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We got out of bed and used magic to dress.

I didn’t want to let go of my baby, not after waiting so long to meet them.

I had newfound respect for my brothers as Emmerich and I headed out of our bedchamber and down to the rose garden.

How anyone could leave their egg, despite having a battle of monumental importance to fight, was beyond me. I certainly couldn’t have done it.

The rose garden seemed even more beautiful than usual by the time Emmerich and I made it out into the sunshine.

The magical roses bloomed no matter the season, and they had burst open in all the shades of the rainbow that morning as if just for us.

The greenery around the garden seemed brighter than usual, too, and a small flock of birds had taken up positions in the trees that marked the corners of the garden so that they could serenade us with their joyful song.

Better even than seeing my brothers and their mates in the garden, along with their eggs, was the sight of Osric sitting in one of the white wicker garden chairs with them .

“Osric,” Emmerich greeted my cousin with a look of surprise. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have a kingdom to govern?”

Osric laughed. It was the happy sound of a man who was confident that his efforts to make a better world than the one he’d found. “There is much to do, yes,” he said. “But as you will recall, time in this world and in the cruel world runs differently.”

“Osric has done much already,” Argus said, his arm around Obi as they sat in a loveseat, Obi holding their shining, silver egg. “We thought he deserved a moment of rest before diving back into his work.”

“There is much to be done,” Osric said, his expression turning serious. “Freslik left behind a kingdom rife with corruption. Already, my loyal advisors have quashed a would-be rebellion by some of the kingdom’s outlying nobles who felt they should take Freslik’s place instead of me.”

“I bet I can guess exactly which nobles have made a bid for power,” Leo said with a scowl. His scowl was completely out of place with the way he sat enveloped by Diamant on the grass, his glittering egg cuddled in his arms.

“I’m sure you can guess,” Osric said. “It’s no surprise which of the nobles think they’re entitled to some sort of recognition. Freslik corrupted so many with his lust for wealth and power. I fear it may take years of serious action to completely reform the way so many people think in the kingdom.”

“But you’ll be able to do it,” I said, half hopeful, half worried. “You’ll be able to change things and give the good, hardworking people of the kingdom a better life, right?”

Osric gave me a wide smile. “I will do everything within my power to set things to right.” He glanced around at my brothers and their mates then said, “I’m only sorry that I won’t have my cousins there to help build the new world with me.”

“We could visit now and then to help if you really need us,” Obi said earnestly.

“I don’t ever want to go back,” Misha said in a whisper.

“I could be convinced to visit if you need some of those nobles smacked into line,” Leo said with a smirk.

Osric laughed. “I appreciate your enthusiasm,” he said. “All of you are welcome to visit the cruel world whenever you’d like.” Before anyone could add anything, he went on with, “I dislike that name, the cruel world. Who gave it that name?”

Emmerich and his brothers exchanged glances. “It was probably one of us,” he said. “Likely it came about after my first few visits, when we saw what Freslik had made of his kingdom.”

Osric hummed and nodded gravely. “My uncle destroyed so many things. His kingdom and the world it exists in were not always so twisted and horrible, though. There was a time when that world was full of promise. Its people have always been hardworking and determined. Greed and the lust for power may have bruised and perhaps even scarred it, but I am confident that, given time, I can make it into a new version of itself. It will be a place where people are happy and free again soon, if I have anything to say about it.”

They were simple words and I doubt they were intended to be a rallying speech, but they filled me with enormous hope all the same.

“I will do whatever you need to advance your cause,” I said. Even as I said that, I looked around at my brothers and their eggs, then down at my own egg. “I might be a bit busy in the near future, though.”

Osric laughed again, then stood to come over and take a look at my and Emmerich’s egg. “You are where you need to be,” he said. “And you have your own, beautiful cause to champion, the cause of being a papa.”

“We’re all going to be busy being papas very soon,” Selle said, settling his and Gildur’s golden egg in the nest-like cushion where Tovey and Rufus’s twin eggs already rested. “My egg and Tovey’s, too, feel like they’re ready to hatch any day now.”

“And this one is getting restless,” Leo said, rising to his knees so he could shuffle over and deposit his diamond egg in the nest with its cousins.

I wasn’t certain why, but I felt the need to put my egg with the others.

It was as if the egg itself was begging me to let it spend time with its cousins.

All I wanted to do was hold it and nurture it forever, but children had minds of their own, and mine was telling me what it wanted in no uncertain terms.

I wasn’t the only one. Obi and Misha brought their eggs over to the nest as well. Theirs were newer and smaller than Tovey’s and Selle’s, even Leo’s, but placed together, all seven eggs looked and felt perfect.

“You just birthed your egg yesterday, right?” Selle asked with a puzzled look, adjusting his glasses.

“Yes,” I said, my cheeks flaring hot. Birthing an egg felt too personal to discuss in public, even with my brothers.

“It doesn’t look like a newborn egg to me,” Selle went on.

“You’re right,” Tovey said, tilting his head and studying my glittering, green egg next to his two ruby ones. “Yours is as big as the twins already. ”

My brow flew up and I turned to look questioningly at Emmerich. “Is it the pausing spell?” I asked.

“It must be,” Emmerich said, a burst of excitement coming from him through our bond. “It seems as though our baby is eager to catch up to where it should be.”

“If that’s the case, it could hatch any day now,” I said, suddenly overwhelmed by the possibility.

“New life, new families, and a new kingdom,” Osric said, joining the rest of us in smiling down at the eggs. “If that isn’t a sign that Freslik and Nazeing and Saoirse and anyone who would try to crush and destroy has failed, I don’t know what is.”

“We’re truly blessed,” I said, smiling up at Emmerich.

For once, everything was just as it should be, and I felt in my heart that the future would be filled with light and joy.