Epilogue
Ten Years Later . . .
“ W hat the fates are we going to do with our two little rapscallions?” Ehmet murmured into Hevva’s neck as he held her on his lap.
“What’s there to do with them?” Queen Hevva sipped the last of her whiskey as she twisted round to look at her king.
“I’m not sure, perhaps nothing yet. But Adella most definitely created a dolly out of thin air last week.”
Hevva pried her husband’s big arm from her front as she wriggled out of his grasp. He grumbled when she made her escape. But she wasn’t going far, only to the bar across their private salon.
It was the last night of another annual Symposium of Prodigious Minds, a decade after the one where they’d first officially met.
“I know,” Hevva sighed. “Ataht made a wriggling pile of worms last week. Do we need to get them a tutor immediately? I can begin interviews when we get back to the capital.”
“Let’s give it a little time. How about when they’re ten?”
“Two years? Are you sure we should wait that long?” She refilled her glass and procured a second for Ehmet.
“If they need it earlier, we’ll write to Hothan. I learned quite a lot as a boy, though. I think I can help. Your brother agrees with me.”
“He always agrees with me. ”
“Not on this one, my love. They don’t need help yet. Let them learn some on their own first. You learn more at the helm than reading books about boats.”
“Fine. If things get out of hand though, we hire help. Promise?”
“Promise. Don’t fret.” He was close now, voice rumbling against her silvery locks as he accepted the glass she offered to him.
“I wasn’t fretting.”
Ehmet chuckled into the crook of Hevva’s neck before trailing a row of kisses up to the sensitive shell of her ear. She shivered against him. “Don’t worry that they have my magic. They take after you in every way that is important.”
Hevva retrieved the drink she’d handed to her husband and set it back upon the bar before turning to face him again. “I know.”
His deep laughter rumbled through her as Ehmet circled her waist with his hands and hoisted her up onto the bar. Behind the queen, the glasses rattled.
“This feels familiar,” she laughed into his needy kisses.
“Mmm,” he rumbled in response as his hand wound its way up her skirts.
“Stop that. You said you wanted to speak with Kas before we go back to Hewran Hall, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes.” Sighing wistfully, he withdrew his fingers from their advance up her thighs. “Need to talk him into talking to you about the children not needing a tutor.”
“Mhm.” Hevva peered past him at the room. “It’s too bad you’re calling in an interruption. They’ve redecorated in here, and all this furniture is still . . .”
“Unmarked by us?” He captured her wide smile in a kiss.
“Yes. But I suppose there is always next year for that. ”
He tweaked her nipple before she slapped his hand away. Ehmet pouted and took a step back so he could help Hevva down from the bar.
“Would you like me to go find my brother?” she inquired, eyeing the bulge in his pants speculatively.
“Please.” He chuckled. “I’ll have this resolved by the time you get back. ”
She pecked him on the cheek and patted him on the erection before slipping from the room.
It took several minutes—plenty of time for Ehmet to resolve his issue—for Hevva to locate Kas. He was skulking in the shadows of the patio like a spy. Hair tousled, cravat mussed, and jacket unbuttoned, Kas was a far cry from the starched fourteen-year-old she’d first accompanied to the symposium ten years before. The annual event had become a mainstay in her brother’s itinerary. He hadn’t missed a single one. There was nothing, and no one, that Kas loved more than the pursuit of knowledge. At twenty-four, he was the same age she was when she’d reluctantly taken the crown while not so reluctantly claiming her wonderful husband . . . or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, it would likely be a few years before Kas realized women could hold as much, if not more, interest as a book, but he’d get there.
“Kas,” she called.
Five feet stood between them, that’s all. He didn’t move a muscle, focused on something down the patio.
“Kas Kahoth.”
No reply. He was entranced.
Maybe sooner, rather than later, if that’s a who and not a what that has his attention. Stepping outside, the wind picked up for a brief moment, then all was calm.
Kas had that look on his face, the one he got every time he found a new subject to dive into and learn more about. She steeled herself with a deep inhale, because whatever it was would be his preferred topic of conversation for the foreseeable future.
“Brother”—she placed a hand on his forearm to draw him from his reverie—“come, the king and I would like to talk about tutors.”