Page 18 of The Royal Engagement

He shrugs. “I don’t have an opinion.”

“Madeline?” She turns her gaze to me.

I glance at my mom for a second, then I look down. “Red is tradition for the vampires, so it’s fine with me as succubi don’t have color traditions.”

Damek squeezes my hand to try to encourage me.

I take a deep breath and look at my mom. She is frowning as she studies me—maybe she wants to make sure I’m not being ‘bullied’ into choosing red.

“Mom,” I say softly. “I know that I’m a succubus, but I’m also a vampire. I want to embrace this half of me.”

She nods. “Okay.” She then turns to face Queen Rune. “Now that the color is settled, we should talk about the ceremony.”

Queen Rune narrows her eyes. “What about the ceremony? It will be a traditional vampire wedding ceremony.”

“As my daughter said, she’s onlyhalfvampire. She is also half succubus. Succubi have a lot of traditions that need to be followed. Such as—” she begins, going off on a long tangent about what is ‘traditional.’

The longer she speaks, the redder Queen Rune’s face becomes.

Damek gently caresses the top of my hand with his thumb, which is when I realize that I am squeezing his hand tightly. I loosen my grip.

“Sorry,” I say softly, not wanting to interrupt my mother’s very long, and clearly rehearsed, speech.

He grins and softly responds, “I’m okay with any succubi traditions you want to follow.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want a wedding that lasts multiple days. I like the one day ceremony that vampires have. There are a few traditions I’d like to keep, but I am fine with a vampire wedding.”

The room goes quiet and I realize that I wasn’t speaking so softly anymore.

“If that is what you want,” Mom says, giving me a curt nod. “But you know all the family will want to be here.”

“Of course.” I tuck my hair behind my ear.

“And just how many people are you thinking of inviting?” Queen Rune says as her assistant opens her notebook. “I believe we have two hundred extra seats—”

Mom cuts her off. “Two hundred won’t even cover our immediate family. No, that simply isn’t enough.”

And just like that, the two of them start arguing again.

I groan and cover my face with my hands.

Is this what my life is going to be like from this point forward? My mom and Damek’s mom fighting over every little thing? I can just imagine our children’s birthday parties being ruined by their arguments. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Queen Rune abruptly stands, her chair making a loud noise and it rubs against the floor. She points a finger at my mother, raising her voice. My mom, not to be outdone, also stands and starts yelling back. While the two of them are screaming at one another, I push myself up from the table and exit the room as quietly as I can. Neither of them notice, they’re too busy fighting to notice anything else.

I lean against the wall and take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart and mind. When the door opens, I flinch, looking up. I relax when I see Damek walk out.

“Are you okay?” He walks up to me, never taking his eyes away from mine.

I shrug.

“You’re not… regretting this, are you?”

I let out a long breath and shake my head. “No. I don’t regret you, Damek. I just wish our moms got along better.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll talk to my mom—”

I cut him off. “No, it’s not just your mom. It’s my mom too. They’re both at fault here. I’m not asking you to take a side—there is no right side.”

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