Her lips were suction cupped to his as she wrapped her legs around his waist in an attempt to guide him into her entrance again. Ulric growled above her and pulled his lips from her, pushing her shoulders back.

"Stop it, little seductress. Quit trying to use your body to get out of this."

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked, her voice laced with innocence. Ulric shot her a knowing look before pulling her hand off his arm and standing up.

She groaned and pulled the covers back over her naked body. Ulric had woken her up this morning, telling her they needed to get dressed and ready for his family's arrival. She had other plans though and seduced him into making love to her before getting out of bed. Obviously, she loved Ulric, but she did simply use sex that morning as a way to get out of having to meet his family as she was very nervous about it.

"But, I'm laying right here," she said, peaking her head out from under the covers. "Naked and ready for you."

Ulric stared at her from the closet as he pulled his clothes on. While it was tempting, today was a big day and they didn't have time to waste. "Up," he said. Amaryllis groaned and rolled out of bed, coming to join him in the closet.

"You're just so handsome," she said with a grin as she trailed her hands over his pecks, squeezing his nipples lightly between her fingers.

Ulric stared down at her, his eyes swirling with silver, though he looked unimpressed. She sighed and slumped her shoulders, moving her hand from his chest and walking to her side of the closet.

She picked out her outfit the day before so she didn't have to spend time worrying about it that morning. She pulled on a brown colored high waisted skirt with buttons that went up the front. It stopped a little lower than mid-thigh. Then she pulled on a long sleeve black blouse, tucking it into the skirt.

She turned back to Ulric who watched her as she finished getting dressed. Wrapping her arms around him, she squeezed him to her body. "You really are handsome," she said, resting her face on his chest as his hand came to rest on her back. "And I didn't just use you, I was in the mood anyway."

She looked up and saw him smirk down at her. She unwrapped her arms and handed him a diamond necklace, one that he had bought her just a few days ago. "Can you put this on me?" Amaryllis bundled her hair to one side. She couldn't help but moan slightly at the tingles that covered her body as his fingers grazed her neck. Then she slid on a pair of light brown flats as she despised wearing heels. Her outfit was complete.

Ulric looked handsome himself. He wore a pair of black, nicely fitting dress pants and a white button-up shirt. He also had on a pair of shiny black shoes. He bent down to reach for his watch and she couldn't help but stare at his butt. It looked so nice in those slacks. His outfit really accentuated the muscular physique of his body and she loved it. Especially since his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

She reached out and helped him put his watch on. Then he grabbed her hand and walked out of their room and down to the main castle doors where his family would arrive soon. She was more nervous about this encounter than she was when she met her own family. She didn't feel any emotion from Ulric other than calmness. She didn't understand how he could be so in control. She thought she would explode out of her skin.

"Your anxiety is almost suffocating, little mate," Ulric commented as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his body to calm her down. She breathed his familiar scent in and focused on her breathing. She calmed down some.

"You look beautiful," he commented. He held her close, listening to her heartbeat. "Thank you," she whispered, feeling the familiar flame in her cheeks. "So do you."

Similar to yesterday, the guards opened the doors except there weren't any guards surrounding Ulric's family like there were her's. Which made sense.

Her heartbeat sped right back up and so did the anxiety that Ulric helped soothe when the doors swung open.

Amaryllis could not decipher who was who. She hadn't seen any photos or paintings of his family, and they all looked to be around the same age, except for the children of course. She had no clue who his parents were because not one of them looked significantly older than the others.

"Ulric," a woman said and approached him with her arms outstretched. Amaryllis groaned internally, knowing this would be awkward. Ulric was not a hugger. She saw his jaw clench as the woman approached him. As she wrapped her arms around him, he stayed perfectly still, moving one hand up to pat her back lightly.

"My son, never the hugger," she said with a small smile. So this was his mother, Amaryllis thought to herself. She was beautiful and didn't look a day over 30. She had shoulder-length blond hair and her body was very slim. In fact, all the female vampires in his family were slim and she felt mildly insecure and out of place.

