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“All of them?” Valda raised her eyebrows, surprised.

“Yes.” Rionach took a step back as Valda took the blouse and tossed it near the jacket.“If anything happens, I want you to at least think about having a heart mate.”

Valda frowned. Not liking what her mother was saying or implying. She spoke as ifthe Oracle was wrong. “I don’t want a heart mate,” she said, picking up Cerberus and scratching under her chin.

“A lot of people have heart mates, Valda. They grow old together, have children together even,” Rionach muttered, rubbing her hands together. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before blurting. “What about Kayden?”

Cerberus sneezed and Valda’s eyes went wide and took a dramatic step back, almost dropping her cat. She couldn’t believe her mother would even suggest something like that. Kayden was her best friend. They met when they were still kids when her mother went on a diplomatic visit to Harmonia. After making fun of his red hair, and wrestling him in the castle’s garden, they became inseparable. She loved Kayden, but he was a man and she thought she had made it more than clear growing up that she was not attracted to men.

“Excuse you?”

“But Valda, an alliance with Harmonia is an alliance with the Vulcanians! Can you imagine? We have the numbers; they have the power and fire!”

“Have you gone mad? I am not marrying Kayden. He is currently sinking his cock into every single person he sees.”

“So…” Rionach cringed, waving her hand as if in a balance.

“Except me!” Valda released her hold on Cerberus, allowing the animal to gracefully fall on the floor. The cat found a spot n the living space, allowing her to keep an eye on her owner.

Valda paced in her chamber, her arms akimbo before she stopped before her mother. “Do you think I will not find her?” Rionach opened her mouth, but Valda spoke before she could answer, “Do you not want me to find her?”

“Why would I not want my daughter to find her soulmate and experience the beauty of a bond?”

“I don’t know. Why aren’t the Sealians allowed near Oberon castle then? Why are we treating them the way we are?”

“Oh, Valda, please. We’ve raised taxes on everyone, not only the Sealians.”

“And do you think that is the correct thing to do? Tartarus! They are not even permitted to come to our castle to ask for help. The last Sealian to come here, was dragged out.”

“She wanted more money, more resources, what more do they want? We’ve done enough by keeping them here, giving them the aid of our people!”

“They are our people too! If you didn’t know, that woman’s brother is a soldier in our army.”

Rionach frowned. “A Sealian in our army? Who agreed to this?”

“I did.”

Scoffing, Rionach folded her hands, and looked away. “Well! What do you want me to do then?”

“Don’t hate them.”

“I don’t hate them, Valda.”

“Mother, you made a decree stablishing that if the Sealian ever revolt against us, it will be seen as an act of war, and they will be either kicked out or ‘eliminated’, whatever that means.”

Rionach swallowed, her gaze darkening as she stared at Valda. “Biting the hand that feeds you is an act of war, Valda. I will not tolerate them revolting against us after all we have done.”

“We can do more. And if you cared about me actually finding my mate, you would do more to have an amicable relationship with the Sealians.”

Rionach inhaled deeply and waved her hand dismissively. “You are obsessed with helping everyone.”

“Because everyone needs a helping hand.”

“And yet, we help and help, and we get more and more rebels trying to destabilize what we built,” Rionach said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Some people are ungrateful, Valda. They will always be like that. When you become queen, you will see that it doesn’t matter what you do, there will be someone who disagrees with what you do.”

Valda frowned, her hand touching the now scarring wound in her arm.

“Let Arwin take care of the rebellion. Now is not the time to talk about this. What bothers me is your birthday and your expectation of what will happen.”