Chapter <b>230 </b>


    Amber’s POV


    I pulled away, not because I wanted to, but because I felt it was necessary. I didn’t want <i>to </iplicate things with Julian worse than they already were.


    But those few minutes where we had held each other? Those had been perfect. I had missed his absence


    keenly, and being beside him now felt like I was having a part of myself restored to me.


    None of which I could vocalize aloud, not without things being misconstrued, or taken too far. I wasn’t


    ready for the kind of rtionship Julian seemed up for – at least not yet. I knew saying these things


    would only lead him on and make him think I was prepared for the kind of rtionship he wanted.


    Maybe in the future. I didn’t know. But I knew right now was too soon.


    . Between us, silently within in, I felt the buzz of the mating bond, as healthy as ever now that we were


    reunited again.


    “Please don’t take that medicine anymore,” I said to Julian. “I don’t want you to take it.”


    “Okay,” he said, agreeing with no fight whatsoever. “That might mean that I’m sometimes… protective.”


    “I understand,” I said. “That’s okay.” The truth was, I would rather have him be overprotective and know I


    could depend on him than have him be distant and unresponsive.


    It wasn’t his fault. I was the one who had suggested the medicine and brought it home for him to take. But now, having seen the results and the effects, I was ready for that chapter of our lives – that failed


    experiment – to be over.


    We would have to find some other way to deal with Julian’s mate sickness.


    Therapy, perhaps. Or a less potent medicine. <fnec14> Official source is find?novel</fnec14>


    For now, we could leave that solution to the future. Instead, I wanted to exist just like this, in this moment, and feel the happy bond gently push–pulling between us.


    “I won’t take it anymore,” Julian assured me, and I nodded, satisfied.


    Julian looked at me fondly, when something caught his eye and drew his attention to the doorway. His fondness remained but it shifted a little, adding some weight of guilt.


    Looking, I saw Alice standing there.


    She was looking a little sad, tears in her eyes.


    She hadn’t been in the kitchen yet, and hadn’t yet seen what I had. I stepped a bit more to the side so that she could see the front of the refrigerator – and the child’s drawing hanging there.


    Particrly, Alice’s drawing that she had torn in half in her anger and pain. Julian had taped the two pieces lovingly back together and then hung it on the fridge with a pair of fruit mas. The drawing was the only thing hanging there, giving it a spot of prominence and importance.


    As I moved, Alice’s attention caught on the space I had emptied and even through her tears, she must have seen the picture because she gasped.


    Then her tears spilled over in force. She ran towards Julian, who immediately dropped to his knees to


    hold her. She through her arms around his neck as his went around her back.


    “Daddy… I don’t hate you… I promise I don’t,” Alice said, her voice broken with her loud sobbing.


    “I know, honey. I don’t hate you either. I love you, so very much,” Julian said to her. His eyes were closed


    as he tipped his head into hers, their ears next to each other.


    “I love you too,” she said.


    Watching the scene, my own eyes dampened. This father and daughter were bonded, and I couldn’t be happier.


    Julian’s POV


    It took some time for all three of us to calm down, but eventually Alice went to y with the toys that she


    brought while Amber and I sat down to talk.


    We had so much to talk about, but what I wanted to hear about first and foremost was what was going on


    with Amber having her lineage confirmed.


    “The test showed that I am Rafael’s sister,” Amber said. “Mary didn’t believe it, of course, and insisted on another one done through a third party. But I know I didn’t alter anything, so the first results are


    urate.”


    <b>I </b>tried to take in the news, but honestly, it didn’t really change anything about how I saw Amber or what I thought about her. I always knew she was special. She didn’t need the princess lineage to tell me that.


    “I don’t know how the news got leaked,” she said. “But ever since then, everything has been a mess. After that attack, Rafael won’t even let me go back to the clinic. I understand his concerns, I do. The ce was swarming with people and it was difficult to tell the people who genuinely needed help and those who… well… What happened, happened.”


    “Is that how it happened?”


    “Yes. He pretended to be a patient, and then he tried to kidnap me. Rafael had assigned extra security, which is ultimately what saved me.” To herself, she muttered, “Butter toast.”


    “What’s that?” I asked, certain I misheard.


    <b>“</b>Nothing,<i>” </i>she said.


    As she told the story, though I tried to remain calm, my protectiveness was tensing every single muscle in my body. I didn’t want toe on too strong right away, now that I could feel things more strongly again without the medicine, but neither was I happy sitting around doing nothing.


    “Here,” I said, standing. I waved for her to do the same. “It’s time for an impromptu self–defense lesson<b>.</b><b><i>” </i></b><b>If </b>I could prepare her with some tools she could use to defend herself, then maybe I would feel more


    Even if I didn’t, it would give her an advantage if she found herself in that situation again, so it was worth


    a try.


    Amber seemed unsure for a moment, but ultimately decided to go along with it. She stood up and came


    closer to me.


    ‘I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her, grabbing her arms at the wrist. “Try to get out of


    this hold.”


    She struggled but couldn’t get out. “How?”


    Alice’s POV


    I watched from behind the doorway as Mom and Dad hugged. Dad told Mom how to escape his hug and


    Mom did so, then they bothughed.


    Seeing them like this, happy with one another again, made me feel lighter inside.


    Smiling, I sneaked away before they could see me. I went back to the living room and sat down.


    I wanted to be happy too, and I was, in a way. I was happy to see Daddy, and happy that Mom and Dad were happy with each other.


    But…


    ‘My skin felt kind of itchy, the worse it had been since the ne broke and was given back to me.


    I didn’t know how <i>to </i>tell Mom, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t really working anymore. And with how it seemed to be getting worse and worse, I didn’t know how much longer it would keep working before it stopped entirely.


    I didn’t want to tell Mom yet, especially not right now when she was so happy. I knew news like this would only upset her.


    But it was scary.


    If I shifted again….


    I didn’t know when it would happen, but I was sure it would happen again.


    And soon.