The Dragon Of Her Dreams: A Paranormal Love & Pregnancy Romance

by Lilly Pink

  “Only because I hate being photographed. I have the dumbest looking smile. People are going to think there is something wrong with me,” she groused.

  “You have a beautiful smile and your face is just as intelligent as the rest of you, never fear,” he said gently. “Besides, I do not care what other people think. I know you are wonderful.”

  “Flatterer.” There was no more time for teasing, because they stepped through the curtain on the back of the dais and into the brightness of the sunlit throne room. The hum of whispers quieted, thought there were still a few clicks of cameras in the background.

  “Good morning,” Kian said into the echoing silence. “I know everyone has been looking forward to this day, despite the fact that most of you see the children regularly. So, without further ado, allow the queen and I to present our first born children.” He held their daughter up so the she faced the crowd, and she blinked into the brightness, wrinkling her nose. “This is Princess Nasrin Angharad.”

  “And this,” Zoe said, lifting their squirmy and still bald son, “Is Prince Ziad Angharad. They are both healthy and growing.”

  People started to clap and cheer, and Kian and Zoe stepped down off the dais to walk with the children through the throne room. Neither of them were terribly worried about safety, especially with Sirius following after Zoe and glaring at strangers. Since the worlds had been reunited, they had received nothing but an outpouring of love from the other Kumari. Everyone felt hopeful, and excited about the possibilities to come. There would be bumps in the road ahead, undoubtedly, but everyone felt that things were finally as they should be.

  ***

  Zoe sighed with relief as she exited the gallery. Her first showing on a national level was exhilarating and exhausting, more so since she had to do it incognito. Well, she made herself. If it was known that the Queen of Kumarinatu was the featured artist, no doubt the place would be swarming with tourists, but she didn’t want to make her career that way.

  With any luck, they’d manage to get the Kumari to dissolve the monarchy all together in the next century or two, and she’d prefer to make her name on her own. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking to see if Kian had texted her. It had taken twenty years to get the man to even touch a computer, but now he was just as fluent in technology as any of the children. He loved being able to locate any piece of knowledge he wanted with a thorough internet search.

  Of course, paying attention to her phone, she nearly ran into the chest of a rather tall man on the sidewalk. “Why hello there, beautiful lady, fancy meeting you…”

  “Mama!” cried their youngest son, Baqi, an active and sturdy seven-year-old. Zoe bent to give him a hug. “Daddy and I went to get ice cream, and did you know that you can have cookies AND candy in your ice cream, and it only count as one dessert?”

  “Oh, really?” she said, looking up at Kian with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve never heard that rule before. I think Daddy made it up.”

  “I most certainly did not,” he retorted, wrapping an arm around her waist so they could continue down the street. “It is a well-known fact that ice cream only counts as one dessert no matter how many different varieties of topping it contains. However, one must beware the lure of too many toppings, or else suffer the disgusting consequences.”

  “Well, that last part is true,” Zoe agreed. “Daddy knows from experience.” However wary Kian had been of many facets of the modern world, his discovery of ice cream had completely reformed his opinion. She had never seen anyone with such a sweet tooth, and though she kept forgetting to ask him if he used magic to stay thin, she was sure it must be the case.

  Even after fifty years, he had barely changed from the man she had fallen in love with, though he might have a few more laugh lines around his eyes. But she had hardly aged either. It had taken the other humans a bit longer to catch up, but Ameretat predicated that by the end of the century, they would all be as long-lived as the Kumari. It was lucky they’d already found another planet to live on. Combining magic and technology had been a huge boon for space travel.

  For the time being, however, the Royal Family of Kumarinatu was obliged to remain there. Things had changed, a city had sprung up around Darisum Eunir, and slowly, the citizens had left to make new homes out in the world. Ameretat had her own office downtown, and that was where the family was headed. Nasrin was apprenticing under their old friend for her last year of Healer training, but that wasn’t why they were headed there today.

  “Everything looks good. Strong heartbeat, growth is on track. A boy, I think, though it’s a bit early to tell,” Ameretat was saying an hour later. “You guys really are trying to rebuild the Kumari by yourselves,” she teased.

  “Tell her to stop being so attractive,” Kian replied with a shrug and an unashamed grin. “Surely five in fifty years is not an unreasonable number of children.”

  “If we keep it up at this rate, we’ll run out of bedrooms in the palace by your thousandth birthday,” Zoe said with a chuckle. “This one might be the last for a while. I was just starting to get used to not having to change diapers.”

  Kian sighed. “It is true. But they are so precious when they are small. Once they start going off on their own, I find I miss them. And now we only have Baqi at home.”

  They met Baqi and Nasrin in the waiting room. “So?” their daughter inquired, hands on her hips.

