*Saoirse*
"Rhys!" the socialite yelled back in response, a look of surprise on her face as she rushed over to us.
I wanted to roll my eyes at the woman who already seed fake to . I balked at the fact she could act surprised to see Rhys when the event she just crashed was his engagent party to .
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down. I wasn’t the kind to hate a woman just because she was pretty and my man was looking at her like a long-lost best friend. But when she proceeded to throw her arms around him in an intimate embrace, I found my normal temperant gone.
I did not like this woman.
And I didn’t even know who she was.
"Oh, how rude of ," the object of my ire said, releasing Rhys from her hug and turning to the rest of us. "Hello, Your Majesties. It’s so great to see you again. I hope you’ve been well."
"And you, Alexa," the queen replied. "It has been a long ti."
Alexa completely looked over my mother before turning her focus to . "And I’m afraid I have no idea who you are."
I clenched my teeth together, trying to control the heat that seared through my body. My mother must have sensed my spiraling emotions because I felt her hand stroke my back as it had when I was a kid and she was trying to comfort .
"Allow to introduce my fiancee," Rhys said, beaming down at and wrapping his arm around my hip. "This is Saoirse."
My rage ebbed just a little as I stared into his eyes, bringing back to reality. However, it ca back just as quickly because Alexa grabbed his hand and tugged, pulling Rhys away from .
"Oh my Goddess, you are engaged!" she spouted, jumping up and down excitedly, holding him all the while. "I never would have imagined that!"
"And who are you?" I asked. When I heard the tone of my voice, I tried to force a polite smile on my face. As much as I wanted to blow up, we were still at a public event.
"Oh, and Rhys go way back," Alexa said, hugging the arm she was holding. "I was his first love."
I felt myself still as this revelation hit , and I looked at her even harder. She wasn’t looking at though, just Rhys.
"That was a long ti ago," Rhys said with a laugh.
"Yet I still rember it like it was yesterday," Alexa said. "We had quite the wild adventures, didn’t we?"
My eyes were locked in on her familiar grasp on Rhys. She touched him as if it was nothing out of the norm, and he didn’t stop it.
Heat burned under my skin.
I looked away from the familiar duo and tried to look anywhere else. Keeping my face blank proved difficult as I tried to cool down, but sohow I managed it. My mother’s gaze caught my attention. She smiled at , trying to keep relaxed as well.
The queen seed to notice my distress.
"Alexa, I believe I saw your mother here," the queen cut into her ramble about so mory with Rhys. "Could you do a favor and escort to see her? I would love to catch up with both of you. Then we could leave these love birds alone for a mont."
I smiled with gratitude at the queen, understanding what she was doing. She gave a returning smile as she took the woman’s hand off Rhys and led her away.
"I need to use the restroom," my mother said when it was just the three of us left.
I thought about offering to go with her, but I understood what she was doing as well. With a nod from , she turned and walked off. It was quiet, and I couldn’t bring myself to face Rhys again as I spoke.
"So Alexa, huh," I said, trying and failing to keep my tone even.
Rhys surprised by laughing, earning a glare in return. He wasn’t even nervous. He was actually smiling. When my glare t his eyes, he hooked one hand around my hip and pulled against him. I braced my hands around his chest and glanced around us nervously.
"Are you jealous?" Rhys asked, bringing my eyes back up to his face instead of worrying who was watching us.
"No," I lied automatically, causing Rhys to laugh again.
He pulled tighter to him and brought one of his hands up to cup my face. I tried to look away, but he brought my face back around to him.
"You have nothing to be jealous of," he said in a low voice.
"But she said that she was your first love," I said, hating how whiny my voice sounded.
"And you’ll be my last."
My breath caught in my throat at his words. I felt a heat of a different kind spread through my body. He leaned down to kiss . I stood on my tiptoes, bringing my lips closer to his.
But just as his lips brushed mine, the voice that would haunt my dreams ca again.
"Rhys! Oh, there you are!"
Rhys pulled his lips away from mine and turned toward our unwelco guest, or at least unwelco by . As if she hadn’t been annoying enough already, and now she interrupted our kiss.
At least his hand was still on my hip.
"Hello, Alexa," Rhys said, with a smile still on his face. "Back already?"
"I missed you, silly," Alexa said, lightly smacking him on the chest. "Plus, I know you weren’t done talking to ."
She looked at for the first ti and noticed the scowl that I was sure was on my face. A pouty lip appeared on hers, and my dislike for her grew. Everything she did seed for show and so dramatic.
"I apologize. Was I interrupting sothing?" she asked. She looked at Rhys again instead of .
"No, you are alright," Rhys said.
"Nothing we haven’t done before, right?" Alexa asked with another laugh. "In fact, I rember doing much worse in our day."
I stiffened next to Rhys, but he didn’t seem to notice as he laughed in response. The worst part was I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be politically correct, or if he was actually rembering the events with this girl in the past.
