Fuck. I need to talk to Haven.
A knock on the door has me glaring at it.
I swear if that’s production to drag me to another challenge, I’m going to punch whoever it is in the nuts or the tit. But it can’t be a challenge. We haven’t even gone through the elimination ceremony from the most recent one.
So if it is production it's either to drag me to a surprise elimination ceremony or it's to try to get me to spill about whatmade me panic today. Neither of which I’m in the mood for. At all.
When the knock comes a second time, I throw off the rest of my blankets with a huff and stomp over to the door, a scowl on my face, and a harsh word on the tip of my tongue.
I’m fully ready to tell whoever it is that I’m unavailable until tomorrow and to go fuck themselves. Only to stall out with a rather attractive, “uuungg,” falling from my lips.
Prince Forsythe Ashbourne is standing on the other side of the door.
I pause midway through opening it, not fully trusting what I’m seeing.
But… here he is. Looking appropriately princely and solemn. His warm brown gaze flaring with some emotion that I can't name as he takes me in, scanning from the top of my head down to my bare toes, before he drags his gaze back to my swollen eyes and my red nose.
“What are you doing here?” I blurt before he can say anything, embarrassment making my face flare even brighter pink. Then I’m hurrying on, not giving him a chance to answer. “I’m sorry about earlier. It- it wasn’t my intention to… need Piers like that. I never would have…” I scrub a hand down my face, like that might help me form a coherent thought and express it to the prince. “I know you told me to stay away from him just last night, and I really did have every intention of doing that. Today was… difficult, but I can’t see that happening again. So I’ll do better, I promise, your-”
His finger presses into my mouth, cutting my apology off, making my heart stutter in my chest with the soft touch. “Do not apologize for today, Florence.”
My brow wrinkles, but his finger is still on my lips so I don’t say anything, I can’t.
“In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you. If I had any idea of how… traumatizing today would be on you.” A tick of his jaw. “Onanyof the omegas, I would have requested that they change the challenge.”
I believe him.
But I also know everything about this show thanks to Haven, so I shake my head and his hand falls away from my face. “The alpha care challenge is one of the most anticipated challenges of the show. I knew it was coming, I just… wasn’t prepared for it to be…that.”
‘That’ being something so fucking close to the root of all my trauma. Bound to a chair, unable to move. Granted, Haven’s father had used his bark to keep me in place, but the similarities were there, and I was thrown right back to the worst moment of my life.
Normally the alpha care challenge is something simple, like the omega’s being scattered in a field, pretending they’ve been injured, or in a pool pretending to drown while wearing life jackets. Things I would have been able to handle.
But this? It's like the producers somehow figured out my own personal version of hell and decided that's what they would do.
I offer Forsythe a shaky smile. “It won’t happen again.” I repeat it for him, and for me, because we both need the reassurance.
“Florence…” He trails off, those warm eyes of his sweeping over me again, like he can read all of my secrets in a single look.
I don’t know, maybe he can.
“Who hurt you,cor mea?” he asks, intently. “I want to know. Ineedto know.”
I frown. “Who says I’ve been hurt?”
“Florence.”
I glance away from him, folding my arms over my chest, hating that I’ve revealed too much. How much will the viewers at home see? How vulnerable will I be when I leave here, alone and heartbroken?
“Court said you asked him not to bark at you. Today’s challenge sent you into a panic attack. You avoided my entire pack at the beginning of the show.”
“Not your entire pack. Piers-”
“All of the alphas, then.” His knuckle under my chin turns me back to him. “So I’ll amend my question. What alpha hurt you,cor mea? Who made you so afraid?”
I stare up at him, wishing I could just tell him. Wishing he was a person who I felt safe enough to share, here without any cameras filming us. But he’s not. The echo of his voice demanding I stay away from Piers, that he doesn’t want to see either of our hearts break.
I don’t want that either.
