h4Chapter 803: 803-Taking Her Home With Me/h4

    strongHnie:/strong

    "Okay, now remember, no matter what she says, you are not going to let her get under your skin, right?" Jenny repeated as we stood a little further from where Lucy was.

    "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. We hade to Benita’s cafe. It had been so long since we had visited this ce, after her son turned himself in before they could arrest him. I noticed Benita wasn’t doing well. I didn’t feel bad for her. She wasn’t a very nice woman, so it didn’t really affect me. But she was back to working, and Lucy had decided to eat at her ce. I knew Benita could be hostile toward me. After her son got punished, she might even think I was the reason he was no longer with her. But I had to have this conversation with Lucy. It was a must.

    "Now go, go, go." Jenny pushed me inside, and I straightened my shoulders. Once I entered, I saw the servers give me a full bow. I realized Benita didn’t really stick around. She would just give directions to her servers and leave. I guess that’s why I feltfortable when I entered. I walked straight over to Lucy and noticed her eyes wandering behind me, just to check if anyone else hade with me. Then she looked back at me.

    "Oh, Hnie," she said, fixing her posture, probably becausest time she had really irked me. So she must be wondering if I hade here to fight her.

    "Yeah, I needed to speak with you," I said, taking a seat before she could even offer me one. I could tell she was ufortable. She kept ncing around, over her shoulder.

    "Don’t worry, I’m not here to hit you or anything," I added, trying to put her at ease.

    "You’re not?" she asked, and I shook my head. I noticed her rx a bit in the chair.

    "Then what are you here for?" she asked. I noticed a smileing to her lips, probably because she thought I hade to beg her to leave my husband alone, which she practically expressed in the next sentence.

    "If you think I’m the reason your husband is interested in me, you’re wrong. If a man finds interest somewhere else, you can’t really do much about it. Besides, why do you care? You already have so many mates," she said in one breath.

    I would have given her a good earful if I hadn’te with a n. Besides, staring at her made me miss Lucy even more. My bodynguage was different. Even when I tried to seem annoyed, I couldn’t bepletely annoyed. This was Lucy, for heaven’s sake.

    "No, I’m not here for that," I said. "I’m not here to ask you to leave him alone. I understand. It’s not your fault. I guess he’s really not able to connect with the other mate at home, and since I give time to the others, he feels left out. Probably he bonded with you over some trauma." I grabbed a water bottle and opened it.

    I noticed Lucy staring at me. I wanted her to say it herself, that it was because both had been to the 10th floor, but she didn’t. I could tell she didn’t even want to talk about the 10th floor with me anymore.

    "That is odd. The Hnie I know would never, ever admit to it. So tell me, what is going on? What are you really here for?" she said, tapping her fingers on the table, letting me know that even she knew there was no way I would be gentle with her after I found out she had been trying to hit on my husband.

    "Nothing," I replied. "I cannot force a rogue king to change his mind. And I’m not going to request you. However, I do want you to spend time with me, just so that you can really see what I go through every day. I want you to see that I’m already dealing with so much. And then I will ask you, do you still want to steal my mate?"

    In my head, beforeing here, repeating all these things made sense. But in front of her, I felt so stupid. Thankfully, she did not think so. She looked kind of amazed, but also interested.

    "You want me to spend time with you?" she asked. As I nodded, she started to chuckle.

    "Fine, tell me, how? How do you want to spend time with me?" she asked, clearly on board. And it made it even creepier.

    "I’m headed to Arthendel," I said. As soon as I announced that, I watched her eyes widen. But I could tell she forced them back to normal.

    "Oh, why so?" she asked, forcing a genuine tone.

    "You know my mother is there, and she had fixed everything. She was inviting me, so I decided—" I started, but she hushed me.

    "Who else ising?" I knew she would not be foolish enough to go alone with me.

    "Everybody else, pretty much, except for my mates. They have to stay here and take care of the zharns," I replied, noticing a smile covering her lips. I already saw iting, so before she could say anything, I made a quick decision. "Norman ising with me."

    And right then and there, she made up her mind too.

    "Then I’lle," she said. I knew the only reason she would want to stay back was to spend time with Norman. But once I told her he would being with me, she had no option but to join. It would be like killing two stones with one rock for her.

    "Sure, as long as your friends don’t lecture me about the righteous and wrong things," she stated, folding her arms.

    "They won’t, trust me. Just let me know what your decision is, and then I’ll send you the location where we would pick you up," I said. I just wanted to get it over with before Benita came out and caused another chaos. I did not want to deal with her.

    "Sure," Lucy said, smiling. She had no clue what we had nned for her. Once we take her to Arthendel, she will pretty much be at our mercy. And we will force her out of our friend’s body and rescue Lucy without hurting her in the process.