#Chapter 470- War
Ella
The next day, Cora and Roger come over early. Roger and Sinclair head out, their faces solemn, to speak with their aids and their advisors regarding how to respond to the news we know is inevitably coming. Our reconnaissance teams told us that the Atalaxian delegation did indeed return home last night and were apparently in council until dawn.
Which suggests that at any moment now, they’ll declare war.
Sinclair, I know, is spending a great deal of time deciding how to publicly respond. I think that he and Roger right now are recording a message that will go out to the nation as soon as the war is declared. But Cora and I?
Well.
We’re just…being moms.
“Ella,” she says, sighing and holding Rafe out towards me in my closet, wrinkling her nose. “I think you precious future King needs to be changed.”
I sigh, my sweater only half over my head. “So? Go change him.”
When I pull my sweater down and settle it neatly over my stomach, I see her grinning at me, my baby still outstretched in her arms. “Nope,” she says, shaking her head. “Your baby, your diaper.”
“You’re going to regret that policy,” I say, taking Rafe from her with raised brows, “in juuuuust about three and a half months, Cora.”
“And for three and a half months, I will be diaper free!” she calls after me with a laugh as I carry my smelly baby over to his changing table in the bedroom.
Rafe grins at me, looking honestly a little proud of himself, and I can’t help but laugh as I lay him down and quickly change him. “Little Rafe,” I coo, smiling down into his perfect face and tickling his belly, “getting so big! Do you want to try an apple today? Or some avocado?”
As I finish changing Rafe, Cora comes out of the closet, changed into a comfortable set of my clothes. She came to the palace today in more formal clothing, but as soon as Sinclair let her know that she probably wouldn’t be required to appear or speak she immediately expressed her intention to change.
I smile at her, picking up the baby, my eyes going to where her little baby bump is clearly evident under her sweatshirt.
“I know,” she says, rolling her eyes and laughing as she comes over to me. ” I’m getting huge.”
“Oh, no you’re not,” I say, laughing as we together move into the living area through the next door and settle onto the couch. “Trust me, you’ll know you’re huge when you can’t even see your feet.”
Cora does look down at her feet as she tucks them up beneath her on the couch, her hands going to either side of her belly. “It just goes so fast, these wolf pregnancies,” she says, shaking her head. “Human moms get nine months to adjust; it’s kind of crazy that wolf mothers only get two-thirds of that time.”
“Or less,” I say, raising my eyebrows. “I didn’t even make it to six months.”
“I wonder how long mine will be,” she murmurs, still studying her belly, smiling down at her little baby-to-be.” No way of knowing, with this hybrid stuff.”
“Surprises are always exciting,” I say, resting back on the couch and holding my baby close to my chest, turning him a little so he can look at his auntie. Rafe giggles a little, the sweetest sound in the world.
“Not when the surprise results in a pup,” Cora murmurs, and I laugh at her displeased tone. “I’d like to know, to have a timeline.”
“Timelines are just you trying to control the chaos, sis,” I murmur, resting my head against my baby’s. ” And with children – and this family?” I shake my head a little. “Maybe it’s better to just lean into the unknown. There’s no way of predicting or controlling what will come next.”
“Yeah, well,” Cora sighs, looking up at me now. “With war on the horizon? And Roger looking like he’s going to be in the midst of it all?” she shakes her head. “Forgive me, Ella, if I lean into my desire for increased control a little more instead.”
I nod, understanding her. Before I can say anything else, though, the door opens and Roger and Sinclair come through, their hands shockingly empty of tablets, phones, paperwork – any of the usual accoutrements of running the nation that I’m so used to seeing them carry these days.
“What,” I say, frowning up at my mate as he comes to stand behind me. ” All done work for the day?”
“Nothing more we can do,” he murmurs. “Budge over I want to sit.”
I grin, scooting forward almost halfway across the couch to make room for him to sit down behind me. Cora wordlessly makes more room, going to sit on Roger’s lap and draping her legs over the side of the armchair on which he settles. I lean back against my mate, pleased when he slips an arm around me. My smile grows when I see Roger press a kiss to Cora’s jaw, and then another on the mating mark he placed high on her neck.
“So?” I say, turning a little to look at Sinclair, finding his eyes already on me. “Is it done?”
“It is,” he replies with a little sigh. Then he reaches for the remote and presses a few buttons, turning on the television that hangs on the far wall. The channel immediately turns to a news venue, and words stretch across the screen.
WAR DECARED
Not wanting to hear the details he already knows, Sinclair presses mute and wraps his arms more tightly around me. I sigh, pressing myself against him, and then I dip my head again to press another kiss to Rafe’s soft hair.
“We tried so hard to avoid it,” I murmur.
“They know they have the upper hand,” “Sinclair replies, and I can feel him shake his head, feel his disappointment down the bond. “It’s a gamble – but if they win? The rewards will be worth it. Moon Valley is incredibly valuable, both in land and intellectual resources.”
“Which means they’ll fight very hard to take it,” Roger sighs. “It’s going to be…a long war.”
“How long?” I murmur, looking down at the top of Rafe’s head, so glad that he’s oblivious.
“Long enough,” Sinclair says quietly behind me, “that it’s unlikely he’ll grow up knowing peace, Ella. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say, my reply instant – because it’s really, really not his fault. And I bolster myself then, knowing that Sincliar is as worried as I am. Knowing that he needs me to be strong for him, as he is for me. I work to put a smile on my face, to make myself feel the hope that I know lives within me, even though my heart hurts.
“At least,” I say, turning to look up at Sinclair, letting him see that hope, ” Rafe’s got a big strong papa to protect him.”
“Oh, he doesn’t need me,” Sinclair replies, laughing a little and reaching down to take Rafe’s tiny hands in his own giant mitts, moving Rafe’s hands in quick jabs to make it look like he’s punching. I laugh to see it. “Our boy’s a fighter, Ella. Born that way.”
I bite my lip, because I wanted Rafe to choose his future to decide to be a fighter if he wants to be, or an artist if that speaks to him more. Or both. Or something in between.
But, well. We all grow up in worlds that shape us beyond our own desires. And if our hearts are true…well, they lead us to what was meant for us anyway, right? Despite all obstacles.
“He’s going to have a beautiful life,” I murmur, stroking my baby’s hair. “No matter what Atalaxia throws at us. We’re going to give it to him.”
“That’s right,” Sinclair says, kissing my head. I turn my face up to him and happily accept the next kiss, which he places on my mouth.
“Don’t forget about our baby,” Roger calls, frowning at us. I grin as I turn back to my sister and her mate, curled up in their chair. “His life is going to be even better.”
“Really, Roger?” Sinclair says, his voice dry. “We have to get competitive about this too?”
“Damn right we do,” Cora says, a wicked grin on her lips that makes me laugh. “Our kid is going to be even happier than yours.”
“Challenge accepted,” I say, pretending to glare at both of them. ” Whoever’s kid has the better life wins.”
And we all laugh a little, because we know that both boys are winners here, with a family like this to fight for them.
“Whatever happens,” Sinclair says, looking around at all of us, “we have each other. And that’s all that matters.”
“Precisely,” Cora says with a nod, her hand tracing idly over her stomach. ” Whatever this world throws at us, we can face it.”
And I hold my baby tight, and lean back against my mate, and smile around at my family, knowing in my heart that they’re right.
Because I’ve got big plans for our future – plans I haven’t quite shared with them yet. But I’m so grateful to have such a strong family by my side, through the good times and the bad.
