"Yes, I will be the littlest bro." His voice had taken on a younger quality. He hadn't planned on it, but it made sense. He was comfortable with these people. He washomefor the first time in his life.
Silas smiled, then wrapped his arms around Soren and Eden, reaching his hand out to lay his fingertips on Hadrian's shoulder. "My children are all wonderful." He looked to Archer."Now, I don't know about you all, but I have worked up a bit of an appetite. I think we should go bug Belinda and see if she will make us a celebratory treat. Nicholas being off the Council is worth acknowledging in a positive light."
Romilly nodded, then stood, lifting Archer onto his hip. "Yes, but we will have to replace him with someone. His seat will have to be filled."
Silas nodded, turning serious for a moment. "Yes, but that is a problem for later, my son. For all we know, they might vote for one of my other children to be on the Council."
Three pairs of eyes widened and looked at one another. Then their fingertips went to their noses in unison. Archer giggled loudly, because he knew that movement, and to see it in a dragon custom was interesting. The rest of the group laughed as well as they moved toward the kitchen, their plan for celebration in motion.
Archer cuddled close to his Daddy, to his mate, his Alpha, his king, the man, the dragon, who had saved him and protected him. His future was unknown, but he trusted these people. He would never have to guess if he was too needy or too much. They loved him just the way he was, and that, above all else, made him understand that the pull he felt to San Noctis. The way Fate had gotten him there was worth all of the pain.
He'd do it over and over again, in every single lifetime, if it led him to Romilly and the Saints.
CHAPTER 20
Romilly
It didn't surprise Romilly that once Nicholas was off the Council, things got better for everyone. The Council chamber was much more peaceful. Any discussions that came up were quickly settled with reasonable discussion.
The overall atmosphere in the castle was pleasant, with everyone happy to have Archer in the family. Even the horde itself seemed brighter as well. Some of that was likely due to the fact that their king had found his mate and was happy.
Ruling over everyone was more balanced now. He didn't feel the restless energy that had been there before Archer's arrival.
Even the issues with the Fae, still ongoing as they were, weren't so devastating that Romilly couldn't manage them.
As days passed and things settled even more, Romilly wondered when the right time would be to formalize the mate bond. There was still the bite to attend to. It would seal their connection and give Archer the last of his supernatural powers. Romilly was eager to know what that would be, aside from the longer lifespan and the possibility of children, which they still hadn’t discussed.
But that was all for later. His focus on this particular day was on the surprise he had been putting together for his mate.
Eden's room was lovely as Little space designed just for him. But, as Romilly had noted to Archer before, it was mostly designed for Eden. He wanted his boy to have a place he could go to any time, day or night. If he wanted to invite people in, he could, but he could also have it just to himself, with no interruptions. If he woke up in the middle of the night, restless, he could go be Little. Romilly would join him, of course, if his boy wanted it, but he still knew the space was perfectly Archer's, the way it should be for every Little.
He'd had the Fae healer, who'd decided to stay at the castle, work on the spare room in his suite. As king, he had the largest area, his room really more aset of rooms. He’d chosen to convert the space meant to be used as an extra office area into the playroom. When he was home, he wanted to be present. If he needed to, he could go to his office in the castle for work. Or better yet, he could take the day off entirely to spend with his boy.
That morning, as he brought in the Fae healer to take a look around, he asked that they ward the room with protection for his mate but also give it the power to become whatever his mate wanted at any given moment.
The Fae raised a brow. "You want it to be like a shape-shifting room?"
Romilly chuckled and clarified. "I want it to be adaptable. Think of it like the televisions in the human realm, where the screens change. If my boy decides he wants to be in a rainforest one day, then the walls and the sounds in the room can be a rainforest. If he wants to be a super baby in a crib, then it turns into soft, muted tones, and lullabies play."
The Fae explained what they would do and went about setting the room up.
Hadrian and Soren had helped Romilly move furniture into the room while Eden had kept Archer distracted. Said distraction involved them baking cookies with Belinda in the kitchen. The poor woman definitely needed some vacation time after that, because those two were a handful and a half.
Seeing his boy happy was worth it. Covered in flour and sugar and icing, he was the picture of happiness. Gone was the broken, scared mate he'd found in the woods.
The images of Archer covered in blood, holding on for dear life, would remain in Romilly's mind until the day he passed. And it was that memory that allowed him to appreciate this version of his mate even more. It gave him the license to be as protective as he wanted, because if Archer ever thought he was smothering him, he could reference the time he'd almost died at the hands of people they had trusted, people they'd believed to be on their side. Well, as much on their side as they could be.
Nicholas was rotting away in the prison. He hadn't been stripped of his dragon, not yet anyway, but the Fae’s power had done something to him. That, or his lack of connection and the silence of the cell he was in. Every day he seemed to dim more and more, like his body was eating itself from the inside out. Romilly would have been more concerned had the man not been a traitor.
Besides, Silas was on Nicholas-watching duty. He was furious that this man, who had given him hell and then taunted his son, had gone so far as to nearly ruin a mate bond before it ever had a chance to form. Romilly's mother and father loved Archer as if he were their own son. There was no doubt in anyone's mind when they saw them all together. Silas took it as a personal affront that Nicholas had been involved in Archer's pain.
Romilly shook his head, clearing away his negative thoughts, as he glanced around the room before him. The Fae had left notlong before, saying the room was as done as it could be until Archer arrived and made the decision on what he wanted first.
There were blankets spread out and a soft bed in one corner. It was large enough that Romilly could fit in it too but also personalized in a way that let Archer feel tiny and Little inside it. Toys were scattered about. The ones Romilly had noticed Archer playing with the most when he was with Eden, and some that Romilly suspected his boy would also love. He couldn't hold back the overwhelming joy of knowing he'd crafted a room, a space for his mate, that was so perfectly Archer.
Not wanting to waste another moment alone, he went off to find his brother and mate again. When he'd checked on them earlier, they'd been a mess in the kitchen. They’d sent him away, saying the cookies weren't done and they wanted to play more.
When he returned, he found them scrubbing dishes at the sink as Belinda sat in a chair, her feet kicked up on another one across from her. She smiled lazily, hands behind her head. "Your Majesty," she said, not moving an inch.
