Oh, To Be The Lady's - [A Lady Dimitrescu/Female Reader-Insert Story]

Chapter Thirty Nine: To Be Unchanging

A/N: Hi y'all! Happy Monday and happy Update Day! Whooooo! 🥳👏🏻

This chapter's dedicated to @Madeline_Serenity, who requested the Reader having Change-Aversion and @Grimnarin, who requested pressure hugs between the Reader and Alcina! I loved both prompts so much that I decided to combine them into one haha 🥰

I hope you all enjoy and, as always, thank you so much for all of the love and support! The next chapter should be posted next Monday (May 23rd 2022), so keep your eyes peeled for that! 😂💖

ALSO, the year-anniversary of this fic is May 26th (which is a Thursday lmao) so I might, MIGHT have something special planned for that 😌 Just a little wink wink, nudge nudge, hint hint. . .😉 

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Change has never really sat well with you.

You don't exactly know the reason. If it was because of him, the foster and group homes you were paraded around during your youth or something else, but that doesn't ease your feelings or the slow swell of anxiety that rises. The tide is low, for now, and you can gently press your feet into the surrounding sand.

The hourglass has to tip back over sometime, however and you don't welcome the crash that follows.

It starts with a few small things. The curtain's in your and Alcina's bedroom got replaced. The color's practically the same — a deep, dark red almost the exact shade of your Lady's lipstick — but the look of them is different. The ends don't splay out as much as the original, the fabric is just a little bit too rough against your hands and the morning sun shines through just a fraction more during the early hours.

"Dearest?" Your Lady had asked when you blinked awake that following morning. She's leaned up on her side of the bed, her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her lovely nose and a novel in one of her hands. The other cradles your face, her thumb smoothing over your cheekbone and you nuzzle closer. "It's early."

It is early. Much too early for you to be awake but you fumble through a half-mumbled lie, praying with everything in you for Alcina to mistake your fibbing with exhaustion. It seems to do the trick, however, and you curl back up against her with your eyes still open, the too-bright sunlight filtering in through the new curtains.

The first few grains of sand shift along with the churning of your gut and you shiver.

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The tea's different, next.

This one's, thankfully, something Bela seems to take notice of, as well. Sharing a look with her across the table, the both of you set your cups down as one, your frown echoed in your eldest daughter's own confusion.

"Did they do something different with the tea leaves, Mother?" The blonde asks, turning toward your wife from where Alcina's sipping at her own cup, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.

"Hm?" Blinking, Alcina glances from Bela, to you, her honey-colored eyes clearing in understanding after a second. "Oh, yes, I believe they did. Duke mentioned something about that during the last shipment—"

"It has been warmer down south, I've heard reports from the village, messed with the last batch, I guess." All eyes snap over to Cassandra, who shrugs away the surprise, stabbing into her steak with enough force to chip the plate. "What? I'm hoping it gets that hot here, I wanna go hunt more."

After a beat of silence broken only by Daniella's shrill laugh of agreement, your Lady nods, reaching across to carefully grab at your tea cup, squinting down at the liquid with a furrowed brow. "Why do you ask, dear?"