Page 5

FIVE

“Expect my wife to come visit and baby you, Ian.”

By the time Dr. Stanton freed me from the hospital, a migraine crashed through my skull. I questioned being released, but rather than ask, I went along with the woman’s suggestion I return to the palace. The painkillers she offered, along with some other drug meant to mitigate the concussion symptoms, knocked me for a loop. The instant after I buckled into the SUV, I passed out.

It took Terry a disturbingly long time to coax me into walking to my suite under my own steam while my sister hovered. Madelyn took her job as an organizer of chaos rather seriously, somehow keeping Rachel from losing her grip on her sanity. To keep peace in the royal family, Dr. Stanton suggested that my sister’s tigers play at babysitting me.

Much like my sister’s service dog, the tigers had learned to identify when someone suffered from a serious health problem, and unlike my sister’s service dog, they could open doors at their whim. They could also roar, which did an excellent job of securing attention during an emergency.

The service dog, who worked during the day and romped around the palace at night, liked tricking people. My sister had named him Angel, but I questioned if any husky could actually be an angel. At night, he ran around with the energy of some demon hopped up on sugar and in dire need of an outlet.

The last thing I needed was Angel being assigned to me for any period of time.

As talking would make the pounding worse, I observed the dispute between doctor and queen, wondering who would step away the winner.

Amisha and Endah flanked me, sat, and rumbled at me, all the evidence I needed to understand I would be the plaything of a pair of tigers until Dr. Stanton said otherwise. There were worse ways to go, and as standing sapped the little energy I had left, I got on the floor with the tigers, leaned against Amisha, and debated napping in the hallway.

Madelyn crouched in front of me, pressing the back of her hand against my forehead. “Dr. Stanton? He’s running a fever.”

“It’s from the drug cocktail I gave him,” the doctor replied. “It’ll probably break by morning. It’s a known side effect, and it’s a drug he’s had before. He has worse reactions to the other drugs. Amish and Endah can smell if the fever gets too intense, and they’ll fetch me if needed. Rachel, I know Angel is a medical alert dog, but Amisha and Endah are perfect for this task. He’s going to suffer from chills to go with his fever, and they’ll keep him warm. They’ll also keep him in bed. While your brother is plenty strong, he isn’t strong enough to move an entire tiger. While one holds him down, her sister will fetch us, and he’ll be kept safe and sound. And, however much I hate to admit this, Angel is only an angel during business hours.”

My sister heaved a sigh. “I honestly don’t know how he didn’t wash out of being a service dog.”

“During business hours, he’s an excellent service dog with a good record. After hours? Not so much.” Dr. Stanton smiled, went to my sister, and kissed her forehead. “Your brother is going to be fine. Ethan isn’t going anywhere, so you have an emotional support human if you need one. Your tigers will keep an eye on Ian, and I’ll check on him in the morning. Right now, he needs a meal and sleep. I texted the kitchen with what he should have, and it should be ready within the next half an hour. Ian, I want you to last only long enough to eat, all right? I know you like handling your own chores, but you can deal with one of the staffers cleaning up after you for tonight.”

“I can take care of the dishes,” Madelyn offered. “And I’ll help the tigers keep an eye on Ian.”

“Thank you, Madelyn. Rachel, make sure Madelyn’s supervisor knows she won’t be working tomorrow on whatever her normal work is; her job until Ian’s clear of his concussion is to keep an eye on him.”

“I can do that.” My sister approached, bent over, and patted my shoulder. “I’m sorry I clocked you on the mud course, Ian.”

“I’m sorry I got clocked, but I’m not sorry I did the course.”

She smiled. “We’ll face off again after Terry finishes installing some safety improvements. Accidents happen, but next time someone gets thrown into the side of the course, it’ll be into foam padding instead of rocks.”

“I’m so throwing you in the mud in revenge, Rachel. And you will step onto that course knowing I will be throwing you into the mud whenever possible. All spectators will marvel at my ruthlessness.” The act of talking did a good job of worsening my headache, and aware I needed to make it to my suite before I could eat and then sleep, I staggered to my feet. “You don’t mind me making off with your tigers?”

