Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North - Chapter 263

Chapter 263: THE ANGRY ZAYA
“You are cursing again.”

“I did.”

Rowan leaned over and captured her lips with the same mouth that he used to curse, but Zaya didn’t mind it as she reciprocated the kiss. He had been kissing her very often now, in every chance he got, probably because here, there was no Zander or other warriors, who watched his every move.

And just like he said, he could be himself in his own kingdom.

“No,” Zaya said, as she pushed him away when he was about to take things too far.

Rowan growled, but he stopped.

“I am not going to be pregnant out of wedlock.” But, not only that, her position was not secured until she had the title and got the ceremony. She trusted Rowan wouldn’t play dirty with her, but she had to protect herself too, since it was not only herself that she had to think about. There were five hundred magic users that relied on her in this foreign land.

“This will not get you pregnant, princess,” Rowan said, as he put his hand on her stomach and caressed the surface of it with his thumb, teasing her. “I don’t want to bring this topic up when you just arrived, but I think with how everything went so fast, I guess it will be right to go ahead with the ceremony to secure your position.”

Rowan could see there would be the problem with Zaya’s origin, but he didn’t expect it would be this fast, since they had not yet arrived for a week and the first trouble had knocked on their door.

With the ceremony and the title, Zaya would have a solid power to make her move and build her own power within the kingdom and this would give the magic users the assurance that they needed that they were not below any knights in this kingdom. It would give them a foot step to stand up for themselves.

And for Zaya, the title of the queen would make her movement easier.

Hearing that, Zaya was rather surprised, it almost like Rowan could read through what she was thinking and giving her exactly what she needed.

“Sure, I will start the process.”

“I will send the people that will help you with it.” Rowan ran his fingers through his thick hair. “I am not sure that I can be any of help, since I am not familiar with the whole thing, but you can do whatever with the ceremony. Just let me know if there is some tradition that you wanted to perform during our ceremony.”

Zaya was pleased when she heard that. Rowan made sure that she would be comfortable with the ceremony and gave her more freedom that she expected.

“Why are you being so nice with me?” Zaya looked at her intensely. She didn’t want to think this way, but she had a bad experience with people who were overly nice to her and this left her with suspicion with their real intention.

People wanted something in return and it was always that way since the beginning of the time and her life in Holy Kingdom taught her that trust was fragile. There would always be give and take in everything.

“Is that questionable to be nice to my future queen?” Rowan’s smile disappeared. His voice turned serious when he spoke again. “You put your guard up.”

Rowan knew how calculative Zaya could be and she was within her right to try to protect herself and his people, but there was something off…

Zaya shrugged her shoulders and the look on her eyes disappeared. “I have no one here, if I don’t have you, I will not be able to do anything. I only want to make sure that you will always have my back.”

“I will.”

After that, they talked about trivial thing, Rowan told her what happened to the three generals and what kind of punishment that he gave to them.

Rowan didn’t go crazy on them, he only cut off their salary for three months.

“They were surprised that I didn’t give them a death sentence.” Rowan winked at her, which made Zaya laughed.

“It seems, my charm doesn’t work on you. I should have practiced more.”

Zaya was not concern with the punishment for them, but it was nice to know that Rowan had them within his grasp and trusted their loyalty to him. The three of them were the people who helped him when he usurped the throne.

The three generals didn’t like the previous king because he used to make a decision based on what his mistresses whispered to his ear, sometime it would be a ridiculous thing.

Therefore, they were worried when they learned the king brought back a witch to be his queen. They didn’t want to have a king, who was stirred by women again.

Yes, the women were docile, but it didn’t mean, they didn’t have a way to get they wanted. The women wouldn’t say ‘no’ to their men, but they held power behind their obedience as well if they knew how to use it.

The next day, aside from Mary and the other two girls, there were three more women that Zaya had to meet in order to prepare for her ceremony.

But, on the third day, there was an invitation from Dowager Queen Katerina, inviting her for a tea party. She wished to introduce her to the other ladies.

It was important for Zaya to associate with them, but she knew this tea party could be a trap.

“Will you come, princess?” Inez asked, she was one of the two girls, who always assisted Mary. She combed Zaya’s hair before she went to bed.

Zaya folded the letter and smiled at the young girl through the mirror. “Of course. I love tea party and socialize with other people.” She wanted to see what Katerina would do.

***

“Are you sure, you are going to that tea party?” Rowan asked when they had their breakfast together at the small garden next to the fountain.

Zaya felt she was being abandoned because Rowan was very busy, thus he always made time to have, at least, breakfast together, which meant the king would only leave the palace after he had his breakfast with her, not earlier from that.

He would make time to have dinner with her, but so far, he only managed to get two dinners with Zaya, since he was too occupied with the trouble at the border and could only arrive after midnight.

“Yes, why?” Zaya asked, she sipped her tea and looked at Rowan, he had a sword leaned against the table leg, which meant, he was going to inspect the border.

Rowan put down his cutleries and leaned back, contemplating something, while staring at Zaya, which caught her attention, she did the same thing and they stared at each other.

Addie was standing nearby and he heard their conversation, he knew what the king was thinking right now.

The moment Zaya received the invitation from queen Katerina, Rowan was given the information about who would attend the said tea party and his expression turned ashen. In one glance of the guest list, he could see what his mother was trying to do.

Addie advised him not to let Zaya attend and give the queen a visit to warn her, but ever since Rowan took the throne and killed his brother, his mother’s words became very harsh to hear and now Rowan refused to see her.

Rowan also banned his other five brothers from the main palace too. They could still visit their mother, but the main palace and the king palace was off limit for them.

However, Rowan had different idea.

Sooner or later, Zaya would learn about this, therefore it was better if she heard about it from him, rather than someone else. They could add their own words and spiced things up to rile her.

But not only that, Rowan wanted Zaya to be prepared and know what she could expect during the mention with his mother.

“Something is bothering you?” Zaya finally broke the silent. “Something that you wanted to tell me?”

“This will not be pleasant to hear,” Rowan stated and Zaya squared her back, as if she was ready with the news. She looked adorable when she did that. One would underestimate her when they saw her petite figure, but Zaya surely knew how to fight. “All of the women there are women who I slept with in the past.”

There was this eerie silent that stretched between them, as if even the wind was too scared to blow in their direction before the tablecloth was burned.

Addie jumped out of his skin. He frantically looked around to extinguish the fire, but he didn’t need to do that because three second later the fire had vanished, leaving ashes on the table.

Both Zaya and Rowan were still staring at each other. The king didn’t even flinch when he saw the fire earlier, as if he had expected that.

“You are right, I don’t please to hear that,” Zaya said, her voice was even, as though she was not just burned the tablecloth in her rage.

“It happened in the past. I have been celibate since I left the kingdom for Ogregon.”

Another fire. Addie took three steps back. He wondered how Rowan was very sure that Zaya wouldn’t burn him down. The king was unfazed.

“You are angry,” Rowan stated the obvious. He was unfazed, but was rather mesmerized by the angry witch before his eyes, as if he was fascinated.