Tradition.

Evangeline fixes her dress and glances at Clover to find him sucking his fingers, heat pools low in her belly even though he had just taken care of her. He catches her watching and winks "You taste good, I can't wait to have the main meal tonight"

Her heart races at his words, because she can practically still feel the feeling of his fingers inside of her but she loves torturing herself so she says "I don't think we should bed tonight."

He scoffs as he adjusts himself "Tradition says we should."

"Well I want to know whether or not you have diseases before you stick your dick in me."

He glares "Such a filthy mouth for a princess and besides I do not have any diseases."

"You simply can't know that. You bed the maid and who knows who the hell she is bedding? I'm just being cautious"

He rakes a hand through his hair in frustration "Mia is not bedding anyone but me and stop referring to her as 'the maid'. She has a name, use it."

He sounds so damn sure of himself.

When she doesn't say anything, he steps closer to her "A minute ago my fingers were knuckles deep inside of you, Eva. Don't be difficult now."

Her eyes narrow "Eva?"

"Yeah, you asked me to call you that, remember?"

"That was a while ago, I take that privilege back."

He smirks "Tough shit. I say it stays, Eva"

"Very well then, Clove"

His smirk fades "Absolutely not. That's a shitty nickname and you know it"

"Sounds fine to me"

She starts walking out the door but laughs loudly when he tickles her from behind, they tackle for a moment with him tickling her and her trying to get him to stop. They come to a halt when they see King Lucien looking between them with a raised eyebrow, Evangeline cleared her throat and tries to hide away any trace that she had an orgasm not long before that. 

"King Lucien" Clover acknowledges

"Prince Clover" his eyes continue darting between them before saying "Could you give me a moment with my daughter"

Clover tenses, not at all wanting to leave her alone with the man who locked her up in a basement. King Lucien takes note of his change of body language but before he can comment on it, Evangeline says "You can have them prepare our marriage bed, Clover."

His eyes snap to hers but makes no move to leave, they hold each other's eyes and she gives him a nod. He lets out a sigh before nodding back then walking away. King Lucien waits until Clover is away before chuckling dryly "All ready having conversations without words, huh? That's nice."

"What do you want, father?"

He crosses his arms over his chest "I hope you're not getting too comfortable with him. I trained you better than that."

Trained. Not raised.

"I'm not." She lies but forces her voice to be even.

He tilts his head slightly in the same way she does when she's assessing something "Did you know that your fingers tap your thigh when you're lying?"

She pauses when she realize that she had in fact been tapping her thigh, she swallows wishing that she didn't send Clover away "I did not know that"

"Well now you do so work on it" he starts turning away before stopping and turning back to her "Why did you have your brother walk you down the aisle?"

"It just felt proper."

"Proper?" he scoffs "There is nothing proper about your brother walking you down the aisle when your father is very much alive"

She resists the urge to laugh because it feels like her father has been dead for a while "While we're on the topic of Edward, why are you making him marry a Duke's daughter?"

"Of course the little shit told you" he mutters under his breath but Evangeline heard him loud and clear "We need an alliance with the west and Edward marrying Helena will ensure that alliance"

"An alliance? Why?" Her brows furrow "My marriage to Clover is already a powerful alliance. You said that, father."

"And I stand by that but right now we need the west too."

"Why?" she demands

King Lucien glares at her tone "The time will come when I think you're ready to know. But for now, you earn the prince's trust and get the Clarke throne for us."

With that he walks away and she bites the inside of her cheek so hard she tastes blood, she lets out a heavy breath and heads through the kitchen, snagging a bottle of wine and heading out to the garden. She passes the willow tree Clover had her pressed up against the other night and heads straight for a specific flower as she drinks from the bottle. 

"Fancy seeing you here."

She turns to see Marcus heading her way, she didn't see him at the wedding but then again none of the help was there. It was better that way, she doesn't think she would've remained sane if she saw Mia during her wedding. "I could say the same to you. I thought it was your day off?"

"It is but even on my off days I tend to check on the flowers." he says and she nods before taking another swing of the bottle "Should I call Prince for you, Your Highness?"

"No. I just need a moment."

He watches her as she stares intently at the daffodil flower and he murmurs softly "You love him."

She scoffs a laugh "Love is such a strong word. Like? Maybe."

He nods "No matter the word, it doesn't change the fact that you're feeling something for the Prince that wasn't there before"

"True" she confess "I feel so stupid"

He turns to her in surprise "Why, Your Highness?"

"He'll never feel for me what he feels for her. I'm sure he loves the thrill of bickering and yelling with me but at the end of the day, it's always her comfort that he seeks"

"I see" he says softly "Perhaps you need to be his comfort then he'll realize you're all he needs"

She laughs dryly before taking another drink from the bottle "I'm hardly a comfort to myself, how the hell am I going to be it to him?"

Marcus doesn't know whether he should be amused or concerned. "I may not know much about royalty but the Prince is a man and every dream is a beautiful wife with a loving heart."

"Well it's a shame that I only have one of those"

He frowns "Forgive me for my forwardness, Princess but do you make a habit out of believing you're a bad person?" 

Oh, if only he knew.

She doesn't say anything in return to that and Marcus reaches out, picking one of the daffodils then holding it out to her "May I?"

She blinks but nods nonetheless and he gently puts the flower in her hair, smiling as he takes a step back "Perfect"

Her cheeks heat up for some reason as she murmurs "Thank you"

"What the fuck is going on here?"

She startles at the voice, whipping around to find Clover watching them with a glare "Clover."

"My Prince." Marcus bows "I was just trying to cheer up the Princess"

Evangeline tries not to wince at his words, Clover steps forward "No need for that. I can cheer up my wife just fine."

"Of course, Your Highness" Marcus bows again before walking away

Clover turns to her then "Should I be worried?"

She raises an eyebrow "About your gardener trying to cheer me up? No."

"No." he presses out "Should I be worried that you're drinking from the bottle and blushing for the gardener"

She glares "No."

His eyes search hers before nodding once and he holds out his hand, she sighs before passing the wine to him and he says "Let's go. It's time for the bedding ceremony"

In the bedchamber after everything is set up and some people spoke words of importance, they then leave, closing the door behind them and Clover and Evangeline sit on the bed next to each other in silence.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to" he says softly after a while

"It's tradition" she repeats his words

"I know but the thought of you only doing this because of tradition and not because you want to doesn't feel right."

She glances at him to find him staring at nothing across the room "I do want to"

He then turns to her "Then why did you want to get drunk?"

She sighs "That had nothing to do with you, Clover"

"And all that talk about me having diseases?"

"I was just being a bitch as usual. I know you and Mia have only been with each other"

He lets out a sigh of relief and nods "Correct. And I must admit that the thought of being intimate with someone other than her feels weird"

She frowns "Please don't tell me you're going to imagine her the entire time and say her name when you climax?"

He has a horrified look on his face "Gods, no. This here. Between you and me. Is all that matters right now."

She lets out a heavy breath, feeling better now knowing it won't be anything like how she imagined. She licks her lips and his eyes dart to it, she swallows before leaning closer to him and he meets her halfway before their lips smash together. He pushes her back against the bed before settling between her legs and murmurs against her lips "I need to use my fingers again to get you ready. You're way too tight" she nods and he presses open mouth kisses to her neck, moving down to her breasts "Fuck, you looked so beautiful in this dress." he bites her nipple through the fabric of her dress and she lets out a small gasp "Relax, Eva and let me take care of you." 

She has a stinking feeling that he'll continue taking care of her in more ways than just sex and she finds herself completely okay with that.