“Not at all. Amisha, keep Ian in his suite, okay? If he needs something to do, have him help you with a puzzle.”

The tiger rumbled, and she rubbed her head against my leg.

My sister crouched in front of Endah, scratched behind the tiger’s ear, and said, “Endah, I’m going to need you to keep an eye on my brother, okay? If he shows any signs of getting sicker, signal to Madelyn. If Madelyn isn’t available, find Dr. Stanton. If you can’t find Dr. Stanton, come get me, okay?”

The tiger turned her head to mouth at my sister’s hand, which I learned was one of the many ways the animals communicated their agreement with something.

“Thank you. Are you going to be okay to get back to your suite, Ian?”

“I’m going to do my best to be okay, but honestly, I’m ready to sleep on the floor at this stage.”

Dr. Stanton came over, wrapped her arm around my back, and encouraged me forward. “Just stay awake for thirty more minutes, Ian. I’m sure the kitchen will be done before then, and you can eat and then go to sleep. If you sleep in an armchair, nobody will say a word about it tonight. The bed would be more comfortable, though.”

“We have dinner trays for the bed. I’ll go get one for him,” Rachel said before bouncing off, leaving her husband behind.

Ethan sighed. “I’m so sorry about her, Ian. She’s been cycling through crying fits that she hurt you, hyperactivity, and anxiety. I’ll keep an eye on her tonight and tomorrow and make sure she doesn’t break the palace—or burn it down getting upset over the situation. Dr. Stanton?”

“She’s just anxious and worried, and she’s using allowed outlets. I’ll keep an eye on her as well, but so far, she’s coping remarkably well. I think her stint babysitting Terry helped.”

The RPS agent in question sighed, patted my shoulder on his way by, and said, “Expect my wife to come visit and baby you, Ian. Clearly, you’ve never been shown a day of love in your life and need to learn how to cope with someone caring for you. All things considered, we’ll make ourselves at home here tonight to be on hand. If I don’t tell Olivia about this, she’ll kill us all, and the instant she’s told, she will be here prepared to show New York some Montana hospitality.”

With wide eyes, I stared at the man, flabbergasted he would involve the woman in my concussion recovery. “Dr. Stanton? I’m not sure about this.”

“If she’s happy to come join Madelyn in babysitting him, that might be wise. New Yorkers have trouble with affection, and Olivia can surely train Madelyn in how to buck her New Yorker tendencies and become a nurturing caretaker.”

“I’ll give her a call and make the arrangements.” Terry waved in acknowledgement before abandoning me to face my fate. If Olivia and Madelyn hit it off, my life was over. I could survive the Montana princess scheming against me, but if Madelyn joined in?

I wouldn’t stand a chance.

Judging from Madelyn’s narrowed eyes and frown, she wasn’t sure about the doctor’s commentary, either. “I’m sure I can handle him alone.”

Even with a skull splitter of a headache, I had a healthy interest in her handling me, especially when alone. I’d ditched women and sleeping around after meeting Madelyn, determining I would prefer to pine over the woman rather than deal with dating.

From top to bottom, I’d undergone the sort of changes that would leave my parents suspicious of an imposter.

I hoped both resided in some hell, but I suspected at least one of the bastards had survived and would come to make my life difficult. They’d leave Rachel alone if they knew what was good for them, but I was their eldest legitimate child. New Yorker pride often refused to die, and I could see both of my parents coming after me to keep a tight hold on their line.

Then I could see the bastards going overseas to take over a kingdom, ruining that one, too.

When I thought about it that way, I could understand why Terry kept losing his shit over my situation.

I was at far more risk than my sister.

Damn.

Dr. Stanton eyed me, and she pushed me along towards my suite. “I’m scheduling in time for a talk tomorrow,” she informed me.

Damned empaths. As arguing with her would only make the problem worse, I replied, “Understood.”

