The Reluctant King
“It’s good to see you too, sis,” I grumbled, throwing my backpack in the trunk of her Land Rover while Eden and Amelia hugged tightly. Amelia left her luggage in one of the vans in Peru when we split up with Jericho. I was lucky to have left quite a bit of clothing at Sylvia’s house from when I lived with her, but Amelia was going to have to go shopping for a little bit of everything for now. The only thing she had managed to keep with her was her passport and ID to function in the human world. I appreciated her practicality.
I even found it sexy.
“I cannot believe my brother let you be a part of that,” Eden sighed irritably, squeezing Amelia even tighter.
“Please,” I grunted. “Amelia can take care of herself.” I believed this, I wasn’t ever going to let her take care of herself again, but I did believe she could. I had also noticed how Amelia bristled against Eden’s words and I knew that she hated feeling like everyone babied her. I wouldn’t baby her. I would protect her when she needed me, but I would never deny her the capable woman she was.
“That doesn’t mean she should,” Eden countered.
“Because you’ve always sat back and let others fight for you?” Amelia leveled her gaze with my sister’s and I bit back my laughter.
“Touché,” Eden huffed.
“She’s got a point, E,” I smiled. I put my hands on Amelia’s shoulders, loving the delicate feel of them beneath my fingers and pulled her back against my chest. I dipped my head so that I could feel her soft hair against my cheek. “Told you, she can take care of herself.”
“This is really happening, isn’t it?” Eden stared at us in disbelief.
“This is really happening,” I answered before Amelia could make up some excuse.
“Well, we’re uh, we’re just giving it a trial run,” she explained anyway.
Eden looked us over with a tight squint to her eyes and then laughed softly. I knew she was keenly aware of my feelings so I knew her scrutiny had more to do with Amelia’s emotions. I held my breath until Eden came back with something smart to say.
“Careful, Mimi, my brother does nothing half way,” she winked at me and I relaxed.
It wasn’t what Eden had teased Amelia with, it was the confidence in which she did it. Not only did Eden approve of us, she believed there was a mutual attraction between us.
These were all things I knew and could easily convince myself with. And if things were going slow and naturally between us I wouldn’t have had to worry about them anyway, but since I planned to marry this girl and do it soon I had to hope she was tracking right along with me.
Gabriel, who had been a silent observer grunted something unintelligible and moved to sit in the front seat of Eden’s car. Yes, even though I was not only King but the brother of the driver, Gabriel had surreptitiously called shotgun. Bastard.
Guess Amelia and I were going to have to cuddle.
The rest of us followed suit and climbed in Eden’s banana colored SUV. Titus, Xander and Xavier had driven off already in Syl’s convertible that Kiran drove down to the mid-sized airport.
The ride back to Sylvia’s house was filled with a recap of the battle for Eden. Gabriel said his piece now since he would be bunking at Amory’s old house with the rest of the guys.
Amelia gripped my hands tightly in hers while I retold Eden with excruciating detail what happened. Eden visibly paled when I talked about the human prisoners and the suicides and I worried about the health of her baby under this much stress.
She shook me off in our mental shared consciousness though, promising that even though her emotions were unavoidable the baby wouldn’t suffer because of her despair. And even though I believed what she said, her health became another important reason to wrap this Terletov thing up.
“You’re with child,” Gabriel grunted with surprising tones of reverence in his voice when our conversation had died down. He had somehow known and I had to wonder for just four seconds if he read our minds, but then shook that notion off. He was incredibly perceptive.
And possibly he could read our minds too.
But probably not.
Eden looked stunned for just a moment before she was able to recover, “I am.”
“Incredible,” Gabriel murmured, looking at Eden like he had never seen anything like her before. “Avalon didn’t say anything.”
I wanted to defend myself, but Eden beat me to it, “We just found out. We’re waiting to tell the Kingdom until the engagement party for Talbott and Lilly that Avalon’s planning.”
I hadn’t known they were going to make the announcement that soon, nor did I know she realized the engagement party would be so soon. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but for some reason Eden using her magic to use our connection for information did. Especially after her shocking bouts with morning sickness, I really believed my sister had to have Kiran remind her constantly to use her magic.
She was adorably oblivious.
