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The Queen pressed her lips together in a flat line.
I spoke up. “I think the Queen is resigned at this point.”
The Queen gave me a disapproving look. “I’ve never been resigned about any of it. Obviously, I don’t care about commoners presenting.”
All of us drew back a little.
The Queen picked up a scone.
We were even more shocked.
She set it back down, sighing. “Let me explain, if I can. This is important for you to understand, Devlin. When a person is monarch, he or she must not put her own desires above what is best for the entire country. Now, it falls to me to preserve the monarchy. I must make decisions to achieve that end, you see? Commoners presenting, it muddies everything, that’s all. It makes the job of preserving the monarchy more difficult.” She looked at us and sighed again. “Well, I can see you don’t agree, but that is only because you haven’t had the responsibility yet. You’ll see, Devlin. When it’s your turn, you’ll understand. But, indeed, what with Maguire presenting and now coming into a royal harem, it seems to me that trying to repress this narrative is fighting a losing battle. We will preserve tradition as best we can, but I repent of whatever it was I said before, about Eleri bonding someone besides Devlin.”
Eleri was shocked. She hadn’t known the Queen had said that.
“Anyway, it seems to have worked out very well, hasn’t it? If you’re going to have a pack, that’s ideal. Of course, she can only marry you, Devlin.”
“Right,” said Devlin.
Really? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was going to have a lifebond with this woman and I wasn’t allowed to marry her?
“Moving on from that,” said the Queen briskly. “Eleri will be introduced to society at that time, and given her formal title as the Duchess of Littlefeld.”
“Is there a Littlefeld?” said Devlin.
“There is now,” said the Queen. “It’s a plot of land about three feet square on the edge of the palace. And Eleri is the duchess of it.”
I hid my smile. Sounded like the way that the royalty would make someone not a commoner.
The Queen turned to me. “Oh, dear. We’re going to have to do something with you, aren’t we?” She sighed. “You can’t be a prince. But we can’t leave you as a bodyguard and part of the royal harem.”
“He could be the Duke of Littlefeld,” said Devlin.
“Oh, yes, that would work.” The Queen nodded. “Are you fucking him, Devlin?”
Devlin actually blushed. He cleared his throat. “It’s entirely consensual—”
“While he’s on the payroll?” The Queen groaned.
“It sort of just happened,” I said. “I did wonder if I’d get in trouble.”
“You don’t work for us anymore,” said the Queen. “But as Duke of Littlefeld, you’ll have an allowance.” She looked me over. “You’ll still protect your omega, of course.”
“Of course,” I said. Had I just gotten fired? Or was that a promotion? Was I really going to be a duke? My life was so weird these days.
“You’ll escort Eleri to the ball,” said the Queen. “The two of you will be presented to the court with your titles, and you’ll give Eleri to Devlin for their first public dance. You can do that, can’t you?”
“I think so. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Good,” said the Queen. “Then Eleri can also dance with Sinclair and Rohan, and we’ll make an official announcement the following day that there will be a royal pack with all four of you.”
A royal pack. And I was going to be in it.
“But since it’s a pack situation, once the announcement’s been made, I don’t see any reason why the bites can’t happen after that, in any order and at any time you’d like,” said the Queen. “If it were a pair bond, there’s something to be said for waiting until the wedding night, but it would likely be better for the pack if it’s established before the wedding. Sometimes alphas get jealous.” She smiled at me. “We won’t have problems like that with you, though, Maguire. You’re like my alphas, and I can tell that. You’re not a troublemaker.”
“We can bite her after the ball?” said Devlin, seemingly ignoring the implication that he was a troublemaker.
The Queen chuckled. “Of course that’s what you respond to.”
