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She slammed a palm on the vanity, making my heart jump.
“And who’s going to give you thisall?” she demanded. “You’re living in a fantasy, Olympia—”
“Zoei.”
“What?” she gasped.
“Zoei Highblade.”
Her throat worked as she sputtered: “She’s an Alpha!”
“I’m aware.”
“But…” She covered her face with her palms, sweeping her cheeks as though wiping away the cobwebs of confusion. “Cryssa is… and Zoei…”
She sat heavily, the skirts of her silken robe billowing around her.
“Is that why you disappeared for those few days? You were having anaffairwith Zoei?” she questioned, a bright flush tinting her skin. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? Cryssa almost made herselfsicktrying to find you—”
“No, that was an unfortunate misunderstanding,” I explained before she could twist the guilt even deeper. “And technically, it wasn’t an affair because I’m not mated—”
She threw her hands in the air. “I don’t want to know. It’s…weird!Two Alphas together… it’s like…”
“Like what?” I questioned with a sigh.
“Like going against nature,” she concluded dramatically. “And if I think so, others will, too.”
“So?” I refuted. “I’m not sleeping with them.”
“You’re a princess, Olympia. Everything you do comes into scrutiny.”
I clasped my hands together. “Trust me, mother, I know. Which is why I wished to tell you first, in private, before I make the announcement to the council.”
Dread creased my mother’s cheeks.
“Nightmare,” she whispered. “This is going to be a terrible nightmare.”
I knelt at her feet, taking her clasped hands between my own.
“I will deal with the nightmare if it guarantees my happiness, mother,” I stated. “I only wish for you to be happy for me.”
“And Zoei makes you happy?” She sounded like a woman strangled.
“Very much.” I nodded. “For a long time, I didn’t think I could be truly happy, but I told myself I would be stupid not to marry Cryssa. You’re right on one account—she really is perfect for our family… But I’ve come to realize she’s not perfect forme.”
The color faded from mother’s cheeks. “Have you told Cryssa? Did you speak to her?”
“I did,” I said, trying to rub some heat back into mother’s cold fingers. “She’s refusing to let me go.”
“Sounds just like her to be so stubborn.”
“You say that like it’s a good trait.”
“I admire it,” she said with a sigh. “Sometimes I wish you were more like her.”
“I know,” I conceded. “But I am not. You’ll have to be content with the daughter you were given.”
I rose, letting mother’s fingers slip from mine.
