The crash came out of nowhere. Daria was rushing through the palace corridor, trying to escape the mating ceremony and the persistent Lord Callister who kept chasing after her to ask permission to court her sister Alina. She rounded a corner too quickly and slammed directly into something solid—someone. She looked up, and the Alpha King stared down at her.
His bronze hair was mussed, his collar loose, his golden eyes wild and unfocused. Then they locked onto her, and his pupils dilated until only a thin gold ring remained. His arms tightened around her waist, pulling her closer. “You,” he whispered.
“I’ll die if I can’t marry you. ”
Daria gaped. She’d only ever glimpsed him from across ballrooms, and now he was declaring his undying love to her after thirty seconds of acquaintance. She pushed against his chest, but he wouldn’t budge.
A group of guards rounded the corner, followed by two healers who took one look at the scene and exchanged grim glances. An examination revealed the truth: someone had dosed the king with a powerful love potion. And all eyes turned accusingly on Daria. “You were alone with him,” the guard captain, Galen, said flatly.
“For thirty seconds! ” Daria protested. “We literally barged into each other around the corner! ”
It didn’t matter.
The healers explained that the potion had created a false mating bond. If Daria left, the king’s body would sicken—could even die. She was trapped at his side until they could brew an antidote. Three days, they said.
Maybe more. Then the king—Aaron, he insisted she call him—transformed into a massive wolf and nearly tore apart the guards who tried to take her away. So she stayed. Under duress, she clarified.
He repeated “you’re staying” with a smile that lit up his entire face, ignoring the caveat entirely. Three days. She needed to find the real culprit and clear her name. Piece of cake.
The next morning, Aaron requested her presence for breakfast. He looked better than the night before, well-groomed and rested, but the intensity of his stare was undiminished. He asked her about herself, about her favorite books, about everything. Daria tried to deflect with sarcasm and difficulty, hoping he’d lose interest.
It only made him like her more. “I feel you here, in my soul,” he said, pressing her hand to his chest. “I know you are mine. ”
Heat flooded her face.
This wasn’t real. None of this was real. But to him, it felt real, and he was suffering because of it. Someone had done this to him deliberately, and she was determined to find out who.
Lord Callister arrived, requesting an audience. He wanted permission to court Alina, and Aaron backed Daria’s refusal without question. She tried to explain, mentioning the man’s failing estate and her sister’s need for security. When Aaron asked why she was so cynical about handsome men, Daria froze, remembering her father’s polished smile as he’d abandoned them for his faded mate when she was fifteen.
“That’s very hurtful,” she said, waving it off. “More importantly, I want to find out who’s actually responsible for your condition. ”
She needed access to the kitchens and servants, freedom to move through the palace without a chaperone, and the king’s cooperation. Aaron agreed, though he looked pained when she insisted he not follow her everywhere.
He admitted he’d stood outside her door for an hour the previous night, just to make sure she was all right. “That was pathetic,” she said. “Pathetically sweet. ”
A protective anger flared in her chest.
Someone had made him vulnerable, turned his own instincts against him. She allowed him to come with her, on the condition that he stay quiet and let her lead. “Because you just agreed to spend the day with me,” he beamed. They started with the kitchens.
The head cook took offense at the suggestion that anyone could have poisoned the king in her domain, but she directed them to Melba, the girl responsible for the king’s cup. Melba was nervous, her hands twisting in her apron, but she denied seeing anything unusual. Next, they interrogated Galen, who was about as cooperative as a particularly uncooperative boulder. He’d been guarding the perimeter as ordered, seen nothing suspicious, and spoke in monosyllables until Daria’s sarcasm got the better of her.
By afternoon, they’d interviewed a dozen servants and several guards with nothing concrete to show for it. Daria sat down with Aaron to go through his movements from the night of the ceremony. He described the evening—toasts from various nobles, drinks offered, the timeline. Around eight, time got fuzzy.
She asked if he was all right when his face went ashen, and then he doubled over in pain. “Get the healers quickly! ” she called to a servant, then reached out instinctively to grasp his shoulder. The change was immediate.
Aaron’s tense body melted, the trembling stopped, and he slumped back with a shuddering exhale. “What did you do? ” he breathed, wonder in his eyes. When she pulled her hand back, the pain returned.
