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With an obliging sigh, I fluttered out an unconcerned hand. “If you say so.”
It all gave me a headache, if you wanted my queenly opinion.
I honestly didn’t care what label he wanted to place on Farrow, and Farrow certainly didn’t have any love for either title of king or prince. So we’d let Indigo have his way when Farrow and I had married a moon cycle ago, and my true love had gone from being known as the Bastard Betrayer to Farrow, Prince Consort of Far Shore.
Taking a bite of his fruit and tossing the peeling out the window, Indigo moaned in bliss, then told me, “We’re setting a precedence here, one that all the Outer Realms will follow when other kingdoms start getting female rulers. And since you’re the first one to marry, we need to do it right.”
Indigo always made a point to call me the first ruling queen of the Outer Realms to marry, since technically the claim of “first ruling queen period” went to Kalendria. Even if she hadn’t held the crown for three full days, she’d still been first.
Farrow liked to irritate him by arguing that Kalendria had been married. To which Indigo insisted she hadn’t been married but widowed while she had ruled, so it didn’t count, ergo I was the first married queen ruler, in his opinion. Only for Farrow to counter with, “And why is your opinion so hallowed?”
I swear, my mate liked to bicker with my best friend more than I did. It was quite endearing. Soon, he’d be labeling Indy as his best friend as well. Or better yet, our best friend.
“Of course,” I agreed with Indy distractedly, only to break out in a grin when Mint rode up to the window of the carriage, and then the prince consort himself stuck his head inside, looking for me.
“We approach Pinsky, my queen,” he reported. “And so far, the roads appear clear.”
When he’d first started calling me my queen, instead of Your Majesty, I urged him to stop using that title too. But the brat refused, and it soon became a term of endearment, just as my lady and princess had been for him before that. Now, I trembled in delight whenever he said it, especially when he was thrusting inside me as his gravelly voice rasped the words in my ear.
“Thank you, lover,” I crooned to him, reaching out to trace his cheek with my index finger. “Say, why don’t you come ride in here with me for a bit? We can kick Indy out and close the curtains.”
On the seat oppo
site mine, Indigo made a distinct gagging sound. “I’m sitting right here, you know.”
“Yes, and why is that?” Farrow countered with a glower. “Shouldn’t you be out here, doing your damn job?”
“I am!” Indy cried incredulously, motioning toward me with a piece of fruit. “I’m personally protecting my queen.”
Farrow snorted.
Technically, Indigo’s role of being my bodyguard had been eliminated when I’d gone from princess to queen and I’d made him the leader of all my armies. But usually, he still ended up at my side by the end of every day, accustomed to personally watching my back for me.
Even though I’d made Farrow my top advisor, he and Indy often switched roles, with Indigo openly giving me his opinion on every decision I made, and Farrow overseeing security, like he was now, riding with my guards to make sure the trip went smoothly.
Indigo did oversee the training of all the guards, however, and Farrow still offered up his advice to me, usually after we’d made love and were still wrapped in each other’s arms, recovering from the aftereffects of orgasms.
But all in all, I’d say the three of us worked rather well together, keeping the kingdom running quite handily.
Some people didn’t like the idea of having a Donnellean for their queen, a High Cliff military leader, and a Far Shore bastard for the realm’s top advisor. But we couldn’t please everyone.
Thankfully, a majority of the kingdom was just happy to see Torrance off the throne. They may be leery of having an outsider take his place—such a young one and a female to boot—but they were graciously giving me a chance to prove myself. And I was just about finished with my royal tour, where I wanted to visit every village in the kingdom, personally meet my subjects, and hear what they needed most with my own ears.
We’d just left Brill four days before and were about to enter Pinsky, which sat on the southern border of Far Shore, next to what had formerly been the kingdom of Teller but had since been taken over by High Cliff.
“Well, it looks like you’re personally pampering your gluttonous self,” Farrow was telling Indigo, “sitting on your lazy ass and getting a free ride in the most comfortable carriage in the kingdom, while you eat all the queen’s favorite fruit.”
“Hmm.” Indy lifted his brows, unconcerned by my husband’s assessment. “Funny how deceiving looks can be, isn’t it?”
I laughed, which caused Farrow to grumble under his breath, roll his eyes, then ride off again.
“Oh, no. I think you chased him away,” I accused on a pout.
Waving a dismissive hand, Indy answered, “He’ll be back. He always comes back for you, Nic.” Then he took another bite, munched a moment, and said, “He was right, though. I’m totally lazing about in here because it’s just too damn comfortable. Seriously, this is the life.” He gave a pleased sigh and wiggled about for a moment on his cushions before getting comfortable and asking, “Did you ever imagine we’d end up here when your brother assigned me to start guarding you?”
“Never in a million years,” I said honestly.
“Yeah,” he murmured, growing pensive. “Isn’t it strange how life works out?”
