Chapter 26

Drake

I'd woken up at around four a.m. that night. I'd fallen asleep swiftly, but was unable to fall back asleep between four and five. I decided to Google some things about the first trimester of pregnancy, I continued my Duolingo Dutch lessons, caught up with some stuff. Finally, at around five a.m. I fell back asleep, feeling quite nervous about the entire tour. From the moment we'd woken up that morning, Iris had been pretty nervous as well. Not about Lythikos, which was, together with House Valentine's Bellatio, pretty much the only place she trusted. She was nervous about all the other people we'd be visiting. Scared whether they would support us or not. Somehow I'd managed to calm her down, reminded her that stress wasn't good for a baby. She'd taken a deep breath, nodded, and put on a fake smile. I'd taken her hand and told her we were in this together, causing her to show her first genuine smile of the day.

It was time for us to fly up to Lythikos. Olivia had already left the night before, to get some stuff done before we would all arrive. We arrived at about one in the afternoon, and our arrival was filmed by many reporters, all yelling our names and trying to get us to answer their questions. 'Duchess Iris!' Iris smiled at Ana de Luca. 'Hi Ana, thanks for coming!' Ana smiled big. 'Thank you. Are you looking forward to the entire tour?' Iris slid her hand in mine and smiled up at me. 'We're looking forward to see everyone again, absolutely, but the thing we're most excited about would definitely be tying the knot in a few weeks.' She paused and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. 'I, for one, can't wait.' A smile made its way onto my lips, and I nodded in agreement. 'Me neither.' She pinched my hand softly, her eyes loving.

Before anyone else could ask us anything else, Olivia walked out, greeting us while spreading her arms. 'King Jimmy, Duchess Iris, welcome back to Lythikos.' She smiled, a smile that somehow always seemed to be arrogant. 'I will be happy to pledge my loyalty to the crown by performing a sword fight, showing you that Lythikos will be your most reliable ally.' Jimmy smiled at her, but I frowned. 'Who's she going to fight with?' I whispered, looking at Iris. She shook her head slowly, and leaned towards Jake, who was standing next to her. 'Rules state that Olivia must fence against the realm's strongest competitor. One day, that would've been Jackson Walker, it actually said so in the books.' Jake shot me an apologetic look. I swallowed as I fake smiled his apologies away. Iris' eyes were slightly more saddened, and she pinched my hand again. 'Who…' I started, but Bastien already took a step forward, accepting Olivia's sword, and smiling down at her. 'Little Nevrakis. We meet again.' Olivia smiled up at him, shaking her head. 'I won't spare you.' He grinned. 'I'd already hoped you'd say that.'

As everyone fell silent, Olivia and Bastien bowed at Jimmy, who raised his hands. 'Proceed.' Olivia and Bastien started fighting, and the deal was, no striking. They had to win without stabbing each other, it wasn't a real fight. Even though they were both extremely good, Olivia came out as the winner. I could see that Bastien's wounded shoulder wasn't helping, and he hadn't played entirely fair. I'd seen his sword skills before… and he didn't show them during the fight with Olivia. But that was good, because she had to win, to prove a point. All the people of Lythikos exulted, and cheered for their fierce Duchess. Iris and I were clapping along too, and caught each other's eyes.

Good. One down, a lot more to go.

After Olivia had shown us to our rooms, we dropped our luggage there and met her outside at the lake, which was frozen solid all year long. I remembered Iris skating with Hana and Maxwell last time we were here, I knew she loved it, and she was showing the exact same signs again. 'Drake, are you coming?' She asked happily, when she'd put on her skates. I shook my head, and shot her a slight grin. 'Skiing is one thing, Valentine. Ice skating is…' I paused and tried to think of the right words. 'Have a good time.' I couldn't think of any. She laughed, pecked my lips and jumped on the ice. 'Last one in the centre is a loser!' She called at the others, who jumped up speedily and raced after her. Emma, Jake, Danny, Hana, Tim and Maxwell were there in time. Ron wasn't. 'Well, this outcome certainly doesn't surprise me,' Tim joked, high fiving his sister. Jimmy and I chuckled from the side line. Jimmy had chosen not to go, pretending to keep me company, but I knew he actually hated ice skating.