“Touch me again,” he begged. “Please. ”
The healer arrived and explained the situation grimly: the false mating bond was intensifying. Proximity helped, but touch was more effective.
At night, skin-to-skin contact would be advisable. Without it, the king could die. “I wouldn’t object,” Aaron said quietly, his golden eyes dark with want. Daria yanked her hand away instantly, and Aaron gasped, pain crashing back over his features.
She grabbed his hand without thinking, lacing their fingers together, and the relief was instantaneous. “Guard your heart accordingly,” the healer warned her quietly. “Right,” Daria said, staring at the top of Aaron’s head. “Guarded.
Absolutely. ”
Aaron brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, her wrist, murmuring against her skin. “Gods, you taste like honey. ” She felt the words everywhere.
The investigation continued, awkwardly, with their hands linked across the table. Daria pored over palace records and found a scribbled note from a junior guard: Captain Galen had been observed assisting the king near the east entrance during the unaccounted-for twenty minutes. Galen had given Aaron a drink that night, claiming it was an energy drink to help him feel better. “That backstabbing, monosyllabic plotter,” Daria hissed.
They confronted Galen in the training yard. He admitted to giving the drink but insisted it was an energy tonic. Aaron scented him and declared him sincere. Galen tried to claim he’d made the drink himself, with “stuff,” but before the guards could arrest him, a scream tore through the yard.
Melba stood in the archway, pale and streaked with tears. “Galen didn’t make the potion. I did. ”
Daria was triumphant.
“I knew you were suspicious. ”
“It wasn’t Melba’s fault,” Galen insisted. “She makes energy drinks for me often. She must have mixed up the ingredients by accident.
”
“No, I didn’t,” Melba said sadly. “I meant to make that love potion. But it wasn’t meant for the king. The potion was meant for Galen.
”
Everyone stared. The potion had been intended for the bald, scarred, bulldog-like captain—not the handsome, bronze-haired king. Melba’s face grew fierce as she explained: Galen was strong, honorable, kind, worked harder than anyone, and never asked for anything for himself. He had the most beautiful smile.
“Instead of telling him, you drugged him,” Daria said, unable to keep the hardness from her voice. Melba crumpled. “I realize that. I’m so sorry, Galen.
”
Galen, for his part, looked genuinely interested. “I like a woman who goes after what she wants. She’s a woman of action. That’s strategic.
”
Daria watched them, something uneasy in her chest. Melba had confessed to save Galen from arrest, and Galen had been willing to claim he’d made the potion himself. They weren’t even together, and yet they were already willing to sacrifice themselves for one another. “That’s—” she started.
“Romantic? ” Aaron offered helpfully. “Definitely not,” Daria said automatically. But she felt unsure.
Then Aaron winced, his hand coming up to his temple. They’d let go of each other during the confrontation. His face went ashen, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed. The journey back to his chambers was a blur.
The head healer took one look at him and announced that his body was in crisis. They’d been maintaining hand-holding during the day, but it wasn’t enough anymore. The bond wanted more contact, more intimacy. Full body contact, skin-to-skin, would be ideal.
Without it, he’d die. “Get in bed with him,” the healer said. “Hold him. ”
Daria snapped at the assistants to leave, then fumbled with her buttons.
She climbed onto the bed and pressed herself against Aaron’s side, her palm flat on his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. “Wake up,” she whispered. “Please wake up. ”
He groaned, turned into her palm, but remained unconscious.
She shifted, throwing her leg over his, plastering herself against his side. “Why didn’t you tell me you were getting worse? ” she asked, her voice breaking. Because he had told her, she realized.
All those little comments about missing her when they were apart, about how it hurt when she wasn’t near. She’d thought it was just the potion talking. She’d been so focused on the investigation, and he’d been suffering. “I’m sorry,” she whispered against his skin.
Almost without thinking, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. A sigh escaped him. His hand came up to cup the back of her head, and the kiss deepened. Nothing gentle about it.
He claimed her mouth with a desperation that stole her breath. When she tried to pull back and suggest calling the healer, he growled and pulled her back down. “I don’t need them,” he said against her throat. “I need you.
I’ve been holding back for so long. I can’t anymore. ”
“You want me too,” he murmured. “I can smell how much you want me.
