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She knew Grux had a duty and an obligation to his kingdom and his father to uphold, but seeing him look so carefree while they’d been vacationing had been a nice change of pace from his usual frown.
Getting to see him be a father to their first child made Scarlett want to start trying for another one…
Or five.
Which was ludicrous considering how fraught her first pregnancy and birth experience had been. But by now, she’d forgotten all of that pain and could only focus on how incredible her husband was with the baby.
As they landed on the grounds of Lorr’s palace, Scarlett sighed and unbuckled herself from her seat. She scooted into the back of the ship and unclipped Gruxor, lifting him out of his seat and pulling him against her chest.
He was old enough now that he could pretty much sit up in her arms on his own, his eyes alert to his surroundings and curiously taking them all in.
It had been nice to visit Grux’s brother, Kozien, and his wife, Gianna, and their baby. Anna was only a few months older than Gruxor, but it was nice to see how a half-human/half-Lorr baby would grow in the future.
Scarlett had been worried about it mostly since she had no idea how her genes would affect a Lorr baby, so getting advice from Gianna had been immeasurably helpful.
Gruxor nuzzled his head into the crook of Scarlett’s neck, cooing softly while she made her way back to where Grux was pulling the door open and letting the steps out onto the tarmac. She smiled at him and kissed him on her way down carefully.
“I can’t believe we’re back,” he said from behind her.
As she got to the bottom step and hopped down onto the tarmac, she turned to look at him. “It feels like we’ve been gone forever and then not.”
He chuckled, hauling their bags down the steps. “I know. Did you think about what I suggested on the ride back over here?”
Scarlett shifted Gruxor in her arms and nodded.
As they’d been leaving Tageind, he’d brought up the idea of them moving back to Noxxa’s inner city. She knew he missed helping run PAPS along with his brother, Trigg, and that feeling had only intensified after they’d boarded the ship from visiting Kozien.
He was close with his brothers, even if they argued like there was no tomorrow sometimes about the wildest things.
But, she supposed, that was just what siblings did.
The only thing that Scarlett was worried about with moving so far away from Lorr was the fact that the king seemed dead set on keeping his next-in-line, as well as his grandson, within arm’s reach.
As long as they could figure out that problem, she wouldn’t care about moving to the city on Noxxa.
“Why don’t we talk to your father first and see what he says? Then we’ll go from there.”
After getting his wife and son settled back into their room, Grux headed off to find his father.
He knew Scarlett’s concerns over their living situation were valid and that she didn’t want any bad blood between him and his father now that his title had changed to the next-in-line.
The thing was, he didn’t give a damn about any of that.
Inheriting his father’s throne, as well as Lorr as a whole, had never interested him. It’s why he never envied Kozien and his duty as the next-in-line when he’d still had the title.
All of it seemed like way too much work for very little benefit in the end. Not to mention their father was kind of insane most days.
Though, since his father had granted Scarlett clemency and had helped him in securing a future for her, Grux couldn’t exactly go around and denounce himself as the prince like his older brother had. There was no telling what kind of wrath his father would upend if he did such a thing.
Knocking on his father’s study, he straightened himself and tried to push the anxiety down.
No matter what the king’s mood, he needed to try and convince him that letting Grux leave Lorr wouldn’t be a detriment to the economy or whatever bullshit his father would most likely try to spin at him in order to guilt him into staying.
When the door to his father’s office opened, Grux pushed it further from the jamb and stepped inside.
His father was bent over his desk, squinting down at the surface because he still refused to have his aging eyes repaired. He was studying some kind of document that had a stack of papers underneath it—most likely a treaty of some sort.
Once Grux shut the door behind him, his father’s head perked up.