“Madelyn, if you don’t have a room here, I will have one opened for you. I’ll need you on hand to deal with this walking disaster. You’re uniquely positioned to be the most helpful. He’s been around lower caste folks lately more than royals, so he’s going to be most comfortable with you.”

“Really,” she stated in the sort of tone I reserved for rattlesnakes prepared to take a bite out of me.

As the women would surely fight with me stuck in the middle, I opted to hurry my pace, retreating for the relative safety of my new suite. Later, once I felt a little better, I would need to thank my sister for moving me across the palace to somewhere with fewer bad memories. I marveled that Rachel had been willing to use the suite for the king and queen.

Then again, she likely had no memories of the rooms; she’d only been allowed in as an infant in arms, the only time in her life she’d been shown even a scrap of love from our parents. The instant she’d been able to crawl, she’d been evicted to her old room, which had been the equivalent of a satin-wrapped prison.

I wondered if we would ever truly heal from our past.

Before I had a chance to get in a fight with my keys, one of the RPS agents keeping an eye on us unlocked and opened the door. “We’ll be changing the locks in the next few days, so we’ll bring you a new set of keys,” the man murmured. “The queen wants everything in this wing of the palace to be new. She does not want anything tainted by the former monarchs.”

I laughed, turned, and eyed my sister’s husband. “Even the locks, Ethan?”

“It was cheaper to replace the locks than deal with her lighting things on fire. I asked her to wait until you were actually in residence before taking a sledgehammer to your old rooms. I suggested you might want to be the one doing the actual demolition. The former royal wing is being converted into guest suites for dignitaries, the former dignitaries wing is being converted into the new royal wing, and my wife has decided we’re keeping our rooms where they are because it’s in a convenient location. We renovated it completely after arrival; she couldn’t stand the thought of using anything ‘those bastards’ had touched, resulting in chaos because she wanted to stay at the cheapest motel money can buy during the renovation process. Not even a hotel, Ian. A motel.”

While I was aware of most of what Ethan told me, I hadn’t known they were switching the palace wings around. I pointed into my suite. “Is this part of the new royal wing?”

“It is, but only because Rachel doesn’t want to displace you. This used to be the buffering space between the dignitaries and staffer quarters, serving as emergency quarters if we had more staff or dignitaries than expected. We’re going to be splitting the staff quarters into two separate wings; staff dedicated to the royal family will be on this side, and the other staffers will go on the dignitaries’ side. It’s chaos, but Rachel decided a good way to boost the local economy was to do a mass renovation project on the palace. And according to Terry, we will be replacing the electrical system or he will be forcing us to replace the electrical system.”

I sighed, aware that Terry had destroyed the Texan palace’s electricity due to wiring faults in the wall. “Rachel wants me to be moved into the palace, doesn’t she?”

“Even with a concussion surely trying to kill you, you remain a smart one.” Ethan came over, gave me a hug, and pushed me into my suite. As I had no doubt he’d propel me all the way to the bedroom, I did as he wanted. “Your primary aide will have the suite next door, and there’s going to be a connecting door that can be locked on either side. We’ll probably use two doors for added security, with the RPS having the ability to activate a steel barricade between them during emergencies. Once we have kids, and the one we decide to saddle with the kingdom is over eighteen, and you’re tired of being the heir, this suite will become theirs while you’re set loose to run wild and free.”

I raised a brow at my friend’s comment, which referenced his brother’s infamous flight across California to get to know his aide a little better. His aide was already his wife, although the Californians kept pushing off the public ceremony, partially to make certain Ethan and Rachel could attend.

Rachel was not yet ready to attend such a large ceremony.

Worse, she would need to be the star of such a ceremony soon enough.

“You know, maybe New York and California should join forces for a joint wedding,” I suggested, easing out of my suit coat and heading for my closet so Madelyn wouldn’t have to deal with me being a slob. “Rachel would then be a co-star with Cassandra, and both of them escape with only having to deal with one wedding. The RPS would love us, because it would limit the chaos.”