“This means everything to your people,” Gabriel all but whispered. “Your grandfather would have been….” Gabriel’s voice broke just a fraction and while my jaw dropped in surprise from his show of emotions, Eden’s instantly filled with huge tears that slipped from the corners of her eyes and trailed helplessly down her cheeks. She swiped at them with the back of her hands and the car swerved destructively across three lanes of interstate. “Amory would have been amazed.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at my sister’s dramatic emotions until Gabriel’s last words. I expected him to say “proud” or “pleased” or anything but “amazed.” His word choice filled the car with the same tone as his reverent awe and for the first time I sat back and admired what an incredible miracle Eden was carrying. After the sordid past of our people and the impossibility of the baby inside of her I had to agree. It was amazing. Eden was amazing.
Beyond what this would mean for my people I had to admit the whole thing was exactly like Gabriel said, amazing.
Amelia’s hands gripped mine tighter and I realized she was as emotional as my sister. That snapped me back to reality and I put a comforting arm around her and drew her close to me. A feeling stuttered and started inside my chest and then flamed out, growing rapidly through every pore and blood vessel inside of me.
Jealousy.
Not the kind that would keep me from being happy for my sister and her husband, but the soft kind that blossomed hope. For the first time in my entire life I thought about what it would be like for my wife to be pregnant with that same miracle. I wanted that. I wanted what Eden and Kiran had. And not because of what it would do for my people, for the first time in maybe forever, I wanted my wife and me to have a baby because of what it would do for me…. for my wife…. for us.
Yes, I definitely wanted that.
And I had the undeniable feeling that I was already holding part of that in my arms.
----
“Hey there,” Sylvia called as she came into the kitchen from the living room. She was rumpled from sleep, her blonde hair sticking up wildly and her mascara smudged and black beneath her eyes.
“Hey there,” I echoed in a huge smile. I stood up and swept her into a big hug. “It’s been awhile.”
“No kidding,” she laughed when I set her back down. She immediately turned her back on me to give her undivided attention to the coffee pot that was gurgling with activity on the counter.
We were the only ones up so far. After a long night of talking things out with Kiran, planning an informational meeting and then the subsequent task of calling the Regents, most of the house was still asleep. I wasn’t a very good sleeper to begin with, but since I had given my bedroom up to Amelia, the couch was in no way convincing for a late morning.
“When did you get in last night?” I asked Sylvia who had been at the hospital the majority of yesterday.
“I’m not sure,” she grunted and then pulled the pot midstream to fill up her large cup. “Sometime after midnight but before now.”
I laughed at her candidness. “You didn’t want to sleep in?”
“I can’t. I have to go back to the hospital in an hour,” she explained and then took a sip of her coffee. I watched as the caffeine immediately went to work in her system and she relaxed against the counter. “It’s good to have everyone back here,” she mused suddenly.
“Mmm? What’s that?” she asked, her eyes lighting up from behind her cup. She kept inhaling the aroma of the coffee like a serious addict. It was adorable.
“First, I’m sure you heard that Lilly and Talbott are engaged?” I asked.
“Yes, and how exciting!” she squealed. “Finally, right? You must be so excited for their wedding!”
“I am,” I admitted in a more subdued tone. Even though Eden looked up to Sylvia like a mother, she was only in her late-thirties and I had a very hard time taking her seriously as an adult, even with her prestigious surgeon status. She was just too cute. “I’m so excited in fact that I’ve decided to throw them an engagement party.”
I bit back laughter as I watched Sylvia’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “You decided to throw them an engagement party? Like of your own free will?”
“Yes, why? Is it hard to believe?” I scoffed defensively.
“No, it’s impossible to believe. You don’t like parties first of all, and I have a really hard time believing that you would willingly throw one,” she laughed.
“It wasn’t my original idea,” I conceded, “but it is important that I put my support behind their marriage. And not just in a business-standpoint kind of way. They are my friends. I do care about them. And I do want to celebrate this with them.”
“Gabriel?” Syl asked and I shook my head negatively. “Angelica?”
“It wasn’t one of my advisors,” I grumbled, realizing the reason Sylvia was determined to get to the bottom of this.
“Your sister?” Sylvia all but squeaked, her smile growing wide over the lip of her cup.
I shook my head and bit back more laughter.
“Put me out of my misery Avalon, just tell me,” she groaned sounding completely exasperated.
“What is the big deal?” I sighed, staring at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the room although I was kind of dying to tell Syl.