Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“Darling, we both have busy days. If you lather me, we might never get out of the shower,” he warned.
She appeared to be contemplating that, so he burst out laughing again. Still doing it, he pulled her close, kissed her deeply, then scooted her out of the shower.
He soaped up and watched as she toweled off. And he made quick work of it so he could exit the shower and stand beside her as she cycled through her toilette tech.
In the beginning, his driving need to be with her every second of the day alarmed him greatly. Especially since he’d never experienced anything like it before, and making matters worse, Laura didn’t seem to feel that same need.
This had settled.
It helped when she showed him the article about Aerin and Iphelia.
Aleksei reasoned that his creature understood she was warrior caste before even Laura did, and this led to the intensity of Aleksei’s response to her.
That need still buzzed low, always, but it was something he could control.
Now, he just enjoyed every second he had with her.
Even when she was drooling through a Denti-Clean.
“I could get you a sonic toothbrush,” he offered for the third time, reaching for his own.
She pulled the Denti-Clean out, rinsed, spit and replied, “It doesn’t do as thorough of a job.”
She was incorrect about that, but considering how cute she was drooling through her Denti-Clean, he didn’t push it.
Laura donned her cosme-mask and mane-mate while he shaved. Then together, they went into the closet.
“You did well yesterday, love,” he said.
She pulled a face.
“Don’t make that face, you did,” he asserted.
She stopped slapping through the hangers (there was no cycling program in their closet at Spikeback, like nearly everything but her toilette tech, they had to go manual), tipped her head to the side and asked, “Do you really think so?”
“Those young were eating out of your hand.”
“You’re sure?” she pushed.
They’d gone to the drama department of a school in Nocturn. As it was her first official visit, and her first appearance after the horror of the night of the Masque, it had been a mad crush.
Aleksei knew it was nerves and grit that kept her head high, the warm smile on her face, and her focus on the young ones.
And she was amazing with them, attentive, openly interested, seeming to have all the time in the world for each, even if she skillfully made certain to limit that time so she could spend as much with as many as she could.
Laura was a superb princess, and she would make an excellent queen.
More importantly, he’d learned yesterday (not that he didn’t already know it with the way she treated her pets), she would be an amazing mother.
He moved to her, hooked his arm around her waist, dropped a kiss on her nose, and murmured, “I’m sure, bissi.”
She beamed up at him.
He returned her smile, feeling her pride settle into his bones.
She disliked that part of their lives, but she was in this to win it, because she was in love with him.
She wouldn’t run.
She was here to stay.
He allowed himself a moment to fully feel that feeling, then returned to dressing.
They were eating breakfast at the table in the sunny turret alcove of the solar off their bedroom at Spikeback, where they found they both preferred to breakfast, when Laura’s Palm vibrated.
She took the comm and smiled at the display.
“Hello, Maman,” she greeted.
Aleksei felt something shift, watching his mate’s face light up when she saw his mother, and hearing the form of address.
He heard his mother’s voice come from her Palm. “Dearest, yesterday was a triumph.”
“That’s what Aleksei said,” Laura replied.
“Well, he was correct. Your ratings are stratospheric. Germaine is beside herself. Now, obviously, you can’t be visiting every school in Night’s Fall. You’ll need to…”
Aleksei tuned his mother out and his breakfast in.
He didn’t do this because he wasn’t interested. He did it because he knew his fiancée was in hands he could trust, and he’d heard his mother drone on about these things since he could remember.
When they disconnected, he was scrolling through social tapes, seeing proof that he and his mother were right. Their visit yesterday, particularly Laura’s, was a triumph.
He put his Palm down, took a sip of his coffee and noted, “So, fittings with Mardel today?”
“Yes. I have him for two hours,” she replied, spearing some scrambled eggs.
Aleksei preferred cooking breakfast with her, or for her, rather than having Cook send up what they ordered the night before.
But things had changed for them at Spikeback.
And when they wanted to reminisce their beginnings, they could spend a few days at the penthouse or her loft.
“So I hope I can get it all in,” she continued. “Then I’ll program any alterations into the Seam-Stitch. After that, I have the interviews with the applicants for the costume assistants. Directly after those are done, Nata and I have a meeting with the curator of MdV. But Nata will keep all of this on target, and I should be home around five or six.”