Ethan chuckled. “I’ll put together a proposal, and you can deal with it when you’re in California. I don’t even need to think about that idea. Rachel cried the other day because someone from the congress asked when we would be officiating our marriage in public. As it is, she’s been trying to demand a courthouse wedding.”

“New York did accept the Californian paperwork, right?”

Ethan sighed. “Technically, yes, but they want it in our system officially, which means refiling the paperwork.”

Some problems were easier to solve than others. “Dr. Stanton, am I going to be cleared to have some pesky RPS agents drive me to the courthouse in the morning to gather the paperwork and bring a clerk to the palace? I’d rather close that loophole, and that’s paperwork I can handle.”

“Madelyn?” Dr. Stanton asked.

“I have no problems escorting him to the courthouse for such an important matter. I am familiar with the paperwork, so I can go over everything for accuracy.”

Dr. Stanton turned to one of the RPS agents. “Gather the Royal birth certificates, the Californian marriage documentation, and anything else Prince Ian will need to get the paperwork established at the courthouse. Have one of your first responders accompany him in case of any issues. Contact a judge so we have the judge on hand in addition to the clerk. Prince Ian will need a pair of agents. It’ll be a good warmup for prepping him for the trip.”

I eyed my brother-in-law. “Why haven’t you had this dealt with already?”

“Every time I tried to go to the courthouse, someone complained, and I didn’t want to just make Terry go. Terry gets run around enough. Terry won’t let anyone else handle that. I can get away with having you handle it, but I wasn’t going to impose when you’ve had a rough time of it as it is. But since you’re offering, I’m accepting. Rachel will not go to the courthouse. She refuses. I don’t know why she’s so against the courthouse, but she’s afraid the place will bite her.”

I could make a few guesses. “I think she’s more afraid of the courthouse finding some reason to reject your marriage. That won’t happen, but that would frighten her more than anything. She caught a Californian, and she wants to keep her Californian. Anything that might come between her and her Californian would be worse than any devil.” I shrugged, heaved a sigh, and eyed the bathroom. “I need a shower.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you,” Ethan said, and he shooed everyone else out of my bedroom. “I’ll return your prince to you in half an hour. If dinner comes, knock. I’ll probably have him soak out some of those aches and pains, and I can keep an eye on him while he eats.”

Dr. Stanton chuckled. “That works. Come with me, Madelyn. We’ll go over Ian’s file together so you know what to expect, and I’ll answer any questions you might have. Ethan’s experienced with making sure the sickly New Yorkers are appropriately cared for.”

Once the crowd left, I heaved a relieved sigh. Ethan closed the door, and I caught him eyeing the knob. “I hate that they removed the locks from the bedrooms. I hate it. They did this shit in California, too. What if I want to lock myself in my bedroom with my wife? I was told I had to deal with it and that I should be happy that we still have locks on the exterior doors and connecting doors. Terry’s the only lot of them comfortable enough with standing in the hallway if we need some time alone.”

“He probably has a pair on guard outside of the windows to notify him if you opt to go out the window.”

“From the third floor?”

I grinned and headed to the bathroom. “It is possible to escape out the window. They’re antsy because I’ve done it.”

Ethan snorted and followed me. “I’ll help you, because if I let you try to escape and you fall, Dr. Stanton will have my ass as a trophy.”

That I could believe. “Think she’ll give me more painkillers? The stuff from the hospital has worn off.”

“She’ll give it to you with your meal, make certain you’re tucked into bed, and go do whatever it is she does when she’s not checking on Rachel. That’s how she handled Rachel’s painkillers when we first got back to New York. Good sleep is required for healing. Honestly, I’m going to have to send Adam some serious present for loaning her to us again.”

“Rachel’s scared of the other doctors.” I sighed, aware of the reasons for her general distrust of the staffers. “I mean, I’m pretty bad about it, too.”

“Your parents were asses.”

I nodded. “Dr. Stanton’s a safe entity. Give Rachel some time, and she’ll get used to it. I mean, at least Dr. Stanton has been able to go home, although I feel guilty she had to come back.”

