Give Me Life✔️

Chapter XLVI | Epilogue

The cool breeze began to settle effectively silencing the forest. Speckles of light shined through the trees, creating a heavenly effect.

"Da-da!" Came a squeal from the playpen just feet from my canvas. Of course, she still wasn't saying "ma-ma".

I mirrored Rayna's breathtaking smile.

"Hi, pretty girl, how was your nap?" She began to garble nonsense while I nodded as if I understood.

I took a short break from painting to breastfeed my babygirl until her belly was full.

I burped her as we made our way into the castle and up to Valak's office. The whole way there I could feel Rayna squirming in knowing excitement, she knew exactly where we were going.

Not a second after I opened the office door Rayna was squealing again.

"Da-da!" Her two little bottom teeth met her top gums dramatically.

Valak sat back in his chair seemingly relaxed while a smirk played on his lips. His signature look.

"Your highnesses." He greeted with a chuckle. He patted his lap, and I made my way to him.

"My queen." His nose ran along the crook of my neck where his mark was imprinted. He placed a gentle kiss on it before allowing me to do the same to him.

"Good afternoon, my princess." He and Rayna naturally rubbed their noses together. It was a gesture they'd been doing since she was a newborn.

"Ah, and our prince." Valak palmed my belly gently.

I rolled my eyes, "We don't know that, yet."

"Baby, stop with that, we can both smell our male growing in your womb."

He was right, I had an overwhelming sense that it was a boy even though I wanted it to be a surprise.

"Did you finish your painting?"

I shook my head no while playing with Rayna's curls, "So your guards are stalking me now?"

"Not stalking, keeping a—"

"—cautious eye, yeah yeah." I bit lip to keep from bursting out laughing, he hates when I do that.

"You're lucky you're cute." He joked.

I stood from his lap so I could snoop around his office, I found so much of his old stuff interesting.

"Do we have to have such a big wedding?" I asked.

I glanced over my shoulder at the two beings I held so dear. Valak and I weren't exactly on the same page about our guest list.

"You do realize I'm two millennials old, I've accumulated literally thousands of acquaintances."

I ran my finger along the bookshelf and watched as it collected dust.

"Well I don't, I've never really wanted a wedding, let alone a big one."

"So you don't want a ceremony then?" Valak quirked a dark brow.

"What I'm saying is, you hate the phrase "I love you", yet you want to have a huge-ass wedding basically broadcasting that."

He scoffed irritably, "Its not the same thing at all. It's to show all that we're fully mated and that our bond cannot be undone."

"I get that, but why not do that around close relatives and friends. It can still be extravagant, but maybe just simplify it a bit."

His clenched jaw signaled to me that he wasn't too happy with my idea. The room would've been silent if Rayna wasn't banging on the desk.

I let out a defeated sigh, "You know what? It's fine, let's just do it how you had originally planned." I offered a smile to sell it.