Epilogue
“Presenting High King Preston Vorthal and High Queen Xoe Darmascas-Vorthal!” one of the stewards yelled as Preston and I entered the throne room. “Court is now in session!”
Preston waited until I was seated and my dress was moved before he took his own seat. “What matters do we have today?” he asked Gage.
Gage cleared his throat and stepped away from the wall, a tablet in his hands. “There are no matters to decide on, but we do have some updates.”
“No matters? Is it my birthday?” I teased Preston.
He smiled and reached over to link our hands together. “Not for another two months, pet.”
“May I continue?” Gage asked.
Preston waved his hand dismissively, making a muscle in Gage’s jaw tick. To outsiders, it might look like Preston was a pompous ruler even over his friend, Gage, but it was all for show and later I knew Gage would spar with Preston to get revenge.
“The Caltyrelan’s have officially reached one thousand in number,” Gage announced.
I gasped. “Already?” We’d been sending out information for my people to come to Drakorantia since the city was created, six years ago, and they had steadily been coming, but to hear so many of my people were alive and here made my heart soar.
“We should throw a celebration,” Preston said. “A Chiliad Caltryrelan Celebration!”
“Yes!” I agreed. “Scribe, make it official!” I called out.
Scout chirped and said, “It is official and officially in the record, Your Majesty. May I recommend we hold it on the anniversary of the alliance’s signing in one week?”
“Wow, it’s already so soon? Yes, that’s perfect! Good idea, Scout.”
Scout, in their new humanoid form, typed the transcript of everything we said during our meetings and I saw her preen at the insertion of my praise.
“The second update is regarding the prince’s crowning,” he said.
Preston sat up straighter. “Go on.”
“King Zeke Rhyx asked that I remind Your Majesties that before he can be crowned, he must participate in the Games. Since he is only six, it’s too soon for him to participate, which means that his crowning must wait.”
“I’d forgotten about that stipulation,” Preston muttered and sighed. “Very well, we will hold off on the coronation until after he participates in the Games.”
I pouted, but didn’t argue. After living here for so long, I’d come to realize that they really valued their traditions and now that I was one of them, I valued their traditions as well.
The door flung open and an exasperated Troya called out, “I tried to stop him, Your Majesty, but he’s too fast!”
Troya chased after the small dragon as he ran up the aisle, his tongue lulling out the side like the happy boy he was.
Vaelor, our son, and the next crowned heir, hopped up the steps of the dais and straight into Preston’s lap.
Preston tapped his nose firmly, but not hard enough to hurt. “You’re interrupting court, Vaelor.”
Vaelor shifted into his human form and said, “Dad, did you know that Mom can jump higher than you?”
Preston’s lip twitched in amusement a second before he let his full smile out.
It was taking time, but Preston was slowly letting his mask disappear, choosing to rule with true expression instead of the stoic one his parents demanded.
It had started when Vaelor was born, and he decided that he didn’t want his son to wonder how he was feeling.
He wanted him to know exactly how he felt and to see a smile on his face whenever he was happy.
An expression he almost always wore around Vaelor. “Can she now? Where did you hear that?”
“Scout showed me the video!” he declared proudly and looked over at me with a wide smile. “Mom jumped the highest!”
I held out my arms and Preston handed Vaelor to me. “I did jump the highest! And your daddies were pouting for the rest of the day, weren’t they?”
He laughed and nodded. “They were so pouty.” We weren’t one hundred percent certain who his biological father was since he had the same pearly grey eyes as Preston, but Gage’s blue scales.
Truthfully, none of us cared who his biological father was.
We were simply overjoyed he was healthy and growing stronger and smarter every day.
“Now, Vaelor, what did we say about court time?” I asked as I ran my fingers through his messy hair. Try as I might, he was too active to ever have properly groomed hair. Thankfully, he was able to keep his clothes between shifts, something that was extremely rare among the Dragonkin.
Vaelor’s adorable little lip jutted out as he said, “Court time is important and I’m supposed to wait to talk to you.”
“And?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not supposed to run away from Nanny Troya.” He turned and said, “Sorry, Nanny Troya!”
She held out her hand. “All will be forgiven if you help me make cookies.”
The mercenary had an incredibly soft heart, especially when it came to Vaelor, which was part of the reason I’d hired her as his nanny. I knew, without a doubt, that she’d sacrifice herself before she let a single hair on his head be harmed.
After giving him a tight hug, I set him on his feet, and swatted his butt. “Go on! I’ll be expecting a cookie when I’m done with court.”
“Only if you do as Daddy P says!” he called back to me.
I narrowed my eyes as I turned to face Preston. “What thoughts are you putting into our impressionable son’s head now?”
Preston smiled innocently. “I have no idea where he could have gotten an idea like that from.”
