by Renee Carr
“We don’t know if that’s the case,” Joshua said. “But...” He couldn’t seem to form any more words.
“But if that’s the case, then that’s what we will accept,” Leah said, turning to Nathan and Ivy. Ivy put her hand on her stomach, taking a deep breath, and then reached out for everyone’s hands. Cory turned to Bliss.
“Do it,” he said. “Whatever will come will come.”
The youngest prince was brave, despite the fact that he knew such magic could have disastrous consequences. He trusted Bliss, and he trusted magic more than he did the dragons, at times.
Joshua squeezed his wife’s hand, closing his eyes as Bliss began to pull the magic from the statue. He didn't know what the future brought, but he knew that with Leah at his side, he could handle anything, including John and Sarah returning.
“Ready?” Bliss said and Leah faced Joshua. She knew the next few moments would shape the kingdom, and she had to be stronger than she had ever been before.
“As ready as any of us will ever be,” Joshua said.
“You should probably step back,” Cory said as Bliss began her magical spell. “Just because I’ve seen these go wrong and go wrong fast.”
“Little brother,” Nathan said, half under his breath. “I’m afraid to ask, but what exactly could go wrong?”
“Well,” Cory said. “It could... not be them, under the statue. I know their ashes are there, but it could be some deception or something else that has infiltrated the ashes. Magic is easy to put in, but it’s not easy to pull out.”
“Is this a bad time to ask why it’s happening?” Ivy asked. “I mean... why are they coming back from the dead, if that’s what it is?”
Cory sucked in a deep breath, and his mind seemed to be swirling over a thousand possibilities. Finally, he settled on an answer that seemed to satisfy him.
“We are royal,” he said at last. “And you know that as royalty, we are chosen not by our peers, but from beyond. It may be that the ancestors beyond felt that John’s time was too short, and finally pooled their magic enough to send him back to us. His rule would have been now, if he died a natural death.”
“What’s the other option?” Joshua asked, the only one of the bunch to not be satisfied with the answer.
“That you have a purpose elsewhere,” Cory responded. “You were born to be guardian of the kingdom, and the ancestors have decided to put you back in that position. They are all about birthright.”
“But either way...” Ivy said, watching as Bliss pulled the magic from all around them. The witch’s eyes were closed, and her hands were swirling in every direction. She was muttering to herself, in an ancient tongue that was lost to most. “It’s the ancestors, decided on another fate for John?”
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Cory said. “But they can see all, and if they truly think it’s best... they can return him. I’ve only heard of it twice before in dragon history, and it was never to return a king to a throne.”
“Maybe they realize how much we miss him,” Nathan said softly.
Bliss was almost encased in golden light now, and her chanting was getting louder. Leah reached for her husband’s hand.
“I love you,” she said to him, gazing into his eyes. Their souls were in perfect alignment and she knew that whatever happened, and whatever their station in life, they would be at each other's side and love each other. The rest didn’t really matter.
“I love you too,” he said. It was time to truly be king and be the best for the kingdom that he could be.
With an explosion of magic from the young witch, the statues flew across the room and shattered. Leah jumped, despite herself, and covered her face with her hands. She felt a piece of stone fly into her bare arm and winced.
When she opened her eyes, there was peace in the room, a peace that wasn’t there before.
And standing in front of them, looking as glorious and as alive as when they had ruled, stood John and Sarah.
All of them immediately bent down, bowing to the former Alpha and his queen. Neither of them looked confused, although they did reach for each other’s hands.
“So it’s true,” John’s voice boomed and Nathan almost cried with joy. “The ancestors kept their promise.”
“Promise for what?” Nathan asked, his voice trembling as he looked up at his older brother.
“To reunite us,” John said, looking amongst them. “To make us whole again.”
“Brother,” Joshua said, stepping forward with a wide grin. “I don’t really care what the reason is. Welcome back.”
“Sister,” Ivy said, approaching Sarah. “You are well, I trust?”
“I feel fine,” Sarah said slowly, and then gazed upon Ivy. “You’ve kept the throne safe?”
“Oh,” Ivy said with a smile. “We have much to tell you. And whatever the reason for your return, it is welcome.”
“I always knew you’d be a good queen,” Sarah said, and Ivy indicated Leah should step forward.
“We both have kept it warm for your return,” Ivy said.
“Oh my,” Sarah responded, looking between Leah and Joshua. “You do have much to tell me.”
“And hopefully,” John said with a smile, “an eternity this time in which to tell it.”
Epilogue
“What time are they coming?” Leah asked as she glanced at her watch. It had been hours since they last had communicated with Ivy and Nathan, and she assumed it would be any moment now.
“They said about 1:00,” Joshua said. “Although apparently, traveling with a baby is more work than either of us knew.”
“If anyone can have a handle on it, it’s—”
“We’re here, we’re here, we’re here!”
