Like An Ocean.

Mycha's words keep echoing through the walls of Severo's head. 

'This heart cannot understand a person without one.' 

She might have thought he is a heartless prince who uses women for pleasure and relief. But could he blame her for that? No. Not when she didn't see the grimy days of guilt raining on him or hear the pained screams of his. 

Only if she knew he was ready to face his death until he got a whiff of her scent. Maybe then she realizes he too has a heart like hers. 

"Sev…" The prince's gaze rises from the floor to see the Queen standing by the door to his chamber. Her eyes scrutinize him for a moment before she chooses to step inside. 

"Son, are you okay?" God, why did she keep calling him that? Severo had yearned to hear that single word from her lips for years. After his mother's demise, when his father remarried her, she had sworn to his father that she would be a good mother to the prince. For years and years, Severo had waited for her to abide him as a son. But she didn't. She has failed him in every way she possibly can. 

And today in that rut chamber, she has decided to mention him as her son for the first time in all those years of yearning. She accepts him as a son when he doesn't need the acceptance. 

"Hey? Why are you not saying anything?" she presses her palm on Severo's silk-cladded shoulders as she sits on the bed beside him, making him scowl internally. 

"Are you mad at me for talking to your mate like that?" She asks again, her hands lingering on his shoulders. "But, Sev, do you really think she would make a good mate?"

A sigh slivers through the prince's pursed lips as he gazes at her, "I'm not mad. But you shouldn't have blamed her for assuming things about me. She believes what she knows. Everyone thinks I'm a beast, and so does she." 

"Do not say such things. I don't think you are a monster. Your father doesn't either. That low life—" 

"Do not call her that anymore." Severo cut her off. "It is not good using that kind of language, My queen. Especially a person like you. If you can't show her some respect because she's from a lower cast. I want you to know that she is my mate. And I'm the prince. I believe that is enough reason for you to respect her." Each of his words comes out harsher than before, it wasn't his intention, yet he doesn't regret it either. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disrespect anyone. It is all the anger in me." The queen sighs deeply, her fingers reaching up to press on her nose bridge as she lets her eyes fall shut for a moment. "And please don't call me Queen," Her eyes find Severo's with an intense gleam on them, "Call me Mother." 

The prince feels his breath stuck in his chest as he watches her with wide eyes. What had gotten to her? 

When he didn't have it in him to respond to that, she sighs again. Severo almost forgets how much she sighs in a short period of time. Almost. 

"But Sev…Think about it. Do you really want her as a mate?" Her eyes narrow at him, teeth grazing at her bottom lip. "You know what you can have, right? And aren't you a little young to mate?" 

"But when did I tell you I'm gonna mate her? y don't think she would let me even if I wanted to." The prince is genuinely surprised by her concern for him mating Micah. "And, no. I don't think I'm a little young to mate. My father mated with my mother at the age of eighteen. And he even took over the kingdom at my age." 

Her lips pull down in a frown at his words. But she hides it away with a smile as she says, "Ah, leave it, then. You are not going to mate with her. That's enough for me. Because I believe my son deserves better. And if you are worried about the mate pull, there are so many ways to undo the bond."

Oh, just how far does she go? Severo has no words to offer. 

With a smile, she rose from his bed, but that smile on her face did not match the words that fell out of her mouth next, "And Sev, you can use that girl for your rut so that you wouldn't have to take all those innocent women's lives." 

Severo feels like all of the air inside his lungs is knocked out of him as he watches her go. 

How could she say such things with that kind of gentle look on her face? How does she hide such venom with a soft smile on her lips? 

Didn't she know how much it breaks Severo inside to be like this? Didn't she see him broken after each rut? Didn't she hear screams when the horridness of the nightmares shatters his sleep? Then why does she act like she doesn't?

Severo suppresses the outrage that threatens to explode and sits there with his eyes closed, hands grasping his ears as he whispers under his breath repeatedly to himself.

***

When Severo joins the dining table for breakfast, everyone is there except for that someone his eyes yearn to fall on.  

He refuses to gaze anywhere near the Queen as he sits beside his father, The King's hands instantly reaching out to smooth at Severo's shoulders as if he's wiping out the anxiety weighing him down. 

"You all good?" He asks his son with such gentleness, his hands still grazing at Severo's shoulder. 

"I am." The prince offer him a faint smile. 

When he is about to dive into the food placed in front of him, the smell of cherry blossoms clouds his senses, invading his space. 

Micah enters the room in all her glory, a gorgeous golden silk dress hugging her curves perfectly as her pale skin glows under the lights just like her short golden hair. She is very frail as if that's the shape the poverty had given her. Severo has heard all of the women for his rut are sold by their families. Why did Micah's family sell her? Where was she before she found him? what was the life she led? He wants to know everything.

Her eyes flicker down at the prince, and his breath caught in his chest. Her pale blue eyes are like an ocean luring him to drown in its deadly depth. 

Severo feels a warmth spread through his veins at the mere sight of her. 

She is the most beautiful girl he has ever laid his eyes on.