*Maddy*
The kitchen is in a state of chaos. I sit in the middle of it, tucked on a barstool at the edge of the marble island in the room’s center. The air is a mix of sugary and savory while the chef and their crew hurry to put together a meal fit for the king… and his parents, who just showed up.
Isaac hadn’t even introduced me formally to his mother. Ella had come running down the hallway looking frantic, followed by King Maddox. In a flash of blonde curls, Hannah had practically apparated beside me and swooped me away through a servants’ door just as the voices of the royal family started to rise.
Now, I sit in the kitchen where cooking sounds–the banging of pots and pans, the hissing of boiling water–overwhelm any fights taking place in the castle proper.
The chef places another plate in front of me, removing the old one. I give her a quick smile that doesn’t reach my eyes as I start picking at chicken salad and crackers.
Who am I kidding right now? One look at Isla, once the Luna Queen of Crescent Falls, tells me everything I need to know about my situation. She’d been shocked, maybe even appalled, to see me.
And I’m supposed to fill her shoes and rule her kingdom.
I curl my hands around my third mug of hot, milky black tea.
I can’t hold a candle to her. Charitable, kind-hearted and fair, Isla is the kind of Luna the history books will say ushered in a golden age in the kingdom. A Breeder at one point, yes, but she became Luna after King Maddox fell in love with her. It was a fated match, something rare, something no one could copy or replace.
And then there’s me, a packless nobody in borrowed clothes. If I were to leave, I wouldn’t even have a bag to pack.
Besides that, Isaac doesn’t love me. Today was the first real intimate moment between us and we hadn’t even touched. What could he possibly say to his parents to make this situation make a lick of sense?
I want to throw up everything I’ve eaten, but Hannah swoops in again, her face a delicate pink as she takes me by the shoulders and guides me through the bustling kitchen and down a narrow hallway that weaves through the servants quarters of the house.
I’ve had time to explore over the last several days. I know we’re somewhere behind the ballroom and the throne room as she ushers me into a snug sitting room meant for the servants of the house. She closes the door behind her, locking it, and drops the set of keys in the pocket of her apron.
Clothes are laid out on the coffee table, as well as hair brushes and pins and a basket of makeup.
“Everything is fine,” she says, more to herself than to me. She meets my eyes and exhales deeply, shaking herself as if to knock loose the stress of the unplanned family reunion taking place in another area of the house. “Let’s get you dressed. The kiing’s parents would very much like to meet you–”
“No, I can’t. I should leave.”
“What?” Hannah looks surprised and tries to laugh it off, but her eyes hold the same glint of apprehension mine do. “Do not repeat this under any circumstances, al lright?” She steps forward, her hands held up in surrender. “This is King Isaac’s problem, not yours. His parents are upset that the wedding is tonight, and that he had no plans of involving them.”
“Because of he’s ashamed of me–”
“No, and he’s made that very clear.”
I’m not sure what she means by that, but I don’t protest when she starts to fuss over me. I change out of the jeans and sweater I’d worn on my early morning run with Isaac into a soft pink dress that falls mid-calf and shows off my shoulders. She runs a brush through my hair and sprays sweet smelling oil onto the tresses until it shines a deep red and falls in soft waves down my back. Pearl pins hold it away from my face, a hint of blush on my cheeks completes the look.
I turn to examine my reflection in the mirror on the wall and feel my stomach do a little flip.
“You look like spring, if that makes sense,” Hannah beams as she sprays my chest and wrists with perfume.
I do, in fact. I look like a spring rose. Isaac had been right when he said I looked healthier than before. I’d filled out enough that my skin has a pale pink glow to it, and the dress doesn’t hang from my bones.
“Are they fighting?” I ask as Hannah adjusts my hair.
“No,” she breathes, smiling over my shoulder. “They’re not fighting. Not over you, trust me. I think we’re ready now.” Hannah takes a deep breath, pleased with my transformation. “They’ll love you, I promise.”
Why do I feel like that won’t be the case?
And what will I do if they force Isaac to call off the wedding entirely?
Have I been… looking forward to marrying him?
* * *
*Isla*
There is no such thing as peace when you’re a parent. Even now that our children are adults, I sometimes find myself questioning whether I’ll ever be able to sleep through the night or spend a day without some sordid, frightening thought about what they’re up to flutters through my mind.
Just yesterday, I’d been in Maatua with no plans of coming home. The next thing I knew, I was on a helicopter, something almost completely foreign to a people who perefered to keep our paws on the ground, or at the very least, on the sea. I’d finally been able to take a full breath last week. Isaac has the situation here handled. He is more than ready for the threat on his doorstep and has shown the kingdom that everyday. The Alphas who’ve notoriously held out on our family have suddenly bent the knee to my son, promising their armies to him.
And now I know why.
