Their Hidden Princess (Zora and Maximus) novel Chapter 201

Chapter 201

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He slowly walked around me and gestured for me to follow him with the jerk of his head. His dress shoes clicked on the wooden floor. I didn’t even bother to ask before toeing off my salt–stained boots. I padded behind him in my tights–covered feet.

Valentin led us into a room even more ornate than the entry way. There was a large table that looked about a hundred years old. Behind the head seat there was fire that crackled and spit into the heavy, silent air.

“Wow,” I breathed. Valentin didn’t react. He simply pulled out the chair to the right of the head. I sunk into it, still marveling at the room as I went.

“I hope you like beef,” He said as he sat in his own chair.

He waved a hand, and two plates soared into the room then slowed down as they approached the table. It gingerly fell into place between the cutlery in front of me. A second fell in front of Valentin.

On the plate was the heartiest looking meal I’d ever seen. Sure, I’d grown accustomed to the bougie food in the dining hall. But this looked like the type of meal I would’ve killed for as a kid. Sauce coated beef over a bed of mashed potatoes that looked like they’d melt in my mouth.

I dove in without a second thought.

As the food hit my mouth, I couldn’t stop myself. I let out a moan that seemed to simultaneously vibrate through my body and set every hair on Valentin’s arms to be standing straight up. My cheeks flushed as I realized.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“I’m glad you like it,” Valentin said tersely, as if trying to hold himself back. “It’s your aunt’s recipe.”

Sadness flooded through me. I frowned and dropped my fork to my plate then looked at Valentin.

“What was she like?”

Valentin blinked at me and also stopped eating. If possible, his shoulders became more tense. I shook my head and picked my fork back up.

“Sorry,” I mumbled again. “I didn’t mean to—”

“She was a lot like you,” Valentin replied, cutting me off. I glanced back up at him. He looked to be lost in a memory.

“Kind, smart,” Valentin continued. “But your fire is all from your mother. Zahara was the easy–going sister. Victoria was the menace.”

I snorted. “I can see that,‘

>>

“Mm,” Valentin hummed. “But she also is a relentless leader. The wolves wouldn’t be free without her leadership. That’s something else I think you’ve inherited from her.”

“I don’t know what I’ve led,” I said, plainly.

Valentin shook his head. “Sometimes it’s not leading a group of people,” he said. “Sometimes being a leader is

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Chapter 201

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inspiring change in the people. The way you stood up the Moonraiser and Wolfham? That is being a leader. Showing people that wolfless are valid people as well? Also a leadership role.”

I shoved another bite of food in my mouth as my eyebrows knit. I supposed he was right. In trying to survive, I’d managed to change the way wolves thought. Maybe I was a leader after all.

“Don’t even get me started on what you did with Amara,” Valentin said.

“Amara’s a bitch,” I replied before I could help myself. My eyes went wide as I glanced at Valentin. In the most human show of emotions I’d ever seen from him, he snorted and smirked.

“Amara is a fucking bitch,” he agreed. “I don’t know why your mother kept her around.”

“I don’t think you can just return a kid you adopted,” I mused.

Valentin snorted a laugh again. “You’d be surprised.”

We ate our meal in comfortable silence after that. The hard shell of Valentin Lunerly was dissipating in front of me. I still had questions, I still had things to learn, but I was starting to think maybe we’d have a fruitful relationship outside whatever horny nonsense the bond sent us into.

In fact, maybe, he could be a friend.

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