The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Just after the third bell rang, the entire palace was deserted, but a lone figure was sneaking out of a chamber, wearing a blue cloak with a hood that was covering their head and a mask that was hiding their scent. This person behaving suspiciously was none other than Susan. She had always been good at sneaking around, so it was quite easy for her. But she was praying not to bump into any night guards patrolling inside the palace.

As soon as her hand touched the doorknob of Alicia's chamber, she paused when she heard faint voices inside. She furrowed her brows and listened intently.

Her eyes rounded in surprise when she heard that familiar bass. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she knew that voice.

Harold.

What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be outside in his wolf form?

She was still thinking about it when she thought she heard something and immediately left there to hide behind a pillar.

Her heart was in her hands as she prayed that it wasn't a night guard.

With her fear heightened, her senses were also heightened and so she was able to hear the faint sounds of footsteps.

Ever curious, she looked at the other end where the sound was disappearing to and began to wonder if another person was sneaking around by this time too.

Because the night guards were never in their human forms, those footsteps were only from a person too.

She looked back at Princess Amber's door one last time and decided it was best to leave now. She was glad she had worn a mask. What if Harold had smelled her presence? How was he even here?

She shook that out of her head. It was the least of her problems right now. Her curiosity got the best of her and she decided to find out who that person was. So she followed.

Common sense told her to return to her chamber, but her curiosity got the best of her and she kept following until she saw that, just like her, the person was also wearing a cloak. A black cloak with a hood covering their head. From the person's height, she could tell that it wasn't a man. It was a woman. That made her even more curious, wondering who exactly was that. There were many women in the palace now. And whoever was sneaking around by this time must have something up their sleeves. The person stopped in front of a door, which Susan recognized as the King's library. Susan immediately hid when the person began to look at both sides just before she opened the door.

When the person turned to check the left side where Susan was hiding, if Susan wasn't already surprised this night, she was in shock now that she saw a glimpse of the person's face.

It was her aunt. The queen.

The queen immediately entered the library and closed the door behind her.

"What is happening in the palace?" Susan wondered as she began to approach the door.

First, it was Harold, in his human form, inside his wife's chamber. Now, the Queen was sneaking around at night. There was no way she was going to return without getting at least one answer. And the closest one to get, literally, was this one. So she went to the door and tried as much as she could to open it without making a sound.

She peeked from outside and after adjusting, she began to hear two voices, but she couldn't hear what they were talking about. One belonged to the queen and the other belonged to a man. A man. It didn't sound like the king. And this was the king's library.

She inserted her head further to catch a glimpse of the other person, and as soon as she recognized the other person from the side view, her hand pushed the door further open accidentally, and she almost tripped. The sound got the attention of the two people inside, but unfortunately for them, she was fast and quickly shut the door before she started running.

It seemed the night was meant to go bad for her because at the corner she was about to take, she could tell a night guard was approaching from there and began to panic.

She turned around and was about to run towards another end when she was suddenly pulled behind a large pillar and a firm hand was placed on her mouth.

She was about to panic before she looked at Alvin's fierce glare, telling her not to do anything. Her heart was racing from fear and panic. And it wasn't helping that she could feel one of the night guards approaching in their direction.

She closed her eyes and waited with bated breath for the guard to go away. The guard stood beside the pillar trying to get any smell. Fortunately for Susan, she was wearing a mask, and it was only now that it occurred to her that Alvin was also wearing a mask.

What was he doing out here by this time, and how had he seen her?

After what felt like an eternity, the guard growled and moved away.

As soon as Alvin removed his hand from her mouth, she gasped in relief. As much as she loved adventures, this was one adventure she never wanted to repeat in her entire life.

"What are you doing out?" Alvin asked in a very quiet voice as he stepped away from her but kept his gaze on her face.

Since one guard had just left, it would be a while before another one came here.

"What are you doing out too? Were you keeping your eyes on me?" She whispered.

Alvin sighed and rolled his eyes while trying to have a civilized conversation with her.

"I wanted to meet Princess Amber." She informed him.

The mention of that made his eyes flicker, and Susan noticed it. It seemed like Harold's curse had been broken and they were hiding it.

"But I didn't get to her chamber," she lied, and she noticed Alvin was a little relieved. He was really bad at hiding his emotions. Or maybe she was just too good at reading him.

"You could have met her in the morning. Why did you have to wait until now?" He asked, obviously not believing her.

"Because I can't." She said as she looked around.

"You have to help me tell her. I don't want her to think that I am avoiding her for nothing. Let her know that for as long as my family is here, I will have to stay away from her. She should also talk to Paulina to stay away from Williams no matter what."

Alvin wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, so he left that and asked her the most important question.

"What did you see?"

Susan looked at him with pursed lips, not sure if it was wise to tell him about it.

Seeing how she was reluctant, he turned to leave, but she held his hand to stop him, startling him. He immediately withdrew his hand from her grip and glared at her, confusing Susan.

"The queen," She answered honestly, deciding to be truthful with him since that was the least she could do for him as she could not return his feelings.

"She... was with the King's Beta. Sir Damon."

Alvin's brows pulled together when he heard it. He had also seen the queen sneaking around but hadn't expected Susan to beat him to it, and also, he hadn't expected she was meeting Damon secretly. If only Susan hadn't interfered, he would have gotten more information about it.

"Return to your chamber. And be careful." He said and was about to turn when she said,

"You... should also be careful too. Try to... stay far away from my parents. They know about you." She said guiltily.

"And... don't do something like this again. I don't appreciate you always keeping your eyes on me."

Alvin decided he was fed up and faced her.

"You seem to be getting something wrong."

"What? You want to also deny and say you weren't keeping your eyes on me and meeting me here was a mere coincidence? And you are not angry about my parents' talking about sending me off to marry someone?" She asked, almost sounding angry.

"That is correct!" He said in a stern voice, also sounding angry.

"I don't know where you got that idea from, but I do not fancy you in any way, shape or form. And I admit, I was keeping my eyes on you. But that is because I was worried you were being close to Princess Amber with an ulterior motive. So I hope you stop misunderstanding because it makes me uncomfortable."

Alvin had never felt so much relief as soon as the words left his lips. He had never spoken so many words to anyone other than Harold before.

But when he looked at her, he noticed her eyes were getting misty, which made him surprised and confused. But his main concern was that he didn't want her to cry. Because he didn't want any night guards finding them here.

Thankfully, without saying another word, she walked away in hurried steps, making him almost feel sorry for being so brutally honest with her.