Alien Prince's Bride: Scifi Alien Romantic Triangle Romance Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

name and the man who carried it from her heart. It was better that way, it really was. Dreams were for children.
    Everything changed. It was silly, really, Violet knew that. But somehow she drifted away from her mother. She started fighting with everything she had. Trying to avoid the fate that sat before her eyes every day, grinning and pretending to be happy.
    The happy little girl grew into someone who wanted to be the main prize above everything else. Irmela naturally found it revolting to see her daughter think that way, and she didn’t hide it. But Violet had it all planned out. She would cheer for the ultimate champion, right from the beginning. He’d pick her. Everything would be fine, right?
    Right?
     
    ***
     
    Under the balcony, the crowd began to murmur. Ripping herself out from her daze, Violet and the others looked around to see who was causing the turmoil. It had happened a few times before when the presumed victors had made their way to the arena and the quarters around it. They’d all watched them march, one after another. Violet couldn’t deny her heart had found quite a few of them to her liking, but they weren’t the Prince. If he came, he’d win – she was certain of it. All she had to do was make sure he’d like her.
    Yes. Everything would be fine.
    Through the corridor that suddenly opened for him, the Raider Prince strutted forward. As one, all of the girls leaned over the balcony’s edge to see better. Even Marelle and Olive couldn’t hide their curiosity at the presumed winner.
    Violet couldn’t hide her disappointment.
    The man walking beside Reim couldn’t possibly be the Prince. For one, he stood nearly a head shorter than the second-in-command. Having grown up with warriors all around her, Violet knew his strut wasn’t right either. The posture was wrong, there was none of that easy confidence he was known for. If anything, his eyes looked positively scared. Reim was as cheerful as ever, though. Against her better judgment, Violet found the other man to be much more attractive.
    No! You can’t say that. It’s just a proxy. The real Prince is somewhere in the crowd. But...
    Everything tumbled inside her. Violet’s flawless plan had just been blown to pieces. She’d been sure, so very certain, that the Prince wouldn’t pull any tricks at a tournament, that he’d actually show up as he was and fight for her honestly. Now that hope was dashed.
    That meant that either the little cowardly man really was the Prince – no, absurd, he couldn’t be… Unless the whole thing was a great hoax and the Prince was actually just a lucky, brilliant strategist and not the powerful, amazing warrior he was said to be. Or it was a proxy after all and Violet would have no idea who to root for. The Prince could die, just like that, and possibly Forial would win.
    Just when Violet had thought her day couldn’t possibly get any worse, a lone figure pushed through the crowd.
    Areon was exactly how she remembered him.
    Twice he stepped on someone’s foot and apologized hastily, only to keep hurrying on until he was standing right under them, waving. He couldn’t see them through the blinding light that obscured them from the crowd, but he guessed where they were.
    “Hey, Violet!” her worst nightmare shouted. “Didn’t I – whoops, sorry. I didn’t mean to do that, my lady. Yes, I think they’re up there .” He raised his voice again. “Didn’t I promise I would return for you?”
    Then the press of the crowd got too much for him. All Violet heard was a nervous laughter and Areon stumbling on through the gates and back into her life.
    How is that man possibly still alive? she thought, despairing. He had the luck of demons – always had had. While Pearl was laughing, asking if that was going to be her chosen champion, Violet shook with an emotion she couldn’t explain.
    She’d told him never to come back. It was better this way, safer, for the both of them.
    Violet had never understood