Scout raised her head. “It was three weeks, two days, and six hours ago, when you—”
Preston growled and Scout stopped talking.
“Back to business!” Gage said sternly.
“Right, right,” I agreed with a nod and smoothed down my dress. “What other news do you have?”
“The new Underlord of Porantine has submitted an offer for your home,” Gage announced. “We’ll review it with the other documents later, but I wanted to give you a heads up.”
The new Underlord of Porantine was one of my old mercenary friends. He’d defeated the previous Underlord in a duel and was slowly cleaning up the rough port. I knew exactly why he wanted my home, though. It was above his favorite bar and he’d been asking me to sell it for years.
“I’ll consider it,” I said, “and I appreciate the warning.”
After a few more updates on various things, we finished court and headed to the palace.
The palace had been completely redesigned and redecorated once we became High King and Queen.
The first change had been to open up a few of the rooms, knock down a few walls, and create a much more homey and large family friendly environment.
With Vaelor running around and Wayne’s sisters and their children visiting frequently, we needed a larger area for spending time together.
We’d also opened it more to the citizens, especially during the cold months when temperatures fell below freezing and they needed somewhere warm to survive. Well, they could survive in dragon form, but it wasn’t a pleasant way to live, so we opened up several halls for warming specifically.
I changed into comfortable pants and a tank top and followed the scent of baking cookies to the kitchen. “Where’s my cookie?” I demanded in a loud, fake grumpy tone as I pushed open the kitchen door.
“Hurry! Daddy Z is trying to steal it!” Vaelor screamed, his hand over his head waving a cookie.
“I have to test it for poison!” Zeke said.
“Lie! Nanny and I baked it so there’s no poison! You just want to eat them all!”
“How many has Daddy Z already had?” I asked as I walked inside, a huge smile on my face as I watched the silly scene before me.
Zeke could have easily taken the cookie.
Even standing on the counter with his arm raised, Vaelor only came up to his chin, but he was letting our son pretend to hold him back.
“Four,” Troya said with a stifled laugh.
“Four? Before dinner? Tsk. Tsk. Bad Daddy!” I chastised.
Zeke spun around and pulled me into a hug. “Will you punish me later?”
Troya made a fake gagging sound.
I nodded. “Yep.” Reaching around his back, I opened and closed my hand a couple of times until Vaelor noticed. He quickly set the cookie in my hand and I popped it into my mouth before Zeke could stop me.
“No! That was my cookie!” Zeke fake cried.
“Here, you can share mine,” Vaelor offered and held out half of the cookie he was eating.
“We better eat these quick before Daddy P comes to get us for dinner,” Zeke said conspiratorially as he popped the half cookie in his mouth. I’d sensed Preston’s approach, which meant Zeke likely had too, which was why he was setting up the scene about to play out.
“What’s going on in here?” Preston asked sternly and marched towards Zeke and me.
“Ah! We’ve been caught! Hurry and escape, Vae! Go with Nanny while you can!”
Vaelor squealed and laughed as he and Troya ran around the counter towards the door.
I stepped between Preston and the door and said, “Hurry! I’ll sacrifice myself! Run to the dining room!”
Vaelor’s laughter could be heard all the way down the hall as he ran to the dining room.
Preston pinned me between Zeke and him and licked the side of my mouth. “You had cookies without me!”
“Zeke had four and a half,” I said quickly.
Zeke swatted my butt. “Tattletale.”
Preston pulled me into a hug and kissed me. “Come on, let’s go eat. You’ve successfully saved our son from getting in trouble for eating sweets before dinner. You can be the hero again.”
I linked my arm with his and said, “I’m sure you’ll find some way to regain his favor tomorrow.”
The dining room was packed with our family, Troya, Elira, Vexa, Lyra, Lyra’s mates Tomlin, Burtan, and Josef, and Lyra’s three children Samson, Delilah, and Waverly.
“Auntie!” Samson yelled as he saw me enter. “I want cookies, too!”
“Cookies are for dessert,” I reminded him. “Only the bakers get to taste them before dinner.”
“I want to be a baker!” he shouted.
“Tomorrow, you can be a baker,” Lyra promised. “Tonight, you have to eat your dinner first.”
Samson pouted, but when I started tickling him, he laughed and forgot about the disappointment.
Wayne pulled out my chair for me and dropped a kiss on my cheek before he took his seat on the opposite side.
Looking around the table, I felt so full of joy and happiness. I’d gone from being an only child to an orphan on the run to the High Queen of Drakorantia. It was hard to believe that so much had happened in my thirty-ish years of life, and yet it was true.
Scout walked into the room in her feline form and curled up at my feet. Reaching down, I patted her metal head and released a sigh of contentment.
I had a home, mates who loved me, a family, and a life I would do anything to protect.
Finally, I was happy.
Finally, I was where I belonged.