Page 118 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

I pull down my coat collar, revealing the still-healing mating mark. “My wolf wouldn’t have accepted this if it didn’t care about you. I guess a part of me had forgiven you, but I needed to be angry. I don’t even know why. Maybe I wanted you to hurt the way I hurt all those years ago. But I also want to be happy. I want a new beginning for us. A new start.”

Darian sets down his coffee, coming to kneel before me. “Do you mean all this?”

“W–What are you doing?” I stammer. “Get up!”

“I need to know, Alice!” He’s trembling now. “You’re not saying this to mess with me? Because I can’t live without you. I can’t survive without you and Mira. So, if you’re saying this to build up my hopes just to crush them later—”

“Do you really think I would do something like that?” I ask, affronted. “Get up, Darian. You’re the king, for heaven’s sake!”

“Not in front of you.” He seizes my hands. “I’ll always be Darian to you, Alice. When it comes to you, I don’t mind kneeling. I never will.”

“Darian, please!” I stand, pulling him up with me. My cheeks are wet with tears.

“You forgive me, then?” he demands, and when I nod, the fierce joy in his eyes is like the first touch of a healing balm on my wounded soul. He takes me in his arms, his kiss hard and fervent. I melt into him, my heart finally shedding that last lingering anger that I held inside me for so long.

*****

“I want the divorce to be finalized before anything else happens between us.”

Darian is sitting cross-legged on my bed, watching me pace. “I already served her the papers.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to cross that line until every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed.” I turn to look at him, serious. “I won’t be a mistress, and I won’t allow Willow to paint me as one.”

“Technically, since it’s the royal family who approves all divorces, mine has already been finalized,” Darian points out.

I feel a ball of tension form in my chest. “I don’t want to be queen, Darian. I worked hard to become a lawyer. I like my job. I like my life.”

He is by my side in an instant. “We can discuss all this later.”

“No, we can’t.” I shake my head, my resolve firm. “These aren’t things that can be put off for future discussion. We both needto know where we stand. Our worlds are far apart, Darian. They don’t intersect in the slightest, and I’m not willing to give up my career or Mira’s freedom.”

He studies me. After a moment, he says softly, “I have to take a queen, Alice. And I won’t have any female other than you.”

“I have no interest in ruling the kingdom with you.”

“What if I change the laws?”

Stunned by his words, I stare at him. “To say what?”

“You can still be a lawyer. You can remain registered in the human world. But you will also be a wolf shifter. I’ll let you have one foot in each world. Mira, however, is a different story.”

I go rigid. “What do you mean?”

“She is my heir. She will be queen of the Wolf Kingdom after I die. She has to take classes from the royal tutors.” I open my mouth, but he holds up a hand to stop me, his voice serious. “But we can space them out. She can receive the royal education during the summer, but the rest of the year, she’ll go to one of the best private schools run by and for wolf shifters. She will be among her peers, those who can understand and admire her intelligence.”

“But—”

Darian takes my hands. “She’s special, Alice. She’s smart. You can’t hide the fact or ignore it.”

“I don’t want her to be bullied! I don’t want other children to—”

“You were bullied and ostracized, Alice. But she’s not you.”

My jaw tightens. “That’s not—”

“What I mean is, you had no one to protect you. We will be there for her. She has us to protect her. Besides, who do you think would dare bully the heir to the royal throne? And the school I want to send her to is for gifted students. She’ll be allowed to be a child there and explore her gifts at the same time. She’ll be around children who are just as gifted and intelligent. She will make friends who understand her.”

I lower my gaze for a moment, pondering his words. “Is it one of those boarding schools where she has to live apart from me?”

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