Chapter Chapter Nineteen: A New Friend

“So, you can hear our heart rates?”

The same question has come out of Mack’s mouth at least six times now but she still cannot believe the answer. The thought of knowing that Zack could physically hear what he was doing to her pissed her off. She wanted the power to bring him to his knees, not the other way around.

“For the tenth time your majesty, yes.” Daisy giggled as she gently touched a petal. “We can also smell when you are aroused.”

Mack felt her face pale. Walking in the garden was supposed to help her calm down after being in Zack’s office but instead, more and more anxiety was building. “That… that is just great.”

“Do not worry, Princess. Prince Zachariah will not hate you for feeling the way you do.”

“It is not my feelings that I care about.” Mack groaned. She hated this, she didn’t want to explain why she is still holding onto a grudge that she had long gotten over. She didn’t want to explain her trust issues and how she has always found it difficult to let people in. She didn’t want to explain anything, especially to a woman she had just met. “Do you have speed?”

“Speed?” The maid frowned before widening her eyes and grinning. “Yes, we do. We are only able to move faster than a blink when our mates try to leave us. Outside of that, our ability is limited.”

, Mack thought to herself before they sat down and looked out towards the town. “I would like to go into town at some point. Do you think I could do that?”

Daisy nodded while she folded her hands into her lap. “You are the future Queen, you can go wherever you want.”

“Even back home?”

The girl paused at Mack’s words. Her small lips got sucked into her mouth as if she didn’t want to answer. “I cannot say. That is something you will have to ask his majesty.”

Mack reluctantly nodded and looked away. She felt huge next to this girl. Her petite form made her feel like Daisy was the mini-boss and Mack herself was the final boss in some battle. Daisy was so well presented, her clothes were wrinkled free and she sat like a lady. Her white hair was braided around her head with small ringlets hanging loose and the fine makeup she had on looked as though she wasn’t wearing makeup at all.

Mackenzie felt intimidated by her. Daisy was the embodiment of perfection and as she looked down at herself and found every fault that she hated, she couldn’t help but feel as though Zack was robbed. He could have been gifted with a perfect mate, a mate that knew how to be a lady. A mate who knew everything about being a royal and could bounce back into her body after childbirth but instead he got Mack. The fat girl with an attitude, the fat girl who thought she would never find anyone because of her size. And the fat girl who will never be good enough in a place like this.

“Tell me what you are thinking, your majesty.” Daisy softly spoke as her grey eyes bore into Mack’s brown ones. “I am an empath, I can feel your sadness and pain.”

Mack stared back and Daisy for a moment. Reluctantancy hit her in seconds but she also knew that Daisy was assigned to her for a reason. Zack would not have picked a random person and she had to trust Daisy because of this. “I am not good enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“I lived on an island filled with self-entitled, obnoxious people who believed that they were better than everyone else. I lived on an island so isolated that we didn’t know what was going on around us until my sister came back with her dragon-shifter mate. After that day, everything changed. The people turned to fear and rage, everyone decided that they wanted nothing to do with the supernatural and shut the entire island off. I have known nothing but false assumptions and uneducated opinions based on fear and lack of understanding.” Mack then sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in exhaustion. “When Zack took me without my permission and marked me, I was pissed. I was so angry that he had stolen me away from the only place I have ever known and forced me here in this strange land, filled with blood-sucking Vampires.”

“We aren’t all blood-sucking,” Daisy gently laughed. “Some of us prefer pig’s blood over deer.”

“Comforting,” Mack said with a roll of her eyes. “I tried to pretend that the mate bond didn’t exist. I fought him and I’m still fighting him. I escaped this castle and from him just to find myself coming back for him. My emotions and thoughts have been a muddled mess and I have somehow lost myself but also found a new me. A me who wants to try and live in this world, a me who wants to understand his world and culture. I want to know everything about Vampires and being a royal but every time I have tried to approach it, something has happened which has sent me back into that rage I felt at the start. I know he wants to be with me, and I know that he is trying but everything in me is telling me that I will never be good enough. I’m not smart enough, skinny enough, tall enough. I will never be enough.”

Daisy’s eyes had watered at Mack’s confession. Her tears had caused Mack’s heart to ache in pain and regret everything that she had just said as Daisy spoke. “Mackenzie, you are the strongest person here. I know your story and what you have come from before coming to this place. I know about everything that has happened and what has happened but I didn’t know how deeply burdened your thoughts have been. You will always be good enough because you are here, you being here is enough and everyone is so thankful that you have chosen not to reject our future King and instead, taken up the role to be future Queen. Knowing that you want to try is better than knowing that you would rather die than be anywhere near us. We love you, all of us do.”

Mack wiped away a tear that had fallen without permission as she nervously laughed. “I’m not good at this touchy, feely stuff.”

Daisy’s soft smile widened. “It is okay. We are all learning one way or another and a person’s past trauma does not determine who they are.”

Mack felt the sudden urge to hug Daisy. The girl’s body froze from the sudden action before relaxing and hugging her back. “Thank you for listening.”

Daisy pulled away and gave Mack another soft smile. “I would do anything for you, your majesty. Even a shoulder to cry on when you need one.”

“Do you think teaching me the ways of being a royal would help this self-doubt?”

Daisy’s eyes brightened, taking a hold of Mack’s hands as she stood and almost jumped in excitement. “I could show you so many things! Just name one and I will teach you right now.”

Mack thought about it for a moment. She didn’t exactly have one topic as she needed to know everything before her wedding day but one thought did cross her mind, a distant memory of Luke and herself sitting at the dining table, caused her to cringe. “What is the difference between a salad fork and a steak fork? They look the same.”

Daisy’s face almost dropped at Mack’s words. “I have a lot to teach you.”