Enslaved To The Alphas-Chapter 170: Hurt

Emira looked down at the flowers in his hand and then back at him, trying to steady her breathing as excitement fluttered somewhere deep inside her. She didn’t even know why she was smiling so faintly, or why her heart was beating so fast, but she tried to hide it by pretending to look elsewhere.

But, after a moment, when the man simply raised an eyebrow at her in question, she could only shake her head and say," Breakfast?"

He shook his head," I don’t want. You eat."

Emira nodded, trying not to sound disappointed and asked slowly gesturing towards the flowers in his hand, "Alright. Umm, this bouquet is beautiful... Should I put them in a bowl for you?"

Of course, she wanted to say if she should put them in a vase but of course there was no vase in the house. In fact, there wasn’t a single decorative thing in this entire place except for preserved human remains...But the thought of putting some flowers between them because of her, caused her heart to flutter.

Kael looked down at the flowers then, a faint scowl forming on his face as if she had not just complimented him but pointed out something unpleasant. What was wrong with him?

Emira swallowed hard. His expression made her nervous. And just as she was about to reach out and take the bouquet from him, he raised it slightly, studying it again, and asked in a low voice, "Does it look good?"

The question took her off guard.

She nodded quickly. "They are very beautiful flowers."

Kael gave a short nod, satisfied by her answer, and set the bouquet aside on the table. Then, without looking at her, he said quietly, "From now on, you don’t need to tend the garden anymore."

Emira froze, startled by the suddenness of it. "Why?" she asked, unable to hide her surprise. She’d thought that he had been okay with her tending to the garden. And she, herself had started to enjoy it...

She saw him hesitate for a moment and in that small pause, something in her chest tightened painfully. Whatever he was going to say next, she was not going to like. Because Kael Stormhold was not one to hesitate.

The anticipation she had been too wary to name right now and the foolish hope she hadn’t even let herself acknowledge, slowly turned bitter.

When he finally spoke, his tone was calm and matter-of-fact. "I’ll take care of it myself," he said. "These flowers are going to be her bouquet. Like this one that I’ve made. I want only the best for Ramona and our mating ceremony."

The words landed heavily and Emira would have staggered back had she not been intuitive.

Her smile faltered before she could stop it, and she lowered her gaze quickly, afraid that he might see the way her expression had changed. Her hands, which had been folded loosely before her, tightened around each other until her knuckles went pale.

He wanted to tend to the flowers himself and he planned to make a bouquet for her for the mating ceremony... She’d heard everyone discussing that the ceremony would happen next month...but even then, for some reason she had not been affected by this. But now, reality hit her in the face like a brick.

For all his reluctant care towards her, he would indeed be a family with his mate. With no place for her in the future. He had indeed grown the flowers for his mate. And despite everything, he was looking forward to the mating...

Emira stood there quietly, staring at the bouquet lying on the table. The petals looked soft and radiant but somehow they seemed to have become an eyesore to her.

Emira took a slow breath and forced a small, polite smile back onto her lips. "It’s... a lovely thought. I’m sure Miss Vye will love them."

The words felt heavy on her tongue, but she managed to keep them from trembling and continued, "I... I uh.. I’ve not eaten anything so I’ll just... eat." She didn’t look up at him again after that. Instead, she turned toward the small table and turned to pay attention to the meal that she had made for him.

The eggs had gone a little cold, but that hardly mattered now. She moved them absently with the fork, pretending not to notice the way her hands shook slightly. Then, as if nothing had happened, she took a bite. And tasted nothing. It was as bland as it could be. Why was he not leaving yet? Did he want her to finish the entire breakfast?

When she finally gathered enough courage to glance sideways, Kael was standing near the table, his expression unreadable as ever, eyes flicking from her to the eggs that she was pushing around on the plate.

She gave him a strained smile," Good thing you did not eat, your Highness. They are quite bland... Umm. I just remembered that I had to go to Ryn to discuss future employment.. I’ll just go..."

With that, Emira ran out of the room towards her own room, leaving the plate behind her. Right now, she needed to escape him. That was the only thing she could think of.

Unknown to her, Kael had not left even after she ran away. He remained standing in the same place, motionless, the faintest trace of tension visible along the line of his jaw. His grey eyes followed her retreating form until she disappeared beyond the corridor, but his gaze did not soften. Instead, it grew colder, darker, as though he were trying to restrain something that threatened to surface.

He might not be able to read her emotions and thoughts the way he could read others but he did not, even for a moment, believe what the Grand Witch had claimed about her.

But as much as he wanted to clear things up, now was not the time.

And so, he took a deep breath, picked up the fork that she had eaten with and took a bite of the eggs that she had left and shook his head as a corner of his lip lifted. Little liar. The eggs were one of the best he had ever eaten.