Page 8 of Dark Princess Ascending

"Oh, I see." He ran his fingers through his hair. "She's not as bad as you think."

That didn't sound encouraging at all. He hadn't said she was nice or that she shouldn't worry about her, just that the female wasn't that bad.

"I know." Marina forced a smile. "I'm just nervous."

"Understandable." Alfie slung the strap of hisduffle bag over his shoulder. "I'm off. I guess I'll see you at the wedding." He walked over and gave her a quick, one-armed hug. "Try to relax, okay?"

She forced another smile. "I will try."

Right.

As soon as Alfie was gone, she rushed to the linen closet and pulled out a change of bedding. He'd offered to do that, but she preferred to do it herself to make sure everything was perfect.

The entire house had to be scrubbed from top to bottom, every surface polished, every corner dusted, every pillow fluffed to maximum fluffiness. Yet she knew it wouldn't be enough.

The real problem wasn't how clean the house was or how tasty the roast Marina had made for the occasion would be. Meeting her mother-in-law along with her very human, elderly parents was a testament to Marina's mortality, and that was something she couldn't erase.

She straightened up, catching sight of herself in the spotless mirror. Her face was flushed from exertion, her hair escaping its messy ponytail, and her old t-shirt was spotted with cleaning solution.

"You can't clean away the fact that you're human," she told her reflection.

No amount of scrubbing would change the fact that she wasn't immortal and wouldn't be transitioning. Peter's mother would never accept a human wife for her son, no matter what Marina did to impress her.

"Hey, cleaning lady!" Lusha's voice rang out from the hallway. "Where are you hiding?"

"In here," Marina called back.

Lusha appeared in the doorway and let out a low whistle. "I think I can see my reflection in those tiles."

"How did you know that I was cleaning? Did you see Alfie leaving?"

Lusha chuckled. "I could smell the Pine-Sol from the walkway. You know that stuff gives immortals headaches, right?"

Marina's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, dear Mother of All Life, I didn't think—I need to air out the house?—"

"Relax." Lusha grabbed her arm before she could rush past. "I'm kidding about the Pine-Sol. But, immortals don't like strong smells of any kind, so go easy on the perfume as well."

Marina shook her head. "I'm not in the mood for jokes. I'm going out of my mind with stress."

Lusha's smile slid off her face, and she looked Marina up and down critically. "What you really need to worry about is yourself. You look like you're auditioning for a cleaning service commercial."

"I just want everything to be perfect."

"If you want to impress Peter's mother, you need to stop acting like the maid and start acting like the lady of the house." Lusha steered her toward the door. "Go take a shower—in one ofyour other pristine bathrooms—and put on something nice. I'll finish changing the bedding."

"But—"

"No buts. You can inspect my work later if you don't trust me to make a neat bed. Right now, you need to apply all that nervous energy to making yourself look good. You need to project confidence and poise, not desperation."

Marina hesitated. "My parents and Larissa are arriving later this afternoon."

"All the more reason to get yourself together." Lusha started pushing her toward the master bedroom. "Where are they staying?"

"Ingrid prepared a house for them."

"That's great. Give me the address so I can stop by and say hello."

A thought struck Marina, making her stop short. "Maybe I could visit them and stay away from this house as long as Peter is not here. I don't want to be stuck with his mother without him running interference for me."

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