We were on our way back to Freyborne, except this time the carriage wasn’t yet packed with bags. Deimos and I had a long conversation last night about what was going to happen. It ended in me reluctantly agreeing to be his Queen after he once again made his stance very clear. I was still conflicted about everything. I was enjoying our time together, but hanging out with someone and being married to them are two vastly different things. After only a week and a bit of light flirting, I hadn’t gotten any inclination of what the rest of my life was going to be. It scared me.
When we arrived at the palace, I was the first to go inside. I quickly located a servant stopping them from what they were doing.
“Ah, Princess Nesryn. It is lovely to see you again miss.” She smiled. “What can I do for you?”
“Can you tell father to meet us in his office? It’s urgent.”
“Yes, Princess.”
I made it back to the front doors where Deimos was patiently waiting. I motioned for him to follow me and led the way to my father's office. It felt odd sitting in there without my father already being in the room. We were only left waiting for a few minutes before my father came in. He had a grin plastered on his face, I could feel the excitement radiating off him. Something about it made me feel uneasy and less excited about this meeting.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long,” Father said as he sat down.
“It was only a few minutes,” I replied.
Instead of responding to me, he turned his attention to Deimos. Despite him being my father, he wasn’t going to speak to me about this. Men conducted business and spoke about these things while women sat silently nodding along when needed.
“We have decided to go through with it, Nesryn will be the next Queen of Xavaria,” Deimos stated.
Something inside me was happy that he had said we. This wasn’t something that he alone decided, it was a team effort, and he acknowledged that. Maybe I would be able to live a happy life with him.
I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but my father’s face lit up even more, “This is fantastic news!”
“I would like to get her completely move into Xavaria as soon as possible. I was wondering if you would allow me to send people over tomorrow to gather her things.”
“I have meetings through the afternoon so if you can do it earlier in the morning then that shouldn’t be a problem,” Father said. “Do we have any idea about the timeline for the wedding?”
“Ideally I would like to start planning it as soon as Nesryn has gotten more comfortable in Xavaria since I know how long it takes to set up for our traditions, but ultimately we haven’t discussed it yet.”
“Well if there is anything we here at Freyborne can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to reach out.”
“We won’t,” Deimos said. He then turned his attention to me, “Why don’t you grab some more clothes and anything else you might want while we’re here?”
I wasn’t adding anything to the conversation, or getting the chance to, so I saw no point in arguing. I quietly excused myself before heading up to my room. I had just gotten to the top of the stairs when I ran into Skye who had very obviously been waiting around for me to make an appearance.
“Get Tinley and Ferrah, meet me in my room. I’ll tell you guys everything.” I said knowing exactly that’s what she wanted to hear.
“They’re already waiting.” Skye grinned.
I couldn’t help but laugh as Skye linked her arm through mine and dragged me down the hallway. When we got into my room it was like I was staring at two excited little girls on winter solstice morning impatiently waiting to open their gifts. I knew they wouldn’t want to wait to hear about my week, so as I packed up some more clothes I started talking. I summarized everything that we did throughout the week and spoke about how much fun I’d had. I ended it off with the announcement that I was moving to Xavaria.
Tinley was more reserved in her excitement simply sitting there looking happy with the news. The twins however were screeching like banshees. They both move to the edge of my bed and started to bombard me with questions.
“When’s the wedding?”
“When can we visit?”
“Have you kissed?”
“What do demons really look like?”
“Did you guys share a room?”
“What sort of powers do demons have?”
“How much of a romantic is he?”
“Did you find anything else about your demon self?”
“Have you learned any cool powers?!”
“Girls!” Tinley cut in. “One at a time, please!”
“Sorry.” They both mumbled. Despite being scolded, they still looked at me expectantly.
I did my best to answer their questions. I kept the demon talk to a minimum mostly due to the fact that it was complicated to explain in such little time. I also kept the hesitance that I felt about everything to myself. If it was just Tinley and me, I wouldn’t have any issues opening up about how I truly felt. Seeing Skye and Ferrah’s excited faces, I simply couldn’t give them anything that might take that away. Once I’d answered their questions and they had seemingly run out of things to ask, Tinley shooed them off.
“I know you two have studying or homework to do.” She said as she ushered them out the door.
They both groaned and mumbled who knows what under their breath, but they didn’t dare argue. Once they were gone, she jumped in to help me finish packing my suitcase full of as much as I could.
“I can tell that you aren’t completely on board with this.” She said as she folded some clothes for me.
I laughed nervously, “Is it that obvious?”
“To me? Definitely.” She said. “I know you’ve never been excited about the idea of marriage let alone the idea of ruling a Kingdom. Now talk to me.”
I sighed, “I’m not against it, I just...I just don’t know how I feel about anything right now. In the past week, I found out that I’m a demon and now I’m going to be the Queen of Xavaria. It’s...it’s a lot to take in at once.”
“I know it’s overwhelming, but you’re one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can handle all of this, it’s you.” Tinley said.
A sad smile took over my face, “I just don’t want to disappoint or upset anyone.”
“And I understand that more than you’ll probably ever know, but I promise it isn’t as difficult as you think. I’ve been helping father run Freyborne for a while now and once you get into the groove of everything you’ll be a natural. Plus Deimos will be right by your side with all of it so it’s not like you’re going to be dealing with anything alone.”
“What if he doesn’t want us to be as equal as we should be?”
It wasn’t uncommon for Kings to give the appearance that their Queen had just as much to do with the Kingdom as they did when in reality they didn’t do anything. They simply sat around all day until they were needed for something. While Deimos and I hadn’t spoken about any of this, he had been making it seem like we were going to be equals and working together side by side.
“Has he given you an indication that he wouldn’t?”
I shook my head, “He’s making it seem like we’ll be working side by side as a team.”
“Well, then there you go,” Tinley said. “Unless he gives you a reason to think that he’s going to treat you like just another pretty face, don’t let those thoughts get clogged up in your head. I know there are a lot of rumors about him which makes things difficult, but none of those people know him as you do and like you’re going to.”
For the first time in days, I felt confident about where Deimos and I were going. Leave it to Tinley to be the only one able to crack through the anxiety armor I’d put myself in and expose me to reality. She had been right about everything. I had no reason to be worried about Deimos because he hadn’t given any reason to be. He had been nothing but sweet, caring, and attentive.
A genuine smile found its way onto my face, “Thank you. I really needed this.”
“Just remember that I’m only a letter away if you ever need this talk again,” She smiled back. “Now you need to get back downstairs. I’m sure Deimos and father have been done talking for a while now.”
We both laughed a little as we stuffed the rest of what would fit into my suitcase. When we were done, she gave me a quick hug and sent me on my way. I didn’t get a chance to give proper goodbyes to Skye and Ferrah, but Tinley promised that she would smooth things over with them.
“I’m so sorry I took so long,” I said when I reached Deimos. “My sisters had a lot of questions.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. I assumed you would get caught up talking to them which is why I figured it was best to send you off while your father and I were still talking.” He took my bag from me and gave me a smile that made my heart beat a little faster, “Ready to head home?”
I nodded, “Definitely.”
He wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me into his chest. He pressed his lips onto my forehead and I leaned into him. We stood like this for a moment before we walked outside and got ourselves back into the carriage.
After my talk with Tinley, I was ready to go home to Xavaria and start my new life at Deimos’ side. This definitely hadn’t gone as I’d expected or how I had originally wanted, but I couldn’t complain about it. I was starting to feel like in the end, I would be happy with how all of this was turning out.
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