I learned something important that morning.
Seven women waking up simultaneously was not a quiet event.
It started with Albedo. She rose first as her silver hair cascading down her back, scales catching the morning light along her collarbone. She looked at me the way a queen looks at the only thing in the world worth looking at, leaned in, and pressed a light kiss to my cheek like it was the most natural thing in existence.
Then she stepped back and the next one was already moving.
Sylvara, calm as still water, brushed her white hair over one shoulder and kissed the other cheek. Those violet eyes held mine for just a moment longer than necessary before she pulled away smiling.
Seraphel dramatically pressed the back of her hand to her chest first, as if steeling herself for something monumental, then kissed my cheek with the gravity of someone signing a peace treaty.
Fenra didn't bother with ceremony. She grabbed my face with both hands, kissed my cheek hard enough that I felt it, then let go and stretched like nothing happened.
Elyra was warm and unhurried about it, cupping my face gently, kissing my cheek softly, then patting it twice after like she was checking on a plant she'd been nurturing.
Lileth grinned the entire approach, kissed my cheek, then whispered "good morning, my king" directly into my ear before pulling back looking very pleased with herself.
Morwynn was last. She said nothing. She simply looked at me with dark calm eyes, pressed her lips to my cheek barely above a whisper of contact, and stepped back into stillness like she hadn't moved at all.
Apparently this was just how they would greet him every morning.
"We'll draw the bath," Albedo announced to the room.
"I'm good," I said.
Six pairs of eyes turned to me. Albedo tilted her head precisely one degree.
"You don't wish to join us?"
"I'm fine. I'll sort myself out."
They paused for a second like it was weird. Then Albedo nodded once, the others accepting this without further comment, and they filed out toward the adjoining chamber in a procession that somehow felt both domestic and vaguely ceremonial.
Lileth glanced back at me on her way out with a grin. I looked at the ceiling.
I sat on the edge of the bed in the quiet and exhaled slowly.
Right. Okay. This was my life now.
---
Albedo stood at the head of the long table in what I had mentally started calling the war room with her hands clasped behind her back, and delivered the situation like it was something she did everyday.
"Three human border settlements have been encroaching on the eastern territories," she said. "They've been extracting timber and ore from land that falls within Vaelmora's boundaries. It has been ongoing for approximately two weeks."
I was eating while she spoke, trying to understand what was going on.
"The border garrison has logged seventeen separate incidents," she continued. "Our forces have held back pending your directive."
I finished chewing and gazed at the others who were arranged around the table.
Sylvara was reading something, Fenra had her boots up on the table, Seraphel looking personally offended by the entire situation, Elyra quietly tending to a small plant she had apparently brought to breakfast, Lileth spinning a coin across her knuckles, Morwynn simply sitting with her hands folded.
"What do they want," I said.
"Resources. The eastern forest has high-grade ironwood. The ore veins near the Kelvrath ridge produce a grade of stonite the human kingdoms can't source elsewhere."
"And they figured stealing was easier than asking."
"It appears so."
I leaned back in my chair and looked at the ceiling briefly. Then back at Albedo.
"Send them a message. They have three days to return what they've taken and pull back. After that we'll have a different conversation."
Albedo held my gaze for a moment. Then she inclined her head.
"Understood."
Seraphel pressed a hand to her chest. "If they refuse, I volunteer to personally—"
"They won't refuse," I said.
She looked at me.
"They won't," I said again, and went back to eating.
Nobody argued with that.
Lileth was grinning again. Sylvara had looked up from her reading. Even Morwynn had tilted her head a fraction.
I didn't think much of it. It was the obvious choice to make.
Nobody stole from a Dragon King twice.