Leah turned with a grin to greet her sister-in-law. They had been away for several months with their son, Isaac, but now the little boy was walking on his own, and looking around the palace of Knorpp with awe. He had been there before, of course, but he was now starting to remember more, and the glittery palace impressed him.
“Sorry,” Ivy said. “We left late.”
“We left late?” Nathan asked her with a grin. “I think ‘we’ should be left out of that statement.”
He looked calm and relaxed. Life on Earth, away from the crown, clearly agreed with him.
“Come on,” Cory appeared around the corner, dressed in his finery. They were due to enter the banquet room any minute to be announced, and he was cutting it close. “Everyone knows you dawdle, brother.”
“I dawdle?” Nathan raised an eyebrow at him. “I think that you...”
“Ahem...” John swept around the corner then, and they all smiled. Despite the fact that the king had been returned several months now, it was still a shock to see him walking about, after they had all grieved him so much. His return to the kingdom seemed to unite the dragons in a way it never had been before, and Leah was grateful that she had someone to ask when the duties of the crown were confusing. The four of them worked as co-rulers, and it seemed to work quite well.
“Must we bicker before every entrance?”
“It’s tradition,” Cory said with a grin. The footman on the other side of the door blew the trumpet, and Leah cleared her own throat.
“Before we go in,” she said, “I just wanted to tell everyone something.”
“We just got in,” Ivy groaned. “Can business wait five minutes?”
“It’s not business,” said the young princess, and put a hand on her stomach. “It’s more pleasure. How would you like a little cousin, Isaac?”
“What?” Isaac asked, confused.
John turned to her with a smile. “Is this true?” he asked.
“It is,” Leah said, holding Joshua’s hand. Her husband was beaming with pride. “I just wanted you all to know before we went out there. The throne is more secure now than it was before.”
“The throne has always been secure,” Joshua said as the trumpet blew again and he gave his wife a quick kiss. “So long as w
e are together.”
Looking around at her in-laws, and their crowns, and feeling the tiniest movement in her belly, Leah knew that was true. The future was uncertain, and Creator only knew who would be standing there in five years. But as long as they were together, they would always be secure.
Their love, manifested in their veins and their future bloodline, would last through the ages. And she hoped, looking at the pictures of the rulers before her hanging on the walls, that one day, she would be as proud and wise as they were.
She knew, though, as long as Joshua was by her side, crown or not, she’d be happy.
This story is third in the Made for Each Other: Dragon Shifter series. Have you read the first two books?
The Dragon and the Singer
The Scholar Queen
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed The Warrior Princess! If you did, would you leave a review on Amazon? I would really appreciate it!
If you missed the first book in the series, The Dragon and the Singer, you can check out a preview of it on the next page.
Here is a list of all my books:
The Dragon and the Singer
The Scholar Queen
The Warrior Princess
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Love ya!
Renee
Preview of The Dragon and the Singer
Prologue
“I think I’m going vegan,” Natasha said to Ivy, as she looked at her phone. Ivy looked at her colleague with a bit of annoyance. She was trying to do her makeup, and this was the third time Natasha had said something that was completely off-topic.
Ivy didn’t need total silence to do her makeup, but she did need some sort of concentration. She knew it was an amateur show, and most of the girls in here didn’t care about things like makeup or actual performance. They just thought singing was fun, and they liked the idea of getting up on stage and having people hoot and holler at them.
Ivy had been performing at this open mic for the past three years, and she sometimes felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere. She loved singing, and she had managed to make it her career, but she still booked a few amateur nights, in hopes of getting scouted for something bigger than the gigs she was booking right now.
“Why?” she finally asked, when it was clear that Natasha wasn’t going to give up on what she was saying.
“Because look at this,” Natasha shoved her phone in Ivy’s face. “Some asshole is going around the area killing wolves, and it’s terrible. Look, they are just leaving the bodies lying around, no doubt for a little bit of fur.”
“Uh...” Ivy didn’t particularly want to look at the picture that Natasha was showing her. She wasn’t exactly squeamish but she was busy. “Who uses wolf fur?”
“You know these high fashion things, in stores we can’t afford,” Natasha said. “It’s disgusting.”
“Ok, go vegan if you want,” Ivy said, going back to her makeup.
“Don’t you care?” Natasha asked her. Ivy shrugged.
“It isn’t that I don’t care,” Ivy said. “It’s just that I’m trying to look good for the show and I’m sort of busy.”
“Wow,” Natasha looked at her. “I was told that you were an Ice Queen, but they aren’t kidding.”
“Oh my God,” Ivy shook her head. “What do you do in your real life when you aren’t looking at your phone?”
Natasha raised her eyebrow at her. The two girls had known each other for a while, and they were used to each other’s styles and attitudes.
“You know what I do,” she said. “I just stay at home and take care of the kids.”