”
Her face burned. “But you don’t really want me. It’s the potion. ”
He pulled back, frowning.
“You’re a beautiful woman, half naked in my bed, touching me. Of course I want you. ”
She tried to convince herself it was for his own good. But when she whispered that she wanted him too, and the tears spilled over, he asked why she was crying.
“Because it’ll be awful when it stops,” she whispered. Aaron’s expression softened. “Then let’s not stop. Ever.
I’ll love you forever. ”
She let him kiss her, and this time she kissed him back with everything she had. She lost herself in him completely, and they didn’t sleep much that night. Later, Daria awoke with Aaron’s arms wrapped around her, her cheek resting on his chest.
His heartbeat was strong and steady now, no longer racing with fever. She tilted her head back to look at him. I love him, she thought. The realization settled over her like sunrise, inevitable and terrifying all at once.
Someone coughed. The healer stood beside the bed, holding a crystal vial gleaming with liquid that shimmered like moonlight on water. “We have excellent news,” she said. “We’ve completed the antidote.
We can cure his majesty. ”
Daria’s heart sank. Aaron stirred, saw the vial, and his smile vanished. “No,” he said plainly, and buried his face in Daria’s hair.
“Your Majesty, you’re under the influence of a love potion. ”
“And I’ve never been happier,” Aaron interrupted. “Why would I put an end to it? ”
Daria forced herself to speak past the lump in her throat.
“Aaron, you have to take it. This isn’t real. You deserve to fall in love with someone you choose, not because magic forced you to. ”
“I do want you,” he insisted.
“Why do you keep saying these things? ”
“You don’t even know me,” Daria said, her voice cracking. She stopped, because she was being a hypocrite. She’d fallen completely, irrevocably in love with him in less than a week.
Tears spilled over, hot and fast. “Take it, Aaron,” she said. “Please. ”
“Why?
Give me one good reason. ”
“Because I’ll never be happy,” she cried. “How can I be happy knowing the man I love wouldn’t feel this way without some enchantment? Wondering every day if today’s the day the potion wears off and you look at me like a stranger.
How can I live like that? ”
Silence fell. “You love me,” Aaron said quietly, wonder in his voice. “Potion or not, I love you.
And I know that won’t change when the potion is gone. Let me prove it. I’ll take this cure. But afterward, you let me court you properly.
No potion, no magic, just you and me. ”
“Fine,” she said, her voice breaking. “I swear. ”
“You won’t run away the moment I’m cured?
”
“I won’t,” she lied. Because of course she would. She wouldn’t survive his indifference. “I will love you forever,” Aaron said.
Then he drank. For a moment, nothing happened. Then his eyes went unfocused, and the vial slipped from his fingers. “The antidote drains the drinker’s energy,” the healer explained.
“When he wakes, the potion’s influence will be completely gone. ”
“Couldn’t you have mentioned that before? ” Daria snapped. Aaron’s eyes were drooping, but he reached for her hand.
“Don’t leave,” he murmured. “Promise. ”
She didn’t answer. His eyes closed, his breathing evened out.
Then the healer added: “When he wakes, he should have no memory of the time under the potion’s influence. ”
“What do you mean, no memory? ”
“The potion creates false emotions. The antidote cleanses them, but emotions are linked to memories.
It will erase them, too. ”
Daria stared. She couldn’t bear it anymore. She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
“Goodbye, Aaron. ” Then she left. The next morning, a servant arrived at the townhouse with news: the king had awakened, the cure was completely successful, and he remembered nothing. Daria stood in the doorway, telling her heart to stop being stupid.
Aaron was fine. That’s what mattered. Alina found her soon after and asked what was happening. “We’re going home,” Daria said, forcing brightness into her voice.
“Pack your things. ”
“But what about the king? I thought you and he… ”
“It was a misunderstanding.
Nothing more. ” She turned away so Alina wouldn’t see her face. Then the tears came, great heaving sobs she couldn’t control. Her knees buckled, and suddenly Alina was there, catching her.
“Shh,” Alina whispered. “I know. ”
One month later, the only time Daria felt anything close to peace was when she was riding. The horse had been a gift from Lord Callister the day he and Alina had gotten engaged—with Daria’s blessing, because she’d realized that just because she and her mother were unhappy in love didn’t mean Alina should be too.
