Page 8 of Alpha's Impostor Bride

“To execute me?” I venture slowly.

He gives me a look as if he considers me incredibly stupid. “You think I bathe and feed all prisoners who are to be executed?”

My body tenses. This is it. This is where he’s going to tell me he plans on torturing me. Just like—

“You are a political prisoner of sorts. I don’t wish to rule the Eastern Kingdom. You, Princess Vivian, have offered to marry me to keep the peace between the two kingdoms.”

My eyes widen in shock. “What?”

“The mating ceremony is in a couple of hours. Harriet will—”

“I can’t do it!” I burst out, terrified. It would be so easy to keep my mouth shut and go along with this, but if he finds out the truth down the line, it will be so much worse for me. I can’t live in fear of him discovering my true identity.

The king has fallen silent, so I continue, lowering my head. “I’m not—I’m not the real Princess Vivian. I just look like her.”

“I’m aware.”

His words throw me for a loop. Shocked, I lift my eyes to meet his. “You are?”

“You don’t have the mark of the royal family of the East.”

I gape at him. “If—If you know, then why—”

“My reasons are not your concern. The real Princess Vivian was found dead, her corpse mangled almost beyond recognition.”

My eyes widen in horror. I was sure she would make it out. She knew all the secret passageways. She was being guided by her most trusted maids.

“I want to know how long you’ve been a stand-in for the princess.”

I twist my fingers, trying to absorb this bombshell news. “Ever since I was five. She found me on the street. I was an orphan, and she brought me to the palace. I have studied under the royal tutors in place of her, taken etiquette classes alongside her—”

“She trained you as a duplicate,” Cedric recognizes.

I nod. “It was her father’s idea. If she were ever in danger, they could use me.”

At least, that’s what Vivian told me: that the purpose of my entire existence was to live under her shadow.

“So, you received the same training as her, the same education?”

I nod hesitantly.

“Then you can be used as a substitute for the princess.”

His words stun me, my heart tightening in my chest.

A substitute for the princess? Is that really all I’m good for?

I know I should be grateful that I get to live, but at this moment, I feel small and worthless. Does no one care about Leanna Avery? Does no one care about her existence?

“Given that you’re my fated mate—”

“I’m sorry, what?” The words explode from me, my body jerking in shock.

He gives me a vaguely exasperated look. “You must have sensed it upon our meeting. We are fated mates. I was already planning to tie the princess to me since I need heirs of royal blood, but now I have no choice but to use you. The Northern Kingdom values its pure bloodline—”

Numbly, I stare at the man before me. “But I can’t give you pure-blooded heirs. I’m not Princess Vivian. I’m—”

“I don’t care what your name is,” he says, clearly disinterested. “As long as you can bear me heirs that can be passed off as having royal blood, I have no interest in you, your likes, or your wants. You are a substitute, nothing more.”

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