“I could never do that,” Ivy said. “I think that’s far braver than trying to make a career as a singer.”
Natasha laughed at that.
“I really don’t think that’s true,” she said. “You have to figure out where your next meal is coming from. At least I know that my husband brings home the bacon.”
“Yeah, but don’t you feel reliant on him?” Ivy asked. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”
“Well, I love him, that’s a plus,” Natasha answered. Ivy gave in and laughed.
“Yes, if you love him, I suppose that’s fine,” she sighed. “Sorry, I’m just...I don’t know, a bit on edge tonight.”
“Because you don’t have a husband?” Natasha teased
“I don’t need a husband,” Ivy responded. “I’m never going to get married and rely on some man.”
“What if he’s the perfect man but he doesn’t want you to sing anymore?”
“That would be a problem,” Ivy said. “When I get tired of singing, it’s on my own terms.”
“What if it’s better than singing?”
“What’s better than singing?” Ivy asked. “Being an Empress?”
“Sure,” Natasha said. “If that’s what you want.”
“What I want,” Ivy said. “is to go out there and have someone give me a job for the next three weeks or three months or whatever. I’m just getting sick of traveling around so much.”
“You can always crash at my place if you want a place like home,” she said. “Where are you staying now?”
“I have a studio apartment on a sublet deal,” Ivy said. “And it’s fine, it’s just me.”
“Well,” Natasha said. “I hope that your prince comes.”
“To be honest, right now, I’d settle for a court jester for the night,” Ivy winked at her. Natasha laughed and Ivy got up, ready to go on stage for her song. The rules of open mic were that she would sing one song, and if the audience cheered, she’d get to sing another one.
She had worked hard on her look tonight, with her hair down in curls and her eyes smoky and bright. She wore a mini dress with high heels, and she had picked songs that were from a difficult Broadway repertory, to show off her range.
Her conversation with Natasha was playing in her mind as she started her first song. She and Natasha couldn't be more different if they tried. Natasha was happily married and content to stay home with her three children. She was happy to let her husband work and therefore control most of her life. But Ivy could never do that. She needed to live her own life, and she wouldn’t even tolerate a man who suggested what street to walk down while giving directions.
But at the same time, she was lonely sometimes. Working gig to gig, and flying by the seat of her pants sometimes made her read the trashy romance novels that she pretended to be against.
It wasn’t that she wanted a Prince Charming to show up and romance her. It was just that she wanted someone who accepted her for who she was and possibly found her interesting rather than abrasive or too strong-willed.
She ended up getting her second song, and then her third, which was unheard of. She took a bow as they clapped, and threw flowers, and Ivy ended up leaving the stage feeling reasonably good about herself, especially given that Natasha only got two songs.
“Too bad we don’t get paid for that,” Natasha said, as they left the venue that night.
“I’m getting paid for the next couple weeks,” Ivy said, shouldering her bag. “And then...I dunno, I guess I’ll figure out the next bit.”
“Really, you’re living the dream,” Natasha said to her. “You get to sing for a living. And you’re so pretty, everyone stares at you.”
“Sure,” Ivy said, glancing at Natasha’s wedding ring and watching her friend’s face light up as her husband pulled up in a minivan to pick her up. “See you around.”
“Do you want a ride?” Natasha asked, and Ivy shook her head.
“Nah,” she said. “I’m fine. I’m just down the street.”
“Ok, have a nice night,” she said and got in.
Ivy watched her go and then started to walk down the street. It was cold, and she drew her arms around her, wishing she could breathe fire on her path. The cold wind whipped through her hair and she legitimately thought she might get frostbite before she got into her apartment.
She threw her bag on her bed and headed to the bathroom to wash off her makeup.
Her phone dinged and she saw that it was one of her online dating apps, pinging her with interested men.
She had mostly given up on online dating, and this time was no different. There were a few that caught her eye, like a stagehand named James who had almost yellow eyes, but his profile looked sketchy, so she deleted it.
Once she had showered, Ivy threw herself on her bed, posting on social media about her night. Maintaining an arts career met that she constantly had to be on top of her social media, putting herself out there and hoping that someone picked her up. It was exhausting, and she often felt like she was running a small country.
Once that was done, she opened her laptop and searched for casting calls looking for singers anywhere in the country. She wasn’t particularly tied to this city; it wasn’t like she had family or a boyfriend here.
When she was finally done for the night, she closed her laptop and put her phone on the bedside table, her eyes closing like iron gates. She had been out all day in casting calls, and wardrobe fittings for the other bookings she had.
Maybe tomorrow would be the day everything changed. Or maybe tomorrow would be the day that she finally lost it and decided to change careers.
The problem was that singing was in her blood. She didn’t know what else she could possibly do on this planet. She had been singing since she was eight years old, and she had never had a real job. She only knew how to be a singer; to be on stage and live in the moment, in the notes and the songs.
