Married 24 Times

I had… slept… against Julian?

What kind of alternate reality had I slipped into?

I remembered the events of yesterday and wanted to jump around the room while screaming with happiness. I hadn"t been able to seduce my husband away from Mia the way I"d originally plotted, but I had won a much larger victory. Julian had basically confessed his love to me.

Struggling to calm down my wildly spinning thoughts, I reminded myself there was still a lot of obstacles and problems Julian and I had to work out. Not to mention, I still had about a million questions. We were closer, yes, but honestly speaking, there was plenty I still needed to tell Julian and vice versa.

As I sat up, I pushed my hair from my face and turned towards the man who might finally be my true husband.

"Good morning."

His smile reached up to his eyes, wrinkling them into small crescents. My heart skipped at that smile, and it only got worse as I realized he wasn"t wearing a shirt. Julian"s bedhead was possibly the most adorable thing I"d ever seen. I wanted to freeze this moment and save it in my brain forever.

I don"t care what else I forget, don"t let me forget this image.

"...Morning."

I"m sure I sounded like an idiot and my face immediately flamed. What a weak greeting! I tried to pretend it was just because I was waking up, faking a large yawn and stretching.

It sounded like Julian let out a snort of laughter, but I chose to ignore it.

Something occurred to me as I was fangirling over my husband and I forgot my embarra.s.sment.

"You stayed!"

Julian nodded. "Yeah, I did. I had to make my bed warmer perform for once."

My face heated once more, but I decided to ignore his comment. "What about Ileana?"

Everything Julian had told me yesterday flashed through my brain. Was this going to be another precursor to another death? Suddenly this morning seemed much less rose-colored. I scrambled to get out of the bed.

I know I should be used to seeing death flags, but they were still things I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Julian pulled at my arm before I could leave the bed. "It"s okay, Alice. I told Ileana."

"What?"

"I told her I would move into this room from now on."

"Didn"t you just tell me she was on your parent"s side?" Panic started to rise in me.

"She was, until I decided to bribe her a little."

Before I could ask him to clarify what the h.e.l.l he was talking about and why he was raising a death flag for me, the door opened and Ileana entered with a tray of food.

"Good morning." She didn"t bat an eye at Julian and I together in the bed, nor did she seem to notice Julian"s lack of clothing.

"Good morning, Ileana." I managed to sound fairly normal, instead of strangled the way my thoughts were. After setting down her tray on the sitting table, Ileana raised a single eyebrow at me; I must not have sounded as normal as I"d hoped.

"Alice, there"s no need to panic. Julian has told me everything."

I looked at Julian. "Everything" didn"t mean everything everything right? He raised his eyebrows at me as if to say, "Do you really think I"d say something about your multiple lives?"

Or maybe it was more like, "What"s the problem?"

I looked back at Ileana and was startled to see her bowing. "I must apologize to you for not realizing the suffering you both were going through. I truly thought this marriage was something forced upon Julian against his will."

"Oh no!" I jumped from the bed. "Ileana, you"ve done nothing wrong."

I couldn"t have the Ileana of this life apologize to me. She truly had treated me with only kindness. In past lives, yes, she had ignored me and treated me with cold courtesy, but I knew I shouldn"t keep blaming people for things their past selves had done.

Ileana stood up straight and gave me an apologetic smile. "No, but I know I may have done things I would later regret to protect Julian. You must forgive me for misunderstanding."

"How could I not forgive you? You"ve been nothing but kind to me." I reached out and took her hand.

I felt Ileana squeeze my hand. "Alice, thank you. I shall support you both from now on." She gave me a blinding smile, but it was very unlike the usually polite, guarded smiles she had previously gave me. This one reached her eyes.

I nodded enthusiastically and thanked her as she excused herself. Turning back to Julian, I found him looking at me with a soft expression.

"...What did you tell her?"

"The truth," he said. "Mostly. I told her what I told you last night, sparing a few details."

"And what about my side?"

"I kept most of that secret." He let out a small chuckle. "Who would believe that, anyways?"

"You, it seems," I teased. Julian tossed a pillow at me.

"Yes. You made me." He got up from the bed and headed for the food Ileana had brought. "Come eat breakfast. We"ve got a lot to figure out, but we shouldn"t strategize on empty stomachs."

"Oh, so we"re conspiring together now?" I giggled.

"Of course. We"re going up against my family, afterall."

I could feel nervous flutterings in my stomach. We were going to be a team against the Leonhart family. The idea was terrifying, but somehow, staring at this man, I felt we might be able to do it.