  “Everything is fine,” Kian said, ruffling his daughter’s hair. She scowled at him, and he ignored her offended expression. “You’ll have a new sibling by next May.”

  “Ameretat guesses a boy,” Zoe added, waving goodbye to their oldest friend as they left the office.

  “How would you like to have a little brother?” Kian asked Baqi as he carried his son down the street.

  “I don’t know. Ziad is no fun anymore, all he does is study. I like cousins better. Zubi plays with me.” As Zoe had hoped, Lauren and Shahin had ended up together, the first mated pair after the reunion of the worlds. They had named their first son Zhubin. Shahin had thrown himself into the modern world headfirst, and now worked as a wildlife biologist, monitoring the native fauna of Kumarinatu.

  And Lauren, finally free from the constraints of life with her abusive ex-husband, had gone back to school and become a veterinarian. It had been her dream as a little girl, but Zoe had thought she had forgotten about it. Despite the difficult transition, everyone in Zoe’s life had enjoyed nothing but benefits from the rebirth of magic.

  Even her parents, and that wasn’t a given. The older generations had found all the changes difficult, suddenly finding themselves with a thousand years left to live, wielding magical powers, able to transform into dragons.

  Zoe’s mother and father however, had weathered the storm, even remaining married, one of the lucky couples to have found their ideal mate without magical assistance. They lived on Kumarinatu as well, where they ran a bookstore, Kian’s other favorite thing about the modern world.

  The four of them strolled down the street at an easy pace. The sun was setting, but the capital was a safe place, even at night. Nasrin, of course, was on her phone. “Who are you texting now?” Kian asked, poking her shoulder. “I hope it is not your brother’s roommate again. That boy was a spoiled, foul-mouthed…” Zoe slapped his shoulder and he relented.

  Nasrin rolled her eyes. “I’m texting Isra and Ziad, reminding them about dinner on Sunday. Izzy says she’s flying in Friday night. Z is moaning about finals, but he’ll be there if I have to drag him from the academy by his ear. I don’t know what his problem is, I think he would marry his books if he could.”

  Zoe coughed to stifle a laugh, giving Kian a sidelong glance.

  “I can assure you that I never intended to marry a book, and neither will he. I always knew who I was going to marry,” he said in mock offense.

  “Oh yeah, Dad? You were born with mom’s name on your lips?” Nasrin teased. “Even I know that’s not true.”

  “No,” he admitted with a smil
e. “That would have been impressive. But when I first saw her, I was barely old enough to look a woman in the eye, and I still knew I would marry her, even if it did take me a rather long while to ask.”

  Zoe laughed and leaned in for a kiss while Nasrin rolled her eyes and walked ahead of them, still texting away. “So, want to take bets on who finds their mate first?” she whispered to Kian when she was out of earshot. “I’m picking Ziad, for irony.”

  Kian frowned. “I do not… Fine. Isra. She has the most exposure to different people.” They made faces at each other over Baqi’s shoulder, he had fallen asleep a few minutes ago and was now drooling all over his father’s coat.

  When they looked up, it was just in time to see Nasrin collide with a young man about her age. He had also been looking down at his phone, and, true to form, Zoe could see Nasrin gearing herself up for an epic lecture. The boy looked up at her, possibly to apologize, and when their eyes locked, you could almost feel the universe take a breath. Nasrin took a step back in surprise, and then she started to make her own apology.

  Kian smiled. “I guess we were both wrong. Interesting, you would think she had met every young man in the capital by now.”

  “Maybe he came here to study,” Zoe replied thoughtfully. “Is that how it was, for us? I never did remember our first meeting.”

  “Yes. Well, it was for me, although I only saw you from a distance at first. I sent Nahuel to look for you, remember, and I first saw you through his eyes.” He sighed wistfully, remembering with a smile on his face. “I well remember the first time I actually dared to approach you in the Dreaming. We should go see Darya about recovering it. I always meant to show you that one, at least. It is a good memory, if equally awkward as that,” he said, indicating their daughter and her new acquaintance.

  “I’ll just text her the name of the restaurant,” Zoe said with a fond smile. “We’ll go around.” She was glad to see Nasrin going her own way. The Kumari at least had the comfort of knowing that their children would have a partner that suited them, eventually, and though Nasrin had found her mate young, which had problems of its own, at least she wouldn’t suffer through a bunch of bad relationships the way her aunt Lauren, and Zoe herself had. Everything had turned out for the best. It took the phrase “follow your dreams” to a whole new level.

  THE END

  Message To YOU From Lilly Pink:

  Thanks so much for reading all the way to the end, I really hope you enjoyed it. If you want you can check out all my LION shifter books by going to my Amazon page here.

  Lilly x

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