Page 117 of The Queen

She grinned. “We both know he was only the second in command and there wasn’t much dragging from my side. Plus, you’re safe and secure inside your sentient rainbow bubble. You don’t need Fenix as much as I do. But listen, the holocom isn’t entirely a gift. It’s more a gesture of good faith. I want to open trade negotiations, but the council is being all stuffy as usual. So I figured we’ll just run the numbers ourselves and call it a day.”

Ghost rested his chin on my shoulder. “Did my brother put you up to this?”

A pretty blush darkened Lyrah’s cheeks. “Arkyn didn’t have anything to do with this. Well, not much anyway. Okay, he brought up the idea, but I decided to do it.”

Ghost snickered against my ear.

We’d been trying to set up trade for a while, and it was slow going with her council involved. But more than that, I missed my friend. It had been too long since I’d seen her last. “Let’s schedule a time to meet and go over details.”

“How about now?”

“You’re here?” I nearly screamed with excitement. I had so much to show her. She hadn’t even met the twins yet.

“As long as your shield doesn’t try to pummel us, we can be there in less than an hour.”

“It only does that when people are trying to assassinate me.”

“Great. We’ll see you soon!” Lyrah’s holocom went blank.

I hopped off Ghost’s lap and squealed. “We’re having company.”

The sound of his laughter floated through the castle, following me as I ran down the steps and through the maze of stone halls. I hurried down a shortcut through the kitchen and liberated a honey cake from where it was cooling on the counter. My cook just shook her head with a fond smile.

I burst through the back door into the garden. A cool kiss of rain landed on my cheek and I looked up to the cloud dappled sky. Another droplet fell and my heart lifted as the distant sound of children squealing lit up the air with joy. I hurried up the rampart and was met with a vision of boys and girls rushing out into the fields of flowers surrounding the nearby village. Parents stood in covered doorways watching them play in the gentle storm.

The warm glow of lights flicked on from living rooms and store fronts as the clouds shadowed the sky. The rain fell harder, plastering my hair to my head, but I couldn’t look away from the little town growing from the ruins it had once been. Citizens laughed and danced in the streets, no longer forced to live and work in squalor. Gutters overflowed and the run-off splashed down from sturdy roofs into tiny tin buckets that spilled from one to the other, guiding the water to collection barrels. The drought was truly over, but it filled my heart with happiness to see my people safe and working in harmony with our home.

Ghost and Shadow joined me with the twins, and shortly after that, Lex and Grey arrived to wait for our old friends. Each of them brought something irreplaceable into my life, and I couldn’t imagine my world without each and everyone of them.

I was told that I had to choose one or risk losing my crown, but that was all a lie. I would have lost everything if I hadn’t listened to my heart.