Her eyes sparkled with laughter, and she rose up on tiptoes to reply in his ear. “I do recall promising total surrender, once upon a time.”
“And thus the conquered becomes the conqueror,” he replied, turning his head to capture her mouth with his.
Heedless of all watching them, Báran and Destrye alike, Oria and Lonen kissed, celebrating a lasting peace and partnership. And all around them, people and derkesthai cheered.
~ Epilogue ~
Oria awoke, alone in the bed and with late morning sun streaming in. She stretched, muffling a groan, her body heavy and sluggish. Even though she’d clearly outslept Lonen, she felt like she could sleep for days more.
“Sleep as many days as you like,” Chuffta suggested. But his bright green eye appeared in the window, blocking the sunlight. “How are you feeling?”
“Eleven months pregnant, thank you.”
She rolled to her side and used her hands to push herself up, the way Baeltya had taught her. “It’s much better our way,” Chuffta commented, watching her. “Lay the eggs and wait for them to hatch instead of carrying them around inside you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” As a first order of business, she relieved her poor, crushed bladder, then pulled on a robe and opened the glass-paned doors to step out onto the rooftop terrace. The autumn sun filtered through the fiery canopy, the surrounding forest a spectacular display of color. Chuffta lolled on his platform nearby, soaking in the sun, the tip of his tail flicking in lazy delight. The planters surrounding the terrace overflowed with flowers, vines, and even small trees and bushes. As the Destrye had ventured out of Arill City over the course of the summer, reclaiming lost homesteads and discovering new ones, they’d vied with each other to bring back anything that flowered that their queen might not already have in her garden on the roof of the palace.
Combined with the plants from her Báran garden, coaxed to verdant life from seed and shoot, the array made for an exotic bouquet unlike anything else in the world. Arnon had surprised her with the once-dying jasmine tree from her tower garden in Bára, having it brought through the tunnels along with food supplies, calling it a belated wedding gift. Songbirds from all over—even a few hardy jewelbirds—gathered in the branches or flitted from flower to flower. The flora and fauna of Bára and Dru complimented each other with a surprising amount of balance and symmetry. A sorceress’s garden sustained by her magic and careful attention.
Arill knew she didn’t have the energy for much else.
“She’s awake,” Lonen called out, coming through the doors she’d left open.
She opened her arms and he gathered her close, carefully maneuvering around her distended belly, kissing her thoroughly. “I was worried you’d sleep through lunch,” he teased.
“I already missed breakfast, apparently,” she replied with a smile. “I’m starving.”
“Good thing I’m king then, because I have ordered a feast fit for a queen.” A queue of servants streamed out the doors, carrying platters of food they arranged on the table set in a pool of warm sun.
“How many people are you planning to feed?” Oria asked, raising her brows and laughing.
“At least three,” Lonen answered, laying a big hand on her belly. “You, me, and this one. What’s your guess today—barbarian warrior or sorceress?”
“Could be warrior woman or sorcerer,” she reminded him.
“Copper hair, though.”
“And gray eyes. A handsome combination.”
“Maybe he’ll be a mighty thewed sorcerer,” Lonen suggested with a sparkle in his own gray eyes as he helped her into a chair.
“Or she will be,” Oria retorted, giggling at the expression on her husband’s face. She took his hand. “No matter who our children are, magically gifted or not, mighty warriors or not, we’ll love them and teach them.”
“Just so long as they aren’t annoyingly over-analytical engineers like Arnon,” Lonen mock scowled. “I can’t love that.”
“I heard that,” Arnon said, strolling out from inside, Alyx with him, smiling warmly at Oria.
“This is a private lunch,” Lonen pointed out. “And the royal couple’s private quarters, need I remind you.”
“Good thing the queen has a soft spot for me.” Arnon gave Alyx a nudge with his elbow, and Oria a jaunty wink. “We received a message from Nolan. He and Natly have settled in at Lousá and are making headway with diplomatic relations.”
“Helped along, no doubt, by the promises of wood and water from Dru,” Lonen commented cynically.
“In exchange for for what they can send us,” Oria reminded him. “It balances out, and we’re all benefitting from working together instead of warring.”
“I know, I know.” Lonen pretended to scowl. “Hopefully we won’t get bored with all this peace and prosperity.”
“I’m sure something will come up for you to bravely battle,” she soothed.
“In the meanwhile,” Arnon said, and presented her with a sheaf of scrolls and a gallant bow.
“Ooh, thank you, Arnon!” Eagerly, Oria unrolled them, scanning the designs with an eye grown considerably more practiced.
“Dare I ask what those are for?” Lonen canted his head to look.
Lonen grunted, studying it. “Surely not yet.”
“Which?” Alyx quipped, giving Oria’s belly a jaundiced eye. “The baby or the Familiar, because to my unpracticed eye, our queen looks ready to pop.”
“Ugh,” Oria replied, rubbing a hand over the uncomfortably stretching skin of her belly. I feel like could. But I meant the Familiar. I want to incorporate our child’s room into the framework for the greenhouse, which I need in place before the first frost.” And hopefully before she had the baby.
“Greenhouse?” Lonen echoed.
“Yes,” Arnon replied with enthusiasm, waving his hands at the rooftop garden. “I’m framing in all of this and Oria will conjure the glass.”
“That way the plants will survive the winter,” Oria explained. “Come spring, I’ll remove the glass again.”
“Handy,” Lonen commented in a dry tone.
“Yes.” Oria gave him her sweetest smile. “I am. And you promised to give me whatever I needed to make me happy here in Dru.”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, gray eyes glowing with love. “And have I?”
“Always and forever,” she answered.
Titles by Jeffe Kennedy
OTHER FANTASY ROMANCES
A COVENANT OF THORNS
Rogue’s Pawn
Rogue’s Possession
Rogue’s Paradise
THE TWELVE KINGDOMS
Negotiation
The Mark of the Tala
The Tears of the Rose
The Talon of the Hawk
Heart’s Blood
For Crown and Kingdom
THE UNCHARTED REALMS
The Pages of the Mind
The Edge of the Blade
The Snows of Windroven
The Shift of the Tide
The Arrows of the Heart
The Dragons of Summer
THE CHRONICLES OF DASNARIA
Prisoner of the Crown
Warrior of the World
SORCEROUS MOONS
Lonen’s War
Oria’s Gambit
The Tides of Bára
The Forests of Dru
Oria’s Enchantment
Lonen’s Reign
THE FORGOTTEN EMPIRES
The Orchid Throne
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
Shooting Star
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Last Dance
With a Prince
Since Last Christmas
CONTEMPORARY EROTIC ROMANCES
Exact Warm Unholy
The Devil’s Doorbell
FACETS OF PASSION
Sapphire
Platinum
Ruby
Five Golden Rings
FALLING UNDER
Going Under
Under His Touch
Under Contract
EROTIC PARANORMAL
MASTER OF THE OPERA E-SERIAL
Master of the Opera, Act 1: Passionate Overture
Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria
Master of the Opera, Act 3: Phantom Serenade
Master of the Opera, Act 4: Dark Interlude
Master of the Opera, Act 5: A Haunting Duet
Master of the Opera, Act 6: Crescendo
Master of the Opera
BLOOD CURRENCY
Blood Currency
BDSM FAIRYTALE ROMANCE
Petals and Thorns
OTHER WORKS
Birdwoman
Hopeful Monsters
Teeth, Long and Sharp
Thank you for reading!
About Jeffe Kennedy
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as a Director at Large.
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, came out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy, The Chronicles of Dasnaria, taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world began releasing from Rebel Base books in 2018.
She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince and Since Last Christmas.
In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.
Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
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