Kingmaker (Ace of Queens #5)

Pt. Courage

Chapter 10

The full next week was an emotional turmoil for the Dunbar family. Ella and Mia took turns staying with their father at the hospital as he recovered slowly. Ruby took a leave of absence from the palace to stay home with the rest of the family until things could go back to normal again. However, Ella feared their lives would never be what it was anymore.

When Dean was finally home, all his friends and all the neighbors came by to see him. The house was a non stop visiting center packed with people. Mia and Ruby tended to the guests on most days as Lily lingered in her room. This left Ella to deal with taking care of Leo and Piper. During the day she was kept busy making them food or cleaning the house and at night Ella would check her phone to find missed calls and texts from Maksim that she couldn't bring herself to respond to.

One night, as Ella laid beside Lily staring up at the wall, she felt her phone vibrate under her. She didn't need to check it to know it was Maksim.

"Ella," Lily called to her quietly.

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you doing to Maksim?"

Ella turned her head to look at her sister. Since Dean had returned, they haven't talked about their mates at all. Ella had only asked once to make sure Charlie was okay and when Lily confirmed he was safe, she dropped the subject. But now they were talking about the pink elephant in the room once more.

"We don't feel the full pull of the mate bond until we are marked," Lily said as she locked her eyes with her sister.

"What do you mean?"

"We're humans. To protect our mind, we only feel a subtle attraction to our mates until we are marked."

Ella turned her head away and looked up at the ceiling once more. She twirled the strings on her shirt as she felt her heart rate start to pick up slightly.

"What Maksim feels for you is probably driving him insane," Lily continued. "I don't understand what you are so afraid of."

"Isn't it obvious?" Ella frowned.

"They will get over it," Lily said. "And do you really want to give up your happiness for people that don't want you to be happy?"

"They want me to be happy," Ella said. "They want both of us to be happy, Lily."

"Then why won't they let us be with our mates?"

Ella didn't have an answer. She looked away and settled her eyes on the lights above her window.

"Their fear is that we will get our heart broken, right?" Lily slowly sat up. "But if we know for sure that these are our mates, then what is the issue?"

Lily's questions slowly started to run in Ella's head. For the first time, in the madness that had been her life, she started to ask herself why she was choosing to be away from Maksim.

Ella felt the pressure rise from her chest as she admitted to herself that she was too afraid of how her family would respond. It wasn't Maksim or his feelings for her she doubted, it was her family's support she feared losing.

But if Maksim made her happy, then wouldn't they want her to be....happy?

That night, Ella pulled out her phone after Lily left the room and dialed Maksim's number with shaking fingers. She felt a sense of calm as she brought the phone to her ear and waited.