Ronan’s POV
“We should start heading back to the palace. I promised my wife I’d be home early for dinner. I don’t want to risk offending her again just after I cut her vacation short,” Lucien said.
“I was hoping I could challenge you to a duel. I need to be very exhausted. It’s the only way I’d be able to sleep tonight,” I replied.
“Just thirty minutes,” I added when I saw the hesitation in his features.
“On one condition,” he said. “When we’re done, you’d have to follow me back to my chambers to explain to my wife that you’re the reason I’m late for dinner.”
I nodded. “Consider it done.”
He gave me a wolfish grin. “I’m going to have so much fun beating you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied with a smirk.
We ended up dueling for an hour and by the time we finished we were nearly totally out of breath and our muscles had turned to jelly.
The only thing we could do was plop down on the ground.
“Admit it,” I said panting, “I’ve become so much better.”
“Don’t look so smug,” he replied.
I hadn’t beaten him but I had given him a tough time trying to beat me. He had defeated me at the end but not as easy as he had beaten Scott.
We lay on the ground for close to fifteen minutes and I was already slowly drifting off to sleep.
He nudged me with his elbow. “You had better start thinking of a good explanation to give my wife.”
I exhaled sharply and sat up. “We should start going back then.”
He nodded in agreement.
I lifted myself from the ground and started to make my way back home.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to give an old man a helping hand?” Lucien queried.
I rolled my eyes and went to help him up.
“You do not have one old bone in your body,” I grumbled.
“Have you heard from my doctor? Trust me there are a lot of things he has to say about my aging body,” he joked.
I snorted and walked the rest of the way in silence.
We got to Lucien’s wing in the palace and I saw the nervousness in his eyes as he knocked.
I made a mental note to tease him about it later.
“Is it not your chambers? You’re supposed to have a key,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter. So far I’m in the wrong, I have to wait for her to open the door if it’s locked,” he replied.
He knocked several more times but received no response.
I heaved a sigh and turned the handle. The door shifted open.
I gave Lucien a look. “You should have done this a long time ago.”
“How was I supposed to know that she’d leave the door open? In all of the times I’ve been in this kind of trouble with her, the door was always locked,” he whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” I chuckled and he glared at me.
We entered the room quietly. She wasn’t in the sitting room.
“Honey I’m home,” he called out.
Still no response from her. The silence was loud.
“Just go into your bedroom. That’s where she’d be,” I whispered.
“Or you could call out to her,” he suggested. “She’s definitely going to come out to see you,” he whispered.
“This is ridiculous,” I said with a grin.
“You’ll understand when you get married to a tigress,” he replied.
“I’m definitely going to marry a werewolf and not a tigress,” I chuckled.
He scowled at me.
“Margaret,” I called out. “I’d really love to see you before I leave.”
After a few minutes of just standing in the living room waiting for her to show up, I concluded she didn’t want to come out.
“I think you should go to your wife. What happened to you being the head of the house? Wait till I tell the others about this,” I teased.
“You dare not,” he ground out.
I laughed and patted him on the back. “Good luck. I need to go to bed.”
I started to make my way towards the door.
“Beta Ronan, how lovely it is to have you in our home,” a voice that was undoubtedly Margaret’s said.
I turned to face her and not for the first time, I was struck by how stunning and innocent she looked.
I walked towards her and planted a kiss on both sides of her cheek.
“I’m so happy to see you again,” I said with a broad smile.
“That’s good to know. I know some people aren’t pleased to see me right now,” she replied, alluding to her husband.
“It’s all my fault. He was already on his way back to you when he saw me in a most depressing state. I desperately needed a distraction so I begged him to have a duel with me,” I explained.
“Indeed,” she replied, her gaze going to her husband.
“I couldn’t wait so I had dinner all alone. Yours is still on the dining table. You’re not to reheat it,” she said to her husband.
“I’m so sorry Margaret. I promise I’m going to make it up to you,” Lucien said.
“You had better,” she replied.
She returned her gaze to me and her expression softened. “I do hope you feel a lot better now.”
“Yes, I do. Thank you, Margaret.”
“I’d have loved to entertain you but I really have to go to bed now. I’m going to have a long day tomorrow,” she said.
“It’s no problem. I need to retire now also,” I replied.
“Goodnight then,” she murmured and sashayed back to her room.
“Can I go now?” I asked Lucien.
He nodded looking glum. “I have to eat that food cold. She’s going to know if I reheat it.”
I laughed. “Next time do not cut your vacation short. She’s still pissed because you were only thinking about yourself.”
“I know that. It’s never going to happen again,” he said.
“Go say that to her. Goodnight,” I said and walked out of his home.
I took a deep breath to steel myself for the long walk back to my room. I was so tired and hungry and I wondered which one was going to win.
I finally made it to my room and plopped down on the bed. I was only going to lie down for a few minutes and then go to the kitchen to whip up something to eat but I ended up sleeping for the rest of the night.