The thought made nauseous.
Alexa suddenly cleared her throat, clutching her neck dramatically. "I apologize, but is there any way you could go get sothing to drink? I seem to have swallowed funny."
"I can do it," Rhys said quickly, sensing my growing irritation at this woman, who seed to be treating like I was beneath her. He gave a quick kiss on the forehead. "I’ll be right back."
My feeling of irritation grew at the situation I was in now. I might not have been getting her the drink, but now I was stuck alone with her. Unlike Rhys, I was not good at political jargon. How was I going to stand here with her and not let her know I disliked her?
Luckily, I didn’t have to pretend.
As soon as Rhys was out of hearing distance, Alexa’s bubbly voice dropped as she sneered at . "Listen, you uncultured, country peasant."
I looked at her cattiness in surprise, shock keeping silent.
"Rhys is a prince. You will never be good enough for him," Alexa continued. "You might be fun in the short term, but he will soon realize that you aren’t marriage material. You can’t satisfy his true needs."
With every word she said, my fury spiked higher and higher until I couldn’t keep it in any longer.
"And you can?" I asked, not backing down.
"As a matter of fact, I can." Alexa smiled. "Thanks for offering."
"That was not an offer," I said, my voice escalating with my anger level. "Not like I’m worried. You obviously couldn’t keep him satisfied for long if he ditched you."
Alexa’s face reddened in anger this ti, making feel a little proud. "He didn’t ditch . And trust , I could keep him much happier than so girl that doesn’t even understand the concept of royalty."
"Whatever you say," I told her, trying to calm myself back down. "Just know that I am not so ek girl. I have no problem fighting for Rhys, especially if it’s to protect him from so viper."
Alexa laughed, but there was no humor in her voice. She stepped closer to . I noticed that she was taller than , though most people were.
"Fight all you want, but you won’t win," Alexa said with a twisted smile. "I’m not afraid of so bumpkin from the wild. Do they even have schooling where you are from?"
My irritation grew as she insulted my ho, and partly because she was right. "Oh, I’m sure I know what you were busy doing in school."
Alexa scowled at . I was sure I had hit the nail on the head as well. "At least I’m not a hillbilly whore."
I stepped toward her as I saw red, no longer caring about who was in the room and what they saw. I was going to knock this girl out. There was nothing that could stop .
Well, nothing except one person...
"What’s going on here?" Rhys’ voice ca from beside .
I wouldn’t take my eyes off Alexa, so I watched as the fury and condemnation fell off her face and was replaced with the sa fake bubbly smile. She easily turned away from and to Rhys.
"Oh nothing, just a mild disagreent," Alexa said cheerily, placing her hand against his chest again. "Thank you for the drink, Rhys."
"A mild disagreent?" Rhys pushed, glancing at as Alexa took one of the cups out of his hand. He held another cup in his other hand. I wondered if he had gotten one as well.
"Yes, I was just trying to give Miss Saoirse so pointers on city fashions to help her fit in better among the court," Alexa continued, still sohow keeping a cheery face as the lies easily fell out of her mouth.
Perhaps I had underestimated her.
"Is that truly all that happened?" Rhys asked as he looked at .
The tension in my chest relaxed slightly at his need to verify with instead of taking Alexa’s word for it. He had always been able to read well, and I was sure he could tell there was sothing else going on.
However, we were still in the middle of our wedding rehearsal, and now that Rhys was back, my head had cleared slightly. As annoying as this girl was, I didn’t want to cause drama on the eve of our wedding.
I forced a tense smile onto my face as I stepped closer to Rhys. "Yes, Alexa was just trying to be helpful about acclimating to royal life."
Alexa bead as if she knew I would do what she wanted. It made almost second-guess my decision.
"Would you like to dance?" Rhys asked.
I looked up to see him offering his hand to , and my smile beca more genuine. "Yes, please."
I smiled at Alexa as I grabbed Rhys’ extended hand, and he dragged over to the dance floor. He spun before pulling closer to him and swaying to the faint music that was playing in the hall.
As we moved slowly, I leaned my head against his chest, taking in a deep breath. His presence was calming down much more than I had managed to do on my own. Alexa kept popping into my head, and her words spun their web.
“You will never be good enough for him.”
"Are you having second thoughts about becoming my wife and taking on the pressures of royalty?" Rhys asked quietly from above .
I looked up in shock at his words. The man above looked genuinely worried, making my heart squeeze uncomfortably. My arms reached up and wrapped around his neck.
"I have never been more sure of anything than I am about you," I replied, pulling him down until our lips t to finish the kiss that was interrupted before.
Rhys happily kissed back, spinning to the sound of the music.
As we continued to dance, Alexa’s words still word their way through my brain, bringing doubt with them. Could I ever asure up in Rhys’ world, the world of royalty and politics?
Her venomous warnings had done their trick.
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