'Oh my god, Jake, remember what we always used to do?' Emma called happily, and started skating towards Jake, who twirled her around and the both of them made turns. I glanced at Jimmy, whose gaze was fixated on Emma and Jake… as if he suddenly realised that he wasn't fond of their chemistry as well. He looked at me, his eyes a mixture between surprise and vulnerability. 'It's all in your head, I promise,' I joked, repeating the words he'd told me the night before. 'Oh shut up,' he mumbled, and looked back at Emma and Jake. As he continued looking at them, I looked at Iris and Danny, who were laughing together. All of a sudden, Iris jumped up. 'REALLY? OH MY GOD!' She wrapped her arms around Danny and cheered. I felt Jimmy's gaze on me and repeated, yet again, his words. 'Shut up.' My heart was aching.

Iris

As Emma was skating around with Jake, I was skating around with Danny, laughing and twirling. 'Man, this takes me back to when we were kids,' I said, and smiled at him. He laughed and nodded. 'You really have a different life here, Iris.' I nodded. 'I really do, and I'd never imagined loving it so much.' Danny grinned. 'I'm guessing that has something to do with future Mr Valentine.' I let out a laugh. 'Pretty sure it does… but also Jimmy and Emma together, and Maxwell being weird… Tim and Hana.' I smiled. 'The only thing that was missing were you guys. This really connects all my stories.' Danny raised his eyebrows. 'I wouldn't be your best friend if I didn't say anything hurtful… so here it is.' He scraped his throat. 'I'm not surprised that you didn't make any friends in America. I am, however, surprised that you managed to make so many friends to begin with.'

I grinned. 'And what is the thing you'd actually want to say instead of something hurtful?' He smiled, and his blue eyes lit up. 'I'm glad to be here with you guys too, being a part of your new story.' We smiled at each other for a few seconds, until I felt a small lump appearing in my throat. I swallowed. 'So,' I said and scraped my throat. 'How's Sarah doing?' 'Great! We moved in together last year. Still going strong. I'm actually thinking about asking her to marry me… once I get back.' My mouth fell open. 'REALLY? OH MY GOD!' I cheered, and wrapped my arms around him. He grew red and laughed. 'Thanks, Ris, but that doesn't mean she's already accepted.' I shook my head, then grinned. 'As your best friend… I'm supposed to say something hurtful, so here it is.' I paused. 'She'd be an idiot.' He burst into laughter, 'and now the real thing?' I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder. 'She'd be an idiot if she'd turn you down.'

Danny and I continued chatting, and we watched Emma and Jake skating together. We were cheering them on, until Emma's skate got stuck in the ice, and she tumbled over, falling on top of Jake. 'Emma!' Hana called worried. As the two of them were rolling over the ice, thankfully laughing their asses off and not having broken or scratched anything, I was sincerely hoping that the reporters hadn't seen this. The future Queen rolling on top of an unknown Dutch guy would not be great publicity. 'I'm telling Fleur about this,' Danny said, taking out his phone. I laughed and slapped his arm away. 'You're not telling Fleur anything.' Jake and Fleur had been together for years, ever since they were eighteen. They were highly cute together, so I'd tackle Danny to the ice before he'd get the chance to mess with Fleur.

I looked up, and in the corner of my eye, I saw Jimmy walking away, his face looking sad. 'Oh god,' I mumbled. I raced towards the side, kicked off my skates and ran after him, my feet getting soaked in the snow. 'Jimmy!' I called, finally catching up with him after about twenty meters. He turned around and shot me a fake smile. 'Hey, Iris.' I frowned. 'Cut it, Jimmy. We've been through a lot, I know your fake smiles by now.' He raised his eyebrows and sighed. 'Yeah you do, fine.' He shook his head. 'I don't want to talk about it.' 'About what,' I asked confused, 'about Emma and Jake?' His face fell. 'No, I don't want to talk about that.' 'Jimmy,' I said softly, frowning as he shook his head. 'Thanks, Iris, but please, just give me a minute, okay?' He'd already walked away before I could even reply. 'Then please talk to Emma about it,' I told him, 'because it isn't what it looks like.' He turned around, his eyes vulnerable. He nodded slightly, then continued walking.

I sighed as I walked back to the lake. I walked up to where Drake was standing. 'Valentine, what the hell are you doing?' Drake asked confused as he looked down at my feet. 'I followed Jimmy, he walked away after seeing Emma and Jake tumble over the ice together,' I said, shaking my head. 'How could he ever think that Emma would do that to him!' He sighed and caught my eyes. 'You shouldn't walk around like that, you'll get sick. Here.' He lifted me up, and I protested. 'Drake, you can't do this, your wound!' His eyes turned somewhat lighter as the corners of his lips curled up. 'It's okay, Valentine.'

