Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Mother blows me a kiss and Father gives me a wink as the ceremony goes on. I’m standing on the dais with my shaking hands at my sides. My mates are on either side of me, giving me strength from their presence alone.
I feel their marks tingling warmly on my neck. I love that feeling. It feels so safe, so comforting—like I have a piece of them on me forever.
Every eye in the room is on me as the high priestess of Varkhar approaches from behind, raising the queen’s ancient crown above my head. There is so much history in this crown. It’s older than the kingdom itself, forged back when Varkhar and Aurevale were one land instead of two.
“Vaela of Aurevale,” the priestess says, her powerful voice carrying to the back of the vast hall. “Mate of King Cassius. Mate of King Tovik. Chosen by the pack, chosen by the crown, chosen by the gods who watch over the nine kingdoms. Do you accept this throne, and everything it asks of you?”
I look out at the sea of faces and vow to do whatever I can to serve them. I look at Tovik, strong and protective. I look at Cassius, sly and cunning. I look at my father and my mother, proud and loving as always.
And then I look down at my hands, and look inward. This is what I want. This is what I was born to do.
I always knew I’d be a queen, I just got the wrong kingdom.
Now I know.
I’m meant to be the Queen of Varkhar.
“I do,” I bellow, my voice strong and firm.
The priestess lowers the crown onto my head. It’s heavier than I expected and the moment it settles, something in the room shifts. The energy increases. The people get excited.
Tovik takes my right hand. Cassius takes my left.
“Long live the Queen of Varkhar,” the priestess bellows as my mates lift my hands into the air.
The enthusiastic roar that fills the room nearly makes me cry. Cheering from the shifters mixes with howling from the wolves, and over all of that is the beating of the drums, celebrating my royal coronation.
I look at each of my boys. They’re beaming at me, tears in their eyes, staring at me like they can’t quite believe that I’m real.
“My queen,” Cassius whispers.
“My mate,” Tovik adds.
They’re two halves of the same fierce heart, bound to me forever.
And together, nothing in all of the nine kingdoms can ever tear us apart.
Epilogue
Vaela
Sixteen years later…
It still shocks me every time I jump into the Blood River. It’s not the cold that shocks me. It’s the fact that the frigid temperature no longer bothers me.
For my first three months in Varkhar, Cassius and Tovik had the castle servants draw me warm baths. They even had a ceramic tub brought in from Aurevale. But then one day I saw how much trouble the staff was going through to fill it, lugging buckets of water in, heating them on the kitchen stoves, and then carrying them up the long, spiral staircase to my room, and I decided to put them out of their misery and bathe in the Blood River like everyone else.
It took some getting used to, especially over the first winter, but now I love it. I went to visit Mother and Father in Aurevale last spring and I couldn’t bear the warm bath. I felt like I was being boiled alive.
I dive under the water and feel that energizing cold waking every part of my body up. When I emerge, my nine-year-old daughter Bellara is standing in front of me, the water up to her waist. My six wolf shifter children never had a warm bath in their lives. They don’t even flinch while jumping into the river during the coldest winter days. They’re all true Varkharian wolf shifters to their cores.
“When is Pop-pop arriving with the horses?” Bellara asks.
“He arrives when he arrives,” I say, floating on my back and letting the sun wash over my face.
“But when?”
“In five minutes.”
“Really?” she asks, perking up.
“No,” I say with a chuckle. “I don’t know. You’re just going to have to wait.”
She grunts and runs to join her sisters at the shore.
We’re raising our children in Varkhar, but I still want them to know their human, Aurevalian roots, so my father is bringing over some horses and they’re going to learn how to ride and take care of them. Bellara is extremely excited.
The repairs on the great Wilderwall are complete. It took twelve years, hundreds of carpenters, and a few wizards from Keldmoor Island to rebind the magic keeping it safe, but it’s done now. The agreement is over, although Aurevale and Varkhar have remained friends. I’ve made sure of that, and the trade between the two kingdoms has increased. Occasionally, I’ll see fine silks from Greyvale or dresses from Fallowhaven ripped to shreds on the ground where a wolf shifter phased and then took off.