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I hide my face in my hands and wish that invisibility was one of my powers. Nowthatwould come in handy.
Eden pats my back, trying to comfort me, but there is no comfort for this. How am I supposed to survive five more months of this until the wedding? Will they fight the entire time? Maybe Damek and I really should just elope. We don’t even have to go anywhere, the county courthouse would do. However, I’m not sure that vampires recognize human marriage licenses as legal proof. Human ceremonies are very different from our own.
“Madeline.” Mom whirls around to face me. “You need to speak up for yourself. This is your wedding. What do you want?”
I clear my throat, hoping to stall for time—just how late is Damek going to be? “Pink may be my favorite color, but I don’t think I want my wedding to be pink. It’s not just my wedding, but Damek’s too. Maybe we should go with something more traditional.”
Queen Rune grins smugly at my mother. “Likered.”
Mom stares at me like she can forcibly change my mind with a single look.
“Mom,” I say, giving her my best stern look. “Can you try to get along with Queen Rune? She’s going to be family, after all.”
That takes the smug smile right off Queen Rune’s face—the reminder that, yes, this wedding is for her son who is soon going to be married to a succubus.
Five months. I can handle five months.
Right?
My stomach churns with anxiety as I contemplate running away. Australia is nice this time of year—they’re going into fall. But I fear even the other side of the hemisphere isn’t far enough away.
“Sorry I’m late.” I sigh in relief as I turn to watch Damek walk through the doorway. He slips into the chair beside me. “Did I miss anything important?”
“No,” Queen Rune and Mom say in synchronization.
Damek glances at me, raising an eyebrow. I sink further down in my seat, wishing for the day to beover.
“Now that we’ve settled on a color—” Queen Rune begins.
Mom cuts her off. “We didn’t settle on a color. My daughter simply said she didn’t want pink, but she never said she wanted red.”
Damek leans closer to me and whispers as our moms argue. “After we’re done here, do you want to go out?”
“Out?” I ask, trying to tune out our moms’ arguing, though I do hear my mom say something about ‘masculine shoulders.’
Damek also pretends like he can’t hear their arguing. “On a date.”
My stomach flutters. “You want to go on a date with me?”
He rubs a hand on the back of his head. “Uh, yeah. I mean, if you’re up to it. I know you’re busy since your mom is here, but I figured we should take the time to get to know one another. I know we’re already engaged, but…” his voice trails off.
He’s nervous, I realize.
It’s extremely attractive to see how anxious he is about asking me on a date.
I look up at him through my lashes. “I’d like to go out with you. Maybe we can ditch the wedding planning early.”
Damek chuckles. “Have they been at it long?”
I glance back to where our moms are. They’re both standing again. Queen Rune is looking down her nose at my mom while my mom has both hands on her hips. She’s giving just as much as she’s taking. I donotwant to get involved, so I turn back to Damek and nod.
“Yes, they started arguing about what color scheme our wedding should be right away,” I explain.
“Did you ask your opinion?” Damek raises an eyebrow.
I shrug. “Sort of. Mostly I think they just asked because they wanted me to pick a side—I told them we should wait for you.”
He grins. “I don’t care what color our wedding is. I just plan on showing up in a tux.”
