Maria's POV

In front of him, I was being kind to her. I even asked him to let her dine with us, not because I was happy, but because I wanted to prove to her that her mate belonged to me. But why?

Why wasn't everything going the way I wanted? I even pretended to be sick. I was frustrated that my attempt to win Alex's sympathy had failed. Why weren't things going as planned? Was this due to her? It was all because of that damn girl. I didn't see why he had to make her stay with us. She came here to steal what was rightfully mine—the queen's...