230 - Happy All Around

230- Happy All Around (The End)

The ballroom was filled with music, laughter, and wonderful chatter.

It had been three years since a new peace treaty had been agreed upon, and tonight was the first annual ball between the two kingdoms. Next year’s own would hold in Teeland if this should go well. 

It should, though, everything had been wonderful after the peace treaty. 

Zezi turned to the door for the millionth time, her hands fiddling with her purple dress, before moving up to her hair and adjusting her crown.

They were not here yet? 

Suddenly, she could hear her pups coming, and soon enough, they ran to her, then around her, trying to avoid each other as they laughed. 

“Give it back!” Orion said.

“It’s mine now,” Lyra laughed. 

“Lyra, darling, give him his cap.”

“Ma, but he took my chocolate!”

Well, this was just another day. It was perfect to hear them like this. Having them quiet while not being asleep was the dangerous part. They were both three years old now, but they were growing at a quick rate, and one would think they were five or maybe six years old. 

“And I gave you another one. There is plenty on the table.”

“I wanted that one you—— “

They both froze and turned towards the hallway at the same time.  “Sura,” they said, grabbed the other's hand, and whispered as they made a run for it.  

She wants to send us to bed.”

“Don’t tell her where we’ve gone.”

Zezi chuckled. “Don’t hurt yourselves. Love you.”

“We won’t.” Lyra turned and winked, and Orion blew her kisses.

Oh, they can be so wonderful at times. 

Sura was a nanny recommended by Gwen. Gwen had said she was part of the King and Queen supporters club, a club that Gwen was to introduce her to tonight, now that Valerick had finally lifted the ban on her House. 

Thank the Moon. 

Sura had been wonderful since she came into the castle two years ago. In fact, she would be deserving of another raise. The twins put her through a lot. 

Sura rushed in shortly after, and before she could even bow and pay her respects, Zezi signaled to where the twins had run to. Sura smiled and followed.

“Don’t tell? I didn’t,” Zezi said to herself as she turned to leave but stopped when she sensed Valerick.

“Your Majesty, I apologize, I didn’t know they were with you.” Zezi heard Sura say.

“It is alright, Sura.” Valerick appeared with Lyra and Orion in his arms, with smug smiles on their faces. In that purple regalia suit, he looked perfect. He pressed a kiss to Zezi’s lips, and the twins went eww. “Give them a couple more minutes, they want to see Mira before they are ushered to bed.”

Saru bowed and left. 

“You look amazing,” Zezi said, clearing out the invisible creases on his suit.

“As do you, my love.”

“They should be here by now.”

“Right and—— “

“Your Majesties!” George declared from the door. 

“Alpha George, Luna Delice, and sweet Mira.” Valerick set the twins down, and they hurried off to her, barely allowing her to complete her bow while they paid their quick response. It was so fast, it could have been missed by a blink. One would think they had been starved of their playtime when they had gotten to see one another a week before.

Little ones were something.

“Mira! Mira! What did you bring for us?”

“Gifts you’ll like,” she replied before moving to Zezi and twirling in front of her. “How do I look?”

Well, her daughter looked amazing. She was now growing according to her age, and she looked very healthy. It was as if during these three years she had grown five years older. It was surprising what magic nd blood deprivation could do.

“Perfect,” Zezi pulled her into an embrace. “Gorgeous in red, my Mira.”

Valerick had picked her up and given her a twirl; she had shyly told him that he couldn’t do that anymore because she was older now. Older than she was a week ago? He would have to update his book on how to be a good father. It seems like he wouldn’t be able to use the same volume for the twins and Mira.

By then, the twins were done with being given gifts by George and Delice, while Mira received her gift from Valerick and Zezi.

“Meet Malkron, King Valerick, an alpha in training.”

Malkron bowed. He looked older than he had the last time Zezi had seen him; the hatred in his eyes was gone, too. Valerick acknowledged his presence and they sent the kids off as they discussed matters of the Kingdom. Malkron asked Mira to dance and she happily obliged. 

Well, something about that did not feel right to Zezi. It was obvious she had a crush on Malkron. She was young and easy to manipulate. She would talk to Delice about this later. 

How does someone even deal with a love sick teenager?

At that moment, Zezi turned her attention back to their conversation, observing that Delice and George were holding hands.

Well, that was good. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, Delice looked more plump than usual. Pregnancy plump.

That would be hot to talk about. Over the years, they’ve become a little gossipy.

Zezi had only welcomed the people that came from Teeland when finally she saw Gwen and Zyon with their bats coming in. It was great to see all of them. 

“My Zezi,” Gwen said the moment she saw her.

“My Gwen.”

They hugged and laughed. Gwen led her to another table where those who had rooted for her union with the King were seated. Now they had added unity between the Kingdoms as another thing they were greatly supporting and honestly, their movement was helping. 

“Lord Rosil?” Zezi said, stunned.

“It was fun. Besides, Can’t a old woman have her indulgences?”

Well, well, well. 

Zezi smiled and moved on to greeting others who were so happy to see her.

“I cannot wait for you to meet Lilac,” Gwen said.

“That is true, lilac is a great supporter, Your Majesty,” Another added.

“Really what house is she from?” Zezi asked.

“We don’t know.”

“But she said she will be here.”

“I’m sorry, I’m late.” Someone said from behind them. “I’m lilac.”

