have the proper technology.
Maya had told her to take it easy, to rest and recover. But it seemed, for June, that getting back to some semblance of normalcy was exactly what she needed to put the past behind her.
Maya turned to me now, wrapping her arms around me once more and going up on tiptoes to press a kiss to my mouth. “Thanks to you.”
“Okay, you two, get a room.”
We broke apart as Kain, Abby, Rahl and Wisteria approached us.
“Actually, that sounds like a great idea,” Maya tossed back, laughing. She’d hit it off with my found family right away, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
“Looks like I was right yet again,” Wisteria said smugly, the petite Macronite grinning from ear to ear. “Quite a change in your life, right, Soren?”
At the celebration of the birth of Kain and Abby’s twins, Wisteria had predicted that some big change was coming my way. Never in a million years would I have expected it to come in the form of the most beautiful creature I’d ever laid eyes on.
I wrapped my arm around Maya’s waist and pressed a kiss to her head. “Who’s next on your psychic radar?”
Wisteria simply laughed, but I noted that her brother was watching her closely, almost…hopefully. Could it be that Rahl was hoping for his own happily ever after to be predicted by his sister?
“We have a gift for you,” she said, avoiding the question altogether. “But I’m afraid we left it back at the palace.”
“No worries.” Maya smiled. “We can get it anytime, then.”
“We have one as well,” Abby said. “I hope you like it.”
“Pretty sure Dordus and Gulray brought another one of those fertility figurines,” Kain added. “Watch out if so. Those things are potent.”
As if to prove his point, little Dain and Luan both let out a squeal from where they were now being held by Mother and Father.
Mother gave me a smile and a wink, and Maya giggled, having noticed it as well. “I think the queen is trying to tell us something.”
Maya and I hadn’t discussed the idea of children yet, but thinking about it now, I couldn’t think of anything that would make me happier than sharing that experience with my mate.
“Hmm…about that room…”
Hours later, we finally made our way into our suite at the palace. We’d laughed and danced and talked all night with our friends and family, and while I’d enjoyed every minute of it, I was thrilled to finally be alone with my wife.
My wife. It was still hard to believe that this magnificent creature was my wife, but I was ready to spend every day for the rest of our lives showing her just how honored I was.
“Come here,” I said, taking her hand and leading her through the rooms, into my bedroom, and then onto the balcony beyond. Not so very long ago I’d been thinking about how I hardly used the balcony, or even spent much time in my suite of rooms. My life had been so lonely, so routine and boring, until Maya had walked into it. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
Or rather, I could imagine it all too well, and didn’t want to ever be apart from her again.
As we stepped out onto the balcony together, the cool autumn breeze ruffling her dress, I pressed a button on the wall that had music filtering in through hidden speakers and more orbs of soft light floating overhead.
She looked up, delighted, and I took her in my arms, swaying with her to the music. We danced together, all alone on our balcony under the stars, staring into each other’s eyes. I had no idea how long it was, only that in this moment, everything in my life was right.
“I love you,” I whispered against her mouth as I lowered my lips to hers, brushing them gently.
Slowly, as we continued dancing, I reached up into the pile of curls atop her head and began removing the hairpins one by one, taking my time, savoring this moment and committing the look of awe and love on her fact to memory.
When her curls tumbled down around her waist, I began to work on the intricate buttons of her dress, still in no rush.
With our gazes locked, we moved to the music, and it was as if everything else but the two of us ceased to exist. Even the beauty of the Hollander night sky faded away in comparison to the gorgeous woman in my