Without Dr. Stanton, I doubted Rachel or I would be anywhere near as healthy as we were, and we both had a long way to go.

“I’m thinking about doing some physician trades with other kingdoms, that way we get new faces that won’t alarm either of you.”

I unbuttoned my shirt, and mindful of Ethan’s worries, I cooperated with him, letting him do the majority of the work. That left me worrying about not taking a fall, which worked for me.

If the pain got much worse, I’d be vomiting rather than eating, and I hoped a soak in the tub would help. While I wouldn’t admit it, I appreciated the assistance climbing into the jet tub, as I doubted I would have accomplished the task alone. Getting out would suck, but I’d worry about it after I had a chance to soak. “Thanks.”

“Glad to help. You’re easier than Rachel. She cried the first few times she realized she actually needed help with these things. She learned just how bad her health was the first time she couldn’t get in and out of a tub without help. Getting in was easier than getting out, but she couldn’t get the leverage to stand from in the tub. Now? She bounces in and out, but for the first few weeks? So many tears.”

“And she hates crying.”

“Yep. Are you going to start crying on me, Ian?”

“Only if this headache gets any worse, and if it does, I’m not going to have any shame over crying. I’m going to be begging for painkillers. I am definitely not above begging right now. If I thought you could provide some, I’d be crying for them.”

“I’ll make sure Dr. Stanton does something about your pain levels. She probably wanted you to stay awake long enough to eat.”

I made myself as comfortable as I could, and I discovered if I held my head a certain way, the migraine eased to tolerable levels. “Was there a reason you wanted to get me alone in one of the few places in this mausoleum that isn’t being actively recorded?”

Ethan grinned, sat on the ledge of the tub, and said, “As a matter of fact, yes. I did want to have a talk with you in private. Thank you for not protesting being babysat in the tub. Rachel knows I want to talk to you in private, so she’ll take her time retrieving a tray.”

When I thought I couldn’t love my sister any more, she went out of her way to remind me of the little things, including her willingness to sneak around to help me however she could.

“Dr. Stanton would have sent Madelyn in here, and we would have both died from embarrassment,” I muttered.

“She can be a little ruthless, especially when dealing with a bonded pair that refuses to acknowledge being a bonded pair,” Ethan muttered. “I got screamed at earlier today while you were in testing. If I value life and limb, I will resolve your issues with your bond. I’m not sure what she expects me to do beyond making certain Madelyn goes to California with you, which I’ve already done. I’d already been working on getting the woman working in the palace. And I know this is a touchy subject for you, sorry.”

With my old friend, the truth was always the best option. Until today, I had assumed I’d lost my one chance at forever. “I just want her to be happy, Ethan.”

Ethan nodded. “You may have taken the whole ‘if you love her, let her go’ thing a little too far. Ian, you’re one of the best men I know. You are not going to be a burden on your future wife. Rachel absolutely isn’t a burden on me, either.”

“Except the whole nursing her back to health issue,” I muttered. “She’s the first one to admit that being an invalid is a bit of a burden. I tried telling her she’s not, but then she whipped out the entire list of tasks she needed help doing.”

“Honestly, caring for her has been the best job of my life. She’s not a burden, and neither are you. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not blind. I saw everything you did trying to hold New York together while your asshole parents did everything in their power to tear it apart.”

As always, one question rose above the rest. “Have there been any signs of their bodies?” I whispered.

Ethan shook his head. “I’m pretty sure both of those fuckers survived. And that’s why I’m worried. I don’t think they’re going to do anything to Rachel, though.”

“Not after going through all that effort to retrieve her so they could pull their disappearing act.”

“Exactly. It’s you I’m worried about. Those two won’t give up their power easily, and they’re used to ruling a kingdom. I’m concerned they’ll take over another kingdom and come after you to be their successor. You’re the only other child they had as a couple. And honestly, I don’t even know if they’re working together or if they’re going to take over a kingdom each. They’re both strong enough to pull off such a thing. And if they aren’t working together, you’re going to be caught in the middle. I know how hard you’ve been trying to mask that your talent is stronger than Rachel’s. And I’m not talking just a little stronger. You’re in a class of your own, and until recently, I thought you’d been in Rachel’s class. But no, you’re head and shoulders over her. You are the living weapon those bastards had wanted to create, and I fear they know it.”

