“You two are going to be fine,” I said. “You'll be changing back to normal with the Spring and then the boards will come off the windows. You'll look completely different the next time I see you.”
They regarded me somberly.
“I'll look after them, my Queen,” Isleen said softly as she came into the room. “You just look after your little princes.”
“I know you're close to them.” I went to hug her goodbye too. “I'm sorry I'm taking them away.”
“I understand.” Isleen eased out of my hug. “And it's not just them who I'll miss. You may be gone awhile too; you and the King.”
“You mean; your family?” I asked with a smile.
“I would never presume—”
“Stop it.” I laughed. “You're family, and you know it. We'll miss you too. But I'm glad Arach's willing to do this. It will be good to have them all together under one roof.”
“You mean your family,” she said with a kind smile.
“Yes.” I grinned at her. “Ever think about having some children of your own?”
Isleen's eyes went wide and she started blinking rapidly. “I... I don't know.”
“That sounds like a fabulous idea, Queen Vervain,” Lugh declared as he walked in with Arach. “I, for one, would find no greater joy than watching our children play in the halls of Aithinne. Well, no greater than that and the making of them.”
“Our children?” Isleen whispered.
“Doubtless, they'll be a bunch of girls,” Lugh said. “With you being a leanan-sidhe and all. You tend to have female children, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“And your king and queen gave the Fire Fey back their fertility.” Lugh winked at me before setting his smile back on his girlfriend. “You should be able to conceive.”
“I...” Isleen started to smile. “Perhaps I'll remove my infertility spell.”
Lugh beamed at Isleen as he swept her up in his arms and kissed her soundly. Part of me was hoping he'd propose, but another part of me knew that Lugh was taking it one step at a time for a reason. Isleen had been skittish with him from the very beginning. The fact that she was willing to have his child said a lot, but faeries had children out of wedlock all the time. At least, they used to, back when they were more fertile. Children were too precious to limit to the confines of marriage. But, if Lugh had a child with Isleen, it would probably make her more amenable to the idea. It was a smart move on his part.
I smirked at Arach and found him giving me a similar look. It seemed that everyone was onto Lugh's play except for Isleen. Or perhaps she knew exactly what Lugh was up to and simply didn't care. Whatever the case, she was looking a lot happier than she had a few minutes earlier.
“Are you ready?” Trevor poked his head into the room. “I have too eager princes here and a ferocious lion princess who want to get going.”
“Yes.” I looked from Lugh and Isleen to Arach. “I think we're ready.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
It wasn't as difficult to settle Arach and the boys into Pride Palace as I'd thought it would be. I transformed a few bedrooms into a suite for them on the floor beneath mine. I gave them their own kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and the boys had a bedroom to share while Arach had the master. I would have given Brevyn and Rian their own rooms, but they hated sleeping apart.
The Twins and Lesya had come out of the tracing room running. Lesya led them straight upstairs to Zariel, and then the four of them had raced back down, yammering about building a fort. I saw them settled in a spot near the pool in front of the palace. Some of my lions were training nearby and they offered to watch over the children. That left Arach alone so he got to give me his input on the suite and when we were finished, I brought him upstairs to relax with the other men and me before dinner.
The God Squad would be returning in the morning to plan our attack on Disani and Gish's—possibly even Qaus'—stronghold in Kabul. But for the moment, there was nothing to do. We decided to watch a movie to take the pressure off making conversation. Instead of crowding on the couches in our little entertainment area, we went down to the Pride's private movie theater and put on Venom.
Halfway through the movie, I looked over and saw Arach's laughing face. The film appealed to him on so many levels. He knew exactly what it was like to have a bloodthirsty beast living inside him. But it wasn't merely his enjoyment of the film that made me smile; it was the way he'd relaxed. Arach wasn't even sitting next to me. I was between Trevor and Kirill, and Arach sat to Kirill's left. And yet, he seemed perfectly at home.
Maybe we wouldn't drown after all.
I grinned to myself. Of course, we wouldn't. We are Dragons, and Dragons don't go down easily, not even when we're out of our element. I glanced around me at the strong men I was lucky enough to call my own. Some of my intare had joined us too, and the room was full of their laughter and groans. I didn't even mind the occasional “Shut up, Aidan” they were all sounds of home to me. And I finally had my whole family in my home.
At that moment, I didn't care that war had brought us all together. I had learned to appreciate the good in every situation. And with all the magic, love, and strength we had, even the bad didn't bother me. I glanced left and right at Kirill and Trevor. Once upon a time, we may have only been a lion, a witch, and a werewolf, but now, we were