Isaac looks so much like Maddox right now it hurts to look his way. Seated casually in an armchair across from me in a sitting room, he holds his glass of whiskey exactly the same way his father does. The same lines of stress are etched into his young, handsome face–just like Maddox back when he dealt with other Alphas bullying him into situations just like this one.
I should be mad. Livid, in fact. But I catch a gleam of mischief in Isaac’s eyes as he explains that he’s getting married tonight, whether we like it or not.
He’s looking forward to it, and that’s the only thing keeping me upright.
“There’s nothing that would prevent you from holding off on the wedding for a few days?” Maddox asks with considerable effort as he pours himself a second tall glass of whiskey.
“I agree,” I cut in, rising from my chair and looking between Isaac and Ella. “We have family members who need to be there for this. Did you not even consider that your Uncle Ben and Aunt Emery would want to see their nephew get married? Or your grandmother, for Goddess sake!”
Isaac and Ella glance at each other. “Mom’s right. Aunt Emery will slit your throat in your sleep when she finds out.” Ella sighs heavily as she rubs her temples.
“Or withhold the Obsidian Temple warriors from your army,” Maddox adds.
“
Isaac says nothing as he stares at the three of us. My sweet, golden child.
When he was young, he was truly the dream of my heart. The baby who made me a mother was easy going, a little shy, and spent most of his days playing pretend in the back garden or the library.
But that little boy ceased to exist when he started coming into his wolf early. Headstrong and fiercely independent, Isaac exuded the kind of confidence and sure-footedness a pack would be lucky to have in an Alpha. He was a born leader, and there was no question we’d step down from our titles to let him usher in a new era for the kingdom.
But I’d had one condition.
I glance at Maddox, a brief unspoken train of words passing between us. He rises from the couch, taking Ella with him, and the two quickly leave the room.
Isaac exhales, nostrils flaring, as I stand and smooth the wrinkles from my clothing. “The only thing I asked when you became the king is that you wait for you mate.”
“I can’t.”
“You didn’t try–”
He licks his lips, frustration flashing behind his eyes. “This woman is the closest thing I’ve felt to the mate bond, and that is enough for me. You know what the mystic said about my future.”
It’s like a knife to the gut. I steel my expression to stop tears from welling in my eyes, trying to shove that memory away. When he came into his wolf powers just before his sixteenth birthday, I took him to Maatua, to the falls, where many of the women on the island had started worshiping in the years past the wars that rocked our kingdom and Maatua.
My visions of Isaac gave us only broken fragments of an unknown truth. The mystics at the falls told him he’d have great power, but at a cost. His gift, most of which are still unknown, overpowers the sacred magic of the mate bond. Isaac will be a true king, but he’ll rule without a mate.
Once, I’d had a vision, before he was even born, that he’d found his mate in the baby Maddox and I’d had to give away. A baby I’d loved like my own.
A sound at the door has me turning my head, and my mouth falls open.
“Madeline?” I whisper. He hasn’t said her name at all yet. My fleeting glimpse of her still rocks me to my core when I think about it. I thought, with every fiber of my being, I’d seen a ghost from long ago the moment I saw her come into the room.
Isaac suddenly stands, and I turn to the sound of the the group entering the room. Hannah, Ella’s maid and dear friend, steps so I can get a better view of the woman stepping into the room. Her long, glossy red hair is pinned away from a face that looks so incredibly familiar it hurts to look at her.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
I turn back to Isaac just in time to see his reaction to her. He looks surprised, a little dazed, as his eyes sweep over her face, and her dress, and the rosy glow that tinges her skin.
And then I see it, that flicker of longing in his eyes as he watches her move further into the room. That same guarded look I once saw in his father’s eyes when he looked at me.
Restraint is a family trait.
Madeline bows deeply to me, her dark blue eyes meeting mine. I turn to fully face her, my heart hammering in my chest as I bow my head. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted to seeing you and Isaac together the first time.” I hadn’t gotten a good look at the girl then. She’d been there one moment and whisked away the next.
Madeline looks shocked, her cheeks flushing. “Oh, I–It’s all right. I was just as shocked to see you.”
I give her a quick, warm smile. Yes, shocked is a great way to put it. Because I swear on the Goddess I know this girl. I remember the feel of her sleeping in my arms, that warm, comforting weight only a newborn can supply.
Lost in my own thoughts, I miss whatever Isaac says to her, but her facial expression gives away the fact that she’s being left here, with me, and Isaac is leaving.
“Wait–” she says to him, wide-eyed. She reaches to grab him as he passes but thinks better of it, her cheeks stained crimson. Isaac leans down to say something in her ear before he leaves.
Madeline turns to me as the door closes behind him and silence whispers over the room.
There’s a lot I should say to her, a lot I must ask. Does she want this? Does she love my son or think that maybe, in the future, she could love him? Does she believe they can be truly happy together?
None of that is what I ask.
“Are you adopted?” I ask, the words falling from my lips before I can stop them.
Madeline, once again wearing an expression of shocked confusion, shakes her head. “No, I–I am not.”