#Chapter 398 – King and Queen
Ella
“I’m glad we did that,” I say later that afternoon as Sinclair pulls our car around to the front entrance of the palace. “I couldn’t stand to say goodbye to that house if it was to a stranger. Too many memories there.” ” I agree,” Sinclair says, parking directly out front in what feels…well, feels too informal for the future King’s first entrance to the palace, his new home. ” Doesn’t this place have like, a garage?”
I murmur, looking into the back seat to check on little Rafe, who is happily chewing on the sleeve of his little baby hoodie and staring at himself in a mirror attached to his car seat. “I… think so…” Sinclair says, and I look up in surprise to see him grimacing at me a little. “I’ve only really been here for state occasions,” he says, shrugging.”
And the birth of our child,” I point out.
“Well for that,” he says, “wealsojust parked out front.”
“True true,” I say, turning away to my door. “I guess we’ll figure it all out. Yes, we will,” he murmurs, getting out of the car and opening the back seat to lift out Rafe’s carrier. While I wait for them to come around to my side, I stare up at the gorgeous palace in front of me. “I can’t believe this is going to be my home,” I murmur. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a King,” he sighs. I look up at him, studying the lines of his handsome face. “Yeah,” I agree. “Me neither.”
Sinclair laughs and shakes his head down at me. “Well, I would hope thatyouwould try to chuff me up a little bit there.”
I laugh and take his arm, squeezing it. “Well, you know I think you cando it,” I say, grinning, “and that I don’t think anyone else could do it any better. I just,” I consider it for a moment, shaking my head. “I don’t know. I’m not going to be able to get used to people calling you King.”
“Will you be able to get used to people calling you Queen?” he asks, brow arched. I laugh up into his face at the ridiculousness of it. “Absolutely not,” I reply. “They’ll all just have to call me Ella, or I’ll walk right past them without realizing that they’re talking to me.” “You don’t do so poorly responding to Luna,” he says, pulling his arm from my grip and wrapping it around my shoulder to pull me close. Yes, but that feels more real,” I say quietly. “I…know what a Luna’s supposed to do. I want to protect my pack, help them in all things.” “I imagine Queen is much the same,” he says softly. “You’ll get used to it. And you’ll be great.” “Do I get a crown?” I ask grinning up at him, but then my face falls slack with shock when he slowly begins to nod.
“Wait, seriously?” I say, my eyes going wide. “I get acrown?”
“It’s technically not yours,” he replies, laughing. “It belongs to the nation to be passed from Queen to Queen. But, for as long as you’re alive and we’re on the throne,” he grins widely at me, seeing the excitement on my face, “you get a crown.” “Well then let’s go!” I shout, bursting forward and heading up the steps. “What the hell are we waiting for!”
To my extreme disappointment, Sinclair does not take me immediately to the vault with the crown jewels and let me wear my tiara while I unpack all of our moving boxes. “Not until the official coronation, my ass,” I murmur angrily as I use a box cutter to cut the tape on probably my fortieth box and start to unload all of Rafe’s baby clothes. A few feet away from me in his little playpen, Rafe lets out a little squeal that I choose to interpret as support. “Thank you, Prince Rafe,” I call to him. “I agree. He’s being cruel.”
“I am not,” Sinclair laughs, coming into the room with a little tray of food for our lunch. “I’m just following the. rules. It’s not really a Kingdom precisely anymore the jewels belong to everyone. It’s not right to wear them until the people have officially given them to us. And then,” he says, putting the tray down on the bed, “onlyon state occasions.”
“Again,” I sigh, pausing to look up at him, “this is a rule that I will choose, in my wisdom as Queen, not to follow.” And then I send him a mental image down the bond of when, precisely, I plan to be wearing that crown. And just how good I’ll look wearing that crown, and only that crown. Sinclair blinks and then huffs a laugh, grinning at me. “Fine,” he says. “One exception can be made. One.”
