The Queen's Consort: Chapter 1

1 Avelina

I didn’t plan on being around so why would I want an immortal mate. Oh right. I didn’t. That would be why I never sent in a sample for this bullshit. Yet, here I was, staring at the Priestess, inside a Gods be damned temple.

“What?” I asked. I couldn’t help the dead tone I gave her. It was the best I could manage without lunging across the desk and bashing her head in for wasting my time.

She sat across from me. Her hands were folded on top of her desk and looked like she had never known a day of labor. They were soft and pale. Not a scar to be seen. It made me hate her more than I already did before arriving here.

It started when I received an email, followed by two more, followed by a fourth. I had ignored all of them and labeled them as spam.The letters started coming after that. They came for four days before the phone calls began. I only came today because they were starting to call my job.

“You matched, my dear!”

This bitch was crazy. There was no way I matched. I told her as much in a much more civilized manner. Well civilized for me.

“What exactly does that mean? How? I never submitted a sample.” I hadn’t. I had been very careful to ensure I never did such a thing. I had planned to be on this Earth for a reasonably short but very fun time. Quality over quantity. Or at least that had been the plan. No marriage. No children. Just me and my dog. If I ever got one.

The plan that this bitch was trying to bring to a screeching halt.

The Temple was a worldwide organization responsible for helping Humans find their Fae mates—or rather, helping Fae find the Humans suited for them. I wasn't sure how it all worked and frankly I didn't want to. I wanted nothing to do with it.

I wanted nothing to do with the Fae and their very unnaturally long lives. I had enough problems in my life without adding their games to the mix.

“Oh! I understand the confusion. While samples are the fastest way to find one's fated mate, it is not the only way to get matched, particularly in cases such as yours. As your mate is of the higher bloodlines, he was able to find you without our aid. After he found you, he alerted us so we could set everything up to make this as easy as possible for you.” She says it all with a smile as if she hadn’t just shattered all my hopes and dreams.

She smiled at me like she had just given me the best news of my life. I would have preferred being told I had cancer.

“Yeah… See… There is just one tiny problem with that," I said. When her head tilted and her eyebrows lifted in confusion I snapped, “But I do not want a Mate! That is why I never submitted a sample.” To avoid this bullshit from ever being possible.

This stupid bitch!

She sighs. The look she gives me says it all. That she has no desire to deal with me. There is no desire to convince me that mating a Fae is a good idea. Not that I get a choice… apparently. As if I was the problem in this scenario. Like I was some child who was throwing a tantrum and should just accept what the adult was telling me.

I had never been good at doing what I was told. Even when I was a child. It was the only thing my mother had ever been proud of during my upbringing.

She pastes a smile back on her face as if that sigh I had heard was simply my imagination. “I understand, miss. However, I must insist you at least meet with him. Sebastian has expressed a more than willing attitude to court you as you deem fit.”

Insist I meet him why? So he could use his magic to make me like him? I think fucking not.

I felt my eye twitch. 'Court'? I was in my late twenties! Okay, fine, I might be considered thirty. Anyone who used the word court in that manner so quickly was a lot older. The fact she felt the need to use that word was telling enough.

“But I do not wish to be 'courted,'” I hissed.

“Be that as it may be, I must insist. If you should decide that Sebastian is not for you after talking with him, then no one will press the issue. There have been Fae mates who have decided to pursue Human partners instead. The fated Fae accepts the Human counterparts' decision on this matter.” Her tone was almost condescending. Like I was some child who needed to eat her veggies.

I glared at her. I did not believe that. Not for a single fucking second. They were beasts. Higher bloodline, she said. What did that even mean? I had seen some of them. Out and about. I had seen how many of them acted. “And if I insist?” She sighed at my question.

“Then he may try to approach you anyway.”

“I will take that chance then,” I say, standing up. She looks worried as I rush from the room, her look mixed with shock—almost as if she had never thought I would actually say no.

I run through the door and out into the hall. I had just gotten past the reception desk when I bumped into him.

Holy shit! He looked human, but I couldn’t imagine any human man working here. Maybe he knew one of the Priestesses? Either way, he was way out of my league. He was also exactly my type. He took hold of my upper arms to steady me, which gave me a very good look at him.

His hair was on the longer side, just to his shoulders. Although I would bet every cent I had, he could've walked around with horse girl hair and still be as hot as sin. Somehow, the strands were dark as night and yet an inch or two from the root turned white. Dye job? If so, it was the best damn dye job I had ever seen. It was those eyes, though, that made my breath catch. They were a striking gray. So very close to blue but not close enough to claim the color.

I wanted to stare at them until I could place the color. Which was enough to set warning bells off in my head.

“S-sorry, I have to go,” I tell him as I step back. He lets me go, but I can feel his eyes on me as I run from the building.