Lucien leaned casually against the wall beside me looking deeply entertained while absolute chaos unfolded around us. The worst part was that I knew exactly why I married him. Because underneath all the flirting and magical property damage, Lucien made every room brighter the second he entered it.
Even ruined ones.
Then one of the tiny shadow creatures sprinted directly between my feet carrying a gold crown.
I stared.
“…Is that ceremonial royal property?”
Lucien glanced down calmly. “Technically yes.”
“You summoned criminal raccoons.”
“They have ambition.”
A council member nearly fainted. Meanwhile the shadow creature climbed directly up Lucien’s leg before settling proudly onto his shoulder holding the stolen crown in its tiny claws.
Traitor.
“You like him,” I exclaimed.
“He has leadership qualities.”
“He committed theft in front of us.”
“He committed theft successfully.”
The shadow creature hissed proudly to side with him.
I hated this family. A servant approached us nervously afterward carrying several burned documents.
“Your Highness,” he said carefully to Lucien, “the treasury office requests that you stop experimenting with unsupervised summoning magic.”
Lucien sounded offended. “I was supervised.”
The servant blinked once. “…By Lady Nina?”
“Yes.”
“That feels worse.”
Ouch.
Eventually the palace chaos settled enough that we escaped back toward our chambers while servants continued hunting shadow creatures through the western halls.
The second the chamber doors closed behind us, silence settled over the room instantly. No council members yelling, no explosions shaking the walls, just silver city lights glowing through the enormous palace windows while shadows drifted lazily across the dark stone around us.
I kicked off my boots dramatically before collapsing backward across the bed.
“My marriage is exhausting.”
Lucien loosened the collar of his black royal coat while watching me with that same look that still made my stomach flip annoyingly after all this time.
“You started half the explosions.”
“You encouraged the other half.”
“That sounds like teamwork.”
