Beauty and His Beast [MxM] (UNEDITED)

Ares POV

It was like I was watching everything from the outside. Looking on what was happening and having no control over it.

I had been back for approximately three days and within those three days, I could not find it within me to utter a single word and had resorted to indications out of fear of breaking down each time.

Everything Urion had told me had been true. Fortis indeed had been the one who had sent them the signal and opened up the portal for them. I had been allowed to look through his memories and relive the event that he had seen.

I wasn't sure what hurt me more. The fact that I had seen it happen, or the fact that Fortis did something like that, but all I knew was that what we had was now over.

In the days that followed, I had been through quite a lot and had to absorb quite a lot, including the fact that Urion was not who we thought he was, but rather a prince from a distance kingdom that had fallen years prior to his uncle. The reason he had left was to rebuild his kingdom and reclaim his throne.

What shook me to my core was that he was the actual Prince Aven, descendant of the very first Fae with the purest bloodline that had come to betroth me before I was taken. For the duration of his stay with us, he had used a different name in hopes of people never finding him until he was ready to take back what was his.

After the revelation of who Urion or should I say Aven was, my parents had ecstatic about it and even went as far as to call him their own son. Claiming to be forever in his debt for saving their only son and to repay him in whatever way he wished, one could only guess what it was that he wanted.

And that is how I found myself within this situation, with absolutely no will at all to fight back against marrying him because in actual fact, what was the point of it?

Everything I had known around me was all strange. My parents looked at me constantly as though they wanted to a ask a million questions and yet they didn't. They hadn't questioned the marks on my body when I had been found at first. Marks that did show the signs of torture but rather were marks of a lover marking his beloved.

If only that weren't so far from the truth..

Aven too, hadn't asked me what those marks were when he looked upon me for the first time since I had been back, instead, he held the sides of my face, his thumbs stroking my cheeks as he looked into my eyes, telling me that he had waited for the day he could call me his own.

I held my gaze plastered firmly on the ground as numerous clothing were draped over me. Clothing the likes of which I hadn't seen before nor had I any desire to wear them. Clothing set aside for one intended to spend the rest of his life with his other half.

I looked at my reflection with the mirror as the drapes fell down my body like waves. My hair neatly combed and styled to resemble water falls as it flowed down my back in thick white locks.

My face, adorned with all sorts of materials to conceal the dark circles beneath my eyes. The hollowness of my face, the extreme shadow that had dawned upon it due to the lack of sleep for I found it so difficult to sleep alone after I had fallen asleep in his arms so many times before.

I looked at myself staring back at me, a face I did not recognize as my own.

The person standing before me was not a king about to wed a prince and unify two kingdoms as one, but rather, all I saw was someone who had been shattered in the worst possible way. Someone who would never truly be alright despite everyone telling him he would.

"Your Majesty." One of them said, bringing me out of my thoughts as I turned to face him, seeing him holding a red velvet pillow, adorned with gold ribbing, holding none other than my crown.

I looked at it for a brief moment, finding no absolute desire to wear it at all, and nodded at him. He stood on the compartment in front of me and raised to be a level taller than me, planting the crown firmly on my head before he bowed and stepped back.

I turned and looked at myself in the mirror, the person looking back at me resembling a true king, and yet, deep inside I felt nothing but like a broken little boy.

•••PLAY SOUNDTRACK•••

I gestured for the doors to open and walked out, careful not to fall over the never ending drapes that covered my body, counting my steps, for I feared if I didn't, I'd end up crying again, and that was something I wouldn't ever do again once I went through with with.

I would never cry for him again.

I walked down the aisle, flowers of all kinds scattered about on the floor, some beautifully draped around the numerous marbled pillars of my kingdom, beautiful nymphs singing away the binding song that bound two hearts as one, creatures from all over all gathered in one hall to celebrate the union of their king.

As I walked, I looked at their faces, each of them smiling with pride as they watched me. Most of whom I had known since I was boy, and yet, they felt like strangers to me. This place, felt so unknown to me. They kept referring to it as my home and yet, it felt like something so far off.

I walked until I reached the marbled step in front of the keeper of oaths. I looked down at the step for a brief second before I looked up at Aven who had held out his hand at me. He too, beautifully dressed in the drapes of a king. His long silky black hair pulled into a ponytail that hung loosely over his shoulder. The crest of a raven with a crown above its head, neatly pinned against his chest. His grey eyes adorned with a black line, making him look all the more mysterious.

I took his hand in mind and allowed him to help me up the step, guiding me stand opposite him while the bearer of oaths stood at our side, reciting the oaths and binding us as one.

It all honestly went by within a flash and before I knew what was happening, Aven had leaned towards me to seal our bond. I felt my breath lock in my throat as he pressed his lips against mine and held my hand against his heart.

"You're finally mine and I'm yours. For eternity and beyond. The life that follows, will my soul be bound to yours." He whispered as he looked into my eyes, the sounds of cheers filling the room as he kept his gaze with mine.

He led me down to the middle of the room that had been cleared, every person standing at the sides of the room watching as their kings celebrated a union that had been blossoming since it had been a bud, or so they thought.

I watched as Aven placed his hand on the small of my back and pulled me against his chest. I gasped at the sudden movement which seemed to amuse him as a smirk spread across his face. His hand traveled my back as his other held mine. He pulled me so close until my body was basically plastered against his, his eyes bearing holes within me as he moved to the music played by the nymphs.

"You are as beautiful as I remember. Ares, my dear Ares I'm so sorry for leaving you like that. I wish I could have told you where I was going, but it wasn't safe." He said as he stepped aside and used his hand to spin me in a circle before he pulled me against him once more.

"You did what you thought was necessary in order to save your kingdom. There are things a royal will have to do for his people that he might not like, but is so much bigger than himself and what he wants." I said surprised that I had actually spoken.

He looked at me for a brief moment, as if he was pondering over what I was saying before he smiled at me and leaned in, towards my ear.

"Spoken like a true king" he whispered as he planted a kiss beneath my earlobe.

"I absolutely cannot wait. I have waited nearly a decade for this." He added causing me to narrow my eyes at him.

"And what might that be?" I asked as he lowered me into a bow before he stood back up, smirking at me.

"To finally make you mind in body and soul."