I smiled, and pecked his lips. He carried me inside, and put me down in front of the fire, down in Olivia's living room. 'Here, you warm your feet, I'll go get you a change of socks… and pants,' he chuckled, then smiled lovingly. 'You idiot. What's next, skiing on all fours?' I laughed and took off my socks. 'Maybe just flat on my belly.' He growled jokingly, 'not while you're pregnant with our baby in there.' Then shook his head. 'You know what, scrap that. Never go down a mountain like that, pregnant or not, okay?' I giggled. 'Promise.' He smiled, and walked away, after giving me a kiss.

The fire was nice and warm, toasting my socks quite quickly. I was sitting in perfect silence, until I heard Danny's voice behind me. 'Where did you go?' I shook my head as he sat down next to me. 'Had to ask Jimmy something.' He nodded, and stared at the fire. 'This reminds me of the time you called me about your mother, remember?' A lump appeared in my throat as I wrung my hands. 'As if it were yesterday.' 'I remember you'd called me, and Tim had called Jake. We met outside your house, not knowing we'd both been called. We ran inside and found you, Tim and Emma in front of the fire, staring… as if you had no idea what day or month it even was,' he said, and wrapped his arms around his knees.

My sight was getting blurry. 'It still hurts, you know.' Danny looked up, and saw my eyes. 'Shit, Iris, I'm so sorry.' I shook my head and smiled slightly. 'That day was one of the most difficult days of my life.' I sighed. 'I remember getting the phone call from dad, saying that mom's appointment in the hospital hadn't gone well, she had to undergo surgery immediately because new tumours had spread … and then, when she was supposed to… she didn't wake up, and had slid into a coma.' I tear fell down my cheek. 'You and Jake just sat with us, all night. You didn't even say a word.' Danny wrapped his arm around my shoulder. 'That's what friends are for.' I wiped away my tears, and for a little while we just stared at the fire.

Danny, Jake, Tim, Emma and I had been through a lot together. Emma lived in a different city than the rest of us, so she'd spent less time with Danny and Jake than Tim and I had, but the five of us had always been there for each other. We'd met Ron only a few years later, through Danny. Danny met Ron in high school, and pretty soon the gang of five, became a group of six. We'd never imagined dating each other, or having feelings or whatsoever. These guys were like my family. My brothers.

My breathing grew back to normal, slowly, and I smiled at Danny. 'Thanks for always being there.' He used his shoulder to push mine softly. 'You bet.' I suddenly wondered where Drake was, our room wasn't that far from here. I turned around, and saw the couch behind me, a pair of pants and socks placed on one of the pillows. 'Drake…' I said softly, and looked around. He was nowhere in sight, but the front door was open.

'I'm starting to guess that our friendship, as well as Jake and Emma's, might be hard on your fiancés,' Danny said, a slight frown. I sighed, and looked at him. 'I sincerely hope not, because that means he doesn't trust me fully, right? I mean… for the love of god, I'm pregnant with his baby.' He nodded slowly. 'Don't be too harsh on him, Iris. First of all, guys go slightly crazy when they love a woman this much… and second of all, I'm incredibly hot, so I get it if he were jealous.' I burst into laughter and shook my head. 'You're probably right. I'll talk to him about it.'

Later, once everyone had assembled for dinner, I noticed that Jimmy was sitting in between Hana and Maxwell, and Drake was sitting in between Jake and Ron. Emma was slightly confused, and so was I. Drake was avoiding my eyes, and I couldn't help but get a little angry. Seriously? I tried to think of Danny's words, I had to go easy on him… but he was making it damn difficult. Both Jimmy and Drake were acting distant towards us, and even though Jimmy was his calm and nice self, Drake was acting sullen and grumpy.

Every time Jake made Emma laugh, or Danny said something to me, his face almost turned to thunder. When Tim told everyone a story about when we were younger, Drake's eyes darkened to the point I couldn't even believe his jealousy. Everyone was laughing about Tim's funny anecdote, besides Drake and Jimmy. I stood up, almost throwing back my chair, glaring at Drake, who seemed surprised at first, yet turned defiant quite quickly. I grabbed the napkin off my lap and threw it on my plate, storming off towards our room. From the corner of my eye, I saw Emma storming off too, shocking Jimmy.

I stormed into our room, clenching my fists. The door was opened only half a minute later by Drake, as he eyed me, strangely calm.
'What was that, Valentine?' I stared at him incredulously, my mouth hanging open. 'What was that? YOU are asking ME? What the hell, Drake?!'