Chapter 177

“As your wife, it would be incredibly disrespectful and purposefully hurtful for you to still require the services of a harem,” Annabelle says. “As such, I expect you to entirely dissolve your harem, releasing all of the girls – including Harper.”

Caleb’s annoyance intensifies the longer Annabelle spoke. Who is she to make these kinds of demands upon him? His harem is a symbol of his power.

Not all of the women within in were brought in solely for the use of his personal pleasure. The presence of certain women helped solidify a better relationship between the packs. To remove those women now would be an insult to the packs that entrusted Caleb with their care.

Annabelle wants him to stoke the flames of civil war within his own kingdom – for what? So that she can feel more respected?

Does she not understand how this situation works?

He was not lying when he said she is nothing but an ornament. She will have no effect on the day to day life of him or his kingdom. Yes, he will eventually need to procure an heir within her, but that is more a sense of duty than any actual desire or affection on his part.

To him, she is a necessary annoyance, a means to an end. For her to request something like this, so outlandish, is laughable.

Only Caleb’s overwhelming irritation keeps him from laughing right in her face.

“You make demands… of me?” Caleb asks, his voice low and dangerous. Anyone else would know to back off at this point, but Annabelle, perhaps too overconfident for her own good, pushes recklessly ever forward.

“This is more a gift,” she says. “A wedding gift, from you to me.”

“That you are insisting upon.”

“It’s a matter of respect.”

“And where is the respect for me?” Caleb asks. “I am your king. You may make requests as all of my subjects are known to do, but you may not make demands of me.”

“But –”

Caleb is at his patience’s end. “You are lucky to be my fiancé. I could have chosen anyone. You are not special, and I will not be spoken to this way – not by you or by anyone.”

Annabelle pales then, as if she’s finally realizing that this attitude will earn her no favor with Caleb.

“F-forgive me, Alpha King,” she says, lowering in her head in a show of respect and submission. “Of course, I know your importance… It’s only because of my great affection for you that makes me so passionate.”

Caleb doesn’t trust her sudden return to submissive sweetness. She’s shown her true colors, which Caleb has now seen. She cannot unring that bell.

“Please accept my most sincere apologies for speaking out of turn,” Annabelle says.

Caleb glares at her, yet before he can further reprimand her, his mother Kira rushes forward from further up the hallway.

“My son,” Kira says, approaching in haste. “Please be kind to your fiancé.”

Caleb lifts his glare to his mother. What is she doing here? How long has she been listening? Has she just been waiting in the wings all this time to come to Annabelle’s rescue if necessary?

“Have mercy on her,” Kira says. She stands at Annabelle’s side in front of Caleb, and places her hands on her shoulders. It’s clear whose side she is on her, which annoys Caleb. Kira is his mother, but she is acting like a mother more to Annabelle here.

“Mother,” Caleb starts, about to tell her to stay out of this.

“Don’t blame her, Caleb,” Kira says. “Women just want to keep the men they love to themselves.”

Caleb opens his mouth to reply, but the words never find their way out of his throat. Not because of the current situation, but because his thoughts immediately shift to Harper and how she behaved last night.

He doesn’t understand it then, why she is acting that way. Surely she knew he would be required to sleep with Annabelle, to fill her with his child. It’s not a matter of desire, but of obligation.

Yet she acted so angry, so frustrated with him. So hurt.

Could Kira’s words apply to Harper?

If Harper loves Caleb, could she just want to have him to herself?

Harper has never asked Caleb to disband his harem, she’s only been hurt, quietly suffering while he disregarded all of her feelings.

“Please, Caleb,” Kira says. Annabelle looks at him with wide, vulnerable eyes.

Caleb doesn’t want to see or think about her right now, not while he is considering Harper, a woman worthy of his attentions.

Without a word to them, Caleb turns and walks away.

Behind him, he hears Annabelle start to say his name but Kira stops her.

“This is good,” Kira says. “The lack of punishment is a gift. Do not push your luck.”

I haven’t been to sleep yet and it’s already midmorning. This is likely partially to blame for why my thoughts are so restless. I can’t sit still either, walking around my room.

I feel useless. As a member of the harem, I am simply confined to watching the man I love live his full life with someone else. Annabelle will be his wife. She will have his children. Together, they will raise their family, attend events, and be memorialized in portraits and history books.

Would historians say they were in love?

Would I even be a footnote in the history books, or would I fall into obscurity, never remembered?

I don’t need to be memorialized. I don’t need the attention.

What I want is Caleb’s love. But, if I’m forever forced to share him to the point where he will have children with another, will I ever fully have his love?

I hate feeling like this, like I’m relegated to being a passenger in life, always cast to the side, waiting for Caleb to have enough time to see me again.

There has to be something I can do to help quash this growing feeling of uselessness inside of me. The only thing I can think of is fully focusing on rescuing Tristan. If I can restore him to Caleb’s side, perhaps I could finally be of some real use to my King and my kingdom.

Bethany thinks any planning is fruitless. She told me so.

But she doesn’t understand that I alone am in a special position, being Samuel’s former fiancé – and someone he still wants to possess.

Samuel might be willing to listen to me in a way that he is unwilling to listen to Caleb or any of Caleb’s spies or advisors. Samuel and I have history together. That means something.

The problem I can see is getting any messages to Samuel. If I leave the palace to deliver messages on my own, I could be captured and then I lose any leverage that I might have.

To safely speak to Samuel, I need to find a way to deliver messages to him without leaving the palace.

I have an idea of what I have to do to see that happen.

“I have to speak with Leah,” I tell Bethany when she comes into my room to attend to me.

“Your sister?” Bethany asks, worry creasing her face.

“She’s the best way I can think of to deliver a message to Samuel.”