I winced; I’d spent all my life trying to hide the true strength of my talent. “How do you figure that I’m stronger than Rachel?”

“Dr. Stanton snitched,” he confessed. “You can’t hide your talent strength, not from her. That’s what makes her so damned good at her work. She’s been watching you, and the RPS reported you were helping Rachel with her talent.”

Crap. I’d forgotten about the wallflower RPS agents. With Terry in charge, with help from Alfred, the RPS had begun behaving closer to what I’d expected from other kingdoms, which meant I ignored them more often than not. I struggled to remember when I’d helped Rachel, but it must have been during one of the times Ethan had been called elsewhere. “It’s my job as her older brother to help with her talent.”

“You used refined demonstrations, broken down in a way easy for her to understand. You can’t trick me, Ian. I’ve seen you work. And there are the recordings from North Dakota. They had the metal composition of the tanks that you slagged. I had a few scientists break down how hot your flames need to be for you to render one of those tanks to slag in the period of time you did. Rachel can reduce even bone to ash, but she can’t do what you can.”

I eyed him. “How do you know?”

“I took her to one of our military yards, pointed her at an old tank we were going to have scrapped, and told her that you could do it in under thirty seconds.”

“You dared her to beat me.”

Ethan nodded and grinned. “She slagged it in twenty seconds. You can do it below ten seconds. She’s good, but you’re better. Your control is better, too. You can just slag the barrel. She took out the entire tank. I’m fairly confident you could do the same trick she did in California but probably better. You got angry over her burns. And it wasn’t just over the risks she took. You were angry she had not been practicing with her talent sufficiently, and you knew she could have managed that without getting burned.”

Damn it. He had me dead to rights. “All right. I’ve always had to keep one step ahead of Rachel in the talent evaluations. As long as my parents believed I was stronger than Rachel, they left her alone.”

They had left all our siblings alone. But the varying differences in our talent evaluations made sense; if Rachel had worked as hard as I had from an early age, her talent would have been as strong as mine. I’d developed mine to protect her and the rest of my siblings.

We were the only ones left in New York City, and while I hadn’t seen eye to eye with most of them, I missed having them around.

Our asshole parents had broken our family, and I wondered if we’d ever be able to put the pieces back together.

My friend sighed. “I was worried about that. Everything you’ve done, you’ve done to protect her, even from a young age. You stood in the line of fire so she wouldn’t. Hell, you’re the reason I met her when she was five. You gave me wrong directions on purpose.”

“My parents were pissed, and if you ran into them, they might have done something stupid. I made sure you weren’t near them until they cooled their temper.” I grimaced at the memory, as it had involved me taking the blame for Ethan having gotten lost in the palace. Fortunately, my RPS agents had clued in on what I’d been doing, and they’d covered me, reassuring my parents it had just been a small mistake and that it’d caused no harm. After a scolding, I’d gotten off with a single slap for embarrassing them in front of the Californians and told to go make myself useful elsewhere. “I hadn’t thought you’d be making off with my sister as an adult, but I can’t really complain about it. There are far worse men I could be stuck with as a brother-in-law.”

“You mean like any one of the men Sylvia would have picked for herself?”

“Basically. And I would have given my approval if Will had been lacking two functional brain cells.”

Ethan snorted. “Will is beside himself trying to figure out how to thank you for being kind to Mackenzie at that auction. You were the only genuine person beside him in attendance. I mean, others treated her nicely, but only because you’d put yourself in the line of fire. He still can’t figure out why.”

