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“You’ll not say a word about the extra dessert, right?” Kieren said a gentle firmness that he’d come to master over the years.
Cora, whose face was now smeared with chocolate pudding, looked up at him and nodded.
Kieren snorted. “The evidence is all over your face.” He extended his hand to the Princess and her tiny fingers grasped his. Tiny, very sticky fingers. Kieren grinned. “Alright, let’s visit the stream and clean all of this off.”
Her small steps slowed the journey through the grove of trees that led to the stream on the outskirts of Atlantia.
Kieren was proud of the part he played in the rebuilding of this city. He was proud of his unwavering loyalty to his King and Queen. But he was perhaps, most proud, of the honor Poppy and Casteel had bestowed to him of godfather. Godfather and “Uncle Kieren.”
He remembered when Coralena had been born. When he’d held her and found himself teary-eyed suddenly. Cas had laughed to which Kieren snidely responded, voice thick with emotion: “as though you weren’t a weeping mess just moments ago…”
In the blink of an eye, Coralena was crawling, then babbling, then toddling, then talking, and now she took little steps. Steady and small, but she was no longer trotting on wobbly legs. She was walking. She was speaking in sentences.
Poppy had remarked that had the child been mortal this is how she would look at age five or six. Unruly black hair (no doubt from Cas), big, green doe eyes too large for her face (certainly from Poppy), and knobby knees.
When they arrived at the stream Cora let go of Kieren’s hand and ran forward.
“Careful,” Kieren said in that same tone of voice.
Cora picked up a smooth rock and hurled it into the stream. It splashed loudly and she faced him with a wide smile that Kieren couldn’t help but return.
“You’re getting strong.”
“As strong as Momma?”
Kieren smirked and knelt beside her at the bank of the stream. “Nearly. Give me your hands.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re sticky.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re covered in chocolate.”
“Why?”
He cupped some of the cool stream water in his hand. “Because apparently, you don’t know how to use a spoon.”
“Why?”
He arched a brow, taking her fingers and beginning to rinse off the sticky remnants of her extra dessert. “You get this from Poppy.”
“What?”
“An endless bounty of questions for me.” When he glanced at her face she was beaming. “And I think you enjoy pestering me with them.”
“What’s pes… pest… pestering?” she asked, a giggle in her voice.
Kieren chuckled, setting to work on her second hand. “Being a pest, Princess.”
“What’s a pest?”
He wet his hand and began lightly wiping the pudding from her mouth and cheeks. “It’s a princess who enjoys asking their uncle so many questions he may have to get some payback…”
“What’s payback?”
The corner of Kieren’s lip twitched up higher as he removed the last smudge of chocolate with his thumb. “This.” Kieren splashed her knees with the cold water causing her to jump back, squealing.
Princess Coralena Da’Neer stared at her uncle, mouth hanging open, and eyes narrowed in a way that made her look every bit her mother. Still kneeling in the bank, he snickered, raising his brows at her in a challenge.
And just as quickly as she had become Queen Penellaphe she was every bit King Casteel. A wicked smile that made two dimples pop in her chubby cheeks, eyes dancing with tenacity. She grabbed a large rock with two hands and hefted it at the water beside Kieren causing a modest splash that saturated his trousers.
She squealed in delight again and set into a frenzy of splashing Kieren with water. With ever-enduring resolve he’d always possessed, the wolven allowed the left half of his body to become nearly drenched before he splashed her again. She kicked at the water sending another splash his way and soaking her shoe.
“Let me get those shoes off,” he said, raising a hand in surrender.
“Why?” she shouted, still smiling.
Kieren rolled his eyes. “Because your parents will be cross with me if you dirty your shoes.”
“Why?”
Kieren grabbed her wrist and tugged her to him carefully. She screamed in gleeful protest as he seated her on his knee and yanked off each of her shoes.
“There. Now you can get as wet as you please.” She attempted to slide off his leg but he held fast. “Or perhaps as I please…”
The princess gasped, eyes as wide as saucers.
Kieren easily hoisted her into the air and walked into the stream, dangling her closer and closer to the water. She kicked, wheezing with laughter.
“Any last words before you plunge into the treacherous ravine, Princess Cora?” Kieren asked, blandly.
“You’re a pest!”
Kieren nearly dropped her in surprise. She was too clever for her own good, this one.
Instead, he said: “Noted,” then placed her in the shallows, water streaming to her ankles.
He stepped back letting her enjoy the cool water in a fit of laughter and shrieking. She looked to him with cheerful outrage, then her gaze shifted behind him.
Before he could turn to see what she was looking at, he was tumbling forward, shoulder first into the middle of the stream. The water splashed Cora but she quickly fled from the water.
Kieren hoisted himself up on his elbow and ran a hand over his eyes, wiping away the water. Looking up he saw Cora throwing her arms around her father’s neck. He scooped her up in his arms, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Kieren released a disgruntled noise as he clambered to his feet and trudged out of the stream. Cas’s honey-hued eyes raked over the godfather as he chuckled to himself. “You’re out of practice.”
“Yes, well, I hardly expected to be attacked on nursemaid duty.” Kieren wrung the water from his tunic, crossing to stand before Casteel, Cora now hiked up on his hip and playing with strands of his hair. “Supper time already?”
“Treasury meeting ended early.” He turned his head to look at Cora and Kieren saw the warmth only his wife and daughter could bring out light in his friend’s eyes. “Missed this one too much so I thought I’d relieve you early.”
“It’s not a relief,” Kieren shrugged. “But I expect to be invited wherever you’re going since you’re cutting my time with the Princess of Atlantia so short. As Head of Royal Security, I must be briefed on any and all changes to your itinerary.”
Casteel leaned in, lips curling in a conspiratorial smile. “We’ll be heading to the kitchens for some more pudding before dinner.”
Kieren clenched his jaw, gaze shifting to Cora with a warning to-
“Uncle Kieren already gave me more pudding.”
Kieren closed his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose. “Traitor.”
“Kieren,” Casteel said, drawing the man’s attention to him. His brows were drawn together. “How am I supposed to be the fun parent if you take all the opportunities.”
“Blame your limited opportunities on Poppy. She’s the one who sneaks Cora into the palace hedge maze for midnight games of hide and seek.”
“Why am I the last person to know about this?”
“Because I am Head of Royal Security,” Kieren said nonchalantly. “And the reigning champion of midnight hide and seek.”
The three started back for the palace to have yet another helping of dessert. Entering the kitchens they found Poppy accepting a silver platter from a cook that held two dishes of pudding. She faced them and froze.
Kieren and Casteel stared back at her flatly.
Poppy’s eyes widened at her daughter with silent pleading.
“Momma! It’s time for our secret pudding?”
The Queen sighed and turned her attention back to Kieren and Casteel. “So this isn’t what it looks like.”