenty years old, not little.”

“You’ll always be a little girl to me,” she insists.

She leads me by the hand down the many hallways and out to the courtyard, which is bustling with activity. Servants load the festively decorated wagons with a trunk of my belongings, along with several goods donated by our fishermen, farmers, and merchants who wish to find themselves in good standing with the Sea-King Alpha.

I suppose a nervous young human bride isn’t enough of a prize for a wolf shifter king like him.

We approach my father, who is directing all the activity as if he’s conducting an orchestra. “That goes in the carriage with my daughter,” he tells a man with a small, locked box. “The finest jewels should not be stored along with salted fish!”

“Father—”

“No, no, no, man,” he tells another servant, ignoring me. “The Sea-King standards should be displayed in front of ours, so they identify the caravan as it approaches. Now, behind it, be sure the acrobats perform perfectly. We can’t embarrass the people of Maelie.”

“Father, I’m ready to board the carriage,” I manage to say.

“Oh, splendid. Splendid.” But he doesn’t even look my way. Instead, he sprints over to a man carrying a wine barrel, insisting on having the man set it down so he can take a taste and be sure it’s perfect.

“Your father is busy,” Mother says, her voice pleasant yet sharpened with an edge of annoyance. “Let’s just get you settled.”

“Your Highness, allow me to assist,” my lady’s maiden, Cally, says as I approach the gilded carriage. The horses pulling it are some of the finest in our kingdom, bred to feature long, fluffy blond manes and wearing the bright blue standard of the Kingdom of Maelie, the largest human civilization on the Pearl Coast.

Though we stand at the mercy of the wolf shifters, who rule over all.

Cally adjusts my dress when I sit on the velvet-lined seat, and Ailsa jumps in for one last hug. “I’ll write to you every day,” she promises. “Don’t worry.”

The drivers call out that they are ready, and Ailsa jumps off as they close my carriage door. Through the small window, I see my family, except for Annastasia, who is nowhere to be found.

My mother blows me a kiss, Ailsa waves frantically, and my father looks toward the wagons handling the cargo trunks as my carriage pulls away. The few friends I’ve made in the royal school are somewhere lost in the crowd, and it’s hopeless to try to find them.

I leave behind everyone and everything I’ve ever known and loved.

I’ll be the bride of the Sea-King Alpha, Cassian Oliver, living my life in a strange land with strange people.

If I survive the first night.