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Setting aside the dishes, I headed into the hall to find someone who could have some answers for me.
In the silence, I could hear my footsteps echoing through the hall.
A servant or two might have passed me, but besides them, there weren’t many people in the castle that day. I tried to retrace the path he had led me down, wanting to see if I could find my way back to the conference hall. Some things were familiar, paintings with aged, unhappy faces and stained-glass art of magnificent dragons surrounded by a blaze of fire. I checked them off in my head as I went by.
What must it have been like to grow up here?
I couldn’t imagine being a child in a castle like this, knowing that all of it belonged to you.
For the first time, I considered what he meant by wanting me to bare offspring. My children would have to be raised in a place like this. They’d have nothing normal compared to how I grew up. They’d have staff waiting on them hand and foot, and there’d be people whose entire jobs were to keep them happy and entertained.
As long as they were boys.
My daughters would be… I felt sick with the thought of them having to work while the boys lived lavishly. Hopefully, I’d just have boys.
The conference room came up quickly, ending my distraction. I cautiously opened the door.
A woman was in there.
She wasn’t dressed like the servants, more like she was going to a funeral. The black dress she was wearing clung to her form like moss over a weeping willow. She turned to look at me as I opened the door, and her black lipstick contorted into a smile, revealing a flash of white from her teeth.
“You’re Izzy,” she greeted me.
“Yes,” I agreed. Stepping into the room, I folded my arms across my chest. “Do I know you?”
“I’m the seer. I’m how the oldest prince found you.” She motioned to a chair with her hand. “How are you liking it here?”
“Well… I’m scared, uncomfortable, nervous,” I admitted. I followed her direction and sat down at the conference table. Instead of sitting as well, she leaned her hip against the table and looked down at me.
“You’re not happy for this wealth?”
“I am, but I’m nervous about my future daughters.”
“So, you’ve agreed to stay and be his mate.” There was a slight surprise in her voice.
“I don’t see what other option there is.”
“You have feelings for him already?” She brushed off my comment with ease.
“I do.”
“He seems to be interested in you as well.”
“I’d say that,” I laughed nervously. “I’m pretty sure it’s because he wants children, though.”
“I don’t know about that,” She said, shaking her head. “You’re giving up so much of your life for him, if you are at his side when he rules, you can help him change the country.” She beckoned to the empty conference table at which I now sat.
“I’d only be the mother of future princes — I doubt my word would have any sway beyond that.”
“He feels something for you,” she corrected me, raising her finger into the air. “The current king only married for children, his wife wasn’t his fated mate,” she explained. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat; nobody else had spoken so directly about the royal family.
“How do you know that?”
“I’m his fated mate.” She frowned. “I found this kingdom by looking for him, and when I got here, he was in mourning.”
“His wife…”
“He still hasn’t gotten over her.” She sighed and slumped down into a chair beside me. “If I have to wait, I will.”
