Page 9 of The Royal Engagement

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “And I’d prefer to just show up in a dress. Can we elope?”

“Unfortunately, no. Vampire law dictates that multiple clans must be present for a royal wedding to make it legal,” Damek explains.

“I didn’t get that far in my vampire education.” And I likely won’t now, not since Kaine, my advisor, is busy looking for my older brother, Lucien.

“Have there been any leads in finding Lucien?” Damek asks.

I shake my head. “No, but Kaine has a large group scouting different locations. If Lucien is to be found, Kaine is going to find him.”

Which will make Julien happy because if Lucien doesn’t come home soon, Julien is going to have to take over as heir. Even though the wedding is five months away, our clan leaders want Julien to take over duties as heir. Julien is trying to put it off as long as he possibly can. He doesn’t want to be heir and I can’t blame him—I didn’t want the job either.

“They will find him.” Damek takes my hand in his and he laces our fingers together. My body relaxes at the touch.

Since when do I find Damek’s touch so soothing?

When the room quietens, I look up and find Queen Rune studying Damek and me, her eyes squinting. Mom’s face is red as she glares at Queen Rune.

Are they done fighting? Did they decide on a color yet?

“Damek, what do you think about a wedding color?” Mom asks, breaking the silence. “Do you want to side with your mother, who thinks blood red is appropriate for a wedding, or with Madeline?”

Damek’s mouth opens as he looks between my mom and me.

“I didn’t say I had a problem with red.” I shrug, hoping to show my indifference.

Queen Rune doesn’t grin smugly like I thought she would. Instead, she looks at Damek. I glance at him and see that he’s looking at me.

“Whatever Maddie wants is fine with me.” He grins sweetly. “The wedding is about her, after all.”

I shake my head. “No. It’s your wedding too.”

“And yet nobody will be looking at me on that day—everybody will be looking at you.”

My heart swells at the compliment. Eden and Mom both look at us, tears in their eyes. Queen Rune, however, still stares with an expression that I can’t read.

“Do you need anything else from us?” Damek stands from the chair and tugs me with him. “If not, Maddie and I are going to head out early. We have plans.”

Oh, he is good at avoiding uncomfortable things. From now on, I will make sure I wait for him before I go into any meeting that involves both of our moms.

“Have fun,” Eden says, waving at us.

“But…” Mom says.

It’s too late. Damek and I are already halfway out the door. I sigh in relief as the door shuts behind us.

“That went well,” he says.

I laugh, shaking my head. “It’s not funny, I know it’s not. Our momshateeach other. Is this what planning our wedding is going to be like?”

“No.” He tugs me to a stop. I turn to face him and he looks down at me. “Don’t worry—things will work out, you’ll see. This wedding isn’t about either of our moms, it’s about us. It’s about the future of our clans. My mom knows that and she won’t screw that up. And I imagine your mom won’t either.”

He’s right. I just wish they wouldn’t argue, especially not over silly things like color schemes.

“And you’re sure we can’t just run away and get married?” I ask again.

He grins. “Tempting. If we could, I would. But I argued to give you six months, and we are going to take every advantage of this time to get to know one another.”

I nod. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go out on this date that you have planned.”

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