Return of the Warrior (24 page)

The last two months had moved far too swiftly for Christian’s tastes. Everything about his life had completely changed. With Adara’s help, they had merged their two kingdoms into a force to be reckoned with.

After a few minor skirmishes with rebel lords who weren’t ready to give up the power Selwyn had allowed them to wield, Ioan and Corryn and their army had bade them adieu to return to Europe. To Christian’s shock, Phantom had stayed even though every day he asked Christian why he was still there.

Christian had no answer, but he was eternally grateful for his cousin’s ill-bred humor.

With every day that passed, Christian settled more into his role as king. If not for Adara, it would be unbearable to him. He still hated the feeling of stone walls around him, but there in the
shelter of her arms, he could somehow forget about them.

Now he was in the throne room with Phantom. True to his word, it was completely redecorated. There were no remnants of Selwyn and it was a perfect blue to please Adara. He again wore his mother’s emblem, which had been found in Selwyn’s room.

The doors to the throne room opened to admit Adara’s cousin Thera, who had done well on the Taagarian throne during Adara’s absence. As always, she looked to Phantom and blushed, then bowed low before Christian. “Your queen bade me to tell you that she is in labor, Majesty.”

Christian’s heart stopped at the words he’d been waiting for these months past with an equal share of dread and excitement. He couldn’t seem to do anything more than stare at the woman who bore a striking resemblance to his wife.

Phantom snapped his fingers before his face. “Baby, Abbot. Your child?”

Christian bolted from his throne. With no thought of how it looked for the king to be running as if the devil himself were in pursuit, he raced down the hallways until he reached their bedchambers.

He threw open the doors to see his wife lying in their bed with a circle of women around her. There was one surgeon waiting off to the side while the women offered comfort and advice to Adara.

The surgeon came forward as soon as he saw
Christian. “ ’Tis unseemly for you to be here, Majesty,” the man said. “I will present the baby to you when he is born.”

“Nay,” Christian growled as he pushed past him. “I was there when my child was conceived, and by God, I shall be here when he or she is born.” He went to Adara’s side. Her beautiful face was strained, her eyes filled with pain.

Even so, she managed a smile for him, then she cursed him as she screamed out in obvious agony. Honestly, he hadn’t known his queen knew such an insult existed.

“Methinks we traveled far too long with Ioan’s men,” he said as he took the cloth from her maid’s hand and wiped her brow.

She glared at him as she panted. “I choose that you have this child.” She cried out again.

Christian kissed her brow as guilt consumed him. “I wish that I could, Adara.”

But she didn’t hear him as more pain shook her slight frame. Christian wasn’t sure what to do, so there he remained by her side as she struggled for hours.

It was just before dark when their son finally joined them. Adara fell back in relief while the surgeon examined the baby.

Christian felt the tears stinging his eyes as he looked back and forth between his wife and his son.

His son.

It hadn’t seemed truly real until this moment. He was a father and he owed it all to the exhausted
woman lying in his bed. He kissed her gently and wiped at her own tears of joy.

“He’s beautiful, my lady,” he whispered to her.

The surgeon brought the baby to them and placed him in Adara’s arms. Christian stared in awe at the tiny infant who squalled angrily at them. He ran his finger down the side of the red, soft skin.

“What shall we call him?”

She looked thoughtful. “Lutian.”

Christian choked on the name. “Pardon?”

Her dark eyes teased him. “’Twould only be fair, given your treatment of him when he volunteered to donate himself for my cause.”

He growled at her.

“Then let us call him Josyn.”

“Josyn?”

“It means ‘Son of the Valiant’ in Taagarian. I can think of no better name for your child.”

He leaned down and nuzzled his face against hers so that he could inhale her sweet skin. “Then Josyn it shall be, but not for me. Rather he be named for his fearless mother, who crossed the known world to find a lost soul and bring him home again. Thank you, Adara, for everything you have brought me.”

Adara’s eyes teared up again at her husband’s words. She knew how hard it was for Christian to say such tender things and she savored every syllable.

“You were more than worth the journey, Christian. I would traverse hell itself for you.”

His gaze was tender and adoring. “I love you, Adara.”

A single tear fell as she finally heard those longed-for words. Not that she had really doubted his love. But it was nice to hear the words from his lips.

“I love you, too.”

Christian kissed her, then moved back so that she could feed their son.

Her maids congratulated her one by one, then left. The surgeon looked over the baby one last time before he, too, left them alone.

It was so intimate to be with her family. The three of them. She watched her husband closely while he said nothing. He merely sat on the bed, watching his son suckle her.

Adara finished feeding Josyn.

Christian reached for the baby. “I’ll take him so that you can rest.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “What do you know of babies?”

“Truly nothing more than how to create them. But I should say that is only slightly less than you yourself know.”

He had a point with that. Laughing at him, she released her son to his father and watched as Christian’s large hands all but swallowed up the size of the baby. Christian snuggled the baby close to his chest and went to sit near the window.

The corners of her mouth twitched up as she lis
tened to him telling his son all about the future Christian had planned for him.

Closing her eyes, she had just settled back when a knock sounded on her door. Adara wasn’t paying much attention as she heard Lutian come in to see the baby.

At least not until the word “Brotherhood” was spoken.

“What was that?” she asked, immediately sitting up.

Lutian looked at her sheepishly. “There is a call for their members.”

Adara’s chest tightened as tears gathered in her eyes. But she refused to let them fall. She had known this day would come. She’d only hoped it wouldn’t come so soon.

Christian looked away from her, his brow creased by indecision.

“You must go to them, husband,” she said quietly, even though her heart was breaking. She had seen the men’s love and devotion to each other firsthand. “I told you that I would never interfere with your vows.”

He came forward and placed Josyn beside her. “And I vowed to stand by your side as king and husband for the rest of my life.” He looked over his shoulder to Lutian. “Have Phantom take as many men as he needs and lead them. He will see to it that my honor is held.”

Her tears fell silently. “Are you certain? I don’t
ever want you to think that I have interfered with your choices.”

He scoffed at that. “You are my life. My heart. My soul. I cannot survive without any of those. Besides, every time I have ever left you alone, you have found trouble of epic proportions.”

She gaped at his teasing words, which sparked her ire. “Me? You were the one who—”

He broke her words off with a kiss. “Aye, Adara, I am the one who loves you and who will never leave you.”

Her outrage fled before the wealth of love she felt for this man. For there was one thing she knew in this life that was true…Christian was, and would always be, a man of his word.

And nothing born of this world would ever take him away from her.