The smile grew wider on his lips. “I’m okay with that.”
He lay back, snuggling into me as we held our girls between us. Sometimes life was hard and horrible things happened, but we were proof that even the darkest times could be turned into a happily-ever-after.
My mother tended to me and cleaned the girls. Drae and I just lay there staring at them in wonder. Joslyn had fuzzy blond hair like me, but Regina’s hair was darker like her father’s.
“I can feel the magic coursing through me. It’s so strong,” Drae said.
With two heirs now, I hoped so. It was a great relief. Adaline and everyone else I cared about would be okay.
There was a knock at the door, and Drae called out for them to enter.
Cal walked in, took one look at the two girls and bowed his head, smiling. “Twins? Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” we said in unison.
The smile fell from his lips as he peered at the king. “My lord, there is an urgent matter to discuss.”
Drae frowned. Calston wouldn’t intrude moments after my birth if it truly were not urgent.
“You may discuss it freely before my wife and queen,” Drae said.
Cal cleared his throat. “King Raife Lightstone is in your study.”
Drae jerked into a sitting position, looking down at little Regina and then to me. If Raife was here, it meant he was here to make good on Drae’s promise. He was here to ask my husband to start a war.
“Go,” I told him, trying to keep the shakiness from my voice. Raife wouldn’t come all the way over here if it weren’t serious. I owed my life to that man, and even though war brought death and hardship, I was in agreement that the Nightfall queen had to be stopped.
My mother took baby Regina from Drae and he crossed the room, taking one last look at me and smiled.
I loved that smile. I loved that all he’d done since I’d met him was smile more and more each day. I liked to think it was because of me. No matter what this war brought, we had each other and our new little family of four.
TWENTY
Drae
I’d wanted to marry Arwen the first time I laid eyes on her. She‘d been carrying a ninety-pound cougarin through the woods, with an injury bleeding down her back. She was alone, which told me she was a confident hunter, and even covered in dirt and blood she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Leaving her moments after the birth of our children was not something I wanted to do, but Raife knew Arwen was set to deliver any day now; he’d sent a gift basket. He wouldn’t just come in person to congratulate us.
Something was wrong.
Would he demand I go to war with the queen now? Moments after finally becoming a father? When Raife and I were six years old, our parents had us attend a “princes summer camp.” It was a yearly four-week camp where Raife, Lucien of the fae, Axil of the wolves, and myself all bonded. Our parents thought it would keep the supernatural kingdom strong should the queen ever come after us. Then at fourteen, when Raife’s parents were murdered, he sent a letter to Lucien, me, and Axil, begging us to help avenge them. We were just kids, and our parents had said it was an elven problem so we couldn’t get involved. Raife stopped talking to us then, and the yearly retreats stopped.
He became king at age fourteen… I couldn’t imagine.
When I finally became King at eighteen winters old, Raife came to my coronation ceremony and again asked me to help him avenge his parents. My first day as king and he wanted me to declare a war?
I couldn’t. Not with my own issues ongoing. My father dying meant the dragon magic fully relied on me, and without an heir of my own I couldn’t just charge into war.
That was over four winters ago. Now I had two heirs. If Raife asked me to go to war today, I would not deny him.
I opened the door to my office, ready to say yes to whatever it was he would demand of me. I would not forget he saved my beloved Arwen from certain death. I was a wise king now, with a powerful army at my disposal. There was a lot I could grant if he asked. I didn’t relish the idea of taking on the Nightfall queen when I now had two newborns, but I knew Arwen would support me after Raife had saved her life.
Had he gotten Lucien and Axil to agree already? That was hard to believe considering he was dealing with his own council’s insistence that he get married lest they unseat him. I’d hoped it would take several winters before he actually came to me ready to start this war. People would die on all sides, and I wasn’t keen to hasten something like that, but the Nightfall queen had to be stopped. This we agreed on.