Zezi turned to face her. “Irysi? This is crazy.”

They all seemed to be surprised with this but Irysi was met with her own surprise when she found her mother seated at the table. 

“Well, I couldn’t let you keep me out of the fun.” Lord Rosil shrugged.

They all had so much to talk about.

While they were talking, Nicholas came by the table and said after greeting them, “If you don’t mind, I’ll like to steal my mate now please.”

Irysi smiled, already bading them farewell. “They don’t. Bye!”

Well, everyone seemed very happy.

By the Moon, this was good.

———
———

The sound from the music of the hall still seeped into their room. Valerick had said he had something he wanted to show her and she had to excuse herself from Gwen’s movement. She had been worried it was the twins at first but then he assured her that they were fine and were with Sura.

“I found more of my mother’s paintings,” he said and he closed the door firmly behind them and brought one of the paintings to her.

She had painted stars.

“This is so beautiful.” Zezi’s hand moved over the painting and she looked up at him. “

“We should hang them in the dining hall, this shouldn’t be kept hidden.”

“Yes.”

He put the painting aside, and led her to the window. The electric feeling that pulsated through their touch still existed, stronger even. 

“Look at that, all that we’ve built together.” He embraced her from behind and she relaxed into him. 

“It is wonderful how far we have come.” She turned around in his arms, her palms cupping his face. “I love you, Valerick. You make me so happy.”

“Of course, I have been quite a good husband forgiving your wrong doings like, when you threw a dagger right through my heart.”

“You kept that dagger like a souvenir. Who does that?”

“Oh. And when you poisoned me, told me it was baby medicine and made me get scared of being pregnant.”

She laughed. “I still don’t understand how you had that fear.”

He smiled. “Let’s not forget the point, you poisoned me.”

“I didn’t tell you to lick it off me,” her voice trembled with laughter till his lips grazed gently over his mark on her neck. She froze, a possessive need racing through her veins.

“I’d do it again, Zezi. All of it for you, again, for you.” His words seeped into the pores of her skin. Her eyes rolled shut, then her fingers slid into his hair, a feverish moan slipped past her lips as his fangs dug into her skin, her blood driving him crazy. 

He pulled away from her for a moment and she murmured something about the twins. 

He nodded, then he left. 

While she tried to catch her breath, she turned to the window to see… Malkron?

It was him.

He was running after a lady, and cutting off her escape.

She frowned. Oh by Moon, let that not be Mira?

He pulled a bag away from her and dumped the things in the bag on the ground. It had some expensive goblet in it. 

Oh she was a thief. 

Not Mira.

“They are asleep, and tucked in,” Valerick said, rushing in. “Saru will be with them for about an hour.”

“I think there is a thief in the—-“

In a flash, Valerick pulled the curtains down, swiped away the “How To Be A Good Father Volume 4” book off the table along with some scrolls as he settled her on the wooden surface. “Let them. Today is for only us, Heartbeat. No one else.”

When his lips claimed hers and his hands found their way under her dress, she forgot about everything else. 

She moaned his name against his lips, her claws digging into his skin through his regalia. He stilled, pulling away, his eyes darkening quickly, and falling back into the crook of her neck as he pressed her name against his mark on her. 

When her hand slipped into his pants, he felt his need grow so much his voice broke.”

“Z—- zezi. By the blood, I love you, Zezi. More than you—-“ a groan resonated through his chest. “—- will ever know.” 

His hands moved quickly, doing to her what she was doing to him. 

“I love—- I love you too, Valerick. I— I love you.”

Her body arched into his, into that familiarity of bliss and rhythm of pleasure. 

Darkness clouded the room along with their moans, her blood smeared his lips with each thirsty glup, claws leaving behind marks of pleasure. 

It was rough.

Unrestrained.

Into an earned ecstasy. 

————
————

((Dear Readers,

For everything that begins must end, and this is the end of our journey with Zezi and Valerick. Thank you for coming this far with me, for seeing this through with me, you have inspired me beyond measure to continue and finally complete it. 

Writing this book has been an experience. I fell in love with the characters, and the relationships felt natural to create. Truly, I will miss them, but it is comforting to know that they all got their happy ending one way or another. I hope that they will have a good impact on anyone who reads this book. 

I apologize for my inconsistency in updating. The thing is that, recently, I have been getting a lot of negative comments about my writing, and as much as I am usually a strong person who is always ready and willing to learn from criticism, I'm afraid the comments got to me. Lol. I was truly on the verge of pulling myself out of the writing world and focusing on other things, but I had to remind myself that I owe it to those who had stood by me and are still waiting for the end of a beautiful story we started together, and so, here we are. I have grown a tougher skin, and you can expect more consistency from me.

Thank you so much to everyone who has given me an encouraging comment, and to those whose criticisms came from a place of good intent for me to be better. I really appreciate it. I would like to use this opportunity to state that I personally do not like dragging a book for so long because I lose interest in things quickly.

That said, my journey in writing still continues, and as usual, I am open to constructive criticism because your reviews matter. You can also tell me about the things you loved in the book, the relationships you fancied, and so on. I would love to hear them. You can reach out personally to me on my Instagram page @at_imagination too.

Also, I’m picking up my other story, “MoonBound: The Gamma’s Captive.” You can check that out too and see if it is something you like.  

Once again, I stay grateful that you have seen this to the end with me. Adios till some other time.

Love,
AT.))