Divided

“What colors do you want?” Queen Lillian asked me, stealing one of my grapes from lunch.

I bit my lower lip in thought. “Well, I definitely want green,” I said. “How about green and white?”

“Sounds good to me,” she smiled, writing it down. “Flowers: you need to choose for your bouquet now and then when Jacob gets back here we’ll plan for the whole party.”

I frowned. “How many things are on that list?”

She showed me and I groaned. “Good Lord.”

She giggled. “Speaking of which,” she said, putting the list to the side as she got ready to put my medicine on. “When you… die, who will you be going to?”

“God,” I said, wincing a little. “Elder Yovel and I talked about that at length when I was turned. He wanted to ease my mind.”

Queen Lillian nodded, frowning as she put my robe back on.

“I’d hate for you to have to go to….” She sighed. “Your wounds are much, much better. You still have four days, though,” she added when I looked hopeful.

I huffed. “Oh, fine.”

She laughed and we went back to the long list of wedding plans. Around dinner time, Jacob stumbled in, his hair messy. Icefire flew over to rest on top of my head while he took his shirt off. I arched a brow and looked at Lillian. She was smiling sympathetically at him as he fell face first onto the bed and let out a long groan.

“Long day?” she asked but he just groaned in response. “Your father was like that, too. Don’t worry about that.”

He lifted his head. “We had a rogue attack a couple humans, Mother,” he sighed and I broke the cup in my hand.

Jacob reached over and kissed my fingers.

“On our side?” she whispered and he shook his head. “Oh no.” She jumped to her feet. “I’m sorry, Tetra, but we’ll have to finish this tomorrow. I must go see the elders.”

“I understand,” I said and she ran out. I looked over at Jacob. “Are you all right, dear?”

“I’m exhausted, Tetra,” he sighed. “After the mother and daughter, a farmer came in claiming that a human was defecating in his crops.” A giggle escaped my lips as he wrinkled his nose. “Then a cook came in claiming a vampire poisoned her stew. I didn’t know we’d have so many conflicts!”

“It’s nature,” I shrugged, running my fingers through his hair. He shivered and moved closer so I didn’t have to reach over. I smiled fondly at him as he closed his eyes. “That’s what happens when you have two different races in one place. They spark arguments and try to get one another in trouble.”

“They’re acting like children,” he said.

I smiled. “Yes, they are. But cut them some slack. I’m sure once your sibling is born they’ll do the same.”

“I wonder what it’ll be,” he yawned. “I’d like a sister but I hear they can be a pain in the neck.”

I scoffed. “All siblings are pains in the neck.”

“Did you have any?” he asked, looking at me.

I smiled sadly. “I had a little sister.”

Why did you not tell us, Mother? Icefire demanded, bending her neck to look at me from atop my head.

“Because she is the one that pushed for me to be banished,” I whispered and Jacob kissed my fingers again. “We were close before I was attacked, though. We would tease each other all the time. We did what the villagers are doing. We blamed each other and started fights. It drove our parents insane but it’s just part of what we do.”

“I’m so sorry they treated you so poorly,” Jacob sighed, sitting up to kiss my lips. “I’ll make sure no one ever does that to you again.”

I smiled and nuzzled his nose. “Your mother and I have been going over the things to plan for the wedding,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, getting comfortable. “What’s that smirk for?”

I passed him the list and his eyes widened.

“What is all this!?” he cried. “We have to decide everything on this list!?”

I laughed. “According to Queen Lillian we do.”

“Oh jeez,” he groaned. He bit his lip. “Who do you want to oversee our marriage, Tetra?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, cleaning up the remains of the cup I broke.

“God, Adelpha, or Caricus?” he said and I blinked.

“We can’t do all three?” I asked.

He stared at me for a long time. It made me a little uncomfortable. What was he thinking?

“You’re a lot like my father,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

“My father is always accepting of gods,” he answered. “He never discriminates. He still lets my mother commune with her goddess, Adelpha. How are you so open to it? I would think, after being forced to be a supernatural, you would be bitter.”

I shrugged and leaned into him. “Why hold on to bitterness, Jacob? It only hurts me, not the wolf that attacked me. Besides, he’s dead now. No, I need to move forward. And your grandmother told me that the races not accepting each other’s gods is what sparked the war that separated our realms. There’s too much at stake to argue about who the humans should worship or who the vampires should.”

He kissed my temple. “You are very wise.”

“Meh. Just sleepy,” I yawned.

“Okay,” he said then yawned, too. “I’m going to join you,” he added, getting under the covers. “Goodness. Being a king is going to be a lot of work.”

I put my arm around him with difficulty. “But I’ll be with you.”