59. Julien
“ M ajesty?” Julien questioned. He looked from Rose to the male he didn’t know was his father. “He’s a majesty like Grandpa?”
“Yes,” Rose replied, watching as Julien studied Adrian. “Julien”—she waited for her son to look back at her—“this is the Vampire King Adrian.” Guilt bubbled in her gut at Adrian’s shell-shocked expression. “Your Majesty, this is Julien. My son.”
“I—” Adrian cleared his throat and then bowed. Julien stared and then giggled and bent over to bow in Rose’s arms, which made a corner of Adrian’s mouth tilt up. “It is a pleasure to meet you, young Prince.”
Julien giggled again. “Mommy says I’m her Prince too. Do you have a Prince?”
“Not yet,” Adrian answered. His eyes flicked to Rose for an instant before he motioned to a black wrought iron table and four chairs in the deeper shade of the trees. “Shall we sit?”
Julien kicked his legs, meaning he wanted down, and then ran to the table where they sometimes picnicked for lunch. Adrian sat too.
But Rose turned to Aldric, who leaned close to her ear to whisper, “Fecking manky hoor, jumping back into it only ten seconds after seeing the King again. Better cover up those scratches ’fore your family sees.” He glanced at Adrian, who was pretending to ignore the words from a few steps away. After a wink and a cocky smile for Rose, he headed back toward the castle.
Rose looked that way after him, where Thea and Hannah stood outside with Nic and Adrian’s guard. Hoping with the distance and fading light that they hadn’t seen her and Adrian wrapped around each other, she sat at the table too. Julien climbed onto her lap and stared at Adrian.
“Vampire means you have fangs.” When Adrian nodded, Julien asked, “Can I see?”
Adrian obligingly opened his mouth to show his long and pointy drinking teeth. With his mouth still open, he smiled as Julien exclaimed, “Wow! Mommy, they’re bigger than mine!”
Rose muttered a quiet agreement, feeling hot again as she recalled begging just moments ago to have them in her flesh. Surprising her, Julien got down from her lap and walked over to Adrian, climbing on his knee.
Nervous at his action, she lifted a hand to finger the scratches on her neck as Adrian settled Julien in his lap. And then he opened his mouth again when Julien stared at it. Julien reached up a finger to touch a sharp fang and then sat back, opening his mouth.
“I got some too!” He pointed to one. “But Mommy doesn’t let me bite people ’cause it’s rude. I drink from a cup.” And then he looked worried. “Do you bite people?”
“Usually, I drink from a cup too,” Adrian replied. Julien looked relieved.
“My Daddy’s a vampire. Mommy says he lives in Neigera, and maybe I can meet him when the fighting stops.”
Adrian glanced at Rose, meeting her eyes for another instant before returning his gaze to Julien .
“Can you make it stop, since you’re King?” Julien asked, full of hope. “Mommy needs my Daddy. She cries at night. She doesn’t show, but she misses him. I hug her so she’s not sad, but she ’tends she’s okay.” He looked at her. “If we went to Daddy, he could make you better.”
“Julien,” Rose began.
But Adrian interrupted, “The fighting is ended, and I am doing my best to make things better there. I think your Daddy would love for you to meet him.”
Julien’s face lit up as he turned to Rose. “Can we go then? Can we?”
“Sweetheart,” Rose said slowly, making his face fall. Before she could say anything else, he looked up at Adrian and spoke conspiratorially, leaning closer so Adrian leaned down.
“That means no. It’s like maybe .” Heaving a breath, he folded his arms, sending Rose a grumpy look that made Adrian smile. Rose shot him a look to knock it off.
“Maybe’s stink, don’t they?” Adrian asked, earning a nod. “I think so, too, especially when they come with excuses.” The pointed look he gave Rose had her rolling her eyes.
Noticing Hannah walking through the garden toward them, Rose excused herself.
“Your family is gathering for dinner, Princess.”
Rose chewed her lip as she debated joining them. “Please send our apologies, Hannah. Julien and I will share a meal with King Adrian out here. Make sure to include fresh blood for them and a bottle of my favorite champagne.”
“Yes, Princess.” Hannah gave a curtsy before leaving to see it done.
Julien dominated the conversation while they ate, comparing how he and Adrian were alike. His glee at meeting another vampire was obvious throughout the meal and afterward, as they walked through the dusky gardens. Taking the path to the pastures, Julien showed His Majesty his pony. Nic trailed behind them with two of Adrian’s guards.
The moon came out, rising slowly as they walked through the stableyard and into another garden. Julien chatted away about how he liked nighttime and could stay awake longer than his elf friends. Not long after, the yawns started, and they headed inside.
