Two Worlds; True Mates

Chapter 5

Falyn Pov

I held my head up high as Delphine and Amelia slipped their hands through my elbows, one on either side of me, as we walked down the stairs to the living room. As Amelia went ahead into the kitchen, I walked Delphine to the door, trying not to pout. “I don’t see why you can’t stay, I don’t want to do this by myself, I hate having dinners where there’s some important conversation that's focused on me.” I quietly whined with a sigh.

Delphine rolled her eyes at me, a soft smile on her face as she gently smacked my forehead with a laugh. “You shouldn’t have agreed to become the Queen then, little one.” She said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at her silly nickname. Delphine was only two years older than me, while Amelia was twenty-five. They weren’t really that much older than me, but they were both constantly babying me. “I agreed to be the Queen for Sun, so he can finally put himself first instead of always doing everything for everyone else, especially me,” I said with a smile.

Every time we go and visit him, he just looks so much happier and happier, with soft smiles that I’ve never seen before, a whole new Sage I’ve never seen. Delphine gently shoved my shoulder, shrugging. “You know you’ve always wanted to be queen. When we were younger you’d dress up and put a crown of flowers on your head and order me around,” Delphine said as we burst out laughing, pressing our hands to our faces as we remembered.

I tried to shush her, feeling a blush make way to my cheeks as I laughed with her. It was true, I had always been secretly jealous of Sage. I wanted to be the first born, to be the heir, but at the same time, I never said anything because I thought it was what he wanted. On the days he wasn’t studying the scrolls, I would go in there and study them, wanting every bit of the information he was learning. He was so obsessed with finding time to sneak out and train, and I was always cooped up in his office studying his papers wishing it was me sitting there instead. Maybe if I had stepped up and said something about this before he wouldn’t have had to heartbreakingly say goodbye to Rhys the way he did, but at the same time, I didn’t know what he wanted. None of us really did, not with how closed up he was. I was just happy it all worked out the way it should have, even if it was the hardest way possible to get to the happy ending.

Deciding to change the subject, I nudged my shoulder into hers, giving her a stern look. “Be nice to Princess Amelia, please. She just broke up with her girlfriend a few weeks ago, and she’s been trying not to say anything about it, but I found out last night when she was crying in her room,” I said with a soft frown. The woman Amelia had been in love with had moved from the werewolf kingdom so they could be together, and they had been happy together for years now, but her girlfriend refused to marry her, refused to go further in their relationship, before finally admitting she wasn’t fully interested in women, she was bi, and couldn’t stop having feelings for a man that she had left behind back home. After breaking Amelia’s heart, she had left, and Amelia was trying her best not to show off just how heartbroken she really was.

Delphine’s eyes shifted from annoyance to concern, fluttering back towards the kitchen before looking at me with a frown. She gave a sharp nod, letting out a soft sigh as she smiled at me. Gently, she grabbed my shoulders, pressing her lips against one cheek and then the other in a swift farewell. “I’ll think about it,” she said with a giggle, though I knew she would behave. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow! I want to know everything!” She said with a grin.

I nodded, kissing her cheeks as well as she turned around and walked out the door, closing it swiftly behind her. Feeling immensely sad at her departure, I sighed, before turning around and seeing Arlo walking into the room. He had a confident look in his chocolate brown eyes, his hand lifted to run through his light brown curls, giving off the look of chestnuts in the dim light in the room. “My love, are you alright? Princess Amelia came to the table but you hadn’t yet, and I was worried about you.” He said with a soft look in his eyes as he walked carefully toward me.

I smiled, giving a soft nod as I lifted my hands to place into his grasp, allowing him to press a soft kiss in greeting to me with a smile on my face before dropping my hands back down. I frowned slightly, staring at my hands, wondering why it bothered me so much. To instantly kiss and let go, it was a casual greeting for a princess or a queen and one I was very much used to, but I had seen my mother and father over the years and when they touched, they never wanted to let go. Constantly brushing their fingers over the other, clinging to each other, touching as much as they could, even now so many years later. Maybe these things need to be worked up to, because I just…didn’t feel the need to constantly brush my fingers down his arm like my mother does. Though as I slipped my fingers into his elbow I felt my dragon shift in happiness under my skin, the pull of our touch, the soft warmth spreading through me, everything was there as explained by Sage when I asked him what it felt like so many years before. I shook my head, remembering he had asked me a question, and smiled at him as he stared down at me with confused eyes. I felt a soft blush of happiness spread through me as he stared at me, knowing he was worried about me enough to come and find me. “I was saying goodbye to Delphine, she returned from the Werewolf kingdom today,” I said with a grin.

He was silent for a few minutes, a frown on his face as he gave a soft nod. “Oh, yes, that’s right. I forgot about her. It’s been a nice quiet few days,” he said with a sigh. I frowned, chewing on my lower lip but keeping quiet. I knew he didn’t exactly like Delphine. She had tried hitting on him once before, when he first moved into the house, and Delphine didn’t know yet he was my mate. It wasn’t anything intentional, and she had apologized to both of us for it, but he never really smiled as much near her as he did near me. He was never rude, but it was obvious he didn’t exactly like her as much as I wished he would. More than once he made comments about her having a new partner over the past few months, but I tried to keep quiet about it, knowing he was raised differently than her. People like him, they weren’t even allowed to date, or see other people in such a manner. Dukes were the same as royals. In a way, their children were saved for marriage, or supposed to be anyway. I knew for a fact that Sage wasn’t a virgin when he married Rhys, not with the way they hugged each other, the familiar way they touched each other, or the looks they had at each other every time we visited them.

Before I could consider saying anything to him to defend Delphine, we were already in the kitchen and he was standing in front of my chair, gently pulling it out for me as he stared at me with a pointed look. I nodded, accepting the gesture gracefully as he pushed the chair in behind me, allowing me enough room so I could place my napkin on my lap and fold my hands gracefully over it. Amelia was sitting across from me, the seat next to her empty, while Arlo came to sit next to me, our usual arrangement. Mother and father were placing the last few plates gracefully in the middle of the table before sitting down. Mother sat at the end of the table next to me, while father sat down at the other end of the table next to Arlo. We were quiet for a few minutes, allowing mother and father to get their food first for their plates, before Arlo started to gracefully grab things he knew I enjoyed and placed them on my plate for me, giving me a soft kiss on my forehead as I thanked him, before getting his own food. I sighed, feeling the stares of my parents on me as I started to eat my food, and mentally cringed, wondering just what all of this was about.