Chapter 1059: Interrogated

His mother was waiting. Kaiden was waiting too, still looking pleased that she wanted to visit him.

"I would like to see him when he has time for me. Here, or in Japan. Somewhere we can simply enjoy being together."

"You have substantial responsibilities at home."

"Which I can arrange around my personal life. I have some experience managing my affairs."

The words left her mouth before she realized she had volunteered her maturity for further discussion.

"Of course you do," Vespera said. "That is why I was surprised to hear that you only began considering this recently."

Yunohana needed another fan. Perhaps a window could be opened as well.

She glanced at the glass beyond Vespera, then forced herself to meet the mother’s eyes again. This conversation mattered far too much to lose herself in embarrassment. She wanted to be welcome here. She wanted this woman to believe that the afternoon had meant as much to her as it had to Kaiden.

"I like your son," she admitted. "Very much. I had hoped that today might help me understand whether I truly want this, and now I find myself asking for rather more than I intended when we left this morning."

"And you feel a single afternoon has answered that?"

"We have spent time together before today. I merely..."

Her fan lowered. She could hear how apologetic she sounded, and trying to correct it only made her more conscious of the hand she had been holding throughout the conversation.

"I understand why you might find my interest unexpected. I hadn’t imagined I would feel this way about someone so much younger, either. But if you could allow me to..."

Kaiden slipped his hand from hers and put his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Eh?" Yunohana’s eyes widened like saucers as Kaiden’s firm hold drew her against him before she could begin another explanation.

"Kaiden?"

Yunohana looked up at his face, and the certainty she found there made the rest of her carefully chosen words unnecessary.

He was looking directly into the Shadow Monarch’s red eyes.

"I want her, Mother."

Yunohana’s explanation died on her lips.

For all her efforts to persuade his mother, she hadn’t been prepared to hear him say it so plainly. He wanted her. With her foolish hopes, her beautiful dress, and every embarrassing answer she had just stumbled through, he wanted her right there in his arms.

"Kaiden..."

His name escaped softly as she caught his shirt. Relief filled her chest so suddenly that she had to take a breath before she could even look up at him.

Vespera turned to her son. He was meeting her eyes with his arm firmly around the woman he had chosen, and the easy smile he had worn through their conversation was gone.

She knew that look. He was asking her to stop, and the certainty in his face made her sit a little straighter.

"I was asking her."

"I know. But she’s standing here explaining why she likes me as if I haven’t spent the whole day trying to woo her."

His hand spread warmly over Yunohana’s waist. She could feel every word of his answer in how confidently he held her, with no hesitation about letting his mother see exactly where he wanted her.

"This is what I want. She is what I want," he continued. "I’m happy with her, and I want her in my life. I’d love for you to be happy for us."

He meant every word. The woman beside him had spent their date making him laugh, feeding him from her own plate, and enjoying herself so openly that he kept finding new reasons to adore her.

Kaiden wanted more days with her. He wanted her comfortable enough to ask for everything she had been struggling to say.

His mother could look at him for as long as she liked. He would be keeping his arm exactly where it was.

"Kaiden..."

Yunohana’s voice had lost its careful formality. Standing against him, with his declaration still filling her chest, she felt so cherished that she scarcely knew what to do with herself.

She had been prepared to be terribly embarrassed for his sake.

She had given considerably less thought to what would happen if he made her this happy in the middle of it.

Vespera watched Yunohana turn toward her son inside the arm he had placed around her. The High Shrine Maiden had forgotten to cool herself, her fan hanging open at her side while she looked up at him with an affection his mother found difficult to question.

"I would like that too," Vespera said at last.

Kaiden’s smile returned, smaller and warmer this time. He reached for his mother’s hand again, squeezing it before letting her return her attention to Yunohana.

"What do the others think?"

"They helped me prepare for today," Yunohana answered, grateful for a question she could manage. "The dress, my hair... They were very kind."

"Aria included?"

"Especially Aria."

Vespera looked at Kaiden.

"She likes her," he said, smiling.

"She did also threaten to kill me," Yunohana added before she could think better of it.

His mother waited.

"Should I try to take him away from her," the shrine maiden clarified. "Which seemed quite reasonable under the circumstances."

Kaiden was having a wonderful time.

Beside him, Yunohana realized that she had just presented a death threat as evidence of a successful courtship and lowered her face toward his shoulder.

"I am explaining this very poorly."

"You’re doing fine," he assured her.

"You’re considerably less convincing than usual."

She looked up at him, lips trembling.

Vespera adjusted the sleeve of her robe. She had been awake for a handful of minutes, and her son had already brought her a passage across the world and a prospective daughter-in-law.

"Do you remember what I said on our call the day my son left?" she asked Yunohana.

The shrine maiden went still against Kaiden.

"I recall several things."

"You better not start calling me Mother by the end of his trip."

Kaiden turned toward Yunohana with delighted interest.

"She said that?"

"...Yes."

"And what did you say?"

"Very little, as I recall. At the time, the mere thought sounded ludicrous. As if I’d ever date a man who could be my son... How terribly unbecoming of me."

"Yes." Vespera was in full agreement.

Kaiden, on the other hand, was anything but.

His laugh brought Yunohana’s face back toward his shoulder. She had been so pleased with herself all afternoon, coaxing compliments out of him and teasing him for looking at her legs. Now he could make her lose what remained of her composure simply by enjoying her predicament.

"Lady Ashborn, I understand that this must seem rather sudden."

"My son came through a dungeon to wake me up with you on his arm."

"I would have liked to speak to you properly."

"No one forced you to ask for my son’s hand at dawn."

"His hand? I was asking whether we might..."

Yunohana stopped. Dating. She had been asking about dating. Unfortunately, Kaiden was looking down at her with renewed interest, and the thought of hastily assuring him that she wanted nothing beyond that held very little appeal.

"We needn’t settle every detail this morning," she finished weakly.