All in all she's acclimated herself rather nicely to being here. Too bad I've had to curtail her enthusiasm so soon after we arrived. I had a few words with her staff who were ensconced in my palace since I had yet to take her to hers. I wasn't quite ready yet for the separate living quarters. I gave them strict orders not to leave her alone before giving her guards the same speech. I didn't send a servant to warn mom that I was coming as protocol dictates that I should, and I didn't walk over. Instead I just appeared in her living room, shielding myself from her as I stood in the middle of the room and watched her, looking for any signs that something was off. "Do you think she's ill? Or that something is wrong with the baby? Oh no!" She put her hand to her mouth as dad walked over to comfort her. "Now-now, don't go borrowing trouble. It could be just as he's said, that he's giving her time to get use to being here. You must remember, she's been raised to think of us a

I beat Lucien back to the palace by five minutes. That little conversation had killed any desire I had to go exploring on my own. Junior was doing jumping jacks in my tummy and I wasn't sure what it was that he wanted because all he's been doing for the last little while before this is eating and sleeping. "Natalia!""Uh-oh!" I flew onto the bed and under the covers snapping my eyes shut as soon as he opened the bedroom door. I'm getting to know his tones and that one did not bode well. He couldn't possibly know that I'd snuck out of the house, could he? Drats, I keep forgetting that he can read my mind and more importantly that these days he sticks to me like a second layer of skin. You'd think that he'd lighten up since we were here on his home front, but he only seems to be getting worst. I thought for sure I'd be safe this time though since I'd been asleep when he left. I felt his weight as he laid down next to me but fought hard to keep a straight face a

Dru did a very good job of bringing me back around after our little talk. After I'd ran away from eavesdropping at my foster parents' door I'd been too despondent to think and it was she who'd cleared things up for me considerably. She was right too, maybe I'd taken everything out of context, and since I hadn't hung around long enough to hear much more of what was said after mom dismissed me so cruelly, it could be that I'd misunderstood the whole thing. And yes, I should focus on the more positive things, like the fact that Lucien had indeed asked for me. Her idea that maybe I was overthinking things because of my upset over the last few days had merit as well, and by the time she was through convincing me of my worth I had a whole new outlook on things once again. I headed back to my foster parents' with a new plan in mind. No matter what, I must find a way to get close to Lucien. There isn't much I can do about the mating, that's already been done. But there

"Help my parents to the table and tell them we'll be there shortly." I turned to him after he sent the servant off on that little errand."Something wrong?" I made sure my head was void of all thought as he looked down at me as if he had something to say. In the end he just shook his head and took my hand in his "No, everything's fine let's go." Junior was lying dormant or asleep for once and not spying. I've found lately that he does that a lot. When his dad is around, except for those times the two of them are having one of their gab fests, he stays very quiet. But once his dad is gone he's all ears and eyes, almost as if they're taking turns watching over me. I shrugged it off for later as we walked into the dining room that could seat a hundred easy and saw the dignified couple who got to their feet as we walked in. His mom got tears in her eyes as soon as she saw me and I'm sure broke protocol when she came from around the table, arms outstretched and hugged me.

She distracted me with her charms and I let her. I'd seen the interaction that day of course and though I'd made up my mind to let her come to me with it, I had no idea she'd planned to handle it herself, and how. She's a vicious little thing when crossed. "Stop thinking about her, you're not allowed, not in our bed; not ever." I was startled by her outburst and even more so when I realized that she was serious. "You can have no doubt after tonight that the only woman on my mind is you. Didn't I prove myself well enough?" "Almost, but you're not allowed to even mention her name past that door." She indicated the closed bedroom door, pleasing me immensely with her show of jealous possessiveness."I won't I promise, but you must promise to tell me if something like that should happen again in the future. I meant what I said earlier, no one except the sky monarch and myself can gainsay you in anyway. Keep that in mind when you meet the elders as well okay." She d