Page 128 of Dragon Me Through Space

Vaelor’s adorable little lip jutted out as he said, “Court time is important and I’m supposed to wait to talk to you.”

“And?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not supposed to run away from Nanny Troya.” He turned and said, “Sorry, Nanny Troya!”

She held out her hand. “All will be forgiven if you help me make cookies.”

The mercenary had an incredibly soft heart, especially when it came to Vaelor, which was part of the reason I’d hired her as his nanny. I knew, without a doubt, that she’d sacrifice herself before she let a single hair on his head be harmed.

After giving him a tight hug, I set him on his feet, and swatted his butt. “Go on! I’ll be expecting a cookie when I’m done with court.”

“Only if you do as Daddy P says!” he called back to me.

I narrowed my eyes as I turned to face Preston. “What thoughts are you putting into our impressionable son’s head now?”

Preston smiled innocently. “I have no idea where he could have gotten an idea like that from.”

Scout raised her head. “It was three weeks, two days, and six hours ago, when you⁠—”

Preston growled and Scout stopped talking.

“Back to business!” Gage said sternly.

“Right, right,” I agreed with a nod and smoothed down my dress. “What other news do you have?”

“The new Underlord of Porantine has submitted an offer for your home,” Gage announced. “We’ll review it with the other documents later, but I wanted to give you a heads up.”

The new Underlord of Porantine was one of my old mercenary friends. He’d defeated the previous Underlord in a duel and was slowly cleaning up the rough port. I knew exactly why he wanted my home, though. It was above his favorite bar and he’d been asking me to sell it for years.

“I’ll consider it,” I said, “and I appreciate the warning.”

After a few more updates on various things, we finished court and headed to the palace.

The palace had been completely redesigned and redecorated once we became High King and Queen. The first change had been to open up a few of the rooms, knock down a few walls, and create a much more homey and large family friendly environment. With Vaelor running around and Wayne’s sisters and their children visiting frequently, we needed a larger area for spending time together.

We’d also opened it more to the citizens, especially during the cold months when temperatures fell below freezing and they needed somewhere warm to survive. Well, they could survive in dragon form, but it wasn’t a pleasant way to live, so we opened up several halls for warming specifically.

I changed into comfortable pants and a tank top and followed the scent of baking cookies to the kitchen. “Where’s my cookie?” I demanded in a loud, fake grumpy tone as I pushed open the kitchen door.

“Hurry! Daddy Z is trying to steal it!” Vaelor screamed, his hand over his head waving a cookie.

“I have to test it for poison!” Zeke said.

“Lie! Nanny and I baked it so there’s no poison! You just want to eat them all!”

“How many has Daddy Z already had?” I asked as I walked inside, a huge smile on my face as I watched the silly scene before me. Zeke could have easily taken the cookie. Even standing on the counter with his arm raised, Vaelor only came up to his chin, but he was letting our son pretend to hold him back.

“Four,” Troya said with a stifled laugh.

“Four? Before dinner? Tsk. Tsk. Bad Daddy!” I chastised.

Zeke spun around and pulled me into a hug. “Will you punish me later?”

Troya made a fake gagging sound.

I nodded. “Yep.” Reaching around his back, I opened and closed my hand a couple of times until Vaelor noticed. He quickly set the cookie in my hand and I popped it into my mouth before Zeke could stop me.

“No! That was my cookie!” Zeke fake cried.