“One to start,” I say primly, turning back to my task at hand. “Come and eat,” he says, taking the fancy lids off of our plates of sandwiches, like we’re in some kind of hotel. I was pleased to hear that Sinclair, in starting to hire people to refill the palace with workers and get it back to fully functioning, hired a head chef. Still, I don’t even know where the kitchens are and it feels strange already to be waited on like this. What am I going to do when I’m pregnant again? Just…wander the halls, starving, searching for the kitchens? “I’m not hungry yet,” I say to Sinclair, laying out Rafe’s clothes on the floor in neat piles and then disassembling the box. “I want to get us moved in.” I do take a moment, though, to look around the main bedchamber. “Remember the last time we were here?”
I ask quietly, taking in the tall windows, the gorgeous floors. We’ve had much of the furniture replaced with that which suits our taste a bit better, but still…I’ll never forget the day we brought our baby into the world. “Vividly,” Sinclair murmurs, biting into his sandwich and watching me. “Are you sure you still want us to be our bedroom?
We have options.” ” Yes,” I say with a little sigh, looking around. “I’m sure. It’s… fitting.” I smile at him. “This is a King’s bedroom for sure – and you are a King!” “Not yet, he says, shaking his head. “You keep saying that,” I reply, frowning at him. ” Is there something wrong? Are you… doubting the fact that the coronation will go through or something?” “No,” he replies, cocking his head to the side. “I just…want everything to be right. Damon and his father…” he shakes his head, a little angry, “they took liberties with the privileges of this position that they shouldn’t have. It wasn’t right.”
” I know,” I say quietly, watching my whole-hearted mate struggle with his new responsibilities. “But you’ll be better.” “I hope I can be,” he sighs. And then he looks over at the baby. And I hope I can convince him to be as well, when his turn comes.” “Rafe?” I say, turning to my baby in surprise. But then my face bursts into a smile. “No, he’ll be a great Prince! And a wonderful King!”
And then I laugh, crawling over to his little playpen and peeking over the edge, grinning at my little boy. ” How could he not be, he’s so sweet!” Sinclair smiles at me but then shrugs. ” Every tyrant was once a well-loved little baby whose mother thought they were too cute to do anything wrong.” Yes,” I sigh, standing and reaching down to pick up my baby and carry him over to his poor worried father. “But we’ll raise him right.” I kiss my baby on his head, sending a little love down the bond to him that makes him smile and wiggle with happiness. “We’ll do our very best, Rafe,” Sinclair says to our boy, smiling at him. “We can promise you that.” “So,” I say, after a moment as I raise my baby to my shoulder and hold him close. “What’s next for us? We’re in the palace. We’re awaiting some kind of coronation. What do we have to…do?” “Well,” my mate says, looking up at me with serious eyes. “I’ve got a bunch of politics and meetings to attend, as well as a palace and a nation to get going. But you…well, Ella, I want you to do what you please.” “What do you mean?” I ask, confused. “I don’t just want to sit around relaxing and watching movies all day – I had enough of that during bed rest, it was terrible. I want to help you -”
“I know,” he says, laughing and reaching for my hand, which I give him. “But I don’t want to…giveyou tasks, or tell me how to help me. I want you to pick your own projects. Your instincts are excellent, Ella. I have my own ideas about how to help the people of this nation, both human and wolf alike. But I know you do too.”
I bite my lip. “I’m not sure I do just. yet.” Honestly, it probably makes me a bad Queen but…I haven’t given it as much thought as I should. “Well, you will,” he says, nodding to me. “And when you do, I want you to follow them. But in the meantime, if you’d like a suggestion…” I nod eagerly, excited for a project and curious about what he has in mind. “What do you think about planning a wedding? A big one, very public.”
I wrinkle my nose at him, confused. Then I lean forward. “Sinclair,” I say, shaking my head a little. “We alreadydidthat. I mean I know a mating ceremony is a little different but we – ”
“No,” he says, laughing up at me, and I can’t help but smile down into my mate’s handsome face. Sometimes he’s still so beautiful when he laughs that it takes my breath away. “I’m not talking about us.” “Then who?” I ask.
“Roger and Cora,” he says quietly. “I think it could be good for the nation to see a wolf marry a human. Even if she’s …notpreciselyas human as we thought she was. What do you think?”
And a huge smile breaks out on my face that, by his laugh, tells himpreciselywhat I think.
“I love it,” I whisper. And then I squeal in excitement, spinning fast in a circle and laughing with joy. “A wedding! A wedding for Roger and Cora!” I absolutely cannot wait.
