5. Are you happy?

5

ARE YOU HAPPY?

D amek drives me back to the estate after our date. Like a gentleman, he walks me to the door to kiss me goodnight, or, er, good morning. Hearing our arrival, my mom invites Damek inside for something ‘warm' to drink. Unable to refuse her request, he ends up in the sitting room beside me with a warm latte in his hand. He looks between my mom and me, likely baffled by the position.

"You're a sweet boy." Mom takes a seat on the couch across from us.

I blink, wondering why she's calling Damek—a twenty-five-year-old man —a ‘boy.'

"I know you'll take good care of Madeline once you two are married," she continues, not at all put off by the baffled look on my face.

Damek wiggles in his seat, looking uncertainly at my mom.

She grins, standing up. "Ah, you two want to be alone. I get it—I was young once too." She cackles at her own joke. "Don't stay up too late. We have more wedding planning tonight."

I look at Damek as she walks from the room.

"Is she always so…" his voice trails off.

I take a sip of my latte. "Uh, she's always been exuberant. I think she's just excited over the fact that I'm getting married soon, which to her equates with grandchildren. My mother has been bugging me about it since I graduated college a couple of years ago."

Damek's lips turn up in one corner. "Ah, so she approves of me?"

I nod, confirming. "Not only does she approve, but I'm pretty sure she loves you. Maybe more than she loves me."

Damek puts his cup down on the coffee table, so I do the same. It's too late to be drinking caffeine, even if this is the time I used to have to get up to make it to work on time. I do not miss those days.

He scoots closer to me. "I probably should go home."

I look up at him through my lashes. "You could stay a little longer."

He leans closer, but before his lips can touch mine, the sound of a throat clearing has us both pulling back. I glance into the doorway and spot Kaine standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

I haven't seen Kaine in a few weeks, not since he left on his search to find Lucien.

Damek and I both stand from the couch.

"When did you get back?" Damek asks.

Kaine rubs a hand on the back of his neck. "About an hour ago."

"Any news on Prince Lucien?" Damek puts his hand on the small of my back. A small gesture I'm not even sure he's aware of.

I scoot the tiniest bit closer to him and Kaine's eyes zero in on me. "No, nothing yet." He shifts his gaze back to Damek. "But we're not giving up hope. We'll find Lucien."

If anybody is going to find Lucien, it'll be Kaine. I know he's finally doing what he's wanted to do since Lucien's disappearance. He never wanted to be stuck babysitting me.

Damek turns to face me. "I really should go. It's getting late and your mother is right—we have to get up early tonight."

The fact that he considers five PM ‘early' nearly makes me laugh.

Now that spring has come, the sun is staying up longer. It stays lighter later in the day and even vampires see the sun in the summer months.

"I'll see you tonight," I tell him.

He bends over and kisses me on the lips—it's just a quick kiss, but it still causes my heart to race. He says goodbye to Kaine and he's out the door.

I look at Kaine who is watching me. I wonder what he's thinking as he tilts his head to the side to study me.

"You seem happy." Kaine takes a step closer.

"I am." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "Damek is a really good guy. And I like him more than I thought possible when I first heard I had to marry a prince."

"I'm not surprised." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Prince Damek is a good choice. The two of you fit well together. If I hadn't been so smitten with you, I would've seen it that first night. I made a lot of mistakes with you."

"Mistakes?" I ask.

"By forcing you to go out with all the princes. It made you miserable. I'm sorry about that," Kaine says.

I shrug. "It's okay. I don't regret those dates, even if they sucked. Now I know that Damek is the perfect choice—the only choice."

Kaine nods. "Good. I'm glad that you're happy."

"Are you?" I take a step closer to him. "Happy, I mean."

He hesitates before saying, "I'm fine, Princess Madeline. Don't worry about me."

But I do worry about him. I worry that he's miserable. And if he is miserable, I worry that he will keep it to himself.

Did I hurt Kaine? And if I did, what can I do to make things better?

"You can't stop me from worrying about you," I say.

His face softens. "Princess Madeline, I'm fine ."

"Just Madeline," I tell him.

He starts to object. "No, I—"

I cut him off. "Yes. You can call me Madeline—or even Maddie—when it's just us. I know you have to call me by a title in public, but I consider you a friend."

He sighs. "You don't make things easy for me."

I shrug one shoulder, a grin tugging at my lips. "When have I ever made things easy for you?"

"True." He smiles back, but it quickly fades as he takes a step around me. He starts to walk toward his office, so I follow him.

"You're working late," I comment, as I pace beside him.

He glances over at me, raising an eyebrow. "I often work late, but I'm only here for today. We're leaving again tonight to try a few different locations and I have some work I need to get done. I'll sleep on the plane."