Galen and Melba had married two weeks ago. Daria had heard about it through palace gossip. Not every love story ended badly, just hers. A deer burst from the underbrush, and the sound of baying hounds echoed in the distance.
She was about to turn back when she heard hoofbeats approaching fast. “I’m afraid you’re much too late,” Daria called out without turning. “Your prey’s long gone. ”
“Well, that’s a shame,” came a voice behind her, warm and familiar and making her stomach drop.
“For me, that is. Not for the deer, obviously. ”
Her entire body went rigid. The rider stepped around to block her path, forcing her to look.
Aaron sat astride a magnificent black stallion, dressed in fine hunting leathers, his bronze hair windswept. Daria remembered those eyes looking down at her in bed, remembered him kissing her knuckles one by one. She hated how much it hurt to look at him. “Good luck,” she said, and she moved the mare around him.
“Wait,” Aaron called. “Do I know you? ”
The question broke something in her chest. “No,” she said, and urged the mare forward.
But he chased after her, shouting for her to come back. She kicked the mare into a gallop, fleeing. Then a memory surfaced—Aaron in bed, holding the crystal vial, looking at her with desperate intensity. “Promise me you’ll let me court you.
Promise me you won’t run. ”
“Darn it,” she muttered, and pulled the mare to a stop. Aaron caught up, breathless and almost exhilarated. “You’re a very good rider.
”
“Thank you,” Daria said stiffly, still not turning around. “I usually shift when I want to move quickly. Perhaps you should have,” she said, turning. The words died in her throat.
Aaron stood beside her horse, completely, gloriously naked. Daria squeaked, her face flooding with heat. “You did shift. ”
“I did,” Aaron said, amusement in his voice, then more contrite.
“I apologize. I understand humans are a bit more uncomfortable with nudity. ”
“I was going to say lack of clothes,” she said. “That’s the same thing, isn’t it?
”
Despite herself, she turned back to look at him. He stood there, wide-eyed and flushed, one hand hovering uncertainly. “My name is Aaron,” he said. “I know who you are, your majesty.
You’re the king. ”
His face fell slightly. “But we have met before, haven’t we? I feel like I know you.
Your scent. ”
Daria looked away quickly and tossed her cloak at him. “Please cover yourself. ”
When she looked back, Aaron had gone still, staring at her with eyes full of awe.
“Have you ever heard of faded bonds? ” he asked breathlessly. “Well, I think you are my mate. In fact, I know you are.
The moment I saw you, it’s like my soul recognized yours. ”
Horror crashed over Daria. “Oh no. ”
“You’ve been given a potion again,” she said.
“What? No, I’ve not. ”
“You were just spouting nonsense about me being your mate. You don’t even know my name.
”
Aaron paused, considered, then smiled, soft and hopeful. “Then let me learn it. Let me know you. ” He held out his hand to her, palm up.
“Will you let me court you? ”
Daria looked at his outstretched hand—the same hand that had held hers for days. She wanted to run, wanted to protect herself. But she’d promised.
Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, she reached down from the saddle and placed her hand in his. Three years later, the wedding was everything Daria had once sworn she’d never want. Excessive, romantic, borderline impractical. She fussed with Alina about the white roses in her hair, complained about the fuss, and tried to hide her smile.
It had taken three years to get there. Three years of Aaron patiently, persistently courting her, proving over and over that what he felt was real. Because even after that day in the forest, Daria had been terrified. The healers explained that the potion had only intensified a bond Aaron would have felt for her regardless—fated mates recognize each other on a soul-deep level.
But the damage was done, and Daria had a hard time trusting it. Aaron never complained. When she’d asked, voice breaking, how he could be so patient with her fears, he’d simply smiled and said, “Because you’re worth waiting for. ”
The door swung open.
Aaron stood there in full royal regalia, eyes full of unshed tears. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “That’s it,” Daria groaned. “Wedding’s canceled.
”
Aaron laughed. “Not a chance. I’ve waited too long for this. ”
“Well,” Daria pretended to think about it, “if I must.
”
“Oh, you must,” Aaron said, and kissed her. “Because I love you. ”
Daria sighed, a smile tugging at her lips. “Yes, I know.
”
Then he offered his arm, and together they walked toward their happily ever after.
