The Alpha Kings And Their Stripper Mate

Chapter 290: Chapter 290: Welcome to being Queen

Eve held his gaze.

"That’s it?" she said.

"That’s everything," he said.

She looked back out the window.

She understood that. She understood it completely. She had spent so long moving from one crisis to the next that she had almost forgotten what the thing she was fighting for actually looked like. What it felt like to just have it. Quietly. Without anyone trying to take it away.

"Silas," she said.

"Yes," he said.

"I think I’m happy," she said. "I’m not sure I’ve said that out loud before. About my life." She paused. "I think this is what that is."

He looked at her.

His expression was quiet and warm and entirely genuine. No performance in it. Just Silas, feeling something and letting her see it.

"Good," he said.

Just that one word.

But the way he said it, like her happiness was something he had been quietly working toward for a very long time and was glad to see arrive, made it land heavier than a paragraph ever could.

***

She found Damian in his study at noon.

He was at the desk going through correspondence and he looked up when she appeared in the doorway with the expression he used when he was trying to decide whether to keep working or stop.

"You’re supposed to be resting," he said.

"I’ve been resting all morning," she said. "I’m not tired anymore. I’m restless."

"Restless is different from ready to work," he said.

"I’m not here to work," she said. "I just want to sit with you."

He looked at her for a moment. Then he pushed his chair back slightly and held out his hand.

She crossed the room and took it and he pulled her down onto his lap. She settled against him with her back against his chest and her legs over the armrest and he put his arm around her and picked up his letter with his other hand.

"You’re going to keep working," she said.

"I’m going to keep working," he said. "But you can stay."

She looked around the study. At the books and the desk and the window with the grounds outside. At the false panel in the drawer that was closed now but no longer had anything to hide.

"Damian," she said.

"Hm."

"Are you happy?" she said.

He set the letter down.

She felt him breathe in slowly and then out again.

"I’ve been responsible for things since I was nineteen years old," he said. "The pack. The estate. My brothers. Every decision that needed making. I’ve never...." He stopped. "I’ve never had someone who made me feel like the weight was shared. Like I didn’t have to carry it alone." He paused. "Until you."

She turned her head to look at him.

He looked back at her steadily.

"Yes," he said. "I’m happy."

She turned back and leaned her head against his shoulder.

He picked up his letter again.

They stayed like that for a long time, Damian working and Eve not doing anything in particular. just resting on his chest and watching him work.

It was the most peaceful thing she had felt in as long as she could remember. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

That evening all four of them ended up in the sitting room without planning it.

Eve on the sofa. Damon beside her with his legs stretched out taking up more than his share of the space. Silas in the chair by the fire. Damian at the other end of the sofa with a book he was reading.

Maya had gone to bed early. She had announced at dinner that she was exhausted and was sleeping for twelve hours and nobody was to knock on her door before ten in the morning.

Nobody had argued.

The fire was going. The estate was quiet outside. The dogs had come in from the grounds and one of Brynn’s smaller ones had somehow gotten into the sitting room and was asleep on Damon’s feet and nobody had the heart to move it.

Damon was scrolling through his phone.

"Seraphine’s announcement has been picked up by every supernatural news channel," he said. "Apparently the Merchant faction has already issued a statement of support."

"What does the Military faction say," Damian said without looking up from his book.

"Nothing yet," Damon said. "Which is either good or bad."

"It’s neutral," Silas said. "Which is better than hostile."

Damon scrolled some more. "Someone on the supernatural forum has already started a thread about what Eve’s ascension means for the future of Conclave reform." He looked up. "You have opinions apparently."

"I haven’t said anything publicly yet," Eve said.

"Doesn’t matter," Damon said. "They’ve assigned you opinions based on your parents’ reform platform." He paused. "The thread is three hundred replies long."

"It’s been twelve hours," Eve said.

"Welcome to being Queen," he said.

She looked at him.

He looked back at her with the completely straight face he used when he was being funny and refusing to acknowledge it.

She shook her head.

"The faction meetings start next week," Damian said. "We can deal with it then."

"Next week," Damon said. "Right. We have two days first."

"Two days," Eve said.

"What are we doing with them," Damon said. "Specifically. Because I have suggestions."

"You always have suggestions," Silas said.

"Good ones," Damon said. "Usually."

"Name one," Damian said.

Damon thought about it. "We could go to that village two hours north. The one with the good food. Just the four of us. No pack business. No correspondence. Just a day where we’re four people having lunch somewhere nobody knows who we are."

Damian looked up from his book.

Looked at Damon.

Then at Eve.

"That’s actually a good suggestion," he said.

Damon pointed at him. "See."

Eve looked at the fire.

At the dog asleep on Damon’s feet.

At her mates around her in the warm sitting room on a quiet Tuesday evening.

"Tomorrow," she said. "We go tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Damon said.

He went back to his phone.

Silas looked at the fire.

Damian looked at his book.

Eve leaned her head back against the sofa cushions and closed her eyes and listened to the fire and the quiet and the small sounds of the people she loved existing in the same room as her. freёweɓnovel.com

Two days.

Just this.

She was going to make the most of every minute.