Offered to the lycan Kings : Their obsession

Chapter 1

Ravenna's POV

My arms felt like they were going to fall off.

The woven basket pressed hard into my collarbone, smelling entirely of copper and wet fur.

It was piled high with the bloody clothes from my stepfamily's morning hunt.

I dragged my feet across the polished floorboards of the east wing, keeping my head low.

Tomorrow was my twentieth birthday.

In this kingdom, the eldest royal child is supposed to be picking out ceremonial robes and preparing to inherit a throne.

Instead, I was carrying laundry like a kitchen servant who did not know her place.

The white stone walls of the palace seemed to laugh at me as I walked.

I could hear the echoing chatter from the main hall, meaning the guests for the presentation were already arriving.

They were all alphas, of course.

Valerius did not have room for anything less than absolute dominant perfection.

I rounded the corner by the grand marble staircase, hoping to slip down the servant stairs before anyone noticed me.

My luck was completely dead today.

"Look what the storm dragged into the light," a voice chirped from above.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my fingers tightening on the rough edges of the laundry basket.

Princess Aurelia was leaning against the gilded railing, her golden hair looking flawless under the crystal chandeliers.

She had a small pack of noble girls hovering behind her, all of them whispering and hiding their smirks behind silk fans.

"Are those Lord Marcus's hunting trousers, Ravenna?" Aurelia asked, gliding down the stairs with fake grace.

"I thought the head maid told you to have those scrubbed before noon."

I kept my eyes fixed firmly on the tips of her expensive satin slippers.

"The blood took longer to soak out than expected, Aurelia," I muttered back.

One of the noble girls gasped softly behind her hand.

"That is Princess Aurelia to you, wolfless," the girl snapped.

Aurelia held up a hand, acting like she was being the bigger person.

"No, it is fine, girls," Aurelia purred, stepping right into my personal space.

"We have to make allowances for the unfortunate ones."

She was carrying a silver pitcher full of heavy, dark wine from the feast upstairs.

I knew exactly what was coming a second before it actually happened.

Aurelia tilted her wrist with a lazy, practiced movement.

The sticky sweet liquid splashed right over the rim, cascading directly down the front of my oversized servant tunic.

It felt cold and disgusting against my skin, turning the cheap fabric into a soggy, stained mess.

The girls behind her burst into high-pitched, giggling laughter that echoed off the high ceiling.

"Oh, my goodness, I am so incredibly clumsy today," Aurelia lied, giggling as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

"You should probably go wash that out before Mother sees you looking like a total slob."

Humiliation burned hot in my throat, thick and choking like ash.

I wanted to throw the heavy basket right at her stupid, beautiful face.

I wanted to tear her perfect hair out.

But my mother, Queen Valentina, would have me whipped in the courtyard before sundown if I even raised my voice.

So I swallowed the anger, letting it curdle into something cold and heavy in my stomach.

"Yes, Princess," I whispered to the floor.

I gripped the basket until my knuckles turned white, shoved past them, and kept moving.

Their mocking laughter followed me all the way down into the cellars.

I did not stop until I hit the heavy iron doors that led out into the abandoned palace gardens.

The air out here was freezing, biting at my wet chest through the ruined tunic.

I dropped the basket onto the stone bench near the old fountain and collapsed onto my knees.

The water in the basin was practically ice, but I did not care.

I plunged my hands into the freezing liquid, grabbing a rough scrub brush and attacking the stains on the fabric.

My skin turned bright red within seconds, the cold numbing my fingers until I could barely hold the wood.

A single tear slipped down my cheek, hot and angry, before splashing into the dark water.

Why did the Oracle promise me everything if I was just going to be treated like trash?

I was twenty tomorrow.

If my wolf did not wake up during the presentation, I was completely finished.

"Ravenna."

The deep voice made me jolt, the brush slipping from my numb fingers and splashing into the fountain.

I turned around, my heart doing a weird, frantic flip in my chest.

Julian Valerius was standing under the shadow of the stone archway.

His polished silver armor caught the moonlight, making him look like something straight out of an old storybook.

He looked completely out of place in this dirty, dead garden.

"Julian," I breathed, trying to wipe my wet hands on my apron.

"You should not be here. If the guard sees you—"

He did not let me finish.

Julian crossed the grass in three long steps, dropping straight onto his knees right in the dirt beside me.

He reached out and snatched my raw, bleeding hands away from the wet fabric.

"Stop it," he ordered softly, his green eyes scanning my face with total worry.

"Just stop scrubbing, Ravenna."

He blew his warm breath over my frozen fingers, trying to chase away the chill.

"Look at what they did to you," he muttered, his jaw clenching hard.

"I saw her do it on the stairs. I wanted to draw my sword, I swear it."

"You would have been executed for treason, Julian," I said, a bitter laugh escaping my lips.

"An alpha commander cannot strike the golden princess over a wolfless servant."

Julian pulled me forward abruptly, his strong arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me against his chest.

The cold metal of his chest piece dug into my ribs, but his embrace was incredibly warm.

I buried my face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his familiar scent of cedar and steel.

It was the only thing that made me feel safe in this entire miserable kingdom.

"It is not going to be like this forever," Julian whispered against my silver hair.

"Tomorrow changes everything, Ravenna."

"What if the Oracle was wrong?" I asked, my voice cracking into the darkness.

"What if nothing happens when I step up to the embers?"

Julian pulled back just enough to look me straight in the eyes, his hands holding my face steady.

"The Oracle is never wrong about the royal blood," he said with absolute certainty.

"You are the firstborn child. You are going to present as the dominant alpha queen of this realm."

He leaned down, pressing his warm lips against my forehead, right between my eyes.

"And the very second the court bows to you, I am going to claim you in front of your mother and everyone else."

"My mother hates you, Julian. Your family hates me," I reminded him, my heart pounding at the thought.

"They will find a way to stop us."

"Let them try," Julian growled, his grip on my shoulders tightening.

"I will marry you away from the palace's rigid rules, even if I have to abandon my title to do it."

He looked so fierce, so completely devoted, that the heavy dread in my stomach actually started to lift.

I wanted to believe him more than I wanted to draw my next breath.

"Just hold on for a few more hours," he murmured, his thumb brushing away a stray tear from my cheek.

"Tomorrow, you take your crown, and we leave this toxicity behind for good."

I nodded slowly, letting myself melt back into his warm, desperate embrace under the moonlight.

For a few mi

nutes, the freezing water and the stained clothes did not exist.

I just clung to the boy who promised to save me, praying with everything I had that tomorrow would not break us both.