“Can we live here at Sevenrest instead of the palace?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good.” She rested her head on his shoulder while idly stirring the water with her bare feet. “Being queen won’t be so bad as long as we get to stay here.”
“Ye dinna wish to live in a palace? When I used to visit the Dreaming, many mortal females dreamt of becoming fairy princesses.” He held her close and kissed the top of her head, noting that she smelled ofdobhar-chú,which gave off the slightest stink of wet dog. But he didn’t care. She was his, and they were together. That was all that mattered.
She laughed softly and snuggled closer. “I’ve never wanted to be a fairy princess. Isn’t that funny? All I ever wanted was to take care of animals and make them feel better.”
“And what about being loved?”
She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “I never dared to dream I would be as loved as you make me feel.”
“I do love ye, my own, with a ferocity that will last all eternity.”
She cupped his cheek and said, “I love you more.”
Epilogue
“Naught but four summers old and just look at him.” Pride made Jeros’s heart swell near to bursting. “That is my son, Darkcord.” He thumped the fencepost. “My son.”
Darkcord clapped him on the back. “The lad was made to ride unicorns. Her Majesty is barely controlling the mount with the lead.”
“Torian, don’t kick him,” Lexi said to her exuberant son. “Lean forward a bit andthinkto him, asking him nicely to go faster, and don’t forget to say please. He’ll hear you.”
“Pweeze,” the child said aloud, then covered his mouth with his little hand and wrinkled his nose, obviouslythinkingthe command because the unicorn stallion increased its speed.
“Fearless, he is,” Jeros said, barely able to contain himself. “Absolutely fearless.” Then he noticed the sheen of sweat across his dear one’s brow, his very round and heavily pregnant dear one, sure to give birth to his wee daughter any day now. Since he didn’t wish to startle the unicorn, he called to her from the gate. “Lexi, my own. Do ye not feel that’s enough for today? Ye should be resting.”
“I know,” Lexi said while smiling at her son. “I just wanted as much one-on-one time with Torian before he had to share me with little Gwenna.”
“I am coming in.” Jeros quietly opened the gate once the unicorn circled around and could see that it was him. He joined Lexi at the center of the paddock and took the lead rope from her. “Sit ye down, my own. Rest where he can see ye. He is more interested in the unicorn than either of us.”
Arching her back, she rubbed it with both hands and winked at him. “It’s better if I stand right now. It’ll move things along faster.”
“Move things along?” Jeros slowly repeated as he realized what she meant. “Darkcord! Fetch the nanny for Torian and the midwife for—for our queen! Alert the household! Her Majesty said it’s time!”
Darkcord and Aylryd took off like a shot while Lexi cut an amused sideways glance at Jeros and slowly shook her head. “I thought you would be calmer this time,” she said. “Remember how easy everything went with Torian?”
“That does not mean I wish my daughter born in the paddock or the stable.” He halted the unicorn, then wound up the lead line, and held out his hands to his extremely disgruntled son.
“No, Papa.” Torian stuck out his bottom lip and shook his head until his fair curls bounced. “No! More riding.”
“He’s going to be mad at you,” Lexi warned, her lighthearted tone clarifying that Jeros was on his own with his petulant offspring. “I promised him a long ride. We just got out here.”
“Torian, do not tell Papa no. Mama has to go get baby Gwenna.” Jeros scooped the lad off the saddle and settled him on his hip. “Don’t you wish to meet your sister?”
The toddler eyed him as if he thought him crazed. Torian pointed at the unicorn. “Want to ride. Get baby Gwenna a ’corn for her to ride too.”
“Very logical,” Lexi said, her snickering unmistakable. “And what a good boy wanting to share the unicorns with his sister.”
“You are not helping,” Jeros told her.
She grinned. “You are right.”
The gate creaked, and Jeros breathed a sigh of relief as Nanny rushed forward and took the lad, tickling and making funny noises until little Torian cackled as they hurried back inside.
Determined to regain control of the situation, Jeros wrapped an arm around his wife and slowly but steadily walked her to the manor house. Torian’s birth had been uneventful, but that didn’t mean that this one would be. Any risk to his beloved Lexi shot fear straight to his heart.
