Strange Bedfellows Ch. 05

"My thoughts exactly." He replied.

She gave a soft sigh, then turned to Lyra. "I might understand why you're so interested now."

"It'samazing, right!" The blonde beamed.

"A fair description." Kalus said, then slid himself out of Katia and flopped down on her other side to catch his breath.

"Please don't tell me you're tired." Lyra said to him.

He raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I'mstill not carrying your baby..." She grinned at him slyly. "...yet."

* * *

~~ Epilogue

Shara stood in the most regal way that she knew how to as the priest formally placed the crown of Timarou on her husband's head. He'd obviously been king regent for a couple of weeks now, but this was one ceremony that tradition virtually demanded. The great hall in Laerten's castle had been decorated more richly than she had ever seen it, though the finery wasn't ostentatious.

Her father and mother -- the former king and queen -- were standing up on the balcony and he looked both younger and happier than she had ever seen him. According to Kalus, the role of advisor suited him much more than being king and it showed. Her mother looked even happier than usual, no doubt owing to her husband's much-improved state of mind.

Standing next to them and looking like he wasn't sure how he'd gotten there was Lyra's father, Julian. He'd hired a trusted friend to watch the horses for a few days to come to the coronation. Shara and Lyra had also scouted around the area near the capital and found a piece of land that was only a short carriage ride from the castle so he could come more often. He'd jumped at the chance to be closer, but had insisted on paying for the land himself.

Shara herself was standing along the side of the room near the nobles as her husband was crowned, with Lyra right next to her. The ash blonde kept resting one of her hands over her womb and smiling widely. She basically hadn't stopped ever since she'd found out.

The ash blonde gave her a grin, glanced around to make sure no one was looking at them, made the subtlest of kissing motions, and then glanced towards the former princess's hips.

Shara blushed scarlet.

She couldn't believe what the ash blonde had done to her the previous night while Kalus had been away from them for the first time, nor how much she had enjoyed it.

In the center of the room, Kalus stood up with the crown on his head and addressed the room. "I give my most solemn vow to the people of Timarou and to Illuminar Himself that I will not take this responsibility lightly. I swear to you that I will do my utmost to be a good king until my son from Shara is ready to bear the crown."

There was a smattering of polite applause from the nobles and a much louder burst of applause from the group of ordinary citizens who had been chosen by lottery to be in the throne room for the coronation. Such a thing had never been done in Timarou's history, but Kyselius said that the common folk loved King Kalus all the more for it.

By contrast, the lords had a slightly different reaction after Kalus had thrown one of them in the dungeon for a night after he had refused a direct summons. That had achieved the goal of bringing them in line, since no king in Timarou's history had ever thrown a senior lord in the dungeon before, even if it was only for a night.

Kalus finished his short speech, which was very good. Then they filed out of the great hall and into the grand dining room. There was a short break before dinner and Shara used it to go find Titus, who had recently returned from his retrieval mission to Har'peton. She found him talking with Kyselius and General Ardroben.

"General Titus." She said as she came up to them.

"My queen." He said with a respectful head bow.

"How did the mission to recover the families go?" She asked. "I heard it went well, but not the specifics."

"All who wanted to come are safe and sound in Timarou." Titus replied. "Tyso set up a very loyal but semi-incompetent fool to rule while he was on the campaign, or we wouldn't have been so successful. A few of the wives chose to abandon their husbands, but most of the abandoned husbands seemed relieved rather than upset."

General Ardroben chuckled. "I can assure you, they are war heroes and will find many a fine lass from Timarou who would beg her father for his permission to marry one of them."

"It seems that Timarou does indeed have many a fine lass." Titus replied, then nodded respectfully at Shara.

"Thank you." She smiled and curtsied.

"Oh not you, I meant Queen Lyra." Titus joked, and everyone laughed.

"Perhaps we should ask Kyselius." Shara said, giving the herald a knowing look. "I hear he is dangerous to the heart of certain handmaiden of mine and might steal her away from me..."

Kyselius smiled, and it was a slightly self-satisfied one. "Elthia is a wonderful girl."

Shara nodded. "She's a hopeless romantic, but she is indeed wonderful and I know her father would agree to the match."

The smile on Kyselius's face indicated that he knew this as well. She had half a mind to ask him about it, but was interrupted by Lyra coming up.

"Come on, Mom says we're needed at the high table." The ash blonde said.

"Mom?" Titus asked.

Lyra's smile became ear-to-ear and her eyes a bit watery as she explained. "Queen Hylea said that since I'm married to her daughter's husband, we're practically family and she wouldn't mind if I called her that."

"Go, the queen is waiting." General Ardroben said with a wide smile.

They did, and the rest of the night was a bit of blur. They ate good food, had good conversations, and she was tired from dancing by the time the festivities wore down. She retired to bed with her husband and fellow wife, the latter insisting on doing her favorite form of 'dancing' before they snuggled up together in bed. Lyra was on his right side, Shara on his left, and the two women's arms ended up touching on his chest.

As Shara lay there drifting off to sleep, she thanked Illuminar for how incredible her life had turned out so far. She knew that the life of a king was fraught with peril, and that eventually Har'peton would want to renew the war -- they always did -- but life was good for now. She and Lyra were both carrying children and she couldn't wait to be a mother. She also couldn't wait to see what their husband would be like as a father and to meet the children.

With that wonderful thought on her mind, she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

The End...

...but only if you want it to be

Kalus, Shara, Lyra, and some of the children -- Shara's oldest in particular -- are also side-characters later on in my other story, "A Dragon's Tale." (I partially wrote this as backstory for ADT, which is my "main" story) ADT takes place 7-8 years after this one in the same world, so you'll get to see a glimpse of their lives if you're interested. I also promise that I won't spoil their happy ending; they will finish that story as happily as they did this one. (Perhaps more so.)

If you're interested in seeing our heroes again in "A Dragon's Tale", it'll be on my stories page. If not, then I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and take care. :)

Cheers,

Antiproton

P.S. Kalus is referred to as "Lord Kalus" instead of "King Kalus" in ADT for reasons that will be explained in ADT eventually. The difference is almost entirely in name only, which again will be explained in ADT eventually.

STORY TAGS (For the whole series): blonde, teen, virgin, medieval, romantic, spanking, princess, threesome, impregnation, breeding