Juliet's Surrender [Juliet's Tryst #2]

Chapter 7: Cake

The next morning, in addition to her hangover, a big and terrible feeling overcame Juliet. Despair. That underlying fear which she felt was finally becoming clear. She was alone. On top of that, she was without family and borderline, without friends as well. 

Why did she feel like a traitor? She was happy to cower under the Ruler, and accept only as much responsibility as would lessen the guilt. A knock sounded on the hotel door. She scrambled up out of bed, exclaiming in pain from an acrid nausea. Breakfast. More wedding things. Was it too late to call everything off now? Sorry, Dee, I have decided I can't handle it anymore. You are literally the alien of my dreams, but I'm not enough. I will never be- with great force, she slapped herself across the face. 

"No more," she told herself sternly. Great, a huge handprint. The price for clarity was always pain. The starting point was a conversation with the cunning Ke'Astra, the highest in the Kyrion military under Dee. After that? Only Kyria knew. 

On second thought, that bitch knew nothing.

...

At breakfast, Annie refused the Kyrion medicine that would cure her hangover, even after watching Juliet gulp it down. They sat in a communal dining room, with a buffet and tables covered in white.

"It's not that I don't trust it," she said meekly. "But-"

"You don't trust it. That's fine," Juliet smiled appeasingly. Sasha offered it to another vacationer.

"It sounds like you could party every night with that stuff," Annie peered at Juliet. 

"The long term stuff still affects you," Juliet said. It was actually astounding how little she partied. The last time was when Sarah... well, that was it. She was a perfect candidate for a Ruler's wife. Even the fiasco with Eros was quite benign, considering they were friends. This fact sat on Juliet's shoulders like a boulder. She wanted... more. Soon, there would be children. What was she going to do before that? She was a castle ghost, unfinished business tugging at her soul.

"Ah, so not a free pass," Annie still looked at Juliet suspiciously, as though the anti-hangover liquid was nightshade.

"Ladies," Sasha buttered a piece of toast primly. "Today, we choose the cake. And tomorrow, the wedding."

"Will I get to see Max," Annie asked. Intense discomfort shuddered through Juliet.

"Well, yes, but for now we can sit on the beach a while longer and relax," Sasha's jaw contracted in anticipation. 

"Enough," Juliet said, cold as a mountain river. The two women looked at her in astonishment. "Let's go back to the castle, do the cake thing, and let Annie go home." 

"Is something wrong?" Sasha's meticulous planning was in shambles. Annie looked down at her coffee intently. "There's also the final fitting of the wedding dress."

Nervously, Annie reached for Juliet's hand, "everything's been perfect."  

"I'm overwhelmed." I am ripping Earth away from you.

"That's understandable," Sasha said, but her pallor took on an unhealthy gray. 

"Are you afraid of me?" Duty was a poor reason to celebrate a wedding.  The nervous laugher was answer enough.

"Of course not," her friend's hand trembled over hers. There was no use in pretending any more. It hurt. Annie's mind was made up about Juliet's allegiance. She didn't even trust the Kyrion to keep her son safe.

"Don't lie to me," a tone like obsidian. 

"Jules, no, I do actually want to be here for you." 

"I disagree. You don't have to pretend to be my friend because Dee commanded it."

"Hey, that's not true," Annie protested. Her relief tasted like sweet peaches. 

"You are right. I am out of touch with the humans. There's no reason for you to be here when you hate what this event stands for." 

"No, you've got it all wrong- you don't have to be alone, you don't have to push me away," Annie's voice rose and some of the others looked over to them. Sasha's eyes glowed with anger, but she dared not open her mouth. 

"Let's just get you back to Max. I can't stand to feel your worry about him anymore. Not when it's so easy to reunite you." 

"You can feel it?" Annie swiped her hand back, as though it burned. 

"Why would I make you be here when you hate the Kyrions?" 

Sasha stood. Time to go. 

...

Thirty six options arranged in three groups of twelve. The bride-to-be wielded a tiny spoon, an attempt to spare her stomach by the chef. A large industrial cooking table cleaned out for her, a kitchen chamber emptied of personnel. The melodious banging of the kitchen was present in the background. 

Sweet cream, ganache, mango, raspberry, fillings... a kaleidoscope of gateau. The chef instructed her to taste and follow her soul. He let her be. Each piece was labeled. This was much better than the morning. Freshly showered, dressed in a silk robe and utterly alone. 

Annie promised profusely to visit. Her life-energy spoke a different story, one of forgetting about Juliet entirely and never coming back. The social niceties were allowed. Forcing her to say the truth, now that would be cruel. Sasha went to work on other things. 

Spiced pear with chai tea icing was quite pleasant, the flavors melding without competition. Dee liked fruity bright flavors, so this one would be a pass. Ginger and passionfruit. Another pleasant one, sour and sweet. The passionfruit was bright but mellowed out by the sweetness of the batter. It had a vanilla buttercream aftertaste. Maybe that one. Quiet footsteps approached from the hallway to the right. 

"Why are you alone?" Her Ruler garb was light gray with reflective white specks, quite befitting of a ruling bride-to-be. "Sasha refused to say." 

"I prefer it this way." Raspberry Delight  was an awful bore. 

"Why? You should not be alone the eve of your wedding."

"I don't think any humans want to celebrate with me," Her stomach groaned from the amount of cake. "Please. Let's focus on us." 

Dee's forehead creased for a moment, then softened as she walked over. She wrapped her arms around Juliet's neck, breathing deeply. "That sounds very hard," she nuzzled her head into damp hair. "If I were human, this would not be a problem." 

Together, they decided on a strawberry cake with lemon curd filling, and an elderberry icing. 

Author's Note: If you enjoy my writing, I am currently also updating a second dark-romance sapphic story called "Calypso-15". Thank you for reading!