Tear

Eva's back hit the bed behind her as she slumped down and felt that her mind had gone completely blank.

There were too many things for her to process. She had just been told by her aunt that she was royalty and that her aunt, her now only living relative, had killed her adopted family whom she loved more than anything. And now her aunt— no, that woman was forcing her to marry someone who had been taking care of her since she was a five-year-old child.

If she didn't go crazy by tomorrow, Eva would think it a miracle. Everything was happening so quickly that she wasn't getting any time to think it out. It was overwhelming to say the least and she clutched her chest in pain, feeling as if her heart was cracking up into pieces.

The door opened up again for the third time in a row, but this time Eva didn't bother to stand up. She was glad that she didn't have to since it would be a sign of respect to the person who had murdered both her sister and mother brutally.

Diana smirked to see Eva glaring in her direction. Eva clenched her fists and looked down to see that she was holding a white, puffy gown in her arms as she closed the door behind her.

"Change," she ordered and threw the dress beside her and folded her arms, tapping her foot continuously on the hard wooden floor.

Eva glowered and realized that the gown was not an ordinary dress.

It was a fricking wedding gown that made her want to rip it into shreds.

Eva let herself smile and got up to her feet. She was about to depart to the bathroom when Diana stopped her with an arm in the way.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"To the bathroom."

"No, change here."

Eva raised her brows. "I didn't know you were interested in the same sex."

Diana reddened up and scowled back at her as Eva felt a satisfying feeling bloom in her chest.

"Shut up. I'm turning around," she mumbled, and Eva stared at her back and shrugged her shoulders.

No problem, she thought and smirked, she would tear the dress right in front of her then.

Digging her nails into the soft fabric, she clawed at it and ripped the net-like material with a loud 'RIPPPPPP!'

Diana instantly twisted around, her eyes large with anger and something Eva recognized as fear. For whom, she didn't know.

"You bitch!" she yelled and snatched the dress from her, holding it up and glancing at the big tear in the puffy fabric.

"Fine!" she gritted and folded her arms across her chest with a menacing smile. "You will be forced to wear whatever we want right on the wedding day. You'll have no one to blame when the dress won't fit properly!"

After saying that, she turned around and stormed off, slamming the door behind her with a loud BANG!

Eva let out a sigh of satisfaction and fell backwards onto the bed with a small sad smile.

If they thought that this was all she was going to do, then they didn't know anything about her—

Her thoughts were forced to halt when the door once again swung open, this time to reveal Alastor standing in her doorway.

"You tore apart your dress?" he asked, and she observed his expression which was full of amusement, gloom, and awe all at once.

"I am not going to marry you." she declared and watched as his body stiffened, and his jaw tightened as he observed her determined face.

"Why?"

"Because of what you have done. You were like a father figure for me two days ago, and now you expect me to marry you?" she asked in disbelief, unable to accept the fact that he agreed to marry her.

"I don't have any objection— "

"I do!" she raised her voice and tried to steer him in another direction. "I have told you many times that I wanted love in marriage—"

He was the one who interrupted her this time. "But I do love you!"

Eva paused, waiting for her heart to start beating again. She waited a few minutes for it to feel happy and excited, but all she could feel was... the usual.

Nothing.

Emptiness.

A hollow abyss.

"But I do not like you in that way." she quietly muttered, but he heard her clearly and clenched his fists.

"They will force you to marry me, so it's better if you do it out of your own free will— "

"I can't— "

"So what will you do HUH?" he finally burst out and stalked toward her with a dangerous look in his eyes. "Wait for him? To save you from the altar and take you away in his arms? TELL ME!"

Eva flinched unconsciously and gripped the bed tightly in her hands, leaning back as far as she could. For the first time in many years, she was feeling afraid of the man whom she could tell mostly everything without batting an eyelash.

Alastor seemed to have noticed the drastic change in her behavior since he took a few steps back and gulped, afraid that he had scared her away.

"Eva, I'm sorry— "

"You expect me to live around the killers of my family? Do you think you'll be happy with me? That I'll be happy after getting married to you? What will you do? Force yourself on me when I can't even bear to look at you that way?" she spitted out each word with such ferocity that Alastor stared at her, feeling mesmerized.

She looked angelic, even if she was glaring daggers at him. She looked like a Queen who didn't ever let anybody step on her. She fought back each time, and he fell deeper for her, thinking that she might fall for him too if she forgot that bastard of a king.

"I'll treat you good Eva," he promised and Eva was suddenly reminded of Theodore's promises. Each time he had made one, he never broke any. His promises held conviction and she had faith in them completely unlike Alastor's.

"We'll live somewhere far away. You won't even get to look at Diana, believe me." said the man, unaware of the plans the Queen had made behind his back.

Eva chuckled bitterly and raised her head. Alastor was shocked to see tears shining in those amber eyes he liked so dearly.

"Since when were you planning all this?" she questioned in a mocking tone. "Since I was seven? The times I used to bring you food, you would imagine me to be your wife at those times?"

He was dumbfounded and didn't know how to reply to any of her accusations since they were all true.

He had spent every minute of his life dreaming of her to be standing by his side. And now seeing that she was rejecting him, it was more than he could handle.