"Amaryllis," he said and reached down to grab her hand. "This is my mother, Elora. Mother, this is my mate, Amaryllis."

His mother, Elora, looked at her before her mouth dropped slightly. "Ulric, you didn't say your mate was human."

She saw his jaw tick again. "I didn't realize it would be an issue," he said, an underlying threat in his voice.

"No! It's not. I am just surprised. Human mates aren't common," she said. Elora looked at her again and smiled. "You are very beautiful," she said. "I know you and my son will make a beautiful heir one day."

Amaryllis's face flammed and she shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "Thank you," she said.

Another vampire, a man, came to stand next to Elora and she recognized very similar facial features in him as Ulric. This was his father, she thought.

The man stuck his hand out and Ulric shook it. "Congratulations, son." Amaryllis was right.

"This is my father, Vulk, and this is my mate, Amaryllis," Ulric introduced.

Vulk extended his hand once more to Amaryllis and she shook it. Her hand looked as small as a fly compared to his and she could tell where Ulric got his size from. Ulric and his father stood at the same height with Ulric showing more muscle than his father, though his father was still extremely muscular. The resemblance between the two was uncanny.

"Congratulations. It will be nice to have a Queen after all these years," Vulk said to her.

"I hope I can do the position justice," she said glancing at Ulric's mother who was once the queen.

"I'm sure you will," she said.

She then met the rest of his family, both of his brothers Nikolai and Elyas, and his two sisters Aviva and Lavinia. His family was beautiful. Every single one of them was attractive and bonded with equally as attractive mates. Her insecurities were really starting to shine through as she couldn't help but compare herself to the women.

Everyone seemed generally welcoming, but his oldest sister Aviva didn't seem particularly interested in her and she didn't know why.

"Are we staying in the north wing?" Elora asked.

"Yes," Ulric answered as he pulled his mate along with an arm behind her back. "Your things are already up there."

"Thank you. I will do some exploring if you don't mind. It's been so long since I've been here," she said. Ulric nodded his head, not caring what they did as long as they didn't cause any trouble or disrespect his mate.

Ulric glanced at his phone when it buzzed before slipping it back into his pocket again. "Your dress is ready at the tailor's, I need to go pick it up," he said.

"What?" All colored drained from her face. "Can't you get it delivered here?"

"No, she's an old human woman. She's very frail and wouldn't make the walk. I told her I'd be down to get it when I ordered it."

"Can I come with you?" She asked.

"Stay here, Amaryllis. You will be fine. My family won't hurt you."

"Why can't I come?" She cried.

"You need to learn to socialize more, love. You are going to be queen and that means having to speak to people you don't want to." She sighed, but he did have a point. She grumbled and hugged him goodbye.

Amaryllis turned, looking at his family. They were practically having a family reunion in the middle of the entryway of the castle. Ulric said a lot of them hadn't seen each other in a few years either, so she assumed they were all catching up.

As she looked at them without Ulric's presence, she felt awkward, like an outsider. None of them knew her and she was left alone with them.

She sat down on one of the benches and waited for Ulric to come back. She couldn't speak to them. They were all engrossed in their own conversations and she wasn't even sure what she'd say. She jumped slightly when she felt someone sit next to her. Looking up from the ground, she saw Nikolia, the second oldest sibling after Ulric.

"Hello," she said quietly.

"Hi, Amaryllis. You look like you need a friend."

"Oh, well, I don't know," she said with an awkward laugh.

"I know it's a lot to get used to, especially for a human, but we don't bite," he said. She couldn't help but laugh because vampires do, in fact, bite.

"I'm just very socially awkward. I can't talk to people easily and Ulric left to go pick up my dress for tonight, so now I don't know what to do," she revealed.

"Well, you can talk to me. I think I'm easy to talk to. Tell me about yourself."

"I don't think there's much to tell," she said. "Um, I come from a town called PotterTown. I turned nineteen not too long ago. My favorite color is yellow and I love to read."

