“I don’t know about you—” Darius smiled. “But I’m going to get completely wasted on the good stuff, not wine.”
“So, it’ll be like a guy’s night.” Ruby figured. “And that’s just great because we can’t drink.”
“Well, if we do actually do that, you can be there to monitor him.” Zayden shifted his eyes towards Darius. “He’ll be up to doing anything while he’s drunk. You’ll see what I mean.”
“Okay. So, you have all the fun and we’ll be there to basically baby-sit you?” Adele wondered. “Yeah. That sounds like fun. Why don’t you just go without us?”
“No!” They answered with quick loud voices.
“That would be really bad.” Troy said. “You’d have to be there if we’re going to go at all.”
“Well, we can talk about it more when it gets closer to that time.” I replied. “It’s only morning. What exactly do we do until then?”
“Well, the royal and high-class guests will be arriving all day so we’ll have to hang around for the meet-and-greets.” Zayden said. “I don’t know who exactly will be showing up for that with the new peace happening.”
I let out a light gasp. “You don’t think Wyatt would be here with Meg still missing, do you?”
“We have no idea.”
Adele was standing still and practically staring off into nothing while her words came clear and emotionless but with reason for worry. “What about Sedrik?”
“Ooh.” Darius muttered. “That’s likely. Yes. You know, seeing Lecca has always been our ally.”
Adele became more worried and stepped to Zayden, grasping his arm. “Zayden, what if he—”
“He won’t. If he remembered anything by now, we’d already be at war.”
“You really think it would come to that?” Ruby asked.
“Pretty positive. He’s always been used to getting his way no matter how big or small. If he still wants Adele, he’ll fight for it.”
“What if that’s what he’s going to do?” Adele asked.
Troy laughed. “Why do you sound so worried? He’s not dumb enough to try that here. Father would have the army on him in a second if he threatened any of us.”
“Okay, so about this banquet thing.” Ruby said to change the subject. “Will it require more dresses?”
Darius smiled and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him. “Not for us. No.”
She sighed. “Oh, great. I knew it.”
“I’m sure you can find something to wear that will make you stand out.” Zayden laughed.
“Like I need another reason.” Ruby put one hand through her hair and the other on her stomach.
“All the same. You practically have all day to find something.”
I gasped excitedly and stepped towards Ruby, shaking her arm. “Ruby, we can go shopping!”
It put a smile on her face. “Oh, we can! It’s been so long!”
“I know!”
“Uh oh.” Darius sighed. “Sounds like a girl thing.”
“You guys don’t mind if we spent the day away from you doing that, do you?” Adele asked. “We shouldn’t have to be here for the meet-and-greets, right?”
“Of course not.” Zayden said. “They’re coming to see us and those who weren’t at the wedding will get to see you at the dinner so I guess we wouldn’t be too sad about it if you wanted to go out shopping until then.”
“Okay but one more thing.” Ruby smiled. “We’ll need money.”
Zayden laughed. “I knew you’d say that. Hang on.” He turned back into the closet and came out a moment later with a small leather pouch in his hand. “Who am I entrusting this to?”
He held it up with a little shake so we could hear the sound of the coins inside and Ruby immediately stepped out of Darius’s arms. “Me! I’m the dedicated shopper!”
“Wouldn’t that mean you’re not who I want to give this to?”
Adele laughed and took it from him while he still had his focus on Ruby. “Just give it to me. I really don’t think it’ll matter.”
“So, what will we be in store for?” Darius smiled.
Ruby turned back to him with her own and put her hands on his chest. “Any requests? This is to celebrate your birthday.”
Darius kept his smile while slowly putting his hands around her back. “Mmm. Requests?”
“Oh, no.” Troy muttered.
“Well, if I get to decide—I’d like it to—show a lot of skin wherever you’d like and it has to be red.”
Ruby smiled and moved up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Of course it will be.”
“Oh, just tell her to go naked.” Troy said. “Then she wouldn’t need to shop.”
“Or you could do that.”
“No.” Zayden cut in. “Make it appropriate.”
“I planned on it—mostly but what about when we go out? Does that have to be appropriate?”
Darius pushed Zayden back just a little so he wouldn’t answer. “Fuck no! Make that as inappropriate as you’d like.”
“Okay.” Adele laughed. “Maybe we should get started if we have to now shop for two outfits.”
“That’s a good idea.” I agreed. “There’s the initial buying then we always customize them so no one else has anything like them. We have to make up for lost time. We haven’t gotten to do this in a while.”
“I’m excited!” Ruby smiled.
“Well, go ahead.” Zayden said. “Rift, you come with us. We’ll take care of the boring stuff here. You three deserve some fun since we get to have ours later.”
“Great!” Adele smiled, hopping up to kiss him quickly. “We don’t know how long it’ll be. Big city, you know.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure father will have us kept busy. Just be careful and no killing anyone.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.” Ruby said, walking over to Adele and taking her arm. “Come on.”
She pulled her to the door and I followed after them. “See you later!”
