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Hopefully Sarah would assume it was some kind of diet fad. I prepared myself for her speech on how I was beautiful and didn’t need to worry about my weight or figure.
I always hated hearing it come from her because I don’t think she’d ever understand.
But it was a speech that never came.
“Because of the baby, right?” she asked instead.
I tilted my head to the side. “You knew?”
“As soon as you came into the castle!” She squeezed my shoulder. “And I’m so happy for you!”
“How?” I asked, still floored.
“Your bump is not discreet,” she said with a huge grin on her face. “And you’re absolutely radiant!”
So, I was glowing... and no one was looking at me like I was just getting extra fat? They’d figured it out?
I closed my eyes and let out a breath, relief washing over me. “My pregnancy is another of the reasons we fought.”
Sarah pulled another chair from the wall and dragged it over to Lucians beside. “Tell me everything. Start from when he showed up on your doorstep, because I want to hear it all.”
I nodded and readied myself to spill everything. “Okay, well... When he first arrived, I was surprised but excited. We’d had a... uh... really good night together at your wedding.” I coughed, my cheeks growing warm with embarrassment. “Don’t get me wrong, the dragon thing scared the crap out of me, but...we’d connected on so many levels. He lived with me for a few months, and I introduced him to my students. I showed him normal, boring, human life.”
Sarah’s eyebrows flicked up. “Did the two of you get along well?”
“Yes. He wanted to come back here with me, and I told him I wouldn’t go.” I sighed. “Because this world...it doesn’t feel like home.” I gestured at the castle. “Not quite my style. I’m not a fairytale princess.”
Sarah opened her mouth, then closed it and sighed.
“I’m not,” I repeated. “And it has nothing to do with how I look. The way I live doesn’t mesh well with it either. Anyway, what I didn’t realize was that in telling him I couldn’t live in his realm, I’d forced him into my life which didn’t suit him at all. That’s what started the fight.”
“He didn’t like it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “He didn’t complain or anything. It was I that told him I hated seeing him so miserable. I told him he should leave. I hadn’t meant for it to come out the way it did, but we were both heated, and I was so tired. Not just physically, but tired of everything. He wasn’t talking to me anymore. We weren’t bonding. I just knew I was the problem.”
“Kat...” Sarah shook her head. “I highly doubt that was it.”
“It was.” I blinked away a few tears. “He fixed my house and did all the dutiful husband things without even having the title. Perfect on paper. His soul was missing, though. I saw the empty vessel I made him. Shouldn’t I be making him feel complete? That’s what a soulmate is supposed to do, right?”
“Were you hiding your true self from him too?” she asked.
Not the question I was expecting.
I had to think about that one for a moment. “Kind of. He said I was pushing him away, and I can’t argue with that. I’m scared of letting him get to know me properly. When I let the walls down, that’s when guys leave.”
“Lucian isn’t like other guys, though. He’s your fated mate.” Sarah insisted.
“And that means nothing to me!” I snapped. “A magic bond that automatically makes us perfect for each other? Seriously? He loves me because of a mystical force? How is that real?” I thought she, of all people, would understand. “I want him to love me for me.”
“He does.” Sarah gazed over at Lucian’s sleeping form. “If you asked him right now, he would say so himself. That he doesn’t love you because of magic.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because the fated mate bond... it doesn’t.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m trying to think of how to explain this. It’s an attraction, right? Like the moment he first walks into the room, you feel complete, but you don’t know why. How you just knew you have to talk to him. It’s a force that puts the two of you together, sure. But it doesn’t make the love happen. That’s you.”
I nodded, listening, wanting to believe. “Yeah, I did feel that way. Sort of. Maybe not so strong? Not at first. That came later when he was at the house. Like when he left after our fight. I felt it the worst then... the disconnect, I mean. Like part of my lifeline had just been severed.”
“Right!” Sarah gave me a warm smile. “With the dragons, they feel these sensations at an amplified level. The fated mate bond pulls the two of you together because it knows that you are everything he’d ever want in a mate. Personality, sex appeal, all of it.”
