by Jessi Gage
“Yours now, too,” she said.
“Ours,” he said.
Out of the corner of his eye, Magnus watched Duff extend an arm his way. He was being summoned by a god.
Heart pounding, he stood and stepped into the shining aura surrounding the heavenly pair. “My thanks,” he said, head bowed. “For everything.”
“Don’t mention it,” Duff said. Magnus thought he heard a grin in the former faerie’s voice.
Around his neck, Danu’s moonstone heated like a coal. It burned him, and he hissed with the pain.
“Sorry,” Duff said. “Got a little carried away. Just wanted to leave you with a little gift.”
Magnus lifted the hot stone from where it had been tucked into his armor. It glowed brilliant white, its amethyst color impossible to discern past the blinding light.
“Now you always have a way to reach us. You know, in case we’re too distracted to hear your prayers.” Yes, that was definitely a grin in Duff’s voice.
Danu came to stand by Magnus’s side. Duff and Seona’s power gently nudged them to the front of the platform. Half-rotted wood groaned beneath his shoes as he faced the hall.
His warriors, every one on his knees, looked on. The cloaked figures, too, knelt. The children near the fireplace knelt, their smaller forms visible past the shoulders of many warriors.
Duff and Seona faced the hall as well. Duff spread his arms. “Ladies and gentlemen, children and warriors, Maranners and Larnians, I introduce your emperor, Magnus Slayer of Dragons and his queen, Danu Creator of Wolfkind.”
On the heels of the pronouncement, Duff and Seona disappeared as quickly as they had come.
Shocked silence hung heavy in the hall. If a feather had alighted on a flagstone, all would have heard it.
Riggs was the first to stand. “All hail King Magnus and Queen Danu!”
Around the hall, warriors stood and shouted their honor, beginning with Magnus’s commanders. Swords were hoisted high, voices higher, until cheers echoed off the walls.
Magnus wrapped Danu in his arms and kissed her soundly. Her mouth met his, and his heart took flight. Every corner of his being rang with the truth of it: she was his lifemate. His.
“I love you,” he told her, feeling light of heart for the first time in many years. There would be much work to do in the days ahead, including finding Alexander and dealing with the Remnant, but hope filled the sails of his spirit. Hope for his people. Hope for the world.
“I love you,” Danu said, palm on his cheek. Her lips tilted in a wry smile. “I suppose our secret is out, my lifemate.” Her eyes twinkled.
Happiness made his throat feel thick. He swallowed, the sound no doubt audible to those around him. Taking both his beloved’s hands, he said, “Of all men, of all kings, I have been blessed beyond imagining, for I alone have been given the honor of walking this life alongside a goddess.”
The skin over her cheekbones bloomed like peach carnations. The paw-print brand that had been seared into her was rough beneath his thumb. She looked so much like the portrait that he found it difficult to breathe. How could a woman be this beautiful, this perfect?
“Wait until the other goddesses hear that I am wed to a dragon slayer,” she said. Her lips twitched, as if she held back laughter. “They will all be clamoring to become mortal.”
He barked out his mirth, and she followed. Danu finding humor in their situation was the most delightful thing he had ever witnessed.
He tugged her close against him and whispered, “As soon as we return to Glendall—nay, as soon as we find a night’s privacy—I shall make that portrait a reality.”
“I’m counting on it,” she replied, and he knew she would be the mother of a new generation.
Epilogue
“Och, I expected more pain,” Anya said from the bed. “And should it nay have taken longer? She came so quickly.”
Danu dropped one more kiss on the sweet baby’s forehead before placing her in her mother’s arms. “It seems having an actual goddess as your child’s godmother has some benefits.”
Seona had attended the birth and had only just left to return to Duff, who was busily teaching her the ways of immortals. Deity suited the former human, though she did have a tendency to let her power go to her head. Fortunately, Duff was proving more than capable of reining her in. In fact, he seemed to relish the challenge.
