Page 121 of 2 Books in One Bundle

Two years after they’d married, Vasili and Helia had made the decision to break with tradition yet again and adopted their first child. A beautiful two-year-old girl. Eighteen months later, they’d adopted their second.

At first, he had been terrified he wouldn’t be a good father. That he would repeat the mistakes of his own. But with he and Helia being so closely involved with the orphanage, Vasili knew he loved the children in a way he hadn’t been.

He had come to the realisation that it wasn’t the throne that he was angry with—it was his parents. The crown had the power to help, to better people’s lives, as he and Helia had been doing. All the orphanages were well looked after and well-funded. With the King and Queen involved, they were no longer hopeless places. Children like Helia had been were no longer forgotten. The country’s schools were thriving, and all children were able to study without the worry of expense thanks to the Leander Leos Foundation. Even the tax bill had been amended with little fight, and Thalonia was thriving.

The truth he’d had to accept was that the crown wasn’t responsible for the lack of affection he’d experienced. Their treatment of ‘the spare’ had been his parents’ choice, and he chose to lovehischildren demonstrably. Though one of his children would inevitably become the monarch one day—the first in Thalonia’s history not to be royal by blood—none of them would be treated as the heir or spare. Those words were never uttered in the palace.

He’d made peace with the fact that he didn’t need to end the monarchy. He just needed to make it better.

He needed to be a better king than the ones before him. A better husband. A better father.

Vasili had kept his father’s letter. Had read through it frequently to remind himself of what the wrong choices meant. How love could be hidden and lost because of them. That letter wasn’t a punishment he inflicted upon himself. It was, instead, the greatest lesson his father could have imparted, and the reason Vasili had come to forgive the late King.

Together, Vasili and Helia put the girls to bed every night. Though he would always come back in for just a little while longer. It was overwhelming just how much he loved them. His family.

He turned on the night light and made his way to the bedroom, where his wife waited.

Helia...

She was every bit as beautiful to him now as she had been the first day he saw her. She tugged back the covers in silent invitation. One hand rested on her belly, swollen with the son they would soon welcome, the other was holding the duvet.

‘I take it they’re still asleep?’ She smiled knowingly.

He laughed. ‘They are.’

‘Good. But now, Your Majesty, your wife requires your attention.’

And he was happy to give it.

Vasili had never envisaged a life as perfect as this. Hadn’t dared to dream of it. But as he pulled his wife into his arms, and kissed her with a burning passion, he was glad he hadn’t.

Because no dream could compare with this Elysian reality.