Page 25 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Alaneo, Everett, Finley, and Braxton also came in and sat. Everyone sat in silence while I looked around, confused. “The Queen is to let her subjects know when to eat,” Alaneo said proudly.

“I’m not a queen.” I shook my head.

“But you will be,” Osirus interjected. “Might as well get used to it and learn a bit about our traditions, hm?” Osirus placed a napkin on his lap, as well as mine. Everyone was still staring at me, so I said what I thought was best.

“All right, dig in?” The brothers all laughed and loaded their plates full of food.Does everyone have their metabolism in overdrive?

“Your Majesty, your request to extend our stay an extra day was confirmed with the council, and they will expect us no later than tomorrow evening,” Alaneo said.

“Excellent, thank you, Alaneo. You didn’t mention Melina, did you?”

Alaneo shook his head. “No, Your Majesty.”

I placed my fork full of eggs back on my plate. “Why do you not want them to know I’m coming?” I asked, confused.

Osirus sighed and leaned back in his chair. “If they know you are coming, either someone from the Court or Parliament would want to plan some sort of coup before we even arrive, and we want to have the upper hand. They have been trying to marry me off for years to several high-ranking nobles to get their own families involved in the country's running, but I won’t allow it.” Osirus’s voice grew louder. “We will take things slow, darling.” He grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “I know you probably feel you were dealt a bad hand here, but trust me, with you, all things will come to light in our kingdom. I just know it.”

“Y-yeah, no pressure or anything,” I said with a shaky voice. “I have no qualifications to help you run a country, let alone live here in Bergarian. I’m human and new to everything!”

“And that is why you are perfect to be Queen. You don’t know our laws and traditions. You could shed new light on how things could be dealt with. New ideas, new thoughts… You were made for this, Melina,” Osirus pleaded.

My mind was still telling me to run, but I continued to hold on to the little of the broken heart I had left. For once, I would not do what my mind has always told me to do. Trust and rely on someone other than me. It will be a change, but I will try. I wouldn’t go in blindly, however.

Sensing my inner battle, Osirus brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. The coolness of his hand felt soothing against my feverish face. “We will go slow. Just enjoy what we have now. Don’t worry about the future. I promised you last night I would always be truthful.”

I nodded my head slowly, not knowing what to say. “Gods, you are so beautiful, Melina,” Osirus whispered to me. Even though there were others at the table, I felt like he and I were the only ones in the room. My heart raced as his thumb traced my lips. “I’ve been blessed with a soul more beautiful than Aphrodite herself.” My cheeks grew embarrassingly red.

A loud banging noise came from the front door, and everyone’s heads whipped to the commotion. “The ‘ell! I haven’t even eaten me breakfast, yat!” Everett shouted as he stomped to the door. The loud banging ceased, only to see Tulip with my stuffed wolf on the other side.

“No!” I whispered as she came in. Jumping up, I took the wolf from her and started pushing her out the door. Everyone kept staring, and I shut the door behind me. “What do you think you are doing?!” I whisper-yelled.

“I thought you would want your wolf to remember us! See, he was so sad!” Tulip held up my stuffed wolf and made a whining puppy noise.

“Ugh, I didn’t want them to see! They will think I’m so childish.” I pouted.

“Well, you kind of are. I mean, you threw a temper tantrum in the middle of the dance floor last night”—she rolled her eyes as she stuffed the animal into my stomach—“so, where is your mark?”

“My mark?”

“Yes, your mark! Where do they put theirs? Wolves usually do it around the neck area. Oh gosh, did he do it on your inner thigh?! You little kinky slut!” My face flushed as I threw my hand up to her mouth to shut her mouth.

“Are you crazy! We didn’t do anything! We just slept.”

“You smell like him, so I guess sleeping in the same bed will give that off. Anyway, do you want to do something fun before you leave tomorrow?”

Tulip was known for her crazy adventures. One time, she snuck out of the house to meet me at my cabin in the middle of the night to TP the packhouse. We giggled through the whole thing until we were caught by the Alpha and got a good scolding. We had to help serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire week.

“I can’t really go.” I threw my hands up. “Osirus and his guards are up my butt and around the corner, saying I can’t go anywhere! They even stand guard by the bathroom. I bet they heard me poop. All my freedom is gone,” I whined. Tulip stood silent for a moment, rubbing her chin mischievously.

“All right, we’ll do it at midnight,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Sneak out while everyone is sleeping. Meet me at the lake. It will be our last hurrah before you get whisked away, my dear Princess.” Tulip gave me a wink, so I couldn’t even object.

“Tulip! Come back!” I yelled, but she had already pranced around the house, leaving me with my wolf stuffed animal. Letting out a huff, I turned around and bumped into a great-smelling wall.

“What was that all about?” Osirus raised his eyebrow.

---