Chapter 112

Anila’s POV

“I’m sorry… what did you just say?” I asked, my voice coming out breathy. “Did you just say, two nights??”

Angelica frowned.

“Well, yeah. Of course,” she told me, narrowing her eyes. “We kind of have to move fast. You are to be the queen after all.”

A knot formed in my stomach; I suppose it was better to do this quickly than take our time. Xaden couldn’t wait much longer. I needed that dragon scale to save his life.

“Good morning,” a southern-sounding woman said at the front counter of the coffee shop. She had long curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. I recognized her from one of the many shops set up at the festival last night. She had a warm smile, and when her eyes settled on me, recognition flashed through her. “Oh, you’re our future queen. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Samantha. We met briefly at the festival last night, but I don’t think I introduced myself.”

“Hi,” I said, feeling a bit awkward. “I’m Anila.”

“What can I get for you ladies?” Samantha asked, looking between the two of us.

“Can I just get a coffee black and a buttered croissant?” Angelica asked.

Samantha nodded and punched that into the register.

“Of course,” she replied. “And for you?” She asked, peeking up at me.

“I’ll just do the same,” I told her. “But cream and sugar on the side.”

She nodded and punched that into the register as well. I frowned as I glanced at Angelica.

“I just realized, I don’t have any of my money here,” I told her, feeling embarrassed.

Angelica waved off my concern.

“You’re to be the queen,” she reminded me. “You don’t have to pay for anything.”

Before I could protest, Samantha was swiping a card she had behind the counter and then printed out a receipt.

“She’s right,” she told me. “King Jaxon leaves copies of his credit card at every establishment in Dragon Valley. We just charge it for him whenever one of his workers comes.”

I raised my brows.

“He pays for everyone who works for him as well?” I asked, surprised by this.

They both nodded.

“Yeah, it’s part of our payments for working for him,” Angelica told me. “I mean, technically everyone who lives in Dragon Valley works for him. But she means those who live in the palace. He pays us a wage, provides us with a place to live, and pays for all our expenses. He’s the best boss and King you could ever have. And he’ll make an even better husband.” She winked at me when she said that last part and I felt my cheeks growing warm.

A few minutes later, Samantha was handing us our order and we sat in the back corner to eat and drink. I wasn’t really sure what to say to her as we ate, so I chose to just remain quiet for a while. I could feel her eyes on me for most of the time though and it was growing a bit uncomfortable.

Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and I peeked up at her with a timid frown.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked her.

She raised her brows.

“What?” She asked.

“You keep staring at me,” I pointed out, hoping I didn’t sound rude. “Is there something on my face, or is something wrong?”

She shook her head and let out a soft laugh as she gripped her coffee cup in her hands and brought it to her lips.

“Neither,” she told me. “You can tell a lot about a person by their eyes, and I can tell you're a good person. You’ve been through a lot, like our King. You are a good fit for him.”

“Do you really think that?” I found myself asking, hating out insecure I sounded. But years of being told that I wasn’t good enough and that I’d never amount to anything crammed my head with all these insecurities that I couldn’t shake.

She nodded.

“You two aren’t very different. I can see it in your eyes,” she told me. “He too has been isolated for most of his life. He’s faced years of abuse at the hands of his own father. He lost his mother at a young age…”

My heart broke for him.

“What did end up happening to his mother?” I asked.

“Nobody knows,” she replied. “Truth be told, I never thought he would get married, despite his promises to us. I’m sorry if we seem too eager to marry you off. I’m just worried he will change his mind.”

“Change his mind?” I asked; my heart in my throat.

Her eyes widened.

“Pretend I didn’t say that,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry if that sounded odd. I don’t mean to frighten you. Jaxon is a good man, and he deserves good things. He’s a busy man and he wears his pride like a sweater. But he’ll be good to you.”

“He’s different than I imagined,” I admitted. “I can see that his heart is in the right place. I want to help him… I want to help the entire Dragon City. It’s hard to explain… but I feel as if I’m supposed to be here. I can feel a dragon inside of me… itching to come out… since he marked me, it feels even stronger.”

“It’s no wonder the King is so smitten,” she breathed, her eyes sparkling.

“He’s smitten?”

She chuckled.

“He wouldn’t have let you mark him if he wasn’t.”

“He told you?” I asked, wondering what else he told her.

“Not really,” she admitted. “But I did see it. It’s as clear as day and it looks good on him. Just like his mark looks good on you.” She pointed to my neckline, and I immediately covered it with my hands, suddenly feeling embarrassed. I didn’t realize it was so noticeable.

