Lahat ng Kabanata ng Fated to My Brother in-law, The Lycan King: Kabanata 381 - Kabanata 390

SERAPHINA The problem with being nobody was that nobody had no time.Seraphina had understood this in theory before she started. She had thought about it, had factored it in, had told herself that the work was temporary and the discomfort was manageable, and that she had endured worse for longer in the pursuit of things that mattered. She had been correct about all of those things in the abstract.In practice, the reality of it was something else.She was woken at five in the morning.Not by a bell or a knock or any of the other polite fictions by which households pretend that waking someone before dawn is a civilized act. She was woken by Marda, the head of the cleaning staff, who had the physical presence of someone built specifically for the purpose of filling doorframes and the voice to match, and who stood in the entrance of the small room Seraphina had been assigned and said, with no particular emotion, "You're needed in the west corridor. The lord's visiting party arrived late

****Kingdom of Kuragari *****The delegation had been in Kuragari for four days.Four days was long enough for the initial strangeness of their presence to settle into something more workable, and not long enough for the deeper frictions to fully surface. Edyrm was aware that they were in a particular window a grace period of sorts, the diplomatic equivalent of a held breath and he was working it with everything he had.Which was, currently, quite a lot, because he had not slept sufficiently in four days either.He met with the delegation lead every morning.Her name was Saoirse, and she was, Edyrm had concluded by the second morning, exactly the kind of person you wanted across the table from you when the thing being negotiated was genuinely difficult. Not because she was easy, she was precise and patient and had a quality of returning to a point she hadn't finished making with the calm persistence of water finding its way through stone. But because she was honest. She said what she

SERAPHINA The tray was heavier than she imagined Seraphina had not carried anything with her own hands in years, not since she had learned that the most dangerous thing a woman could do was let others forget she had them. But today she carried the tray herself, dismissing the servant girl in her shadows with a look that required no words, and walked the long corridor to the east wing with the careful, unhurried steps of someone who owned every stone beneath her feet.She did.She reminded herself of that.The door to Lucian's chambers was already ajar. She pushed it open with her shoulder, arranging her face into something mild and solicitous, the expression of a maid performing a kindness rather than an inspection.He was seated by the window.For a moment, she simply looked at him, as she always did, the way time and suffering had arranged themselves on a person. Lucian was a bit thinner than she'd expected. His hair fell loose around his shoulders. He did not turn when she entere

SERAPHINA"Hey!!" Marda snapped at me, "Come over here?"I looked around and pointed at myself, "me?""Yes, you." She snapped, wriggling her fingers fast."Hurry up, will you?"I internally rolled my eyes and went over to her."I'm proud of you?" She smiled, showing all her teeth.I narrowed my eyes at her, What's she on now?"You've made quite an impression on the Luna. I would no longer have to supervise you. This is a rare opportunity and make sure not to fuck it up.""What are you talking about?" I questioned. "You've been promoted. You'll wait on the Luna and Lycan King this evening for dinner, and you'll also prepare the food. I'll have another maid bring the list of His Highness allergies to you. I'll be counting on you." She gave me a stern smile and disappeared. My heart sank, wait on both of them? What if Elias recognizes me? How do I get myself out of this impossible situation. Or... I might as well just get this over with as soon as possible. Even if either of them

LUCIAN "Where are we going to?" I asked for umpteenth time.The corners of Elias lips lifted, "You'll see it soon."I rolled my eyes and leaned against the window."Don't look so sore. We're almost there." He grinned, and even though I hated it and wanted to wipe the grin off his face, I found myself feeling all warm and fuzzy inside."We're here?" Elias announced abd cane around to open my side of the door."What?" I frowned at him, "we— I finished draining myself on that forbidden spell back at the temple, and you bring me back here?""Yes," his grin grew wider as he urged me forward. "What do you want? For me to break down this barrier?" I gaped at him as I stared at the cabin we'd been prisoners in."No, besides, we can enter and live freely. We are spending the night or weeks here, whichever you want. Yvonne will take care of things back at the palace. Think of this as a getaway for both of us."My lips split with a big smile, "Are you serious?"Elias took my hands and led me