“My parents,” I admitted. “They actually liked nulls, and I put in a fairly competitive bid for Mackenzie, so when I didn’t take anyone home with me that night, I had the auction records proving I’d put down most of my money on Mackenzie. I’d lost the bidding, but I’d bid high enough I actually got praised by my parents for making a good run—and told not to worry about not winning. The amount I had been willing to gamble for charity pleased them. I actually talked to the assholes about it, and they approved me contributing to the charities despite not having won any bids. It did great things for my taxes that year, and I got out of having to act like I was a stud up for hire.”

“I don’t think they know that,” Ethan murmured.

“Few know about it. I don’t care if you tell them. Had I known about her woes, I would have made an offer of employment to Mackenzie, and she would not have been at any risk of losing her daughter. But, for nulls around the world? What happened was better. I won’t lie; I was tracking Mackenzie, and once I found out she was pregnant, I was prepared to step in. I was not going to let her daughter fall into some stranger’s hands. I would have yanked custody, gotten onto the phone with Montana, and yelled at him about his daughter. I recognized him.”

“How? I hadn’t, and I’d seen pictures. Nobody realized who he was outside of a select few. He used his magic somehow, but he won’t tell me the details. He just said he worked some talent to make sure we didn’t remember who he was or realize he was Montana.”

I wondered at that, and after a few minutes, I shrugged, wincing when it revitalized the pain in my skull. “I don’t know. I just knew who he was, I knew he didn’t want anyone talking about it, so I kept quiet. I respected his need for privacy, and only an idiot would have missed how much he loved Mackenzie even at the auction. Every time he looked at her, he glowed. And she had no idea. She was absolutely clueless. Honestly, I was trying to help Will, but I worry I botched it.”

“You were fine. Will appreciated your kindness. You did leave quite the impression on Mackenzie, because you were, well, you.”

“Handsome? Egotistical?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Kind.”

Damn. Ethan didn’t pull his punches. “I have a reputation to maintain, Your Majesty.”

My friend snickered. “Your reputation has been thoroughly ruined, Your Royal Highness.”

“You should probably get the congress to change the age of the heir transfer to be twenty-one. If the kid can’t drink, are they really old enough to rule the kingdom?”

“You’re right. I’ll get to work on that next week. Honestly, they’ll approve, especially as it’s only valid for as long as you’re capable of taking over the reins if needed. I’d try to pull the same quartet Texas is working on, but I don’t think we can wing it until after the mess with Deidre is resolved and their quartet has a year or two to settle. But I think we could sell it to New Yorkers with ease. Then we’d have one of our kids and one of your kids jointly rule with their spouses. That would probably help prevent another round of tyranny.”

I sighed at the thought of getting stuck with an actual crown. “I’d have to have a spouse for that to be viable.”

“Madelyn’s perfect queen material.”

“How do you figure?”

“Are you joking? The woman stared you down and practically spat her doubt at you. She is not afraid of questioning you, and you need that in a wife. I’m confident I’ll get Rachel questioning me vehemently sooner than later. It really might take a severe case of pregnancy hormones to make happen, though.”

While I disliked discussing my sister’s sex life, especially with her husband, curiosity got the better of me. “How are you progressing on having to deal with pregnancy hormones? We’re going to have a Montana princess with pregnancy hormones under foot soon enough if she isn’t already a bundle of hormones. She might be at this stage. Anyone with a functioning brain cell understands Terry goes home to his princess and takes good care of her.”

Ethan snickered. “Rachel is working up the courage to ask Dr. Stanton if she’s healthy enough to try for our first. And heaven help me, she really wants twins, Ian. And she was mad at herself because she’s in charge of if we have twins, and twins aren’t exactly common in the New York line. I’m already off my birth control at Rachel’s request. Fortunately for my sanity, Dr. Stanton won’t approve of fertility treatments that might result in more than one child, and Melody has promised me that she can’t actually manipulate women that way.”

Of course my sister wanted to dive in and have twins right out of the gate. “I’ll ask Dr. Stanton tomorrow. I’m scheduled in for a talk tomorrow. Apparently, Rachel is healthy enough she can turn her attention to me.”

“You’ll survive.”