Royal shuffle: Vampire's mate

ANDREA

"Do you think this is okay?" I asked Leo, spinning in the mirror for the umpteenth time.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It's beautiful, Andrea. Just like the last five dresses you took off..."

"So, it's not perfect."

He groaned.

"I should change."

"No. Stop," Leo said.

I turned around to face him. "What? Don't you want me to look my best?"

"You are looking your best, sweetheart. Trust me, you could sew gold into a dress, and it wouldn't impress my father. You just have to be yourself." "But..."

"You look beautiful, Andrea. You're always beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful. And if my father doesn't see that, that's his problem, and he would have to live with it."

"Oh..." I looked in the mirror and surveyed the dress again. "So, you're saying this dress is okay for a royal dinner?"

"Yes, love. It's perfect."

I twirled in the mirror, watching the ruffles flared and gathered at my feet again. And I agree with Leo. The dress was perfect. It was a maroon velvet, floor-length dress with a modest sweetheart neckline and ruffled off-shoulder short sleeves that sagged on my arms. From the waist down we're ruffles, and the way the deep color of the dress brought out my bright skin tone and shiny black hair made everything perfect. Leo said he loved my hair when it was worn down, and so that was what I did. Wear my hair down. He was right. The dress was perfect, and so was I. After staining my lips with matte red lipstick and combed my lashes out with mascara, It's wore a pair of transparent heels and took a few steps back to admire the whole fit.

"I think I'm ready."

"Thank goodness. Finally..." Leo groaned, and stood, pulling me into a hug.

I buried my nose in his shirt and sighed. "You smell amazing."

"Thank you. You smell amazing too."

We stayed that way for a while, enjoying our company in solitude before we were thrown into uncertainty.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes," I nodded silently.

The girls were already asleep so we decided to just leave quietly. If for any reason we weren't here by the time they woke up, the security is very capable of giving them our reasons and our blessings. Leo got into the backseat of the SUV with me, and we held hands in silence all through the journey. I watched the city lights of the city. This place was even more beautiful in the dark. And in my mind, I planned walks and dances under the stars and city lights.

"We're here," Leo announced as the car pulled through the magnificent entrance of the palace.

The car came to a stop right in front of the building. Leo squeezed my hands in his and then lifted them to his lips.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

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I swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Yes, I am."

"Alright then. Let's go," He said and opened the door on his side. "Wait."

I relaxed back in my seat while he went round the vehicle to open the car door for me. He held out his hand to me, and gently helped me as I stepped out.

I smiled. "I can open car doors, you know."

"I know," He said, smirking. "But I'd rather open them for you."

I felt color rose on my cheeks and I looked away. I was going to say something but then a voice clearing interrupted my speech. We turned towards the entrance to see his majesty in all his glory standing there looking at us. To his left was Leopold who had a sly smile on his face, and to his right was a very beautiful woman.

She stood tall and fair, and proud. With hair so silky smooth that it looked like it was handmade and kissed by the goddess herself. She had full plump lips and a svelte hourglass figure. Her bleached blond hair with the perfect middle part accentuated her high cheekbones and perfect red lips.

The black gown she wore screamed elegance and the way she looked down at me told me that she thought me to be lesser than the dust underneath her shoes. I and Leo walked up to them and just stood in awkward silence. I looked to Leo, and saw that his eyes were fixated on the lady. Hers was shifting between Leo and I.

"Good evening, your majesty."

I did an awkward curtesy, and cleared my throat. The silence afterwards was loud. All eyes were on me, and I could see the amusement on the faces of the king and his lady friend. "Are we going to go in or not?" Leo asked.

My eyes opened in shock, and right there I wanted to ask how he would speak to the king like that. But then I remembered that he was his father. He could definitely do that. "Sure. Let's," the king replied.

Leo took hold of my hand and walked us into the magnificent palace. I thought Leo's houses were magnificent. They didn't hold a candle to the palace of the vampire king. I swallowed my tongue on the things I wanted to say. This definite wasn't the place. We were ushered into a cast dinner room, which housed a table that looked like it would be able to comfortably fit a whole community. What do they even need such a ridiculously large table for?

"Well, for us...it is needed to host important dignitaries, and guests. I guess you could say we're improvising today," the king said.

I stared at the king in horror. I had said that out loud!!!

"I'm sorry, sir," My voice came out weak, and very timid.

The beautiful lady next to the king scoffed, and I could swear at this point that she was probably regretting coming here and having to share the same space, share oxygen with her magnet skills. "Have a seat."

The waiter stepped forward, and ushered us to our seats. The seating arrangements didn't escape my notice, and I smile a faint smile to hide my disappointment. The pretty lady was seated next to my mate on the right hand side of the King. With Leo seated right next to him. While I was seated next to Leopold, while he was sat next to his father. I didn't have a problem with sitting with Leopold. I had a problem with NOT sitting with Leo. And of course, there was the micro aggression in that action. It was the King's way of telling me that I was a stranger here. That I wasn't welcome here. I sighed, and smoothed down my dress.

I was directly facing the ice Princess, and every time I looked her way, I found that she was looking at me. It looks could kill, I would probably have ten to hundred daggers on my person. Servers filed into the room, and soon the table was laden with food and drinks. It was certain we wouldn't be able to finish all these. The excesses of royals always bothered me. We didn't need this much food. Small polite talk was made as we dug into our food. The conversation was mainly between the three of them, and I was just fine with being an observant. With being invincible. I kept my eyes on my plate, and ate slowly as the conversation flowed around me.

I kept my cool knowing that this was going to be one long night.