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It’s true that Stellan and Natalia do look quite different—from the shade of their hair, and even their skin. Stellan’s is more olive toned while Natalia has a more pink hue.
“Speaking of my brother,” Natalia grins, playing with the paper straw of her drink, “how are the two of you getting along?”
Dove scoffs. “Natalia, you can’t ask her that.”
“Why not?” Natalia gives her mom her best innocent expression. She even goes as far as to flutter her eyelashes. “I’m only asking for the sake of my family.”
“It’s fine.” I wave a hand, letting them know I don’t mind the personal question, then I sigh. “Stellan is a very dutiful prince.” Unfortunately, he’s not quite as dutiful of a husband. In his defense, he’s been a prince a lot longer than he’s been a husband, but he’s still not the easiest guy to be married to.
Natalia snorts. “That’s such a fae answer. You guys certainly know how to word things so you don’t lie.”
“It’s impossible for a fae to lie,” I tell her.
She nods. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t found ways around telling the truth.”
“What do you want me to say?” I ask.
She leans closer. “Have you two kissed yet?”
“Natalia!” Dove scolds her daughter.
My cheeks grow warm. “We’re still getting to know one another.”
“That’s a no.” She sighs, leaning back. “I was hoping for a niece or nephew soon.”
If I were bold, I’d tell her that we’re alongway off from that. For us to get there, Stellan would have to spend more than a few hours with me. So far, he’s mostly avoided me, and the time we have spent together hasn’t been great. I’m starting to wonder if we even have any chemistry, but then I think about his blue green eyes and the way he smiled at me yesterday morning and I get butterflies.
Well, I’mdefinitelyattracted to him. But I don’t think he’s attracted to me.
“I’m surprised you know that fae can’t lie,” I say, changing the subjects away from babies.
“It’s… common knowledge…” She gives me a look like she’s questioning if I’m all right.
“Stellan didn’t know.” I shrug, like it’s not a big deal. “So I figured if he didn’t know, you wouldn’t either.”
She scoffs. “Stellan is an idiot.”
“Natalia,” Dove says, once again scolding her.
“What?” She gives her mom a look. “He’s the one who was going tomarrya fae—he’s known it his whole life. Why wouldn’t he learn about his future wife’s species?”
Dove doesn’t say anything to that, though what could she say? Natalia is right. All of it makes me suspect that Stellan was avoiding thinking about it. He obviously wanted this marriage as much as Poppy did, which is to say not at all.
I’ll have to be more lenient when it comes to him. He was foisted into an unwanted marriage, so it’s going to take him a little while to adjust. I shouldn’t be so hard on him.
When he gets back, I promise myself that I’ll make the most of our time. I won’t hold a grudge against him, even if I’m upset with him.
“It’s okay.” I sit up straighter. “I didn’t know much about dragon shifters before I got here.”
“You knew you were going to marry him for three weeks—of course you didn’t have time to research dragon shifters,” Natalia says, in my defense.
I’m surprised that she’s defending me. When I first got here, I was convinced that she hated me. I want to ask her about it, but I don’t want to offend her. Maybe once I get to know her better I’ll be brave enough to ask why she was so rude when we first met.
“Imperial Highness.”
I look up at the familiar title in time to see two fae bend themselves in a low bow.
“You don’t have to bow,” I tell them, hoping they’ll stand up straight. They stay low.
