After Happily Ever After

First Generation

"You know you missed me," Thorne smirked, annoyingly and continuously poking Cinder on the arm. "One does not simply live a month without seeing the Captain without missing him." Cinder didn't do anything, just stood still and looked ahead of her with Nova in her arms. "Cinder," Thorne whined.

Cinder sighed, giving in. "Fine, Thorne. I missed you." And with that, he gave her a bone crushing hug from the side, careful not to crush the child in her arms, lifting her an inch off the ground. He set her down and Cinder smiled, turning to Cress and Lilliana as Thorne took Nova out of her arms, mumbling things to her like 'uncle Thorne is the best, just letting you know so you accept this early on in life'.

"Happy early birthday," Cinder said to the young girl. She smiled, thanked her, and hugged Cinder. Then, quietly so nobody else would hear, said, "Look at your dad's feet. He has on two different shoes." Lilliana laughed and ran off with the rest of the kids.

Thorne glanced at her suspiciously. "Were you talking about me? You were, weren't you, Your Majesty? You gossiper. Of course you were talking about me, I mean, who wouldn't? Probably talking about my beautiful eyes." He fluttered his eyes for effect at Cress so she would agree with him. She laughed, looking down and tucking a strand of hair away.

A hand fell on Cinder's shoulder, making her jump. She turned to see an apologetic set of copper-brown eyes. "Sorry," he whispered, then turned to Cress and Thorne. He stretched out his hand to shake hands with Thorne and Cress, but Thorne simply pulled him in for an overdramatic hug. Cinder laughed.

"Oh, Thorne, you're making Cress jealous. Watch out, Cinder, he's stealing Kai for himself," Scarlet teased, walking up with Wolf. Thorne went in for a hug, and she put her hand up. "Don't even think about it, Carswell." Wolf shook hands with each of them, still as quiet as he had been all along. Except now his eyes looked filled with happiness. Scarlet looked around. "Where are Their Lunar Highnesses?"

Cinder bit the inside of her cheek and looked around. "They, umm, went out on a walk a few minutes before the ball. They should becoming in any minute now..." She trailed off and waved at them as she spotted them entering.

The Clay family walked up, with the exception of Walter who had probably already reunited with the children. Winter walked happily ahead of Jacin, rushing to get to the new princess. She reached them, quickly hugging them all, and then took Nova out of Thorne's hands. She smiled down at the child, silently whispering to herself why anyone had ever trusted Thorne with a newborn.

The group stood at the side of the ballroom, catching up, and then the music began and Jacin and Winter excused themselves, followed by Scarlet and Wolf. Thorne smirked and whispered something to Cress. She hesitated, but eventually they left to the middle of the room too, Thorne handing Nova back to Kai.

Kai called a woman from the palace staff over and she took Nova away, leaving him and Cinder alone. Konn Torin walked up, asking them why they were only standing. Kai shrugged and turned to Cinder, his eyes asking her to dance. She smiled and followed after him, her hand in his.

She, surprisingly, did not trip on the long dress. She also, surprisingly, on another note, had gotten used to having to wear a dress. Kai's hands went to her waist, her's to his shoulders. "You look beautiful, Your Majesty," Kai murmured. Then, dropping his voice, added, "Even if you are wearing your work shoes under the dress."

Cinder's eyes widened. She swallowed and tucked a strand of hair behind an ear. "I-- I didn't think you'd notice," she stuttered. Kai chuckled and dropped the subject.

From a few feet away, Cinder saw as Torrin's eyes widened. Iko had entered the room. Either he had heard Cinder and Kai, and he was scolding her in his mind, thinking how 'queens were not supposed to wear boots', or he was just not ready to face Iko yet.