When vengeance strikes in the form of a bullet out for the princess's blood, Princess Aleia VonAuclair must flee the heart of her country in order to protect the people she loves and take back the pieces of her soul she'd lost to the girl she once l...
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"Oh, I don't think I'll be able to eat for the next week," Lily groaned, slouching in her seat with a hand over her stomach.
"Me too," I added, as I swallowed the last bite of Arina's molten lava cake.
"Oh, shut up," Cara said from beside me. "Your stomach only looks three months pregnant. Mine looks seven."
I laughed and washed the cake down with a sip of water.
"Now, can I show Aleia my secret box?" Mila asked Arina.
Arina nodded and moved to bring the empty plates into the kitchen. "But your bedtime is in an hour, young lady. If you're not in bed by then, no gifts for you tomorrow morning."
Mila harrumphed but didn't argue with her mom as she bounded out of her seat and dashed towards me. She didn't even reach my side of the table before I was already out of my chair.
"Wait, why don't I help out your Mommy with the dishes first?"
Mila threw her arms up in the air. "Oh, come on! First, the movie. Then dinner. And then desert. And now, dishes?"
Edrian chuckled from the seat on the other side of mine before he stood up, too, and placed a hand on my lower back.
"It's fine, Peaches. We'll do the dishes."
"We will?" Nico asked.
Edrian waved his hand in some sort of signal and not a moment later, Luke smacked the back of Nico's head. I choked on a surprised laugh.
"What was that?" Nico exclaimed, rubbing the spot Luke had hit. "You guys have some sort ofcode that I don't know about?"
"Serves you right for being an idiot," Cara quipped, and took a sip of wine.
Lily snickered. "How have you not noticed them do that before? They do it all the time."
"How the fuck did I not know?"
"Because you're a blind dumbass," Luke said.
"Mommy, they're saying bad words again!" Mila shouted and the four of them froze in place, eyes wide and looking between each other.
"What did I say about cussing in my house?"
"To not do it?" Nico yelled back to where Arina was in the kitchen.
She came sauntering out then with her arms on her waist and her lips pinched into a flat line.
"If my daughter starts cussing, I'm blaming all of you heathens! Then no dessert for a month!"
Nico's jaw fell open. "A month?"
Arina tilted her chin once.
"A month."
I laughed under my breath just as Mila started tugging on my hand. Edrian momentarily stopped me with a hand at my waist to peck my lips before Mila dragged me up the two flights of stairs to her room.
