EPILOGUE
Iripped open the door to our bedroom, double-checking that my robe remained closed.
No one needed to see the marks Maggie left all over my body.
The mate ritual had unlocked some sort of kink for her and though we enjoyed every moment of it, turned out even Nightmares had a hard time getting rid of marks their mates made.
“Jax, can you see if-”
The Elves standing outside our door were not, in fact, Jax. I struggled to remember their names as the last of Maggie’s witchery lingered in my mind.
“Ettrian, Gormer, where is Jax?” Whew. I pulled those two out of somewhere dark and forgotten.
They came to attention like the good bodyguards they were. Jax would not have left them at my door if they were not.
“He’s taking his rest hours, Your Highness.”
It was delightful to hear that again, to garner the respect that came with it, even standing in my robe.
“In the training room,” Ettrian added.
I chuckled. I couldn’t fault Jax in his dedication. In fact, life had become significantly easier with three other people at my back. With Yaya on the Council, Maggie at my side and Jax looking for threats, this was the most relaxed I had ever been as King. It almost put me in a playful mood.
I closed the door and started down the hall with my robe billowing out behind me.
I looked royal enough because everyone still bowed and scraped as I passed.
The ego-soothing deference returned, but so did an undercurrent of stability that I had worked hard to build over these past few months.
Continuing Maggie’s education in statecraft had been fun.
She never let me take myself too seriously and that ensured an important balance.
It didn’t hurt that I could screw her brains out if I felt frustrated after a long day.
And today was a potentially frustrating day.
The yips and barks coming from the training room had me hurrying down the hall, leaving my two shadows to keep up.
Bursting into the training room, Declan almost bowled me over.
Luckily, he stood only slightly taller than a yard dog, so I kept my footing as he levered against me to twist his body back toward Jax and nip off another scrap of the man’s tattered clothes.
Jax dripped from several shallow cuts and his shirt and trousers flapped open in too many places to count.
Where did you find such a fun human? Declan asked, dancing back from Jax’s swipe with the wooden training sword.
“Stay still!” Jax snapped, clearly frustrated he hadn’t even ruffled Declan’s fur.
Jax, no slouch at fighting, struggled to match Declan’s speed and flexibility as the two clashed and came apart. Declan spat out another piece of Jax’s shirt.
“I’ll wear your tail around my collar, mutt.”
Big words from a man promptly sent ass over teakettle as Declan barreled between his legs and flipped my bodyguard over his lupine back.
I staked my claim to the throne on understanding the power structure as soon as I walked into a room.
Even though Jax was human, he was bigger, better trained and more lethal than Declan. Somehow my bodyguard was at loose ends.
Angry, Jax pulled a true blade from his hip and that was about enough of that. A hopping Declan flattened to the floor with my shadows and Jax was wrapped in a few restraining vines.
“Not fair!” Declan called from beneath my shadows, fully shifted and fully unclothed.
I let him stand up and preserved some of his modesty with the darkness, because the last thing I needed to see today was another man’s junk.
“Are you ready to calm down?” I asked Jax.
“The dog said it was going to be friendly!”
“That was friendly,” Declan protested.
“I would agree, Jax. You don’t have too many holes in you and I’m more than happy to show you an unfriendly session.” I let my eyes glow.
Declan huffed a laugh in that lupine way he had. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready?” he asked me.
“Don’t I look ready?” I swirled my robe around me in a dramatic fashion.
“You look something alright.” Declan smiled.
Jax laughed, the tension easing out of him.
“I don’t know why you have to have a second coronation,” Jax said. “Everyone didn’t bow low enough the first time?”
My friend looked calm enough to release, even if his words were supposed to sting. They didn’t. I would order a hundred coronations if I wanted to.
“This one is for Maggie. She wants payback for the mating ceremony and I’m happy to give my love her pound of flesh. The kingdom can see her in all her glory and I can play chess with how I arrange the dinner seating.”
Declan rolled his eyes. Power games were not in his vocabulary. Still, I didn’t hate him so I could be polite. As Maggie reminded me, he had been a neighbor of sorts in the past.
“Are you going to escort Fallon to the ceremony?” I asked him.
The man was transparent as glass as the tips of his ears reddened.
“Of course,” Declan said.
“Aren’t you going to ask who I’m escorting?” Jax broke in.
I smirked at him. “You’re escorting me, remember?”
“Be still my heart.” Jax joked and shook off the last of the vines curled around him.
As much fun as it was to trade barbs with my bodyguard, Maggie cared about what happened to her friend. She had so few that every one counted. If Maggie was concerned about the girl, then so did I.
I turned back to Declan. “Have you fucked?”
He took a healthy step back. Heat flooded his face so that was a ‘no’.
“What kind of question is that?”
A good one. I pressed all my protective intent into the mental communication.
“It’s not like that,” Declan cried.
That was fine. He could lie to himself all he wanted.
“As long as ‘what it's like’ isn’t something I have to get Jax to skin you for, it’s your choice. Just don’t wait to decide like I did, Declan.”
That put a rare frown on the man’s face. “Because you and Maggie are the model of a healthy start to a relationship.”
The room flicked to darkness in an instant. The temperature plunged to death. Declan yipped and even Jax let out a wheeze.
“Maggie and I are perfect!”
“Okay, yes. Perfect!” Declan howled as something touched him in the gloom.
“You’re so right, bossman. A perfect couple,” Jax said, fear edging his voice an octave higher.
I shook out my shadows, returning the room to light.
“That’s correct.” I went to adjust my hair and my hand brushed through the short, curling mop instead. “Now get ready so I don’t have to hear how you’re late from my screeching, blushing Queen.”
They scurried out of the practice room with an appropriate amount of dread. With a smile and an eager heart, I strode back through the palace to said exquisite, perfect wife.
What happens when everyone forgets Maggie’s birthday?
How in the High Holly Hells did Brad get to the Harrowlands?
Where does Evie practice flying?
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