Page 19 of Vibing Unity

After listening to what she had to say and promising to think about it, I had my first snowboarding lesson.

And fucking loved it.

Practically everyone had to remind me to pretend to act human better and slow the fuck down and behave. I thought Iolas was going to flatten me for the first time ever when people whipped out their phones again. He promised to take us to the mountains in Faerie and let me go nuts, but for the love of the gods remember that I set the example and behave.

“You need to chill,” Hudson told Iolas in a tone that made it clear he might eat the fairy. “Shealwaysis the perfect example and sets the standard. She just wants to have a bit of fucking fun and people know she’s an extreme athlete. She’s not being that crazy and she needs the fun. And if you lecture my mate like a child again, I will fucking eat you.”

“Love you, beastie,” I said under my breath, knowing we did really have a lot of eyes on us. “But I do need to chill. I get it. I didn’t realize it was so out of—I’ve never really watched much snowboarding or know what’s normal. This is my first time with all of this.”

“And clearly, you needed the fun, but you need to be seen face-planting now, Tams,” Lucca told me. “You’re doing too good for someone new. That can be explained from thekitesurfing to some extent, but—remember how tiring that was the first time?”

It made perfect sense after that. Even if I was a strong athlete and trained a lot, this was a new sport to me, and that meant using muscles unlike I was used to.

Unfortunately, my fiancé to the world apparently sucked at snowboarding and hated it. I winced when Darby wiped out again and I saw him about lose his patience.

I hurried over to him and plopped down in the snow. “Love you.”

He huffed and then yanked off his goggles and hat. “I never just get to be cool to you. I’m not the athletic one. I’m not the smooth one. I can’t ever—why the fuck do you even love me,agra?”

I leaned in and kissed him. “I wouldn’t love someone for their snowboarding skills, my prickly pear. And you are athletic. You’re fucking part fish the way you swim and swim. Plus, you navigate complicated books and subjects easier than we do mountains. You have a lot of great everything to love.”

“Julian’s smart and still doing fine,” he grumbled and then gave me a pout.

Seriously these men were too much and it killed me.

But it was great fun, and we ate our weight in food once we were done.

Later, I was sitting in the hot tub with all five of them when I decided to bring up what Sasha wanted.

“She left off the part where it was a gift,” Julian grumbled.

“I heard her say it, but Mother was being overbearing and you’d had enough,” Hudson interjected. He met my gaze. “I’m not pushing.”

I nodded. “But?”

“But you need to know that dragon royals doing this—giving this gift for anymatingis a big deal. And they’re offering for yourmarriage. It’s like you approving the Royal Performers singing at a wedding. It’s more than a gift, it’s a blessing almost. Their blessing and hope for your prosperity and like a—adding to the royal family isdangerous.

“Especially after knowing it was Alec’s mate’s sister who set up taking down the Australian royals. It’s like a blessing from other royals that this will be a safe match and your knights—or guards—understand their importance. You see how well we treat the Rothchilds. We live safely because of them. That’s the tradition they want to share.”

Julian blinked at Hudson and cursed several times. “Next time, you are the one who explains or handles this. Your mother—I’ve dealt with a lot of bullshit, Hudson. I’m in therapy to work on my communication. I know I’m tired, and I know she’ll probably say I’m a stupid man, butshekept repeating it was a blessing—”

“Like you were blessed she would consider it for your wedding when it’s not even a mating and like she was reminding you of your place,” Neldor said for him. He sighed and gave Hudson a look when the dragon looked ready to explode. “Your mother is not the normal royal, but sheliterallylooks down her nose at some of us. She’s good at it.”

“Exceedingly,” Darby grumbled.

That shocked me. Sasha never seemed that way to me but then again, we’d seen sides of each other that most hadn’t.

“She’s got a couple inches on me before her high heels,” Neldor continued. “And her armor is so thick from all they’ve been through that her cold royal demeanor can absolutely have the wrong intended effect on someone there’s been issues with.Andthere has been with Julian and your parents. Since he decked you with Tamsin’s magic.”

We all winced.

“I forgot about that,” I mumbled.

“His parents haven’t,” Julian confirmed but let out a slow breath before looking at Hudson. “Mostly, your mother has never behaved that way with me. Maybe some of this was my own wounds, but her wording choice sounded very much like my aunt or people in my circle that I was just a branch member of the family so shut up and be grateful for what was offered. I felt that.”

Hudson gave a nod. “Mother isn’t ready to fully switch gears yet and ease back, especially after her issues with my father, and everyone is ready to pounce on tearing apart their mating. She’s got her armor up and ready. The only time she gets like you saw is when she feels she’s being dismissed and ignored. So I think you both poured salt in each other’s wounds then.”

Julian nodded and looked at me. “I know this keeps getting bigger and bigger, but saying it that way—I don’t think we can turn down the gift, my sweet mate.”

---