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ONE
TARYN
“A perfect morning,” Taryn hummed under her breath.
The morning sunlight lit the conservatory. The glass ceiling that reflected the rays added to the growing warmth and humidity of the internal temps. It was the best way to start the day, according to Taryn.
Maybe that’s why her betrothed added this building right before she moved in with him at Noblegrace. He knew she was fond of the morning and often worked with herbs for remedies in her potions. If this was his way of trying to woo her, she gladly accepted it.
Declan didn’t have to try. Taryn was already promised to him through the mate-treaty her father had signed. She didn’t mind. She had many years to realize that there could be worse fates and worse mates to be bound with. She also liked the fact that this was her small contribution to helping her family. All they asked for was a marriage, and they hadn’t done too bad in the matching part as far as Taryn was concerned. Her mind shifted to Declan.
She smiled to herself as she stirred the current brew she was working on, thinking about how her new favorite hobby had been to simply annoy Declan.
She wasn’t doing it out of spite, and he knew that. It was more of a dance she played with him. Their engagement hadn’t been officially announced, but she was living here under his orders. So, she used the little power she had and made sure to have a bedroom to herself on the other side of the castle.
“That’s what happens when a guy always gets his way,” she muttered.
It annoyed Declan, but he wasn’t angry with her. He assumed he knew why she was doing it: to make her own little stand to claim her privacy and independence. Deep down, however, there was a part of Taryn that did it because she was scared.
She would never, ever admit that to anyone. She barely admitted it to herself. But she felt inadequate as Declan’s mate and future queen of Noblegrace.
Taryn and her sisters had come to terms with the fact that they were different a long time ago. That was due to being half-human and half-shifter. They had bonded in their shared opinions that full-bloods felt they were entitled, though the girls never held it against them, even if the sisters were picked on more than they cared to say.
But Taryn’s youngest sister had recently shifted for the first time. Though she was happy and proud of her, Taryn couldn’t help but feel a little bitter that she and the twins still hadn’t shifted … and maybe they never would.
She huffed. “Or I never will.”
Lexi had shifted in a fight. It seemed that circumstances had brought on the change. Taryn was determined to make sure that she, the twins, and even Lexi could change at will, no matter what. Knowing it was truly possible made her more focused than ever.
Taryn’s face scrunched up as she thought about the frustration of it all. She may be the middle child, but she always felt that it was her responsibility to take care of her sisters. She needed to do this, not only for herself but for all of them.
She grabbed some dried herbs and sprinkled small handfuls into the potion she was trying to make.
She had been working out the details of how to make a proper shifting potion. It was proving harder than she had initially thought, especially since one had never been made.
As far as she knew, no one had ever needed a potion like this.
Taryn had been working endlessly on this concoction but had yet to find a successful version.
She rubbed her agitated eyes as the mixture turned a non-attractive brown color. Usually, that was a bad sign. Potions talked to you if you knew how to listen to them. Something that Taryn had learned long ago.
She pressed her lips into a thin line and swallowed her sigh of annoyance. Then Taryn glanced at the time on her watch.
“Shit!” She was late for work.
Taryn turned off the burner she had boiling underneath the small cauldron and quickly put her scattered mess back into vials and racks.
She took one last look at the sun-filled room and inhaled deeply. The smell alone could cause her anxious heart to slow and remember peace, even when she was frustrated beyond belief.
Her nostrils flared, and she inhaled all of the warm, musky herbal scents before she shut the door behind her and headed to the local apothecary.
Taryn didn’t have to work. Being betrothed to a king had a lot of perks, and not having to work was one of them. But it wasn’t in her nature to just do nothing or take advantage of her future role as queen. She wanted to mingle and get to know the people. More than that, she wanted to help them in any way she could.
Declan had been more than understanding when she had requested to have an apothecary in their town. She had thought he would argue that she didn’t need to work, but he had smiled instead and thought it was a great idea.
Before Taryn made it out of the room, Declan appeared, cutting off her exit.
He wore his casual attire, but it didn’t stop him from showing off his gorgeous, toned body.
