Page 127 of Dragon Me Through Space

EPILOGUE

“Presenting High King Preston Vorthal and High Queen Xoe Darmascas-Vorthal!” one of the stewards yelled as Preston and I entered the throne room. “Court is now in session!”

Preston waited until I was seated and my dress was moved before he took his own seat. “What matters do we have today?” he asked Gage.

Gage cleared his throat and stepped away from the wall, a tablet in his hands. “There are no matters to decide on, but we do have some updates.”

“No matters? Is it my birthday?” I teased Preston.

He smiled and reached over to link our hands together. “Not for another two months, pet.”

“May I continue?” Gage asked.

Preston waved his hand dismissively, making a muscle in Gage’s jaw tick. To outsiders, it might look like Preston was a pompous ruler even over his friend, Gage, but it was all for show and later I knew Gage would spar with Preston to get revenge.

“The Caltyrelan’s have officially reached one thousand in number,” Gage announced.

I gasped. “Already?” We’d been sending out information for my people to come to Drakorantia since the city was created, six years ago, and they had steadily been coming, but to hear so many of my people were alive and here made my heart soar.

“We should throw a celebration,” Preston said. “A Chiliad Caltryrelan Celebration!”

“Yes!” I agreed. “Scribe, make it official!” I called out.

Scout chirped and said, “It is official and officially in the record, Your Majesty. May I recommend we hold it on the anniversary of the alliance’s signing in one week?”

“Wow, it’s already so soon? Yes, that’s perfect! Good idea, Scout.”

Scout, in their new humanoid form, typed the transcript of everything we said during our meetings and I saw her preen at the insertion of my praise.

“The second update is regarding the prince’s crowning,” he said.

Preston sat up straighter. “Go on.”

“King Zeke Rhyx asked that I remind Your Majesties that before he can be crowned, he must participate in the Games. Since he is only six, it’s too soon for him to participate, which means that his crowning must wait.”

“I’d forgotten about that stipulation,” Preston muttered and sighed. “Very well, we will hold off on the coronation until after he participates in the Games.”

I pouted, but didn’t argue. After living here for so long, I’d come to realize that they really valued their traditions and now that I was one of them, I valued their traditions as well.

The door flung open and an exasperated Troya called out, “I tried to stop him, Your Majesty, but he’s too fast!”

Troya chased after the small dragon as he ran up the aisle, his tongue lulling out the side like the happy boy he was.

Vaelor, our son, and the next crowned heir, hopped up the steps of the dais and straight into Preston’s lap.

Preston tapped his nose firmly, but not hard enough to hurt. “You’re interrupting court, Vaelor.”

Vaelor shifted into his human form and said, “Dad, did you know that Mom can jump higher than you?”

Preston’s lip twitched in amusement a second before he let his full smile out. It was taking time, but Preston was slowly letting his mask disappear, choosing to rule with true expression instead of the stoic one his parents demanded. It had started when Vaelor was born, and he decided that he didn’t want his son to wonder how he was feeling. He wanted him to know exactly how he felt and to see a smile on his face whenever he was happy. An expression he almost always wore around Vaelor. “Can she now? Where did you hear that?”

“Scout showed me the video!” he declared proudly and looked over at me with a wide smile. “Mom jumped the highest!”

I held out my arms and Preston handed Vaelor to me. “I did jump the highest! And your daddies were pouting for the rest of the day, weren’t they?”

He laughed and nodded. “They were so pouty.” We weren’t one hundred percent certain who his biological father was since he had the same pearly grey eyes as Preston, but Gage’s blue scales. Truthfully, none of us cared who his biological father was. We were simply overjoyed he was healthy and growing stronger and smarter every day.

“Now, Vaelor, what did we say about court time?” I asked as I ran my fingers through his messy hair. Try as I might, he was too active to ever have properly groomed hair. Thankfully, he was able to keep his clothes between shifts, something that was extremely rare among the Dragonkin.