We spent all that day going around to every boutique we could find and gathering items we would use for our outfits. I enjoyed every second of it. It’s been the first time in a long time where we could just go out and have fun our way without thinking of what was coming next because of war. It was our chance to live as girls not killers.
The day was full of laughter and excitement. We hardly thought about our husbands and how they were spending their day that it was easy for us to just bond with each other even when it was time to head back to the palace and put our outfits together.
We walked in with several boxes in our hands and tried carrying them all the way upstairs.
“We should work on the dresses since we’ll have to wear those first.” Adele said. “Then we’ll see if we have time to do the rest.”
“Oh, we should.” Ruby smiled. “I’m not doing everything! Are you forgetting we have you?”
I laughed. “How could she forget that?”
“All right. I was just saying. Dresses first.”
“Okay.” Ruby replied. “We’ll take it all to my room. I packed some of the things I might need, thinking something like this would happen. I already planned to customize whatever I was going to wear.”
“Of course you did.”
Ruby looked back with her own smile and led us straight to her door where she stayed with Darius. We walked right in and Adele and I looked around, seeing the bed up on a platform with the large posts and sheer curtains.
“Wow. I can honestly say I’ve never been in here.” I said.
“Yeah, I think I would have noticed.” Darius stepped out of his closet with just a towel around his waist and wet hair.
Ruby turned around to him with a gasp. “What are you doing in here?”
“Ah, it’s my room. What are they doing in here?”
“We’re just going to get our clothes together.” Adele said.
“Oh, good. You should. The ballroom is practically exploding with people. I’m supposed to be get
ting myself dressed and getting down there.”
“Is it really that full?” I wondered.
“Yeah and everyone is here.”
“Oh, no.” Adele muttered.
“Yeah.” Darius smiled. “I’m actually glad I caught you in here. We’re all going to have to play it smooth around Wyatt like not mentioning a word about Meg.”
“Awe, you mean we can’t tell him he should be glad he got rid of such a horrible fuck?” Ruby asked in a sarcastic tone.
Darius sighed. “Ruby. No. Not a word.”
“Oh my!” I laughed. “I don’t really mean to get into it but did you say that about her?”
“Can we not talk about this?” Darius said while sighing again and turned back into his closet. “We all need to get dressed.”
He walked out of sight, not to go on with the conversation and Ruby looked back at us with a smile. “Compared to me.”
I laughed, trying to keep it quiet.
“Okay.” Adele smiled. “Let’s just get ready. I guess I’ll do everything so it can be done quickly.”
“Okay.” Ruby walked over to the bag she brought with her from home. “I brought some rubies I want to have replace the girlie flowers on my dress.”
“Sure. I remember you saying that. I’ll just start with yours since it’ll be the easiest.”
I laughed while going through the stuff I bought for me. “You mean because it’s hardly anything.”
“Yeah, that too.”
“Only fulfilling a request.” Ruby smiled. “I’ve got to keep my baby’s daddy happy.”
I only laughed again. “It’s Darius. That shouldn’t take much.”
“You do know that I am in here, right?”
I turned and he was already dressed in what he would wear. “Yeah. You should even know that’s true.”
“I’m not completely materialistic. She can wear whatever she wants. It’s not like I’m making her.”
“Of course not. I like it too. You finished?”
“Yeah. Just have to grab my jacket and head down there.”
“Good. Then grab it and get out. We can just meet you down there. Are Zayden and Troy there yet?”
“Probably or close to it. I’m the one that got distracted.”
“Okay. Then just go wait for us. You’ll know when we come.”
“All right. Just hurry. I don’t want to be down there too long without you.”
“We’ll hurry. Go.”
Darius smiled back and kissed her before grabbing his jacket and leaving with it.
“Okay.” Adele said. “Let’s get this done.” She turned towards the stuff and she used her gift to turn everything we bought into the final designs of what we would wear with our direction.
Ruby was dressed in a tight sparkling red design that showed off her baby belly perfectly by hugging every curve right down to her thighs. A gold band covered in rubies sat at the high waist and two sparkling red pieces came off it to cover her breasts, pinning together behind her neck with a gold and ruby decorative pin. She had a larger version of the same pin on the gold band right under her mostly exposed breasts as an added focal point to the dress. Her hair was completely pulled up to the back of her head to show off her shoulders and the dazzling pin behind her neck.
“I think that looks nice.” Adele said, looking over the final product on her.
“Okay here.” I handed Adele all the things I would need for my dress.
“It’ll be quick.”
Mine had a green wrapped strapless top with silver satin over just my breasts that was covered in various sized diamonds. The green skirt was ruffled with scattered diamonds all over it and was completely open on the left side, exposing my legs underneath. My hair was put up halfway with pins to match the jewels on the dress and my curls were left out, running the length of my back.
“And now yours. I have it all right here.”
Adele rolled her eyes to my enthusiasm and got to work. Her dress was a beautiful black lace with solid black under it that was covered in jewels and sat low on her breasts in a scooped shape, making them look pushed up and exposed from the top. The black lace flowed down to her thighs and the rest was sheer to the floor to show her legs. She wore her hair completely up in a twisted bun with her crown around it and her long bangs were left out to frame her face.
