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“Perhaps,” he said finally, putting her down. “Go play with your brother.”

Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes. “He’s boring. He never wants to play any of my games, and when he does he won’t even try. It’s no fun winning when he won’t even try.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Why don’t you go see his new cat.”

She shrugged. “Alright.”

She walked away and I stared after her. Sometimes I wasn’t sure whether I should be proud or horrified at how much she reminded me of myself.

“Are we keeping the cat?” Scion muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “Quill won’t like that.”

“Quill is the least of my concerns at the moment.”

Suddenly remembering Aine’s presence behind us, I whirled around and glared at her. “ What are you doing? You should know better than to fight a child.”

“I should,” she agreed, picking at the edge of her fingernail. “But that particular child is far too much like Bael.”

“Meaning what?” Scion asked flatly.

“Meaning she’d pick a fight with a mirror if she could. I’m merely exercising her talents.”

“You’re merely trying to mold her into one of your ‘family.’” I snapped, putting a lot of emphasis on the word.

Aine grinned wickedly. “Why can’t it be both?”

Our meetingwith Cross was long and uneventful. There were a lot of changes brewing in Inbetwixt that we had to remain aware of, but overall he seemed to be on top of things.

In fairness, there were a lot of changes brewing in every major city on the continent. It had taken several years of continuous work, but we’d finally stamped out the last of the coup attempts and anyone who might have supported them. We’d removed the governing lords and ladies of each province, and taken a more hands on approach to leadership.

Bael split his time between our castle and his seat in Underneath. When he wasn’t there, his dragon, Apophis, kept an eye on things for him and sent back regular reports.

Ambrose managed Nevermore, which was still constantly threatening succession but with less and less seriousness with every passing year. Now, the threats were less legitimate plans for a war of independence and more hyperbolic threats.“If I can’t get my boat fixed before spring, I’m organizing a secession!”

Technically, Scion was in charge of Overcast and the former capital, but in actuality he had very little to do. Thalia and Gwydion managed Overcast, and as we no longer resided in the obsidian palace, the capital had become far less of an issue. Scion effectively “retired” from being royalty the moment our children were born. He’d spent years believing he would never truly be happy, but all that changed the moment he learned he would be a father.

Now, it was Scion and I who shadow walked the children back to our new castle.

The castle stood in a field of sunflowers, inexplicably blooming despite the slight hint of smoke that still lingered in the air. To the right was the edge of the waywoods, and to the left rose an enormous purple mountain. In the garden we’d left my tiny wooden house for the children to play in.

We made our way up to the castle and immediately ran into Ambrose He greeted the children, then me, kissing me lightly on the lips.

“How was the island?” I asked.

“Cold,” he replied. “But otherwise fine. How was Inbetwixt?”

“Fine,” I replied, smiling slightly. There was once a time when I’d have balked at flitting in and out of various provinces as if it were no more complex than walking down to Cheapside. Now, a trip to Inbetwixt was no more remarkable than “fine.”

Giving me another quick peck on the mouth, Ambrose turned his attention to Scion. “Come down to the training room. I have something to show you.”

Scion’s eyes lit up. “New swords?”

“Yes!” Ambrose looked equally excited. “The dwarves in Nevermore have started forging Iron differently. They’re trying to replicate Source forged steel.”

“Is that possible?” Scion asked, already moving toward the direction of the stairs.

Ambrose jogged beside him. “I’m not sure yet. Want to go find out? We’ll see if I can put another scar on your face.”

“Not the face please,” I called after them, shaking my head. It was moments like these I missed when they hated each other.