11. Vacation

11

VACATION

T he island is even more lovely than I imagined.

It's an island in the Atlantic Ocean, cloaked by magic. The entire island is a supernatural only island. It's bigger than I expected, expanding more than five hundred square miles—too big for us to explore it all. But several supernaturals have vacation homes here. The home next door, for example, is owned by an older dragon shifter couple. They're really sweet and the older woman even gave us homemade bread and jam when we arrived.

About an hour before sunrise, Queen Rune asks everybody to head outside for dinner. While they're here, it's tradition for the Rune family to eat dinner outside and then watch the sunrise together. It's surprisingly sweet—they've been doing it since Damek was two when his parents got married.

During dinner, I sit between Duncan and Damek. Queen Rune smiles as Duncan makes a joke. I'm surprised she's not in a bitter mood since I'm here—I figured my presence would ruin the vacation for her.

While everybody else sips blood from wine glasses, I have ice water. Part of me wishes I could join them, just so I didn't stand out so much, but Damek doesn't mind. He never has.

"Have you tried drinking blood before?" Duncan asks.

"Yes. I can't keep it down." I take a bite of my chocolate cake. Forget blood—dessert is so much better.

"But it's nice that you fit in with the succubi that way," he says.

I swallow my cake. "No. I never fit in with them. And my cousins never let me forget that I'm hybrid." I try to keep my tone light but from the frown on Duncan's face, I don't think I managed to keep all the bitterness out.

"It doesn't matter now." Damek grabs my free hand under the table. "You're with us. And I don't care that you're a hybrid."

"Is that not a concern for your heirs?" I ask. "They will be more vampire than I am, but they will still be hybrids."

"It may make me more protective of our daughters," Damek says.

Our daughters.

Just thinking about Damek with our daughters in the future makes my heart melt. He's going to be a good dad.

"Hopefully you two have daughters." Queen Rune smiles at me. "We weren't able to have any children after Duncan, but I always wanted a baby girl."

Wait a minute… is she seriously smiling? At me . And saying something that isn't antagonistic.

The world as I know is coming to an end. I glance up at the sky, expecting a giant meteor to be barreling toward Earth, but all I see are stars.

Damek squeezes my fingers. I can tell he's encouraged by his mother's kind words.

He is why I will keep trying. Because he wants me to get along with his mom and I want that too. I want us to be a happy family. And I definitely don't want my children to think that I hate their grandmother.

"Succubi have large families, yes?" she asks.

I nod. "All of my aunts and uncles have anywhere from six to fifteen children each. When I was a kid, I was constantly meeting new cousins. I can't even imagine how chaotic it will be once my cousins start having children."

Queen Rune's eyes widen. "Wow. Well, if you two have that many children, I am always free to babysit. Never hesitate to ask for help."

For some reason, the thought makes my chest warm. "Thank you. I will most definitely be taking you up on your offer."

I'm not even embarrassed by the fact that we're talking about Damek and me having children. If anything, I feel encouraged. This feels real—like Damek and I are a really engaged couple, going on vacation with his family.

Once dinner is over, and we watch the sunrise, we head inside for the day. Queen Rune offers to show me to my room, so Damek heads to his room.

"I hope this is all right," Queen Rune says. She points at a cabinet. "There are extra blankets in here if you get cold. The boys like to keep the house freezing at night."

"Thank you." I hope she can tell that I'm being sincere. I like this version of Queen Rune—the motherly version. It's easy to see why Damek loves her. I start to open my suitcase that is sitting on the dresser, but pause when I see that Queen Rune is still standing in the doorway.

"I want to apologize to you." She knits her fingers together. "I was unkind to you when we first met. It was never because I hated you personally. I just didn't want Damek to suffer the same fate my husband did. My husband… he was forced into a marriage he didn't want. I wanted Damek to be free to choose his wife. I thought he was marrying you because it was his duty, but I know now that's not the case."

"Thank you, Queen Rune. That means a lot to me." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "Since we're going to be family, I do want us to get along."

"I do as well," she says. "But, please, call me Tiffany. I am, after all, to be your mother-in-law. There is no need for titles."

"Okay." I offer her a smile.

"You really are beautiful. I know my grandchildren will be adorable." She stands up straighter. "I want to ask your mother if she can show me some of your baby photos." She cringes. "I should apologize to her as well."

"No." I shake my head. "My mother was being stubborn. You don't have to apologize to her. I've talked with her and she will be nicer to you during wedding planning from now on."