"Good to know," Nikolai said with a smile. "I'm from here. I'm three hundred and five years old. My favorite color is lime green, and I love to speak to shy people," he said.

"Well that's good for me, isn't it?"

"I'd say so. My children think I speak too much sometimes. They always tell me to be quiet when their friends are over."

"I'm appreciative of your talking today," she replied.

"I'm glad my brother found you, Amaryllis. He had been lost for quite some time, but I can already see the changes you've made in him."

"I'm glad you can see them. I'm not trying to change him, because I love him, but I'm trying to influence him to be a better version of himself, like what he used to be before Clove."

"Well, it's working. So I am very appreciative of you for that."

Ulric arrived about ten minutes later after putting her dress in the closet of their room. He hadn't wanted her to see it yet. He wanted it to be a surprise. He thought she would like it as it had a coupling of modern and traditional styles.

"Hello, brother," Nikolai greeted as Ulric came to stand by his mate.

"Brother," Ulric said with a nod.

"Nikolai came to talk to me," Amaryllis said.

"He has always been a talker."

"You know me well, brother," Nikolai laughed. He stood up and next to Ulric she could see he was about an inch shorter than her mate. Nikolai gripped Ulric's shoulder. "I'm happy for you, Ulric. You deserve the euphoria of a mate after all you've been through."

"I appreciate it, Nikolai. I hope those children of yours respect you as they should. You are a good man," Ulric said. Amaryllis was slightly taken aback. She'd never really heard him complement people before.

"Oh yes, they give me hell but they love me. I love those rascals," he said as he stared at three young children who were playing a small game of hopscotch.

Nikolai walked back to his mate and wrapped his arms around her. They looked so in love, so happy. She was glad to say she felt the same with her own mate. Ulric wrapped his arm around her and settled his hand on her stomach. She leaned her head into his chest, feeling less out of place and less self-conscious with him there.

"Okay, open them," Ulric said as he pulled his hands from over her eyes.

"Oh my gosh," she said in awe as she stared at the beautiful dress in front of her.

It was a princess cut dress with a sweetheart neckline and long, sheer sleeves. It was a faint orangey, pinkish color. Lace wrapped around the skirt part of the dress and trailed out into a long train. The back of the bodice dipped some to where it would sit just below her shoulder blades.

"Ulric, this is beautiful," she whispered as she stuck her hand out to feel the fabric.

"Lawrence has the crown, but I think you will like it as well."

"What are you going to wear?" She asked.

"This," he said gesturing to the suit he had on. "When I was coronated, I had to wear my royal garb. I hated it. It looked foolish. This isn't my coronation though, so I don't need to wear it." Amaryllis nodded her head as she traced her fingers over the fabric of her dress. It was absolutely beautiful.

"Let me help you put it on before the Regis women get here," Ulric said as he carefully pulled the dress from its hanger. The Regis was a faction of women dedicated to dressing and styling the royal family for events.

Amaryllis undressed from her clothes, standing only in her panties. Ulric handed her a silicone sticky bra and she put that on, otherwise the bra straps from her regular bra would show when she wore the dress. Then she stepped into the dress and her mate lifted it onto her body. He zipped the back of the dress up and placed a soft kiss on her bare shoulder blade.

"I hope you tipped this woman well, she made a lovely gown," Amaryllis said, not letting the woman's work go unnoticed.

"I did, love."

Amaryllis stated at her and Ulric in the mirror. She didn't want to sound conceited, but they looked amazing together, and so very well dressed.

"Can you get someone to take a picture of us?" She asked, wanting to capture that moment.

"There will be a photographer at the ceremony," Ulric said.

"No, I mean like, on your phone. So you can keep it."

Ulric pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped on the screen before handing it to her. She hadn't held a phone in years. Humans didn't have access to them and the last she recalled was her mother having a flip phone when she was young.

"Scroll up," he said.

