Page 22 of Reign of Stars and Fire

She tossed the rest of her berries onto her tongue and spun back into the corridor. “Get your asses out of bed, my awful king and queen. Your presence is needed if we’re still pretendingany of usknows how to be dignified. Which, by the way, you two do not.”

I laughed and fell back onto the down pillow once her rant faded in the hallway. Malin tried to sit up but groaned, and, like me, fell back to the pillow, a hand to her head. Amusement faded, and I reached out, rubbing her forehead gently.

Hells, I wanted to make the discomfort stop.

“Relax, Kase.” She chuckled and peeked at me from between her fingers. “You turn into a board the instant I turn a little green.”

“I don’t like it.”

She lifted my hand and kissed three of my fingertips. “This is why I love you, Nightrender. Frightening to others, then a tender lover to me.”

“There you go using all kinds of words like tender and lover that don’t suit the image, Mal.” I kissed her brow, careful not to touch her lips in the morning. I’d learned before food hit her stomach, anything near her mouth and nose had Malin hunched over, retching.

I bent over her growing belly and pressed a kiss in the middle. Most knew of our news. Only those in the South were kept in the dark. Malin wanted to wait for the gathering to Gunnar’s vows to surprise the princeling and his star seer.

Truth be told, if she couldn’t keep a bit more food down, I wasn’t convinced we’d be going to the vows.

Two littles. Confirmed by Lynx four weeks ago. They’d been too busy for Malin to sleep night after night. Desperate, she’d turned to him to see if his mesmer might bring them to a calm, even for a few clock tolls.

We hadn’t anticipated he’d sensetwo. They were clearly made of us—already wreaking a bit of havoc.

I did not show much of what my heart felt to anyone beyond my wife, but there was a delirious kind of love and devotion to two small things I’d never even met.

“You feel up to greeting Valen and Elise?”

“Yes.” She tossed her arm over her eyes. “I need to see the battle babe.”

I snorted. Elise had been with child during our fight, and Malin had dubbed the new princess a warrior from the earliest moments of her existence.

“It’ll be good to get a reminder that all this is worth it. Go ahead.” She waved one hand lazily. “I’ll be along . . . soon.”

I dressed quickly, snatched the folded parchment, and left the chamber.

By the time I arrived in the hall of the palace, Valen and Elise and those they brought from Etta were already surrounded by Kryv and a few stragglers we’d picked up along the way.

Little Von ran between Luca and Dagny’s legs, trying to get his parents’ attention when they huddled around Elise and the babe in her arms. Raum and Halvar Atra already had horns with ale in their hands, and Herja Ferus used finger speak with Hanna (even if both could hear), explaining the crown of silver blossoms she’d brought for the girl.

Hagen stood off with Valen. I tucked the parchment into my tunic, not seeing the face belonging to the missive, and joined the king away from the boisterous crowd.

“Kase.” Valen took hold of my forearm.

“King.”

“Palace life suiting you?”

I scoffed. “Hardly. I told the Kryv to board up or destroy any room that held a bad memory for them. I think we now have maybe six still left open.”

Valen smiled, but there was a touch of sympathy in it. We hated the Black Palace, but slowly, surely, it was becoming a new place for us since Felstad was still half in shambles from the fire that destroyed it. This place was almost a home for thieves, not a palace filled with horrors and torture from the Masque av Aska and Lord Magnate.

“How’s Malin?” Hagen asked.

“Ill every morning. I never know what to give her. Something that works one day, the next will toss her stomach.”

“It was the same with Elise until Livie was born.”

Hagen nodded. “I was only around Herja at the beginning with Gunnar before they separated us, then at the end with Laila. But she told me in letters the only thing she enjoyed were red plums.”

“They’re stronger than us.” I paused for a long breath, then pulled the parchment from my tunic. “Has your brother not come with you?”