Page 51 of The Dragon of her Dreams

Chapter 19

Vanya

A HOT CUP OF TEA WASN’Tthe most appetizing breakfast, but it was all I could stomach. I excused myself from the family breakfast and went to sit in the library with my drink. There I was, curled up in a chair by the fire, when I heard someone come in.

“There you are, sweetheart,” said the queen.

I smiled at the woman who was the closest thing to a second mother I had. “Hey, Aunt Cass.”

She sat in the armchair opposite me and folded her hands in her lap, wasting no time in beating around the bush. “Well, this is a bit of pickle, isn’t it?” she asked.

I nodded and gulped as hot tears immediately sprang to my eyes. “Yep.” I couldn’t say anything more without bawling my fragile heart out, so I took a long sip of tea and stared into the dancing flames of the fireplace. I’d never felt more alone in all my life, and that was saying something. When I’d gone to bed last night, I’d been certain that my mate would return to me despite the upset over dinner. I’d imagined he couldn’t stay away from me.

That’s how fated mates work, isn’t it?

But he had, and I’d awoken to a cold bed and a pit in my stomach the size of my fist. This wasn’t how it was meant to be, and my soul ached at the distance that seemed to growing like a great divide between us in the aftermath of his denial of the crown.

Cass sighed heavily, as if the weight of the world were on her own shoulders. “You know, if I’d known he was meant for you, Vanya, I would have been nicer to him in the beginning.”

I chuckled out a laugh. “You weren’t mean to him, surely? That’s not like you.”

Cass’s lips quirked up at the corners. “I wasn’t terrible, of course... but I did suspect he was lying to usurp my sons of their birthright. And then there was the jealousy. He’s my husband’s son, but not mine.” She shook her head. “Oh, that’s a tough beast to master.” Her sad smile spoke of many things. Of stories of love and longing and fighting and life with all its many ups and downs.

Tears welled up in my eyes. “You’ve lived a really great life, haven’t you, Aunt Cass?” I asked, though it was an observation, and more rhetorical than an actual question.

Cass, my dad’s first cousin, turned to look at me. Like,reallylook at me. Her gaze ran over my face, and it felt like she was staring into my soul, looking for an answer to a question she wasn’t asking aloud.

When she finally spoke, she said what I secretly hoped, “He’ll come back, Vanya.”

I nodded slowly and focused on sipping my tea, cupping both hands around the warmth of the porecelain in case I dropped it. I was feeling strangely woozy, and it was probably because I hadn’t managed to eat properly. With Jaegar away, I just didn’t have the heart in me to eat.

“He will,” she reasserted, obviously seeing the flicker of uncertainty in my eyes.

“Maybe,” I said with a sigh. “But I have no idea how we’re going to make this work in the long run if we even make it that far. We’re so different that we might as well be from entirely different worlds.”

“But he’s your fated mate,” she said, blinking at me as though I’d just said the world was flat.

I couldn’t laugh, but her wide eyes made me smile. “I know you moved here for Uncle Damon, but you had a castle, and you were always at our place. I can’t move here to live in that... in that little hovel of his, Auntie Cass. I love him, but I just can’t. I don’t mean to sound vain, or selfish, but”

“You’re not,” she interrupted. “Damon saw Jaegar last night and he said that his house is one of the worst he’s seen in the whole town. And considering Jaegar has literally been restoring this kingdom from the ground up, it doesn’t make any sense why he’s left it like that.”

I pressed my lips together to stop myself from crying out, my heart lodging firmly in my throat.

Cass moved closer and put a hand out to me, “It’s okay, sweetie. Talk to me. This is a no judgement zone.”

“It’s all about his mom,” I said, “and his childhood. He’s so proud. So...”

Cass chuckled. “He’s a royal who is probably tougher than any king in our realm, living or dead. If he chose to lead the North, either as our king, or beside Theo, we would become the most formidable force around.”

I stared at my aunt, realizing that she’d more than wrapped her head around the idea that a bastard could usurp her son. “So, you really don’t care if Jaegar ends up becoming the king and Theo doesn’t?”

Cass glanced away a moment, her cheeks flushing with a telling rosy pink hue. “I can’t say I wasn’t upset at first when Theo brought it up to me. But his points were all valid. My children have been raised, much like you and your siblings. They have been pampered in many ways. Sure, they’ve helped the farmers, and have gotten their boots on the ground, so to speak, but...”

“But?” I asked, hope winging in my heart with a nervous flutter.

“But the North is the toughest kingdom we have. Damon survived his father’s downfall and managed to rebuild everything here, mostly due to his pure grit and determination. Like you said, I often flew down to your father’s kingdom and hid there, away from the hard work and the pain of watching my husband claw back what had been so tragically lost. I wasn’t as strong as I should have been, Vanya, but none of us are perfect creatures.”

It was my turn to reach out and grip her hand. “Uncle Damon is lucky to have you, and it’s clear he adores you. Even though you came from different walks of life, it doesn’t mean you didn’t make it work. After all, just look at Anselm and Kayla.”

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