Royal shuffle: Vampire's mate

ANDREA

I woke up the next day to the most random, and weird message. A letter had come in the mail, and surprisingly it was from the palace.

"When did it get here?" I asked.

My mother shrugged. "I checked the mail this morning and it was there. And it's for you."

She handed the letter to me, and walked off.

I turned the envelope in my hand over and over, staring at the royal seal that was used. Deep down, I knew that this couldn't be good, not with the way Prince William looked at me last night. I took a deep breath and carefully opened the envelope so as to not damage the letter inside.

I took a seat, and began reading. It was an invitation to the palace by the royal family. I stared at it in shock. What would the WHOLE family want with me? I shook my head and read it again, and the words were the same. And they wanted me there within the week. My mother came back into the living room, and saw the shock on my face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

I gave her the letter, and she quickly read through it. She looked at me with alarm on her face.

"Why would they invite you?"

"I don't know..." I said.

I haven't told her about what transpired that lead to me leaving the palace. I didn't want to alarm her. All she knows is that I found a better job opportunity and had taken it.

"When do you want to go there? Do you have plans of honoring the invite?" She asked.

"Of course, I have to go there. I don't want them to hunt me down here."

"Okay. When do you want to go there?"

I sighed. I might as well get it done and over with.

"Today," I said and stood from the chair and headed for my room. "I'll go get dressed."

"I'll come with you," She said.

"No. That won't be necessary. I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe they just want me to resume work there."

My mother nodded, not entirely convinced at my words. I didn't want her to come with me. Just in case it got out of hand. I want to be the only one to bear the consequences of my actions.

"Okay then. I'm going to help iron your clothes for work tomorrow."

I smiled at her. "Thank you, mom."

"You're welcome, honey. Take care, okay?"

I nodded. Deciding that the denim jumpsuit I had on was enough and would suit the occasion, I cycled to the palace with the letter in hand. I stopped at the gates and showed the letter to the guards. They looked at each other, and one of them escorted me into the building while the other took my bicycle. I was escorted into the building, and into the king's court.

"Stay here," The guard said firmly, and excused himself.

I nodded and stood, waiting. Few minutes later, the doors opened again, and the three members of the royal family came in. The king, the prince, and the princess. I bowed my head slightly in respect. "Your majesty," I said.

He waved dismissively at me. Prince William and his sister gave me the evil eye. The king and his children went up the few steps and sat on their elaborately designed and gold encrusted thrones. They sat and stared at me for a while. Not saying anything.

The king stared at me like he didn't know what to do with me. The prince stared at me like he wanted to kill me and feed my corpse to dogs. The princess looked at me like I wasn't worth the dirt underneath her shoes. I sighed. I just wanted this to be over and done with. The king cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.

"Andrea," His voice echoed through the room, authority dripping from it like sauce. Imposing.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Do you know why you're here?" He asked,

I shook my head. "I was asked to be here."

"Hm. Do you have a wild guess as to why that is?"

I looked over at the Prince and his arm and shook my head.

"No."

The king smiled and continued. "You were at the ball last night, no?"

My brows furrowed in confusion. "Yes. I was."

"Allow me to say that you looked quite dashing last night," He looked over at his son. "I can understand the obsession."

The prince grunted and looked away. The princess scoffed. "Well, I don't," She said, looking at me with such hatred in her eyes.

"Well, that's aside. Last night, you danced with the vampire prince, yes?" The king asked.

I was getting confused. Is this what I was called here for?

"Um...yes. Yes, I did."

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"We watched the interaction between you two. You danced together for quite some time. It seems you two know each other before now."

"Um..."

I didn't know how to answer that.

"You best be telling us the truth, Andrea," The king said. His voice hardening. I could feel the presence of his wolf. Very powerful, and coercing the truth out of me. "Yes, yes. We do."

"How exactly?" The king asked.

"I work for him."

"At the library?" He asked.

I stared at him in shock. How did he know where I worked?

"Oh, come on, don't look so surprised. My son just wanted to know where you were since you stopped coming in to work," The king said, laughing heartily.

Just how obsessed was this man?!

"Oh, okay."

"We've known about the library for a while. We also knew a vampire owned it. But we cannot do anything about it. The treaty says that as long as it's a human territory, all creatures can have businesses there," He leaned forward in his seat. "But now we know for certain that the vampire prince is there..."

"And he's not just there for fancy. The vampires are planning something. Else, why would their crown Prince be in a small human town surrounded by werewolves?" Princess Esmeralda said.

"True. But we cannot send our people in, that will make them suspect that we're suspecting them. Anyways, back to you, Andrea," The king said, his eyes boring into my soul. "Yes?"

"What's your relationship with Prince Leonidas?"

"He's my boss."

"And that's all?"

I nodded.

"Fucking liar," Prince William said, pure anger and vile escaping his lips.

I looked at the Prince and looked away. The king sighed.

"Well, Andrea. The way he looked at you last night said you two were much more."

"But we're not..."

My eyes widened in panic. I didn't like where this was going.

The king sighed. "Shhh...don't interrupt me again."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Now, you may not know it. But the way he looked at you, if I didn't know better, I would have said that you were mates," He threw back his head and laughed. "But we know you're not. You're an Omega for starters, you don't get mates. And then he's a vampire. That hasn't happened in a very, very, very long time."

"Is there a point to this conversation, sir?" I asked.

He smiled sinisterly, and my heart jumped in my chest.

"Yes, my dear. As earlier stated, we are aware of the vampires presence so close to werewolf territory, but for diplomatic reasons, we can't go barfing in. Now, that's where you come in..."

"I don't understand, "I said, shaking my head in confusion.

"We want you to spy for us, "The king said.

"You will find out everything about what that library is about. You will find out what they're planning. And you will report everything back to us." Prince William chimed in. My eyes opened wide in shock.

"But I just work there as a librarian. How am I supposed to do that?!"

"We don't know and we don't care," Princess Esmeralda said, shrugging her shoulders for effect. I took deep, calming breaths.

"And what if I refuse?"

The chorused laughter from all three royals took me off guard.

"Oh, honey. You're not in any position to refuse. Didn't you already lose your father? I would hate for the same unfortunate incident to happen to any other members of your family," The king said, his sinister smile widening. My heart was beating rather fast, blood pumping in my ears. My eyes were wide with fear, and tears sprung to my eyes.

"Aww, don't cry, little one. Just do as we say, and you'll be okay..."