Hope

Chapter 2

Qin's POV

After all the lords left I sat back in the chair and released a sigh. Shelton came in, looking as tired as I felt. Luckily he had Starbucks in his hands. He handed me one of the cups and I took a greedy chug from it. "So how was your meeting," I asked him. "A head ache," he said. "Since Drake, Pyrus, and Nathaniel aren't kings yet and their fathers are, they had to be there for the discussion. It was a fucking nightmare. You got lucky that you were able to get out of it." He gave me a playful glare while I chuckled. "But it's not like I enjoyed my meeting either," I told him.

He sighed, "The human officials are trying so adamantly to unify and put themselves at the top they refused to really hear what we had to say. They kept trying to show us all these laws and such that just wouldn't work." I winced, "Last thing we need are humans creating laws for species they don't know the first thing about." Shelton nodded in agreement, "Exactly. So another solution they thought of doing was cut the country in half horizontally right down the middle. They'll force their humans to move to the lower half while super natural will move to the upper half."

I shook my head, "That's not gonna work either." The political nightmare with territories is something I don't even want to think about. They would all have to start sharing and that's just asking for wars. Plus the humans themselves would rebel against that because they will be forced to leave their homes and jobs. I sighed, "Is there any kind of solution?" Shelton sighed, "I want us all to sit down and try and think about this." My mind went to Alice, "Is that really the best thing?"

He nodded, "It's a simple discussion and debate. She will be Queen so she needs to be included." I sighed, knowing he was right. "It's too late tonight though, it's something best suited for tomorrow after a good night's rest," Shelton suggested and I more than agreed. "So how did your meeting go," he asked me. "I'm surprised I don't have grey hair because of it," I told him, causing him to chuckle. "Many of the lords are worried about going into another war after the one that just passed. They feel it will just tear our kingdom apart and I do agree with them. We feel it would be best to move in a more covert direction and be discreet about it as we help our people heal from the war that just happened."

He nodded, "And how do you feel we could achieve that?" I sighed, "That will also be brought up when we talk to our mates." I took my hair out of its ponytail and ran my fingers through it, trying to help with my growing head ache. "There is just so much going on, and we ourselves haven't had the chance to catch our breath. We have had the rebels, the war, Aniavin, Alice's and the babies' health, and now the human government trying to choke us with their ideas. I'm honestly worried about what's gonna happen next."

"Something has to give soon, then we can have that break we desperately need," Shelton said as he took my hand and laced our fingers together. Cindy then poked her head in, "There you are. Am I interrupting something?" I shook my head, "We were just discussing how our meetings went." I rolled my chair back and she sat in my lap. "How was your day," I asked her. "It was amazing. Alice's appointment went well. They told her to take it easy, but they're confident which is a good sign. In a couple of weeks we will know the gender of the other five, besides our little succubus and I can start planning Alice's shower. I was thinking of doing something fun that I know Alice will enjoy doing. Like maybe filling black balloons up with colored paint or confetti and letting her throw knives to get the balloons to pop," Cindy told us. Many would probably pale at the idea of letting a pregnant woman near throwing knives, but Alice was special trained when it comes to weapons so we weren't worried in the slightest.

"We spent most of the day in the garden with the twins," She told us. "I got some really cute photos of the twins, Drake, and Alice in the flowers." She then showed us the photos. It was nice seeing something that made us smile. Pyrus and Nathaniel then came in. Pyrus held his suit jacket over his shoulder in one hand, his crown dangling from his fingers on the other. Nathaniel had his crown tucked under his arm and his tie was loosened. "How did it go," Shelton asked them as they sat down. "I never want to have to do this again," Pyrus said as Nathaniel nodded.

No body should have to go through this. And no family should be told their loved one died in the war. To make it easier on the families who had members that died on the rebel side, we thought it best to not make it public knowledge of who was a rebel. If it was made public the people may ridicule the families who had someone that was a rebel. Our people went through enough, we aren't wanting to make it even worse.

Cindy then showed Pyrus and Nathaniel the photos that she got today and it made them smile. Even in the darkest times, it was always good to find the light. "Where are they now," Nathaniel asked her. "They're giving the twins a bath," Cindy answered happily. "Alice is doing great by the way. Still needs to take it easy, but she is good." You could see some of the tension in their shoulders leave.

"Are any of you doing something tomorrow," I asked them. After saying they weren't Shelton and I filled them in on the meeting we all needed to have and what we were going to be talking about. "Oh fun," Pyrus said while slouching in his seat. Drake and Alice then came in with the twins. Nathaniel pulled Drake into his lap while Pyrus pulled Alice into his. "After the meeting, we should go on a date," Cindy declared and we all looked at her.

"What," she asked. "We have all been so busy after the war ended. The last time we all spent time together is when we watched movies the day the war ended. As long as we don't take all day to discuss our options then we will have plenty of time to get ready. I'm sure one of our parents will take the twins for the night and we can also enjoy a much needed night that isn't interrupted by a three am feeding."

Shelton smiled, "We must be loosing our game if our little genie is making date night plans." Her cheeks became pink and we all laughed. "I think that is a great idea," Nathaniel told her. Alice made a wince, "Can it be something laid back? I'm in need of new clothes and haven't had the chance to go shopping." "Even more of a reason to make sure our meeting doesn't take all day," Drake said and we all agreed.

"No, that's not what I meant," Alice tried but none of us listened. The reality is, we understand this meeting needs to happen, but these issues aren't going to be resolved any time soon so as long as we get a good starting point, then we can pick it up from where we left off.

We all began walking back to our room. Drake and Cindy discussed where we should go, while Pyrus teased Alice, and Nathaniel and Shelton talked as they carried the twins. I smiled softly as I took it all in. Nothing can get better than this.