I frown, not liking the sound of that. Is Kaine getting any rest? Or is he doing what he always does and throwing himself into his work?

"Do you think you're close to finding Lucien?" I ask.

"I think so." He opens the door to the office and flicks on the light. He motions for me to walk in first. "At one location, we found evidence that Lucien had been there. Now that we know who has him, it's only a matter of time." Kaine sits in his seat behind his desk, so I take a seat across from him.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth.

He shakes his head. "No. You have duties here."

"Lucien is my brother—there is nothing more important than family," I protest. "Besides, I already promised you that I would help find him."

"And you did help." Kaine offers me a smile. "Without you, we'd still be in the dark. It's because of you that we found out the Nodin Clan were the ones holding Lucien. I'd probably still be looking into the Rune Clan if it weren't for you."

I absently run my hand along the arm of the chair. "I would feel a lot better if Lucien were here. I know that I've never met him, but I feel like we need him. He's the one who trained for this, not Julien and me."

Kaine snorts. "Julien as heir would be a disaster."

I don't know about that . I happen to think Julien could make a great ruler, but he doesn't want this and I can't blame him. I didn't want to be queen. Yet, here I am, engaged to Prince Damek. I'm destined to be queen one way or another, even if it's in name only.

"Julien may surprise you." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "I think he'd do a better job than I would."

"Not a chance," Kaine says. "You are going to make an incredible queen one day. I'm glad that you're marrying Prince Damek. The Scott Clan needs this alliance with the Rune Clan—they offer so much to us, the most important thing being protection. After your marriage, nobody will dare come after us again."

That is a relief. I do want my family and my clan to be safe.

But that isn't why I chose Damek.

I don't bring it up because I get the feeling that Kaine isn't ready to hear about it and I don't want to hurt him any more than I already have.

I stand up from my chair. "I'm going to head to bed. Don't stay up all day, okay?"

He smirks. "I'll be fine. Good morning, Madeline."

I grin when he doesn't use my title. "Good morning, Kaine."

I turn and leave his office, heading for my bedroom.

Things with Kaine are complicated, but I have hope that they won't always be. Someday, the two of us will be friends again. And Kaine is going to find an incredible woman who is worthy of him. He was wrong when he said he didn't deserve to marry a princess—he deserves it more than anybody I know.

As I get to my door, I notice that Julien's door is open. I stick my head through the doorway.

"You're up late," I comment.

Julien spins around to face me. He's holding a very large book in his hand. I recognize the title.

‘Vampire Succession, Volume II,' I read.

"Are you studying vampire law books?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

He rubs his eyes with his free hand. "Unfortunately. Do you think you could temporarily call off your engagement to Damek? Just until Lucien is found. Because Dad is insisting I read up on vampire law, just in case. And this stuff is so boring."

I grin. "Sorry, little brother."

He groans. "It's okay. I know you actually like Damek. It gives me hope that someday I will marry somebody I like, though it's doubtful considering my marriage will be politically motivated."

"Does it have to be?" I lean against the doorframe. "Since I'm marrying into the Rune Clan, can't you marry who you want? Once Lucien is back, you're the third born. You won't even be the spare."

Julien purses his lips as he considers my words. "Maybe. I'll read this." He holds up his book. "I know some families try to offer their third child up for political marriages, but if I can wiggle out of it, I will."

"Good luck," I tell him. Though I don't imagine he needs it. Julien is the charismatic one. No matter who he marries, I believe he will be happy.

Still, I hope he is as happy as I am with Damek. The only thing that could make it better was if I loved him. I'm not there yet.

"Do you think it's possible to fall in love with somebody you're arranged to marry?" I ask Julien.

His gaze snaps to me. "Are you asking if I think you will fall in love with Damek?"

I want to deny it, but it's very clear who I'm walking about. I clear my throat, "Yes."

Julien takes a step closer to me. "From where I stand, you're already half in love with him. The two of you spend half the morning talking on the phone instead of sleeping."

My cheeks grow warm. "You knew?"

"The whole estate knows." He points at his ears. "Vampire hearing is a thing. Sometimes, I can hear you laughing through the walls. Plus, the staff likes to gossip."

"Oh." I lower my head, hiding my pink cheeks.

Julien starts to say something else, but my phone starts ringing. I glance at the screen and see Damek's name popup.

Julien chuckles. "Go talk to your fiancé, but don't stay up too late."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumble. "Good morning, Julien."

"Morning," he says, as I make my way across the hallway and answer my phone.

I can't help but wonder if Julien is right. Am I already half way in love with Damek?