032 - My Vindictive Wife

032 - My Vindictive Wife
|||YASMIN|||

The walk to the main palace was torture.

I was hyperaware of him beside me, of the formal jacket that now covered all that ink and scarred skin. It felt ingrained in my memory. And foolishly, my curiosity wanted a better view. 

Would it be strange to ask him to let me see  them again? 
Let me...touch them? 

Gods, Yasmin...what is wrong with you? 

"You're quiet," Zeirik observed as we neared the dining hall.

"Nervous," I said. Blinking rapidly as I tried to clear my thoughts through the pathetic action. 
It didn't work. 

It was half true. I was nervous about the dinner. Just not for the reasons he thought.

"Don't be. I've got this. You've taught me well."

The confidence in his voice steadied something in me despite everything. I rolled my shoulders back, lifted my chin, and when we stepped through the doors I was already composed.

Melbourne sat at the head of the table, already eating. Victoria to his right, her expression smooth and carefully neutral. And across from the empty seats clearly meant for us—

Cassien and Hana.

My breath snagged. I'd known they'd be here. I'd prepared for it, reasoned myself through it twice this morning and once again in the hallway. But seeing them together was still a blade slipping neatly between my ribs, finding the gap in my armor like it always had. Hana's hand rested on her belly. Cassien's covered it, his thumb moving in a slow idle stroke.

The picture of domestic contentment.

Zeirik's hand settled on the small of my back.

Steady. Grounding. Just there, warm through the fabric of my gown, and I exhaled slowly through my nose.

"Breathe," he murmured, too quiet for anyone else.

I did. Then I lifted my chin and walked to my seat with my spine straight and my face composed.

"General Zeirik, Lady Yasmin." Melbourne's greeting was warm. "Thank you for joining us."

As if we'd had a choice.

The first course arrived, a delicate soup. I watched Zeirik from my periphery, monitoring, ready to intervene, but he reached for the correct spoon without hesitation and paced himself to match Melbourne's rhythm. Satisfaction and I think pride settled in my chest.

"I've been hearing interesting things about you, brother," Cassien said. His voice sounded pleasant, but I knew Cassien and I knew better. "Apparently you've been quite busy these past few days."

Busy? 
Has someone been spying on Zeirik and me? 
"Just settling into married life." Zeirik didn't look up from his bowl. "I'm sure you remember how consuming that can be."

Cassien's jaw tightened and I tried to avert my gaze but found it more satisfying to watch him get pissed off by his brother. 

Gods, something must be wrong with me today. 

"I also heard there was an incident," Victoria said, her eyes finding Zeirik's face with surgical precision. "Something about Prince Cassien visiting your chambers late at night?"

So that was what this dinner was really about. Damage control for the crown prince. 

"My brother came to speak with me," Zeirik said. "We had a frank discussion. These things happen between siblings."

"Frank discussions don't usually leave bruises." Melbourne's gaze settled on Zeirik's jaw, where the evidence had faded to a pale yellow shadow but hadn't disappeared entirely.

"I apologized for that." Cassien's smile was stiff. "I'd had too much wine. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't." The Alpha king warned. "We can't afford instability. Not with the full moon ceremony approaching and half the nobility watching."

The conversation shifted. Hana offered ideas for the ceremony decorations in her soft eager voice, deferring to Victoria on every point, positioning herself carefully as the grateful, biddable daughter-in-law. I watched her do it and held back a groan. 

"And you, Yasmin?" Melbourne turned to me. "I understand you'll be collaborating with Hana on the preparations?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. We want everything to be perfect."

"Good. I expect nothing less."

Course after course arrived. Zeirik moved through each one without a single error, and by the fourth I'd stopped monitoring him entirely and simply watched him work the table. He was charming Melbourne with a war story I hadn't heard before, something about a three day siege and a stolen goat that made the Alpha King laugh genuinely for the first time all evening. He deflected Victoria's pointed questions with a humor so dry she couldn't quite find purchase on it. He even drew a reluctant smile from Cassien with some half-remembered childhood detail that I suspected he'd deployed entirely on purpose.

He was good at this.

Then dessert arrived, and Hana spoke.

"I just wanted to say—" her voice carried sweetly across the table, "—thank you, Yasmin. For being so gracious about everything. It can't be easy, watching Cassien and me together. But you've been so mature."

The table went quiet. All eyes were now on me. Waiting.

My hands tightened on my fork once. Then I relaxed them.

"I wish you both every happiness," I said, my voice level and warm. "Marriage is challenging. I hope yours fares better than mine did."

Cassien's fork hit his plate. The sound rang out sharp in the silence.

I couldn't quite stop myself.

"Though I am curious," I continued, setting down my wine glass with care, "how you'll manage the political dimensions of the role. Being Crown Princess is quite demanding. I hope you've been preparing."

Hana's smile pulled tight at the corners. "Oh, I have a wonderful teacher in Victoria. She's been showing me everything I need to know."

"How fortunate for you," I said.

The temperature dropped. Not metaphorically. I felt it, a real physical shift in the air, and when I glanced sideways I could see frost spreading in delicate crystalline patterns across Zeirik's wine glass, reaching toward the stem.
Strange. 

Melbourne cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should discuss the seating arrangements for the ceremony. I have some thoughts on placement—"

The rest of the dinner passed in managed pleasantries. By the time it was over I was so tired I longed to fall asleep in Zeirik's arms like I did a few hours ago. 
The thought surprised me. 

I stood quickly enough that my chair scraped back.

Outside in the corridor, Zeirik caught my arm gently. "You did well in there." He praised with clear amusement lifting the corners of his lips. 

"I was petty and obvious."

"You were human. And she started it." He glanced back at the closed doors. "Besides, the look on her face when you questioned her competence—" a grin broke across his face, wide and genuine, "—fucking brilliant."

Despite everything, despite the exhaustion and the ache in my chest from watching Cassien's hand on Hana's belly for two hours, I felt a smile pull at my mouth.

"It was satisfying," I admitted.

"There's my vindictive wife." The teasing affection in his voice made me...ache?