Duff and Seona had been true to their word. They had returned to the human realm those women who had wished to go. Surprisingly, several had chosen to remain, and of those, two were lifemated and expecting joyous bundles of their own.
With Hyrk dead, the blessing of fertility had returned to wolfkind. Not only were some of the humans expecting, but five wolfkind women were as well, including Riggs’s mother, Hilda, who had thought herself past her time of breeding. All of the wolfkind women expecting births were outspoken against Breeding First’s ideas. As a result, the Loyalists, who supported Magnus and his lottery, were enjoying unprecedented popularity.
But there were hardships as well. Alexander had not yet been found, and Magnus worried the Remnant may have found him and harmed him. Despite the contingent Magnus had sent to bring order to Larna, lawlessness abounded there, and it remained to be seen whether the Remnant would be allies or enemies.
Thanks to Travis, they had learned much about the underground group of Larnians. Most surprisingly, many of them could transform themselves to take on the appearance of either wolves or wolfkind. The two wolves who had protected the children at the fortress were, in fact, descendants of Jilken, as was Vera, their leader, who was imprisoned in Saroc for harming Ruben.
There was still much to learn about the Remnant, especially since Magnus wished to treat them fairly. Unfortunately, the group was not forthcoming with information. Still, Magnus was determined to include them in making plans for Larna, and Danu had learned never to underestimate her king when he determined to do something.
Danu forced her mind from political matters. There would be plenty of time for that once the sun rose. Now was the time for celebrating life.
On the bed—a new bed carved by Riggs and covered with furs he’d tanned himself—Anya held her precious baby girl at her breast. The look of love on her face as she gazed at the dark-haired cherub was matched only by the look she gave Riggs when he entered with a breakfast tray.
“I’ll leave the happy parents to enjoy their morning,” Danu said, but neither Anya or Riggs paid her any mind. Shutting the door behind her, she returned to the bedchamber she shared with her king.
Exhaustion pulled at her from being awake with Anya half the night, but sleep was not her highest priority. It never was when she had been away from Magnus for any length of time. Dawn would come in an hour, and she intended to spend that time enjoying her bond with her lifemate.
“See that we’re not disturbed,” she told her guards as she slipped into the dark chamber.
It was no surprise when Magnus rolled over and curled around her the moment she slipped into bed. Her king remained a light sleeper, even though she exercised her queenly authority to decree he never be woken before sunrise. Of course, that decree didn’t apply to her. She could wake him whenever she wished, and he was always more than willing to accommodate any requests his queen happened to make.
“Mmmm,” he hummed into the back of her neck. “Howzanya?” Judging by his mumbled speech, one would think he was half-asleep. Judging by the cockstand prodding at her buttocks and the warm hand stealing across her bare stomach, she could tell he was more awake than he seemed.
“It is done. You’re a godfather.”
“Already?” Magnus started to sit up, but she stopped him with a hand on his hip.
“Lie back down. All is well. Anya’s fine. Seona eased her pain and provided godspeed to the child, who is absolutely perfect, by the way. She has her father’s curls and pointed ears and the blue eyes many human children have when they’re born.”
He started to sit up again. “I
want to see her.” He got one leg out of bed before Danu managed stop him with a firm grip on his calf. The move required her to roll over swiftly, which caused him to look back with concern. “Danu! The baby!” Instantly, he was at her side, running his hands over her rounded abdomen. A lock of his golden hair hung over his brow, which was creased with worry.
She stroked the hair back and drew him down for a kiss. “Our child is fine. I’m fine.”
He hadn’t stopped fussing over her since she’d begun showing signs of pregnancy. Giles had examined her and declared her to be only three months behind Anya. That meant by autumn’s end, Magnus would at last have an heir.
“You should not move so quickly.” Her lifemate tucked himself around her and covered them both with furs.
“Then do not break your promise to me.” She wiggled her bottom invitingly, content that he’d temporarily forgotten about Anya and Riggs’s eventful night. “No leaving this bed before dawn. For any reason.”
“Not even for a new child?” He cupped her rounded belly and kissed the back of her neck.
