A Rock and a Heart Place (gxg)

Epilogue

Five years later:

Medya made her way back up the stairwell towards the royal quarters with a beatific smile on her face. The meetings with the Kittani outreach effort were becoming harder to run as she got closer to her due date, but a little magic had helped. She spent much of the day, such as now while she headed upstairs, levitating her body about to relieve the pressure on her slender frame and swollen belly. One more month, and she would have her babies, and then she could recover from the stress that she'd been under.

Yes, babies.

As they discovered when Inez carried their first children, Kittani, like their cat ancestors, tend to have litters. Inez, as a human mother, lucked out with twins. They were beautiful little girls, with dark hair and Inez's blue eyes but Medya's grey fur, ears and tail. Both queens were with thrilled with them, and while there were growing pains, the three-year-old girls were becoming perfect princesses.

Medya was pretty sure she had three or four little kits in her belly, though she had no doubt that hers would be smaller than the twins. Or at least she hoped! She didn't know what damage human sized babies would do to her poor privates, but she knew they still had plenty of the healing potions if it got too bad. She just didn't want to think of that.

As she got close to the suites, she could hear the laughter of the girls in the common area, and when she glided through the doorway, she saw them slaying the great Inez beast with their pillows. They would be warriors, just like their queen mother.

"Did you win the battle my lovelies?" Medya asked her dear children.

"Yes, we did mum!" giggled Ida.

"She'll be better soon! She was the tickle monster!" agreed Nadia.

With a roar, the tickle monster revived itself, and pulled the little princesses into an embrace that had all involved screaming in laughter. Medya missed being able to join them, but she was pretty sure she'd pop in that pile of flailing limbs at this point.

"My queen, how was the meeting?" Inez asked once the girls were exhausted from laughter.

"It went well. I'm so happy that we've found a place for them here, and I think they're happier living here knowing they're safe, even if it is cooler than they're used to," Medya said with a smile.

The Dallinian cities of Haldi and Lalut had fallen less than a year after Tefra did. Once it was made clear how fragile the clan's hold was, Inez and Medya decided to send forces to both cities to free them of their oppressors. Neither city had joined Appalya once they had been freed, but both became independent allies just like Southington had. But the Kittani in both cities had flocked to Appalya, with only a few staying in Tefra, but many coming all the way to Glirion because they felt more secure with a fellow Kittani nearby on the throne.

But so many displaced ex-slaves needed training and help getting on their feet. Over a hundred had been in pleasure houses and were mentally and emotionally scarred from their ordeal, and many others had physical scars as Medya did. Being able to share their experiences, and seeing the scars that Medya had, let them all heal together. It wasn't a quick process, and she knew that some may never heal completely, but it was a much better life than they had before. Her outreach program had helped many become apprenticed in crafts, others became gardeners in the castle, and there were even three that joined the palace guards as archers. But all of them loved having her on the throne. She did her best to earn their trust, and the program was a step in the right direction.

Inez was the Queen that everyone knew she could be. Fair and just, and the kingdom was prospering under her rule. She'd even reached out to the Pirate Isles and was able to make a truce with them in exchange for open trade that would make life easier for everyone. The return to peace and happiness after Hudd's rule was a welcome change to all of the citizens who now enjoyed their lives freely with her on the throne.

The rest of the castle was doing well also. Noa and Katja had been married almost as long as Inez and Medya, they had a private ceremony only a month after the royal wedding. Once Inez had her twins, they gave the girls one of their potions, and soon Katja was pregnant with a little baby boy. They were thrilled to have had him. Now that they knew that Medya would have so many new babies, and they still had one more potion to spare, and they were planning to give it to Katja and Noa again, and they would hopefully have another little baby.

Nahmia and Liana had never married, though they remained happily together for several years before Nahmia finally passed the previous winter. Age finally caught up with her in the colder weather. Thankfully, Inez had finally persuaded her to take a potion too, and she lived long enough to see the little girl that Liana birthed. She was a beautiful little blond they called Aethyl, and Inez doted on the girl she called her niece. Liana had grieved long for her lover, as had Inez over losing her friend. Having the baby helped, though none of them would ever forget Nahmia. Inez had commissioned a local artist to create a statue of her and the original Aethyl for the flower gardens, and they would be remembered for the role they'd played in getting the kingdom back, and Inez free.

Joppa had not been heard from since his exile. Medya never told Inez that she had traced a sigil on the prince's chest with her sharpened nail before he left and told him that if he ever set foot in the country again, it would burn him to ash in an instant. She had lied, of course, she never had such magic. But he believed the little wizard, and never dared to try.

As for Inez and Medya, they truly were in love and never stopped reminding each other of that fact in words and deeds. Their children added to their happiness, and every winter they took trips up to the Great Hall up in the mountains with Katja and her family, bringing new family sized toboggans to take trips down the slopes and through the trees. They had moved into the master bedroom of the royal suite, while the twins would share another room until they were older. They knew they'd fill the entire suite with their children soon enough, and that was fine with them. In the meantime, they delighted in pleasuring each other every chance they could. Her pregnancy hormones had Medya wanting to have sex daily, and she used her spells to her advantage, using the levitation spell on one or the other to place them where their partner wanted them for maximum pleasure, while easing the strain on her swollen belly.

They had come a long way together, fought the odds and the false king, and now they could live their happily ever after as a family.