The Professors Memory

Chapter 33

Olive held up the tiny pair of glossy pink shoes with a grin. There was a slight murmur of confusion around the room, wondering why the queen of Rostonin had thought a pair of baby army boots were appropriate. Olive giggled and hugged Danika.

'Perfect.'

Alina rolled her eyes at her daughter in law, nothing had changed about her. She was still the same woman that her son had fallen in love with. Neither money nor power had changed her, she still shopped in the same places as she did before him and much to Lucian's annoyance he had to beg her to wear the crown for official functions. But Alina knew it was what made her perfect, she didn't care that he was royalty, she teased him that she had more money than him because of her career as a musician before they met and she kept him grounded. She looked to Olive who was cooing through the box of things that Danika had been collecting as a present. Gone was the waif that Phabel had fallen in love with and now was a woman that had grown with pregnancy. She was still too thin but that would take time, her body had to adjust to being pregnant whilst becoming a shape shifter and it was dragging out her complete change. All that remained to change her completely were the scars from that terrible night when she was abducted. The cat's teeth had sunk into her body, Olive had a puncture wound on her leg that was taking it's time to repair completely. There was no great gaping wounds, just a large purple circle scar on her leg.

She smiled softly as the tiny clothes were being individually assessed and shown, the women gushing over the smallness. Alina looked out the window beside her to the view of the field in the distance. Construction had begun on what would be their home, Phabel and Olive were going to reside in Loach Issralk now that they were having a baby. The shifter world was overjoyed at the thought of a royal baby and so soon after their wedding. Alina was grateful that Phabel was still so willing to continue teaching at the university, there weren't many that could do his job. Olive had deferred her education for a short while, the demands of a child were hard at the best of times but a shifter baby was difficult. Memories of Lucian as a baby flooded through her mind. Lucian was only quarter shifter yet he was still a handful especially for a first time mother. Alina could only sympathise, Olive would have no clue what was waiting for her. But she would have lots of help, Islana would always be there for her and Seraphina was always around now that Olive was here. Olive was grateful for the both of them, with her mother dead and not having any siblings, she could feel the weight of loneliness dragging her down. This world for all its beauty was frightening for someone who was new to it. They had been living at the palace for about a month and in that time Olive hadn't ventured out much. Phabel would be at the university for the majority of the day, returning at odd hours because of the time difference. She was stuck in this palace that looked like it should be a museum, walking the corridors, searching for something to do. All of her things had been put into storage, all of the things that could keep her occupied were stuffed away in a building that she didn't know where it was.

Olive gasped as she reached the bottom of the box, a smaller box sat inside. She had pulled it out and to her delight, she had been given things to occupy her days.

'You are so awesome.'

Her fingers ran over the cold tin, feeling the embossing of the letters. Pencils, papers, everything that she missed from her world of design.

'Phabe said you were moping around the place, complaining that your things are gone.'

She nodded with a quiet smile, her eyes lingering to the house being constructed. The entry to the place was bigger than her apartment, she wondered how she was ever going to find the time to clean every single room. Danika raised an eyebrow at her, clearly the time spent at the castle had not been long enough for Olive to figure out that staff did the cleaning.