“Well, perhaps when it’s our child, and he or she...needs us in the night...I might permit—” She lost her train of thought due to her lifemate’s tongue tracing the shell of her ear. And his hand on her stomach inching downward.
When his fingers forked into her curls and he found her already wet for him, he moaned. “Tell me we have time yet before the day begins.”
She twined her fingers with his as he grazed them over her pearl. Sensual delight made her gasp. “We have time.”
“Good.” He spread her with his fingers and entered her from behind, the angle bringing immediate pleasure.
Her king was an expert where her body was concerned. He used the hour well, and when dawn came, they languidly bathed and dressed each other and broke their fast in his solar. Once Magnus’s needs for rest and sustenance had been seen to, she gladly went with him to Anya and Riggs’s chamber so he could meet his newest subject.
Riggs met them at the door, holding the pink little bundle in one arm, like he’d been caring for an infant all his life. His mother, Hilda, was there, beaming with pride. The room was warm with the summer weather, but warmer still with affection, life, and joy. This was why she would not miss immortality, why she would never regret her decision to remain with Magnus.
These moments were precious. They were food for her moonsoul.
Living life from within, rather than ruling it from above, filled up a place in her she’d never even realized had been empty.
When she accompanied her lifemate to the temple that morning, she did as had been her habit since their return from Larna. While Magnus knelt at the altar and thanked Duff and Seona for the new life among them, she closed her eyes and thanked her father. Because he had known how empty she’d been. And he’d cared enough to nudge her fate toward Magnus.
Cold marble met her knees through the silk of her summer gown. Behind closed eyes, she shared with her father the image of Magnus holding little Fiona—Anya and Riggs had chosen to name the baby after Anya’s mother.
In return, her father sent her an image: her, in her mortal, human body, holding a blond-haired little baby. The vision was more than an echo of the portrait, the promise her father had given Magnus while she’d been imprisoned. Because this time, she held a baby in her arms, true. But there was more. A little girl in a knee-length, frilly gown reached up to hold her hand. On the child’s head was a princess’s crown. And standing at her side was not just her lifemate, but also a young man with golden hair and his father’s lean build.
She cradled her rounded womb. Tears of joy leaked from beneath her lashes. She no longer had the gift of deity, but she had something even better. Hers was the honor of carrying Marann’s future king.
And loving its current king.
She could think of no better way to spend a mortal life.
A note from the author
Thanks so much for reading King’s Highlander. I hope you enjoyed it. This novel is the fourth in my Highland Wishes series, which begins with Wishing for a Highlander.
Whether positive or negative, reviews help an author immensely. Please consider leaving an honest review at Goodreads and/or your favorite retailer.
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About Jessi Gage
USA Today Bestselling Author Jessi Gage is addicted to happy-ever-after endings. She counts herself blessed because she gets to live her own HEA with her husband and children in the Seattle area.
Jessi has the attention span of a gnat...unless there is a romance novel in her hands. In that case, you might need a bullhorn to get her to notice you. She writes what she loves to read: stories about love.
Use the contact page on jessigage.com and drop her a line. There is no better motivation to finish her latest writing project than a note from a happy reader! While you’re visiting her website, sign up for Jessi’s newsletter so you never miss a new release.
Other works by Jessi Gage
Highland Wishes Series
Wishing for a Highlander
The Wolf and the Highlander
Choosing the Highlander
Love Under Construction Series
(Stand-alone romances)
Hurt You
Tempt You
Keep You
Arouse You
King’s Highlander
Copyright © 2018 Jessi Gage
Cover by Damonza http://damonza.com/
Edited by Piper Denna
ISBN: 978-1-941239-33-9
Printed in the United States of America
June 2018
eBooks are not transferable. All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please use any lending functions provided by the retailer or purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
www.jessigage.com
Table of Contents
Cover Copy
Highlight
King’s Highlander
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
Note from the Author
About the Author
Other Works
Copyright
Table of Contents
Jessi Gage, King's Highlander