Julien didn’t mind Adrian staying for his bath, so he sat on the other side of the tub while Rose washed him, and he played with the bubbles in the water. He babbled on about the horseback ride they planned to take the next evening.
“I can’t go out too much in the day ’cause I get burned.”
“Me too,” Adrian confided.
Rose finished rinsing Julien’s hair, lifting him from the water with a towel. After drying him off, she helped him dress in his favorite black pajamas. Adrian, at Julien’s request, read his story once he was tucked in bed. Listening to his voice made her heart warm and light, even as she fought tears.
But then it was goodnight kisses and Julien drowsily said, reaching for Adrian’s hand, “You be here ’morrow, right? You stay ’while?”
“I will, Julien. I promise.” Adrian ran his hand over Julien’s hair and then stood with Rose while he drifted off. She waited while he gathered his strewn things— vest, socks, and shoes—and followed her through the adjoining playroom and into her bedroom.
She ignored his cocked eyebrow and led him to her favorite table in front of the open window that overlooked the lavender garden. The bottle of champagne from dinner sat there, which she poured into the two glasses while he sat across from her. Quiet descended as they sipped .
“I’m sorry.” It was a relief to say, to finally have him know, though she was afraid of how he would respond. He’d been great with Julien, but that didn’t mean he would be with her. He had every right to be angry.
She gulped more champagne and refilled her glass.
“Did you know you were pregnant?”
Another gulp. “I realized when my mother was healing me that night, the night I left. Our magic is weaved into our pregnancies, and it led her right to him, which led me to him too. He was very new then, but . . . yes. I was in shock with it, but yes.”
“What about the contraceptive tea?”
“Um.” Rose cleared her throat. “I wasn’t pregnant when I drank it. I learned about fertility cycles to better understand it when I got home, and I guess I was just entering the fertile period at that point, so there was no pregnancy to . . . terminate. But it wouldn’t have mattered. From what I’ve learned since, products designed for humans or vampires do not affect me.”
“So, it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”
“Right.” Rose drank the rest of her champagne and then poured more. She was beginning to feel warm and light, and if she was honest, so much had happened that day that it felt good to unwind with him.
“I am so sorry, Adrian.”
“I understand.”
“I had to leave. Things were too much in turmoil. I needed to know who I was. And then . . . I couldn’t come back. I couldn’t take him to Neigera with the war.”
“And now?”
“What?”
“What about now? The war is ended. There are still little tiffs my soldiers must address, but for the most part, the kingdom is at rest. ”
“I-I know. I know that. I just . . . I don’t know .”
“You know we belong together. We were made for each other. Julien is proof of that. Despite everything and everyone being against us, we made a son. He survived despite all the odds.” Covering her hand with his, he rubbed her wrist with his thumb. “He’s . . . Gods, he’s just everything, isn’t he?”
Rose laughed.
It turned suddenly to tears.
In an instant, she was in Adrian’s arms, in Adrian’s lap, her face in his neck as she breathed in his spicy scent with the undertone of musky sweat. Pressing closer, she unbuttoned two buttons on his shirt to feel his skin. As his heartbeat raced under her palm, she inhaled him, wishing to stay there always.
“How much of what you did was for me?” she asked in a whisper.
“All of it,” he answered. “And none of it.”
She looked up, confused.
“I had to prove I could be the male you always saw in me, the one that could be empathetic and just instead of corrupt and immoral with only my interests at heart.” After a pause, he continued, “But I also did it for me, to prove that I didn’t have to be the person my father molded me to be. I just needed to be brave. Like you.”
“Brave,” she murmured, getting lost in all her thoughts of the future. She was scared of them, scared her hopes would never come to fruition, scared to try for fear of failing because it wasn’t just about her anymore but Julien too.
More than anything, she was afraid that if she didn’t take the chance, if she remained where it was safe instead of stepping out, she’d lose her greatest chance at happiness .
As if reading her mind, Adrian pulled a velvet box from his pocket. He opened it to a sparkling engagement set, the candlelight from the wall lamps setting the gems off. The engagement ring was a large princess-cut pink sapphire flanked by white diamonds. Nestled beside the ring was a band with alternating pink sapphires and white diamonds along its length.
It was beautiful and extravagant and . . . perfect.
More tears filled her eyes.
“Be brave with me, Rose. Face the future at my side, my fierce Queen, and bring our son home. Be a family with me.”
Rose cupped his face. “I want nothing more.
She kissed him to seal it, this male that had faced ruination for her and climbed up from the ashes of a burning kingdom to be better.
To be hers.
As she would always be his.