Page 60 of Fake Fae-Ancée

Nicolai didn't even blink.

"Good," he sneered.

I was drawing a sharp breath, ready to tell Nicolai to stop being an ass towards my wife — fiancée, ex-wife, whatever — and to stick his lousy attitude where the sun…

"I don't see the problem."

Kostya was smacking his lips and reaching for the next sandwich on the plates on the table.

"You better keep your mouth shut when adults are talking," Nicolai bit out. Kostya just grinned his hostility away. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at their bickering.

"Prophecy says she's the queen," Kostya said calmly, loading more sandwiches onto his plate. "So she’ll be the queen. The plan will work."

"You do know that this kind of predeterminism doesn't apply in real life, right?" hissed Nicolai.

"You believe in the prophecy, don’t you?" Kostya shot him a challenging look.

Nicolai's face froze.

"I'm not even going to answer that."

"Guys, please," I tried to call them to order, halfway fed up already. Really, Bears should stay the hell alone. Or at least far away from other Bears. No wonder we all met only once a year, if at all.

"She is the future queen. The stars have said so," Kostya said, ignoring me.

"That's bullshit! You know what the Fae rulers did to our people, right?" Nicolai roared.

"That was centuries ago," I muttered.

The royal Fae families had ruled over Europe for hundreds of years. During the French Revolution, they had all fled, most of them to Otherland, but many had made it to our old homeland. And oh, had let our people suffer under their bloody rule before they cast all the Bears out of our old homeland.

But all of that had happened ages ago and had nothing to do with Kai and I.

"Are you serious?" Nicolai said. "The king of Bears can't have a Fae queen! It's just not appropriate. The Bears will never swear allegiance to you, Yuri. Your ridiculous plan will never work." He stabbed a finger at me and then at Kai.

"I'd rather die than call a Fae-scum my queen."

"You take that back!"

Bear came forward with a thundering growl. My brother and I both jumped up.

"But Nici," Kostya said, shoving another sandwich into his mouth, completely unimpressed. "Sankta Polina is never wrong."

Nicolai glared at me, jaws grinding.

"Kai is chosen by the mother of all Bears. I'm sure no one would object to that, would they? Sankta Polina knows what she’s doing." Kostya scooped cherry jam into his teacup and stirred.

Fuming, Nicolai sank back on the sofa, his jaw ticking. But there was nothing he could say. That the prophecy was wrong? That Sankta Polina, our Beloved Mother in the Stars had erred? Impossible. Prophecies were true north for us Bears. Even if we hated it.

I sat down, too, pulse chugging in my ears. No one, not even my brother, was insulting my wife.

Kai was still sitting motionless, her eyes fixed on the teacup she was holding on her knees.

"I don’t believe you," Nicolai muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Nicolai crossed his arms. "Your story doesn't add up. You were in Svalbard for five years. Why would she wait for you if there wasn’t anything in it for her?"

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