Stealing His Princess (Kings of Conquest #2) - Adelaide Forrest Page 0,60

I'll keep on tidying up."

"It's only your sister and her family, Aric. It's not like they’re strangers. I don't know why you have to be so obsessive over every single nook and cranny in the castle." She looked down and shot a saucy wink at our daughter. "Your daddy has gone mad, Maryella. I'm afraid he's too far gone." She tapped our daughter’s nose, smiling up at me. “But let me tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

"I'm excited. It's the first time Alina's coming back since she got married, and I want her to leave with fond memories of this place. Our formative years were traumatic at best, after all." I scooted the vase of roses on the mantle an inch to the right, stared at it a few seconds then scooted it back to the left two inches.

"They'll enjoy staying with us whether the vase is to the left or the right,” she giggled. “Your mother is no longer here to cast her shadow over your sister. She’ll see that, without her, this can truly feel like a second home to her." She walked over and laid a hand on my shoulder and just my wife and daughter’s proximity was enough to bring me calm.

"You're right. But you should be resting."

"Maryella is due her nap so I'll take her in and settle her. Then I'll be back to help you clean a little before we go out to meet them." She held up a hand before I could speak and continued, "No. I only gave birth. I'm not an invalid."

She walked away and all I could do was laugh.

My Queen was stubborn to the end.

Local and international media camped out outside the royal palace to report on the arrival of Oshal's royal family. Bristol's hand gave my bunched fist a gentle squeeze as their limousine drew closer. For a fleeting moment, I thought about Hicks and how he would have thought the entire thing a logistics and security nightmare.

We'd have to invite him and his family over as well, but all thoughts of that flew from my mind as Reece stepped out of the car and, before he could offer her a hand, Alina burst from the vehicle with a baby tucked at her hip.

"Aric!" she exclaimed as she rushed over, and in the background I could see Reece's fond look along with the exasperated ones of his aide Cheval and an older woman who was the nanny.

I wrapped my arms around Alina and squeezed, careful not to hit my nephew, before drawing back to take a look at my sister. "So good to see you, little sister. Is this really Alex? He's grown so much since I last saw you."

"He grows like a weed,” she said, turning to Bristol. “You do not look at all like you just gave birth last week," she declared as she turned to my wife. "I've decided to hate you for it."

"What a lovely compliment," Bristol said wryly. "We're so happy that you're here.” She nodded to my brother-in-law, who had walked forward to lay a hand on Alina's back.

"We're happy to be here."

As the camera flashes kept going on around us, I gestured with a flourish behind me. "Let's all head inside."

We entered the palace to the sound of cheers from the people of Lantis who had also gathered to catch a glimpse at their Princess, who had become the Queen of Oshal. The door shut behind us and Alina walked beside me. "I was so nervous to come back. But I can already tell how different things are now.” She looked back to watch my wife and her husband speaking. "She's a major part of it. The effect she’s had on you, and the life you're building together."

"I was nervous about how you'd feel coming back here, Alina," I admitted. "I'm glad it's so different from what it was when she was here."

“Do you—”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t have any news of her.”

She reached out a hand to give me a pat just as Alex grabbed a fistful of her hair. "Well, there's no need to dwell on that anyway.” She looked behind her and Reece reached forward to pluck the baby out of my sister's hold.

"Maryella is such an angel now, but I can't wait until she's energetic enough to pull at my hair." Bristol walked forward to tuck her arm through my elbow. "Come, we're eager to show her off.”

"Mallory will be sorry that she missed this, but she's so heavily pregnant it'll be a while yet before Beckett will allow her to travel," Reece announced as we walked into the nursery and Bristol rushed forward to soothe Maryella, who had woken from her nap and started crying.

I nodded. “Same with Holden and his wife, really. It’ll take some time before we can all gather. Oshal might be the best place, given that’s where all our journeys started.”

Reece laughed. “Just what I was thinking.”

Alina rushed forward to peek at the bundle that Bristol picked up from the crib. She cried out, "Bristol, she's the image of you. But the poor thing has Aric's chin."

Bristol threw me a knowing look and I threw my head back and laughed.

"It was nice seeing Alina and Reece. She was happy, wasn't she?" I wrapped my arms around Bristol from behind just as she'd tucked Maryella in for the night.

She leaned back against me, resting her head on my shoulder. "She was. They all were. I'm glad to see that you and your sister are flourishing, even after everything. And you know how much influence Reece had on us. Without him, you'd be a martyred bachelor of a King."

I winced at her words and pinched her softly. "I'd protest, but you're not entirely wrong. You'll never let me live that down, will you?"

She spun around and wrapped an arms around my neck. "Nope. Not at all. You were a big hulking brute. First, you pushed me away, then you burst into Holden’s rooms to cart me off like a sack of potatoes.”

“You thought it was sexy,” I said as a smirk crossed my features.

My Queen drilled a finger into my stomach. “In hindsight, perhaps, but you were still a bully.” She paused, looking down at our daughter. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is. Your parents will surely be happy to see her. I know they’re looking forward to it,” I predicted, knowing that having a grandchild was not only the best news for her parents, but the happiness of her union with me. Her mother had been supportive, and while nothing could cure her rare disorder, knowing her daughter was loved brought her comfort and eased her stress. While she was still sick, she wasn’t deteriorating at the rate that the doctors had predicted she would.

“We’ll be video calling them in an hour. That’s the best we can do until it’s safe for me and the little one to travel.”

“We should save ourselves a trip when we go, and announce our second baby is on the way,” I whispered against the soft skin of her neck. Not being able to be inside her for weeks after Maryella’s birth had damn near killed me, and now I wanted to live inside her.

"How frugal of you.”

I swept her up in my arms just as I had on the day we got married. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down for another kiss.

Life was perfect.

* * *

>>If you’ve enjoyed Adelaide & Lyric’s books in the Kings of Conquest world, be sure to check out Adelaide’s insta-love romantic suspense novella: Deliver Me from Evil.

* * *

>>For more information about upcoming releases, subscribe to Adelaide Forrest’s newsletter.

Also by Adelaide Forrest

Bellandi Crime Syndicate

Bloodied Hands

Forgivable Sins

Grieved Loss

Shielded Wrongs

* * *

The Men of Mount Awe

Deliver Me from Evil

* * *

The Kings of Conquest - Cowritten with Lyric Cox

Claiming His Princess

Stealing His Princess