She was shocked by what she saw. Dozens of photos of her made up his camera roll. There were so many of her. When she was sleeping, when she was in the bath with bubbles covering her, when she was eating, when she was just doing nothing but staring off. She didn't notice him ever take any of these photos.

"When did you take all of these?" She asked.

Ulric shrugged, "Whenever I wanted to capture you in the moment over the last few months."

"I did not know you took all of those," she said.

"That was the point. If you knew I was taking the picture, the moment I wanted to capture wouldn't be the same because you'd most likely try to hide your face."

"You're not wrong," she said as she scrolled down to the bottom of the photos again. She looked at the most recent photo. It was taken today when she helped him put his watch on.

"What? How did I not notice this," she said. "Well, I just want a picture of us together, we don't have any of those," she said as she handed the phone back to him.

"I'll get one of the Regis to take a picture of us," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

A few minutes later the Regis women came and all but attacked Amaryllis. Shoes, jewelry, curling irons, and markup brushes were all causing a big blur in her vision. She hated it. They pulled her hair and it hurt, and they shoved uncomfortable shoes on her feet.

When she stood up after they had finished, she could barely walk. The heels were only four inches tall, but she could not handle them. She sat back down in the chair before she fell over. "Do you have any other shoes I can wear? I can't walk in heels," she said. She'd never owned a pair of heels in her life.

"Your grace, it's custom that women wear heels. Flats are not elegant enough for such a matter," one of the women said.

Amaryllis huffed and crossed her arms. "Ladies, I'm sure we can find another type of shoe for my mate and your future Queen, correct?" Ulric said from the doorway.

The Regis women all looked a bit flustered like they weren't sure how to handle the situation because they'd been doing it the same for years and no one had ever requested it be done differently. They all stared at each other before the leader of the Regis women nodded. "Of course my King," she said with a bow.

"Petunia, go find the Queen a nice pair of flats," the leader said. Amaryllis mouthed "thank you" to Ulric. She didn't know what she'd have done if she had to wear those dreadful heels.

Petunia returned shortly after with a pair of nude-colored flats. Amaryllis slid them on to her feet and stood up, thankful for the lack of heels.

"Larissa," Ulric said.

"Yes, my king," the leader of the women, Larissa said.

"Will you take a photo of my mate and me?"

"Of course, my king, it would be an honor."

Ulric handed Larissa his phone and came to stand next to Amaryllis. He brushed his thumbs lightly over her cheeks and whispered how beautiful she was before he stood by her side with his arm around her waist.

Amaryllis moved her arm below his so she could hold onto him. She looked at the camera and smiled as Larissa took the photo. She looked up and saw Ulric was not smiling. "Will you smile?" She asked. "Please? Pretty please? For me?"

He rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile at her persistence. He nodded his head and smiled when the Larissa snapped the next photo.

"My Queen, I think it would like nice if you placed your hand on the King's breast pocket and leaned your face closer to his chest," Larissa said.

"Okay, let's do it," Amaryllis said, happy to finally have some cute photos of the two of them. She placed her hand over the breast pocket of his suit jacket and leaned her head closer to his chest. Larissa snapped a few more photos in that position as well.

"Thank you, Larissa. I appreciate how helpful you have been," Amaryllis said as she scrolled through the new photos. She was quite pleased with how they'd turned out.

"Of course, my Queen. We will see you in the crowd at your coronation ceremony, you will do great!"

The Regis women left and Amaryllis had a few moments to calm herself before it was time for them to attend the ceremony. They were going to walk in together, she was happy about that. She didn't want to walk in by herself and have all of the attention solely on her.

"Are you ready?" He asked when it was time for them to leave.

"Yes," she replied. It wasn't entirely true, but she was going to force herself to believe it. She had nothing to worry about. Ulric's people liked her and they all seemed delighted to finally have a Queen after so long. She couldn't understand why she was so nervous.

Her and Ulric stood outside of the doors to the Throne Hall, ready for the guards on the inside to open them after Lawrence finished introducing them to the people. "You'll be fine," Ulric whispered.

"I know," she said and squeezed his hand.