“Oh,” I whispered.

She laughed again and the rest of breakfast was silent following that conversation. Once we were finished, we cleaned up our mess so Samantha wouldn’t have to do it for us, despite her protests. I wasn’t incapable of doing things for myself and the people of Dragon Valley will soon realize that as well.

We walked a few blocks away to the bakery and my mouth started to water from the delicious scents of the baked goods. It smelled incredible.

There was a woman with a pink apron behind the counter when we entered.

“Angelica!” She cooed when we entered. “I’m glad you’re here. I made those cakes like you asked the other day. Are you here to test them?”

“Yes,” Angelica answered. “This is Anila, our future queen.”

The woman glanced at me and her smile widened.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said to her, holding out my hand for her to shake.

She ignored my hand and ran around the counter. Before I knew what was happening, she was wrapping me in a tight hug, surprising me.

Angelica chuckled.

“Megan is a hugger,” she explained. “And our town baker. The best baker in the world.”

“Oh, you flatter me,” Megan said, waving away the compliment. “I’ve heard about you, Anila. It’s good to finally meet you.”

She pulled away from me, but her hands remained around my wrist.

“Come with me,” she said, pulling me towards the back room, Angelica hot on our trail.

We walked into a nice little area with a long table and on the table were a ton of cakes covered with a lid. They were all different shapes and sizes, not to mention different colors and flavors. They all looked so beautiful that my heart swelled when I realized she had done this all for me. These were my wedding cakes… they must have taken her days to complete this whole thing.

“I’m still in the process of making a few more,” Megan admitted. “But this is what I got so far. I hope at least one of them is to your liking, Your Majesty.”

“You don’t have to call me that,” I assured her. “You didn’t have to make this many.”

“You need the perfect cake,” Megan told me, waving off my concern. “It’s the least I could do.”

I wanted to protest that this was too much, but from the look Angelica was giving me, I knew there was no point. We spent the next couple of hours engorging in the delicious homemade cakes.

Even Megan joined us in eating some of the cake. It was nice spending time with these girls. It reminded me of spending time with my own friends back at Lunar Academy. Oh, how I missed them.

Once we were done tasting the cakes, I promised that I would return later to try a couple of other cakes that were still in the oven baking.

We said goodbye to Megan and then we headed straight to the boutique across the street. At first glance, I didn’t think they would have wedding dresses because they weren’t displayed in the windows, but once I entered, my mouth dropped. There were a ton of dresses in the center of the boutique, all perfectly tailored wedding gowns. There was a woman and a man both stitching away at the dresses and perfecting their designs.

I assumed they were the designers and that these dresses were most likely for me.

The look on Angelica’s face when she saw the dresses told me as such.

“Paulo, Tiffany, this is Anila. The bride-to-be,” Angelica introduced, making them pause and glance up at us.

The man, Paulo, immiedalty stood and bowed out of respect to me.

“It’s an honor to finally meet you,” he said, taking my hand and raising it to his lips.

“I hope the dresses are to your liking,” Tiffany said, motioning for the gorgeous gowns. “We weren’t sure of your style, so we made quite a few options. If we need to make more adjustments, we can.”

“You did all of this for me?” I asked, looking around at all the gorgeous dresses.

“Yes, of course,” Tiffany said, staring at me and then looking at Angelica questionably. “You are the bride-to-be. You are to be our queen. It’s our job to please you.”

“Tiffany and Paulo are siblings who share the same passion for fashion design,” Angelica explained. “Once the King gives them an assignment, they put their heart and soul into it. They also made all the clothes in your closet. Including the one you’re wearing.”

“And you’re wearing it perfectly,” Paulo said, appreciatively.

“Come on,” Tiffany said, motioning for me to follow her. “Let’s try on some wedding dresses!”

“And share some juicy details about our King,” Paulo added with a wink.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I think I was going to like these two.

……

Jaxon’s POV

“Where have you been?” His voice was gruff as it always was.

“I had some important matters to deal with,” I explained.

Alpha King Edmond’s eyes narrowed as I stopped short of him. I was taller than him, so he had to look up at me as if it strained him to do so. I hated that someone half my size had so much power over me.

“The people of this world are shaken up from my last stunt. Their weakness is showing. That’s exactly what I needed and now they know who is truly in charge.”

“In order for this plan to work…” he continued, his eyes studying me. “I’m going to need something from you. The question is… are you willing to do whatever it takes to keep your secret?”