FIVE YEARS LATER
“Princess Nina! Please, don’t put that in your mouth… Your parents will have me executed.”
An exasperated grunt drifts up from the general direction of the garden below our open window. The new royal nanny is having a hell of a time, from the sound of it.
“Your daughter is causing problems again,” I murmur.
“Funny — she’s only my daughter when she’s causing problems. She’s your daughter when she’s successfully taking her first steps across the patio three weeks ahead of schedule.”
“Our daughter,” I compromise, stretching lazily across my husband’s chest, where I’ve spent the past hour sprawled. “Though, with those blue eyes of hers, she’s your spitting image.”
“Are you complaining?” Said blue eyes narrow at me.
“Not at all. Though I have a feeling you will be in about… oh, fifteen years or so.”
Carter groans. “We still have dungeons, don’t we?”
“I believe so.”
“Perfect. We’ll throw all her prospective boyfriends in there when they come to pick her up for dates. Problem solved.”
I snort. “Great plan. That’ll work.”
“What time do we have to be downstairs?”
“The ceremony starts at noon.”
Carter grins. “Can’t believe Riggs finally convinced Galizia to marry him.”
“Only took half a decade… And an iron-clad agreement that he’s the one staying home to raise the kids while she leads the Queen’s Guard as our new Commander.” I giggle. “Frankly, I’m not sure who’s happier with the arrangement.”
“A commando fairy tale,” Carter murmurs. “Is Chloe coming?”
“I think so. She’s been so busy lately, I feel like we haven’t seen her in ages.”
“Sponsoring someone new?”
I nod. “Isn’t she always? Plus, Parliament just passed her new pharmaceutical reform bill. Getting drugs off Germanian streets is a full time endeavor. Minister Thorne is far too important for us now, haven’t you heard?”
“True. If not for her auntly duties, I doubt she’d step foot in the castle.”
I smile happily. “Then I suppose we’ll be seeing more of her soon…”
Carter’s grin is so warm, it makes my bones melt.
“Princess Nina!” Outside, the nanny sounds like she’s about to lose her mind. “That is a worm! Worms are not to be eaten!”
“Should we go investigate?” I ask, arching my brows.
“In a bit.” He trails a slow finger along my spine. “I think we have at least fifteen more minutes before this one quits.”
“Like I said — your daughter.”
With a wolfish smile, Carter flips me over onto my back and pins me against the mattress. He hovers over me, careful not to put any weight on my swollen stomach.
“I think this one is a boy,” he murmurs, planting a kiss just above my bellybutton. “I can feel it.”
“And if it’s another girl?”
He scowls. “Then we’ll have to build more dungeons.”
I giggle and pull him down into a kiss. Growling playfully, he returns it — but his lips soon replace all traces of laughter with burning lust.
As Carter’s hands move down my body, hitting all my favorite spots with expert precision, I marvel at the wonder that is my life.
My glorious life, with my glorious man.
Sometimes, it is hard to believe one person could be so lucky. Looking back at where I started… at all the strife we endured on our path to end up here… together…
It’s insane.
I still struggle to wrap my mind around this new reality. The one in which I have my country and my heart’s content and a growing family to call our own.
Carter’s eyes lock on mine as he drives into me — hard, deep, his hands twining with mine on the bedspread. Our wedding bands glimmer in the mellow afternoon light.
“I love you, My Queen,” he murmurs, staring down at me with reverence as he drives me slowly toward the edge of oblivion.
I kiss him.
Hard.
“Always and forever, My King.”
THE END