Page 176 of Enchanted Throne

He pressed his head into my hand as his usual way of greeting.

“How’s the forest tonight, boys?”

Shadow sniffed the ground unfazed, then he too, let me pet his nose.

I let out a little laugh without trying to move too abruptly. Shadow was still new to letting me touch him. “I know, Shadow. You want rabbits back. And maybe even a turkey.”

He perked his ears at the word turkey.

I grinned. “Turkeys, huh? We’ll work on it.”

There was much to be done. Tensions to fix. Walls to tear down. And a healthy, thriving Wylan to build. The forest to finish healing. Maybe a few more heirs once everything calmed down. Last but certainly not least, turkeys.

“Cinnamon oat!” Warrick whispered forcefully as I made my way back over to the two of them, obviously having some sort of quiet disagreement.

“The chocolate ones,” Krew argued. “You are just siding with your Uncle Owen because you know he will take you riding.”

Warrick nodded, eyes wide. “Fact!” Seeing I was back, he pinned his gorgeous blue-gray eyes on me. “Hey, Mum? Do you think we could make some cookies tomorrow?”

I grinned. With Krew gone the following day that would be tricky to squeeze in, but I’d make it happen anyway. “Of course. Shall we ask grandmum to join us?”

“Yes!” Warrick said with a fist pump. “Best day ever.”

The tears pricked my eyes. All these days were the best days ever. More than it was the crown on my head, it was the man I had chosen to marry and spend this life next to. And the little boy we got to call ours.

“She’s going to cry again, isn’t she?” Warrick asked Krew.

Krew didn’t even hesitate. “Yep.”

I laughed. “They are happy tears, you both know that.”

Warrick put down his food and scrambled over to me, throwing his arms around me.

I closed my eyes and hugged him back. “I just love our life. That’s all.”

“It’s better,” Warrick agreed quietly. “Not because of the castle, though it’s nice. Just because we are... together.”

I repeated the phrase he’d said to me dozens of times. “Better now that you’re here.”

His little hands hugged me harder.

My eyes met Krew’s and I didn’t think I was imagining the sheen of water in them as well.

Later that night, Krew took me by the hand and led me in the direction of our bed.

“Ifeelas if you’re havingfeelings,” I teased.

“Numerous feelings,” Krew murmured as he yanked me into him. “Not quite sure which one to pinpoint, love.”

“You should probably just go to bed,” I laughed. “You have a lot to do tomorrow.”

“We have a lot to do every tomorrow,” Krew argued.

“Good point.”

He picked me up and my legs instinctively moved to wrap around him as he carried me the rest of the way to bed.

As he gently laid me down, he took his time traveling his way up my body, stopping to take my hand from where it had rested on his shoulder and turning it to kiss my palm before moving to brush another kiss to my fingertips. His voice was but a whisper as he said, “That something so small is carrying such power.”

I thought back to the day I had gotten the letter in Nerede and how I had thought something similar. I had resented that letter. Resented fate.

Whether it was fate or our stubborn wills to blame, I was nothing but grateful that it brought me to him. This man who had lost everything. Yet in his darkest hour he had somehow found the will to begin piecing himself back together brick by brick. That act alone was magic in and of itself. Until one day he was strong enough to free us all.

My dark prince. My king.

My everything.

The End