Queen Rune—Tiffany—lets out a breath. "Well, that is a relief. Before you spoke up, I thought you were going to end up with a pink wedding."

I laugh. "I like pink, but I'd rather go the traditional route since there will be so many people at the wedding. My mom is just against anything traditional—she's been that way as long as I can remember. I think it was because of the way she was raised. She rebels against my grandfather too, even still. It drives him crazy."

"Your mother has managed to stay out of political matters," Tiffany says thoughtfully. "So you really don't play a role in succubi and incubi politics?"

I shake my head. "Nah. Even when I worked for my grandpa, I filled a secretarial role. My cousins didn't want me to hear anything important, since I'm a hybrid."

She furrows her brows. "Why would they care that you're a hybrid?"

Her genuine confusion eases a knot in my chest that I didn't realize was there.

Damek and his family don't care that I'm a hybrid. They are going to welcome me anyway.

"I don't know," I answer, after a long pause. "But they didn't like it."

Tiffany nods. "You get some sleep."

"Goodnight," I tell her.

She turns to go but grins at me over her shoulder. "Good night."

I sit down on the bed as she shuts the door behind her.

Did that conversation seriously just happen? I feel like I'm dreaming.

Things aren't supposed to work out for me. I'm a hybrid—I don't fit in with succubi and I don't belong to the vampires. Yet, here I am, existing in happiness. I didn't realize I could be this happy.

I'm not sleepy yet, so I intend to read a book until I fall asleep, but a knock on my door interrupts me before I get a paragraph in. I slip off the bed and make my way to the door.

"Damek." I tilt my head to the side as I study him, wondering what he's doing at my door.

He puts a finger up to his lips and then motions for me to follow him. I slip on a pair of shoes and then follow him through the house and out the back door. The sun is up so being outside feels strange. I haven't been up during daylight hours for many months.

Damek leads me toward the beach where waves are crashing onto shore. It's still too early for others to be up, but I do spot the elderly dragon shifter couple next door. They're both drinking coffee on their back deck. I try to imagine the future and wonder if Damek and I will be doing something like that when we're older.

"It's so pretty here," I say, breaking the silence.

"I heard what my mom said," Damek says softly.

My lips turn up in the corners. "I get what you were saying about her now. She is very sweet and nice."

He squeezes my fingers. "I'm happy to hear you say that. I know she was unkind to you when you first met and has never been warm to you. To hear that you've forgiven her means a lot to me."

I shrug.

"It's not shrug worthy," he objects.

"Maybe." I shrug again. "But I guess I get her point of view. She wanted to make sure you weren't forced into a marriage you didn't want. She would've run me away herself before she allowed that to happen. Besides, there is no way I could've stayed angry with her. She's a good mom. And you saw how my family was—I don't want that. I hate the fighting and bickering. I don't want to be miserable."

He grins at me. "Still, thank you, Maddie."

I am not sure what to say to that, so I focus my attention on the water. The sky is starting to brighten up.

"You only come here once a year?" I ask, after a moment of silence.

"We come at least once a year, but most of the time we come more often," Damek answers. "It's nice to get away from politics and court life. Here, my dad isn't king and I'm not his heir. We're just a normal vampire family on vacation."

I can see how much his title and position weigh on him. I put my head on his shoulder. "You're not alone anymore. I'll be by your side to help you in any way that I can. I know that my title will only be in name only, as your consort, but I still want to help you however I can."

Damek slips his arm around me. "Thank you. That means more to me than you know. Besides, you will have more of a role than my mom does. Since she's my dad's second wife, she doesn't get a say in the court. She's barely even recognized as a queen."

My heart goes out to her. "That must be difficult."

"It is." He nods. "My parents can't even form a mate bond."

I sit up straighter at that. "Really?"

He frowns. "My dad's mate bond to my birth mother is broken, but since it was broken, he wasn't able to form one with my mom. I think it's part of the reason she wanted to run you off. Even though I told her how I felt about you, she thought I was just saying it to make her feel better."

How he feels about me…

I want to ask him to elaborate, but I don't want to push him. I just figured out that I'm in love with Damek, but what if he's not there yet?

No, I won't ask him to share. Not yet anyway.

"Do succubi and incubi have mate bonds?" Damek asks.

"Yes. I think that's part of the reason that succubi are so picky with who they marry." I relax further into Damek's side, happy with my choice to marry him.

If I had stayed home, with my family, I'm not sure that I would've ever married. I never could've found somebody as great as Damek.