I see white ears poking over the balcony again. Erie's here. She came to see me again. But the timing isn't as nice as I expected it to be. Morven wanted to talk with me. He just wanted inputs and help with his wedding, and he wanted to know things were going with my "cat wife."

    It's slightly irritating. Sure, Erie has plenty of cat-like features, but I love that about her. I love everything about her. What am I not supposed to love?

    I can't get over her responses from today's challenge. All her responses were peaceful, trying to avoid military conflict if necessary. But if she had to, her strategies were genius. Oh, how I wish the entire royal court wasn't biased towards Jhorlauhin. Maybe they'd give Erie a chance if they knew I loved women, or more like loved a woman like Erie.

    She's calm at first. Tail twitching, baggy shirt with tight jeans, and her traditional trench coat. But in her hand in a small box. I can't help but get to my feet and rush over to her. Morven seems like he isn't bothered that I ditched him at the large vanity in my room.

    Erie freezes when her eyes land on him. She lets out an awkward laugh. "Wow. Didn't know you had a friend over."

    Morven just shrugs, still looking through the nail polish colors. He wanted to have a "gossip night" with just the two of us, including half-assed spa sessions. "Pretend I'm not even here."

    Erie holds out the golden box with her traditional nervous smile. "I brought this for you."

    I'm cautious when I do, just in case her gift is fragile, but I take the box from her and flip open the lid. The inside is blanketed with purple velvet fabric, which supports a small dagger in the box. It's not sharp, but the curves and shape of the steel could make for a deadly weapon. The handle is made of pure gold. Bright, purple crystals lace into the silvers swirls covering the handle.

    I can't even tell I'm smiling so much. But she sure as moons noticed it.

    "I thought you would like it. I heard about your Mom, and thought you needed a weapon, too."

    "My mom would take this from me if she saw it." A laugh comes from me. "But I love it. Thank you."

    Mom used to be a soldier. A long time ago, Zophoria was at war. It was violent, scary, but dozens of years before I was born. Dad was still learning the ropes of ruling and Mom was training for war. Her kill count was substantial, everyone feared her. She wiped out an entire army by herself once. The scars on her neck are from the time's enemies tried to slit her throat open, the claw-shaped scars were from off-planet beasts that people used as weapons, and the scar on her eyebrow was from a time she tried saving Dad.

    But after the war ended, Grandma and Grandpa didn't have anything to do with their most prized soldier. So since violence and death threats were being thrown around, they made Mom become the bodyguard of their son. And despite how Mom never wanted to admit it until their wedding day, she fell in love with him almost immediately. Dad felt the same. Not even a year later, Marious was born.

    The scar on her eyebrow was a while before, though. It was an assassination attempt on my father, but Mom was right there. And instead of someone losing their lives, Mom just lost an eyebrow.

    Grandpa still hasn't let it go after almost 25 years. He still cracks jokes about it to this day. So in the end, it doesn't surprise me that Erie knew about her. Everyone on Zophoria knows about her past. It's why they respect her so much as queen and why they didn't bat an eye when Dad decided to marry a blacksmith's daughter. But even if mastery of weaponry runs in her side of the family, she still hates the idea of any of her children wielding a weapon.

"Of course." She smiles. "Well, I can't stay for long today. I'm sorry about that. Have fun with your friend."

Again, she hops over the balcony before I get another word in.

She's long gone. Not a white hair or patch of lavender skin insight. And Morven burst out laughing.

I bite my lip. Morven is too nice, I can't blow up at him. So I take a deep breath to attempt to regain my posture, but I know my voice is still bitter. "What?'

He giggles. "Yeah, she's in heat."

It catches me off guard. Maybe a little too much. So much so I'm rushing over and grabbing Morven by the shoulders. "Wait, what?"

"The tail twitching? She says she can't stay long? It's full moon season on Oxri? She's definitely in heat. You're just an oblivious fool."

My face feels like it's on fire. "I am not!"

"Well then. Why don't you say something about it?" He grins. "I mean, you two are very clearly falling for each other."

I take a deep breath yet again. It's Morven. I can talk to him about anything. Or can I? How do I know he won't be silently judging me? I mean, he's already found the love of his life. For the goddess's sake, he's getting married in a few months. And to top it all off, he's already got a family started. I should have found someone by now. I should be the one in his shoes. But I'm not. He's my servant with so much more in his life than a princess like myself.

I take my seat back in the other chair next to my vanity. "And what are you implying?"

"I think you can tell what I'm implying."

"I'm not going to mate with her, Morven." Staying calm is hard right now. Way too difficult. We've known each other a few days, and he's implying I mark her? Oxrian cultures are nothing like ours. Once you mate, you mate for life. That's that. Your mate, your significant other. It's practically forbidden to try to move onto another mate after that. Even if you tried to, most Oxrians can tell when you've already been marked by someone else. Why would I do such a thing? It's like taking away her freedom. I'm not going to do that to her. She deserves to leave me if she can't find happiness at my side. Sure, my kingdom is important, and finding a partner to rule with is important, but I could care less about the future of Zophoria. What I care about is Erie.

And besides, I've never done it before. I would love for Erie to be my first, but...

"Technically you don't have to mate with her." He turns back to his fingernails. Finally, he's picked metallic pink as a polish color.

"Still. I'm not going to do it."

"But you know you want to."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to do it."

"Then you'll probably never get another chance."

I blink, staring at him in his deep, golden irises. "What?"

"You haven't told your parents you want her. You could end this competition here and now, but you aren't." He meets my gaze. "And judging by what I'm seeing, you'll end up with that Laytive."

"I'm not ending up with him." I ball the thin layers of purple silk in my fists. It's brand new, a purple dress from Dad. My hands rest in my lap. Although every muscle in my body is tense, I keep my composure. Calm expression, relieving the tension from my upper body just so he doesn't notice I'm panicking.

"Yeah, I know you're not." He drags the tiny brush over the nail of his index finger, somehow doing a perfect stroke of color. "But just in case."

"Just in case what?' I'm scared. Why am I scared? I have nothing to fear.

"Things don't go to plan." He blows on his fingernail before turning back to me. His free hand lays on one of my fists, eyes staring at me with worried love. "You want to know why Arroyo and I decided to sleep together?"

"Why?"

"Because we love each other. And we saw a chance. And we wanted to take it ourselves before someone else could." He squeezes my hand. "That's what you need to do. You don't have how many chances you have left with her, or what'll you have the opportunity to do, so you need to take those chances."

I glance at the dagger I had laid in the vanity. What does he mean? I'll have her forever, right? I have all the chances and opportunities in the world. We have time, we have each other.

But he raises a point. How much longer will I have her for before she's taken away from me? Do I need to consider this is limited? His words give me a wake-up call.

Erie and I, our love is on a time limit. And the clock's only getting faster.