We were ready and now just needed to join the crowd by making our grand entrance atop the stairs.
Chapter 36
Darius
“Where are the ladies? I haven’t seen them yet.”
I just happened to walk by when Aleksander asked Izin and I turned to answer. “They’re getting ready.”
“Oh no.” Aleksander muttered. “You let them dress themselves?”
“Ah, yeah.” I was a little confused to why he made it sound like a bad thing.
“What’s the problem?” Izin asked.
“I’m sorry. I should have warned you and I apologize in advance. My girls tend to—”
“Oh, shit.” I stared up towards the stairs at the beautiful sight stepping down them.
“Overdue it.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” I said, tapping Izin’s shoulder and handing off my drink to him. “I do believe I’m being called.”
“Be sure Zayden and Troy know they’re here.”
“They should already.”
I continued to walk in the crowd and met with Zayden and Troy at the bottom of the stairs just as the girls reached us.
“Finally.” Zayden said.
“Sorry.” Adele smiled, taking his arm. “Where’s Rift? I don’t see him around your feet.”
“He wanted to go out and get away from all the people. Lucky. He’ll stay within the walls though.”
“Sorry if we made you wait.” Jaylyn said.
“You don’t have to be.” Troy replied. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She smiled while stepping off the last step and walking off with him.
I just stood there for a moment as Ruby reached me and my eyes were tracing the curves of her body, seeing how she illuminates as an expecting mother.
“This good enough?”
“Good? Turn around and get back up those stairs. I can barely breathe.”
Ruby kept her smile and stepped towards me, taking my arm and turning me the other way towards the crowd. “Later. You have to be here, remember?”
“This is going to be torture.”
“Torture at your request.”
“Really though. You look beautiful. That dress flatters all your greatest qualities.”
“You mean except for the perfect flat abs I used to have?”
I smiled and touched her belly. “No. I love seeing this. You make it sexy.”
Ruby almost started to blush and looked around. “Everyone’s staring at me.”
“They’re jealous, like I said.”
“Or maybe just confused.”
I laughed. That could have been true but I didn’t want to make her think it was a bad thing. She was beautiful and that’s all that mattered.
Chapter 37
Zayden
Our night of proper introductions and greetings with the world’s leaders and upstanding class was carried out the way it was intended with casual mingling and of course the scheduled dinner. I was most anxious to get it all over with. I never liked having to be around other royals that truly acted it and everyone here seemed to be that way but me. I stood with Wyatt of Hintus, Amare of Maaki and Oren of Ledia as Princes of our world while everyone else were gathered as Kings.
I made sure to be extra careful when introducing Adele to them as my wife and she did her best to fit in as one of them—a sophisticated royal. I could tell she hated it just as much.
“It’s an honor, your majesties.” She said politely.
Oren, who we were most familiar with, smiled and kissed the back of her hand. “The honor is truly all ours, my lady. It’s good seeing you again.”
“And you
, Oren.”
“She’s genuinely lovely, Zayden.” Wyatt told me like I really needed to hear it. “I’m almost sad you didn’t bring her on your visit.”
Adele was standing next to me and secretly gripped my arm a little tighter without others noticing.
“She would have just loved to come but she was away with duties of her own.”
Wyatt just stood there with an amused smile. “Yes. Women with duties. Such a fascinating thought that the world has given you something to do.”
Adele’s grip was still strong on my arm while she held back her frustration but kept a warming smile on her face. “And you don’t know how regretful I am that it has kept me away.”
“It truly rivets me that this could have possibly happened.” Wyatt continued to smile.
“And what might that be?” I asked.
He glanced around at Amare and Oren before answering. “The world’s most renowned dealers in death are the actual cause for these new days of peace and married no less.”
“And also building on that.” I had to add that important detail with a smile and slid my hand to Adele’s stomach. Her eyes widened slightly but she kept from saying anything.
“Well, congratulations.” Amare smiled. “No question everyone already noticed Ruby was.”
Everyone turned their heads to her sitting down at a table next to Jaylyn.
“Yes. I believe everyone has.” I replied. “Adele, why don’t you go see if she’s all right. She’s looking a little bored over there.”
Adele looked up at me and knew I was just trying to give her a chance to get away since her hold on my arm remained tight, almost cutting off the circulation in it. “Yes, I suppose I should do that. Excuse me, your majesties, I must be tending to my—duties.”
She released my arm and I leaned down to kiss her. She just still had that pleasant smile as she pulled away then looked to the three Princes standing around and lightly bowed her head to them. They did the same to her without a word and she parted from our presence to find better company with those she calls friends.
The evening carried on while Adele sat back with Ruby and Jaylyn at a table and watched me try to act like a good host to my guests. I would have liked for her to join me again but to keep from saying anything rude or hostile, I suppose it would be best to stay where she was. She had to step into this life slowly on her own time. I did not want to thrust her into anything too quickly with fear she might have a negative reaction.
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