Page 35 of A Story of Mates and Temptation

“Our daughter will arrive when she wants to, I imagine.” I stroke the bump. “If she’s as stubborn as her father, that will be when I can barely walk from the weight of carrying her.”

Catherine looks down with a laugh, then back up at me. “Pregnancy suits you, my friend. I miss you.”

“It’s good to see you, Catherine. It’s been weeks, and I miss you too. Stay longer this time.” I rest my head on her shoulder.

She sighs. “I miss you too. It’s not as easy to travel between us now that we don’t have dragons.”

There’s a longing in her voice—a longing I understand completely.

“I miss Maeve too,” I say softly, “but I know she’s happy.”

“I wonder if any of the dragon eggs have hatched,” Avaluna muses.

“I think they have. When I think about it, I always think they have. They have their young, and they’re happy—like us,” Catherine says decidedly, and I want to believe that too. Maeve was always so lonely, and those eggs, the last of her family, meant she would not always be alone. I love that for her.

Thinking of happiness and family, I glance over at my mother, who is deliriously happy in wedding bliss with Mazzis and his very dark orange suit. “So…my mother told me that pregnancy was in the air for my friends this morning.” I glance between them. “Now, Catherine—she’s not seen you for more than a day, so my only other friend that’s female…well, I’m looking right at her.”

I stare at Avaluna expectantly. “Oh, look at that. There’s my nephew and my sister coming this way. I think I need to go over and see them.” She escapes, and she knows that I can’t move faster than a waddle after her. I shake my head with a laugh.

Catherine’s mate grins as he steps in front of me. “I’m going to steal your last friend away from you to dance.” Catherine is nothing but smiling as she is swirled around and pulled straight onto the dance floor.

I watch them for a long moment and hold that memory in my mind, keeping it there for the nightmares and dark moments that might haunt me for the rest of my life. Moments like this, they chase them away. I don’t think I ever imagined a future like this, or even thought it could have been possible, but it is. And it’s worth it. All the times that I nearly gave up, I have held out for this—because it’s worth it.

“I promised to dance with you softly,” Ziven murmurs as he comes to me, and Hettie is now dancing with Calix. “My mate, I want to hold you.” I can never say no to him. He swirls me around, leaning my back to him, and wraps me in his arms as we sway gently to the soft music.

“There isn’t a day that goes past that I don’t love you,” he whispers. “Do you know that, my queen?”

I look up at the sky.

The deities that I know I prayed to, begged, and freed in the end.

They gave me this. A story that will never end in anything but love.

Epilogue

The last page. This is Queen Story Moonsilver, and I will write the ending.

It’s been five days since I gave birth and my body still feels like it’s fallen off a dragon, been dragged through a sea, and then I ran a hundred miles in a forest. I’m told it’s normal, at least what my mother and the healers have said, but I’m still wincing as I barely manage to walk to the balcony where Ziven is. I could find him anywhere. Our bond has only deepened in the months after the war and I love it, as much as I love him. He is there to wake me when the nightmares drag me from sleep, when I can’t tell if Emyr is still alive and hurting me, or if it is a dream. Ziven is there when I’m happy to see me smile, when I’m sad or sick, despite the intense pressure of the throne. When I went into labour early in the morning, Ziven never left my side and told me repeatedly that this pain is good, and I needed to hear it. It will bring our child into the world, and he was right. I never liked pain, never could stand my own blood, but none of it mattered when she burst into the world and changed everything for the better. This blood loss was good, and it had nothing to dowith the horrors of my past. My daughter came into the world screaming, as the moon hung high in the sky and the night was still outside. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, even in the dead of winter. The weeks before her arrival had been filled with storms, storms that threatened to bring down the new castle, but they never did. Ziven thought the storms were a sign from the deities that our child was coming soon.

Florentine Kyrell Moonsilver of the Moon Dynasty. Second to the throne. Born on a silent night.

It’s the middle of the night, but time seems like nothing when you’ve just had a baby. Our beautiful little daughter sleeps sometimes—not often. She likes to be feeding or held, and luckily for her, there’s a million people in this castle that would do anything to hold her, including my husband. I watch him in a black oak chair that he made himself, touching her lovely onyx locks of hair that curl into her forehead. “Sleep, Wren. My night dragon.” I smile at his nickname for her. When she was born, he was the only one that wasn’t worried at all. Wren was born with so much dark hair that reminds me of Ziv’s, but it’s her eyes—they’re purple, like glowing purple, nothing like I’ve seen before. When I saw a vision of her, she had Ziven’s eyes, but something changed. There’s a mark in the middle of her chest: a sun and moon with four stars pointed around them. Ziven has a army of people searching every book for this marking because no one knows it. Ziven even let Daegan come and see Wren, to see the mark, and he didn’t know either. Mazzis has made it his mission in life to find an answer, and I’m grateful so many people are trying to find answers. Being both her parents were heavily marked with dragons, the healer said it must be a gift, but Ziv claimed she is god-touched in private. He and I know what that means, but we won’t tell anyone else. I told him about everything, about the deal I made, but we both know the Deitiescan be cruel, and whatever fate she has, she will not fight it alone. We will love Wren, cherish her, through every part of her future. “Come mate,” Ziven whispers so quietly, not daring to wake Wren up. When I lift my eyes from our daughter, I find him smiling at me. “You should still be resting.”

“All I’ve done is rest, and it’s just—I need to start walking around a little.” I speak back into his mind. I know he can feel how tired I am, how my body still hurts. He pats his knee. I roll my eyes and walk over. It hurts to sit down, but he pulls me against him and continues rocking the chair as I stretch my legs out and touch our little daughter’s tiny hands under the blanket of stars that watch over us. The moon is shining light down on us, as we don’t say a word for a long time.

“Hettie’s in love with her new sister.” Ziven murmurs into my mind. “She wants another sibling.”

I struggle to not laugh and shake my head. Ever since I told him about the vision, he wants to meet both our children one day. “One day and I will miss Hettie. I’m sure Wren will too.” Hettie’s traveling with Daegan back to the castle tomorrow. “It’s good that the people of the Sun Dynasty see their princess as often as they do on the moon. But a part of me will never fully trust him. Is that wrong?”

“No. Part of me thinks that it’s his redemption by bringing her up alongside us. I trust that Hettie is smart enough to know better. Plus, her new royal guard is going with her.” Ziven’s voice is smug. The new guard is a massive fae male, with fire bending powers and a mean right hook. Ziven was sparing with him from the moment he showed up with his young nephew and asked to join the moon dynasty. Ziven asked him to be Hettie’s guard only a few weeks later, and he has fell into the job like it was born for him.

“Yes, he is actually quite terrifying until his little nephew is around.” I say back.

Ziven hums. “It will be strange to have the house full of children, with Calix’s baby coming in only a few months. The healer said she thinks it’s twins.”

“Deities help them.” I smile, imaging the twins. They will be stunning with Avaluna and Calix’s genes. Ziven gives me a smile, and it’s so relaxed. Not a smile that I think I’ll ever get used to. But I love it. I love every inch of this life we fought for and won. At some point I must have fallen asleep because when I wake up, I’m in the bed, and Ziv and Wren are missing. There’s a note on the pillow:

Gone to the sea for a walk. Come join us if you’re well enough. If not, we’ll be back soon. Z.

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