The Luna Cure

FORTY-FOUR

From: Dante (8:21 P.M.)
Florence. Please give me something to work with.

I held back a sigh. I didn't want anything, and I certainly didn't want to celebrate Christmas with them. That's not what I came back to do, and it certainly was not within my comfort zone, or any of the other zones in between comfort and the absolutely not zone. I came back here to come back, that was it. It just so happened that Dante managed to convince me to do it the week of Christmas.

To: Dante (8:23 P.M.)
Please. I don't want anything. At all. Please don't push me on this.

His text bubble immediately popped up, lasted for a couple seconds, and then disappeared again.

"Are you texting Dante?" Maggie asked, glancing over at me.

"Yeah." I rubbed my arms, the attention returning to me making me uncomfortable.

"How are you guys? I know everything's still new, but I wanna know."

My mom nodded, setting her glass down on the coffee table with a clink! "And you know he's being interrogated by everyone else right now about your relationship, too."

I shrunk up a little more, squeezing into the corner of the couch more. "I mean—" I let out a breath, and the corners of my lips lifted for a fraction of a second. "It's just... new."

New enough that I did not understand any of it myself.

"Okay, but what else? I'm sure it's a little fun sometimes."

I blinked, mulling it over. They obviously wanted information, but what did I have to give them? We weren't sexual in the slightest, which I'm pretty sure is the majority of girl talk about men, and we weren't public. I tried to keep us pretty separate, and we had only been sleeping in the same bed for two nights. Two. Both times my pillow wall was rejected and destroyed, but once again, nothing sexual.

"It's a lot." I finally answered, letting out a sigh. "Maybe it'd be exciting if circumstances were different," different meaning completely, absolutely nothing like my current situation, "but it's overwhelming."

Everything else was overwhelming though, too, so even without Dante I don't think I'd have a second to breathe.

"Is Dante overwhelming, or just everything having to do with being mated?" Lucy's voice was much quieter than before, as I once again brought down the positivity of the room. My one true talent, it seemed.

"Being mated. I just..." My voice trailed off, as so many thoughts bounced around my head. Do I tell them I didn't think I'd make it out of there? That I never even thought I'd live to be mated? Even more daunting, could I tell them? I had trouble telling Dante so much, but I generally pushed through. He was so comforting, though, and he didn't have preconceived notions of me like my family did.

I took in a deep breath, hoping some courage came with it, before I finally answered, "Everything happened so fast, and then I was mates with the Prince, next in line for the throne, and it's still a mess. I don't know."

My mom's face sank, into a sad sort of contemplative look. "I'm sure Dante understands that, though. He seems to be extremely caring for you."

A sudden slash to my heart, and then Batilda's words bounced around my head. Do you think he cares about you?

"I, uh, don't know if I'd exactly say that—" I stuttered out, my heart rate jumping up and accelerating far beyond anything comfortable. Please, just don't make a scene in front of everyone, I begged myself. I needed to calm down.