Page 12 of Rejected By the Shifter King

Lysander flashed a grin. "Congratulations, general. You've just won your first battle."

Star beamed. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"I'm almost envious of your brother. He's extremely lucky to have you in his corner."

"He told me there'd always be room for me to join his council if it's what I wanted, but I'm not sure if I'll ever have the courage..." Her voice trailed off, but this time Lysander knew her well enough to understand what she wasn't saying.

"You're worried about the lives you might lose because of the decisions you make?"

A small nod.

"It's a risk that you'll always have to take, and if you do end up making the wrong decision, I'm afraid the guilt will never leave you."

"So I'll always have their blood on my hands then?"

"Yes. But you can also make it hurt less by ensuring that they did not and do not die in vain. Remind yourself of how many more lives would be lost, if you hadn't taken up arms at all and simply let the enemy win."

****

LYSANDER HAD PROMISEDto meet with Star one last time before she returned home, but a summons from the High Circle forced him to break his promise and leave without saying goodbye. Time passed, months turning into years, and thoughts of her faded. New people came into his life, and he found himselfalmostfalling in love, and having to accept that the girl he wanted did not want him back...it was a bittersweet pain, but it was nothing compared to the devastation he felt, when vampires once again succeeded in razing their realm to ashes.

Their home was gone. The High Circle was no more. He was the only one left, and the burden was so damn heavy Lysander had to constantly fight against the urge to break under its weight. Once a sought-after prince, Lysander was now reduced to a social pariah. It made him cold and empty inside, and it was in this mood that Star walked back into his life.

“Lysander?”

He turned around at the hesitant-sounding voice, his eyes narrowing when he saw her face. She was pretty and innocent-looking, with dark hair and emerald eyes. She was also strangely familiar, which didn't make sense at all. He remembered every woman he had fucked, and someone this young would have been automatically off limits.

But still, her face nagged at him.

A tentative smile curved over her face, and recognition struck.

“Star."Real pleasure underlined Lysander's voice as the memories of one particularly idyllic summer returned. Those days were the last time he had known peace, and this young girl was a large reason for it. She had been a sweet kid, quiet and shy but without artifice, and he remembered with much affection the many interesting talks they had of history and politics, subjects that he had never discussed with any other member of the opposite sex until her.

The first time they met, he had to conceal his identity in fear of having women throw themselves at him.

Now, however...

The girl was being true to her name, with Star gazing up at him with her namesake shining in her eyes. She was the only one in the entire ball to look at him like this, and even though he knew he was being stupid, her open adoration of him was a balm to his pride.

"You remember me."

Her shy voice had him wincing at her naïveté, and he said gently, "It's nothing to be flattered about these days, trust me."

The way her smile faded told Lysander she knew exactly what he was talking about, and the pang of bitterness this induced disturbed him.

He had always been a realist, and so for the most part he had been able to deal with the changes in his life with philosophical objectivity. Most people preferred to leech off those who were wealthier and more powerful, and having become a prince without a kingdom, it had not come as a surprise to Lysander when his so-called friends had nearly dwindled to nothing.

But to see with his own eyes that Star was also aware of his fall...

It didn't fucking sit well with him at all, and only the knowledge that it was sorrow and not pity on her face that kept Lysander from snarling at her.

"Um..."

His self-contempt subsided when his heightened senses picked up a sudden, violent spike from her mood.Something was disturbing her, he thought, and this made him ask sharply, "What is it?"

"I heard...you were looking for a Lyccan princess to be betrothed to?"

Lysander stiffened. "And?"