“It’s going to be fine.”
She shot a glance at her cell phone, seeing her husband’s face on the screen. “That’s the third time you’ve said that in the last fifteen minutes.”
“Well, I wouldn’t repeat myself if you would listen the first time.”
She rolled her eyes at him, which made him chuckle.
The past two weeks had been…incredible. They spent the first week in her apartment, packing up her life. Then, Ronan had contacted Jessel, who arranged a team of brownies to move all her things into his home while she was at work the following Monday.
It had been a week since she moved into his house and there were times she questioned if this was reality or if she was dreaming. Because the past seven days had been nothing short of blissful.
Now, she was about to meet with her grandmother for the first time since their last conversation. She still wasn’t sure whatkind of relationship she wanted with Zephira, but she did want one.
Her parents were dead. Ronan had shared the news with her the day after they arrived back in the human realm, though he hadn’t given her details. Her sisters were banished from Magic and were living in Europe. Neither of them had contacted her after their interrogations and subsequent banishment. She honestly hadn’t expected them to, but a small part of her had hoped she was wrong.
She had no blood relatives left, save her grandmother. And Zephira wanted to be in her life. Over the past weeks, Dominique had come to realize that her grandmother had done the best she could at the time to survive and to protect her. Just as Dominique had done the best she could with her own circumstances.
So, over the weekend, Dominique had called her grandmother and asked her to come to the Mystical Matchmakers office on Monday afternoon. Ronan wanted to be in attendance, but Dominique insisted that she do this on her own. The argument about it had gotten a little heated, but he’d given in to her in the end.
Still, he’d video called her a half hour before the scheduled meeting.
“I love you, Wife,” he said, capturing her attention once again.
The ball of anxiety in her stomach melted at his words. He said them at least twice a day—before she left for work in the morning and before they went to sleep at night. That wasn’t the only time he used the words, but he always said them then.
“I love you too, Husband,” she replied.
“Call me when your meeting is over,” he demanded, his tone bossy.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” she retorted.
“What did I tell you about calling me that?” he growled.
“To save it for the bedroom?”
It was Ronan’s turn to roll his eyes, which made Dominique laugh. “You’ll pay for that later,” he muttered.
“Looking forward to it.”
With that, Dominique disconnected the video call, feeling much more relaxed than she had earlier. She knew that was why Ronan had called. He instinctively seemed to know when she needed him. Their soul deep connection assured that.
She would strive to do the same for him when he needed her. She only hoped she could do it as well as he did.
Dominique heard the bell for the front door ring and took a shaky breath. Without looking, she knew it was her grandmother. She got to her feet and walked to the door of her office. Veronica had gone to lunch with Jasper, so Dominique was alone in the office. She didn’t want to risk spewing her emotions all over her empathic employee if this meeting didn’t go well.
She took a deep breath before she placed her hand on the doorknob, and blew it out slowly, trying to calm her suddenly racing heart. It didn’t help, but she didn’t have time to do anything else.
Dominique opened the door and saw that Zephira had stopped next to Veronica’s desk, her expression hesitant. Now that she’d had a bit of time and distance, Dominique could see that this was actually her grandmother’s true form in the human realm. Without the constant flow of magic in the fae realm, fae creatures looked different here. Unless they wore a glamour. Even then, there were some humans with fae heritage who could see straight through the magic anyway.
“Good afternoon,” her grandmother said, clasping her hands in front of her.
Dominique could see the slight tremble in Zephira’s fingers as she laced them together and her nerves began to calm. They were both anxious and worried about how this meeting would go. Which meant they were both off balance.
“Hello, Grandmother,” Dominique responded.
She’d used the term without thinking, but she could see the shocked pleasure on Zephira’s face at her greeting.
“Why don’t you come into my office so we can talk?” Dominique invited, gesturing for her grandmother to enter. “Would you like some coffee or tea?”
