Every part of him went rigid, and seeming to sense it, the baby began to cry. “Ahnna…”
Her hand curved around his face, forcing James to look at her. “I know it hurts,” she said. “But we are all he has now. We are all that stands between him and a very hard world. He’s ours, and we are his.”
James stared into her beautiful hazel eyes. “It’s not fair to ask youto raise the son of people who tried to murder you. He’s not your blood. He’s—”
“What does blood have to do with anything?” Ahnna tilted her head, hazel eyes thoughtful. “I chose you for no reason other than that you were all my heart wanted. I choose Oliver because my heart tells me that is what it wants me to do. To be bound by love is a far more powerful force than anything that flows through our veins—you and I are testament to that.”
His throat felt tight, emotions threatening to drown him, not the least of which was fear. Yet James made himself look down at his nephew. The moment he did, Oliver stopped crying. Amber eyes framed with dark lashes stared up at him with the trust that only comes with innocence. “Ahnna, if I claim the throne, he will suffer for it. So will Ginny, though she says she doesn’t care.”
His wife didn’t answer, only stroked her fingers through his hair, and James knew that she was waiting for him to voice the fear in his heart.
He swallowed hard. “If I claim the throne, it comes at the cost of William’s legacy, which is…already fraught. The truth will paint my brother not just with the criticism he earned but as a false king. A pretender to the crown. A bastard. And as much as it should not, that legacy will cling to Oliver like a stain, and there will be nothing he can do to escape it. I know, because I’ve lived it.”
James drew in a ragged breath. “He deserves better than that. I want him to have better than that.” He lifted his face to look at her. “But I also want Harendell to have you.”
“I know.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “I think it also deserves to have you.”
She reached beneath one of the chaise cushions and extracted a large, leather-bound book that James recognized from the law library. Ahnna opened it to a marked page, then took Oliver from him. “Read, James. And then choose.”
James picked up the book, taking in the laws surrounding thecoronation of a child, who could not rule on his own until the age of majority. Until such time, a regent would rule in his stead with all the authority of the crown. His eyes moved over who should be named to the regency, and then he slowly closed the book.
Caly had cast the bones and seen his future, and in it, she’d seen that Ahnna would never be queen.
Not that she would never rule.
James pulled his wife and child into his arms, the future he wanted as certain in his heart as the stars in the skies. “I choose this life.”
Ahnna smiled, her eyes liquid bright. “And we will show no mercy to anyone who tries to take it from us.”
Epilogue
Ahnna
Ahnna leaned over Dippy’s neck,urging him for more speed as he raced across the Ranges, hooves like thunder in the tall grass.
Faster,she willed him.I want to win.
As always, her horse heard her thoughts, and his stride lengthened, the world around them nothing but a blur as they flew past the markers, James and Maven following, albeit several paces behind.
“He’s getting slow in his older years,” her husband remarked as he drew alongside her. “We nearly caught you.”
Ahnna laughed, tilting her head back as the wind flowed through her hair, the air smelling of rain and wind and freedom. “You should be sympathetic to his plight.”
James gave a soft snort, then reached over and pulled her out of Dippy’s saddle, settling her in front of him. “I take it back. He’s in the prime of his life.”
“Oliver told me that he caught you pulling a gray hair out of your beard.”
“Little traitor.” James kissed her, tongue stroking over hers, and the thrill it sent through her was the same now as it had been five years ago. Five exhausting years of love, passion, and dedication toward building a kingdom for the nephew they were raising together.
“Don’t pull them out,” she teased. “They give you gravitas.”
“I didn’t realize that was something I lacked.” He kissed her again, hand curving around her ass and pulling her against him in a way that promised he’d make good on her teasing later. Or right now.
“Last time, a cowherd came upon us and proceeded to tell everyone he met that he caught Harendell’s regents fucking in the cow pasture,” she reminded him. “And Hazel had to pick thorns out of my backside when we got back. You’ll have to wait for the comforts of our bedroom.”
“A saddle is comfortable enough.” He moved her so she was facing him, and desire pooled in her stomach as she felt the hard length of him against her. She kissed him, burying her fingers in the beard he’d taken to wearing, and then licking a line down his throat.
He groaned, and she unfastened his belt—
