“Two spirit mates,” Zarian whispered for the hundredth time since we had left the castle, sitting on the cliffs overlooking the sea. Morgan had agreed to watch over the girls and put them to bed as we had been unsure when we would return, wanting to have a talk about Alaric.

“Yes,” I nodded, picking at the lavender-colored grass that surrounded me.

“Alright,” Zarian sighed and laid his head on my thigh, Antoni sitting between my legs as Alaric pressed his back to mine, the stars shining above us as the moon bathed us in gentle light, the sky clear, “I can accept it.”

“Accept what?”

“Alaric. He's cute. Easily excited which is nice because I'm a downer and Antoni is always tired. You're very quiet. It's the final piece we were missing. But it can't just be us three and then you and Alaric. That's not how this works. It's a closed quad. If Alaric accepts, we will properly court him as well. It gives us time to get to know him better. Antoni was already meant to marry him after all and it seems as though they care for each other even after so long apart.”

“Mhm. We do,” Antoni nodded, his yellow braid glowing in the light and I softly played with it, always enjoying the way his hair felt under my hand, “I think.”

“Oh yes. Absolutely,” Alaric called from behind me and I reached back to hold his hand.

“Alaric. How did you get to Nouvelle?” Zarian sat up slowly, looking over my shoulder.

“Teleport. I thought of Antoni. Well, I thought of how badly I wanted to be with my princess and it brought me to Wickersham Forest. I started spying and listening to the people who live there as well as citizens in Serce to learn about this place. I've seen all of you after all. I used to watch Ezra and Zarian running through the forests together. You were both so cute. It was hard to stay away. But I didn't know how to approach you. I wasn't a prince in Appanolia. Technically, I'm the lowest of all of us. My mother was a duchess. I never knew my father. I was meant to lead our home. I technically do have a surname. But it was hers, not mine. As a half-fae, I didn't need it. I suppose if I had stayed in Appanolia, if things hadn't fallen apart, I'd be Duke Alaric Malrino. But that life wasn't for me. This is what I love,” Silver-petaled flowers suddenly bloomed around us and I looked at Alaric to find that he had spread his fingers into the grass, “I'm not refined like the three of you. I have no idea the proper etiquette I'd need to stand at your side and there is no one you can ask about courting me. But I'd like to be with all of you. Help raise the children. Lead Nouvelle. Give Ezra my necklace to be mortal.”

“Well. What do you two think?” I looked at Zarian and Antoni who both nodded happily, “perfect. Alaric, come in front of me.”

Alaric slowly sat across from me, his legs crossed as he rested his hands on his knees. Gently, I laced my left hand with his right and squeezed, a calm smile on my face.

“I, Ezra Nouvelle, would like your permission to properly court you. To marry you in a large ceremony alongside Antoni and Zarian Serce. Do you accept my intention?”

“Absolutely,” Alaric giggled and I gently kissed the back of his hand before taking the midnight blue ribbon I was using to hold my hair back and tying it around his wrist.

“I don't have a proper gift but this will do for now.”

“I want nothing else. It's lovely,” Alaric softly touched the ribbon as Antoni undid the black one from the bottom of his braid.

“Alaric. Do you accept my intent as well?” Antoni smiled and Alaric nodded immediately allowing Antoni to place the ribbon next to mine.

“And me?” Zarian cleared his throat, the final ribbon he had blood red and hanging from his own wrist, “I've been through a lot. It has taken me a long time to get to a place in life where I can accept marriage. But as I love Antoni and Ezra, I know I can grow to truly love you, Alaric.”

“I know what happened to you. Everyone in Serce does. I've never been so angry at my inability to keep someone safe. I chased the caravan that took you to the border of Alanin but I am no fighter, Zarian. I couldn't do anything. Jothen boasted about your pregnancy when he'd come into Serce to torture people. It ate me alive. But I had no way to get you home. Please accept my deepest apologies for failing you and know that I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. If you want to marry the man who failed you then yes. I accept.”

“You didn't fail me,” Zarian claimed Alaric's right wrist with the ribbon and pressed a light kiss to his inner arm, “you tried. I'm home now. That's all that matters to me. Oh, the girls will be so happy. Another daddy to love them.”

“I can't wait to meet them. Do they have gifts?”

“Celeste is a healer and can do illumination magic,” smiling, I slowly kissed Alaric's cheek, a squeak escaping him, “and Sidra is like you. She can control and manipulate water.”

“That's… strictly a fae ability,” Alaric gasped, his eyes wide, “Zarian isn't fae so is… sorry was Jothen?”

“We believe so, yes.”

“I'll train her to properly use it myself. But for now,” Alaric undid the clasp on his necklace and climbed onto his knees, putting it on me as a blue light began to glow from the gem, “I'm now mortal. We'll grow old together. The four of us. Um… hm…” he muttered for a moment before smiling and removing two silver rings he had on his right hand, “Zarian. Will you accept this as a token of my care and hope for love to grow between us?”

“Oh absolutely,” Zarian laughed, letting Alaric slide the ring onto his right hand, “it's warm…”

“It had a bit of my power in it. Grants you an extra life if you're on the precipice of death. Antoni? Will you accept this as a token of my love and full intention of marriage? I have loved you since I was a child and losing you was the hardest thing I've ever had to endure.”

“You know that I do,” Antoni wiped a tear away, the ring now settled on his finger, “oh it's beautiful.”

Hm.

I want to propose now.

It seems like the perfect time.

“Can you all stand and face me?” I called softly and they did as I asked, Zarian leaning slightly into Alaric who held him up with ease. I got into one knee and rolled my shoulders, staring at the three of them, “I'm not a perfect man. I'll make mistakes, perhaps get frustrated. But my love for you three will never change. I want to ask now rather than in front of the entire castle. I wanted it to be private before I announced it formally. I would have done it one at a time but seeing as there are three of you, it seems best to do it at once. Will all of you marry me?”

Zarian stuttered for a moment as Antoni covered his mouth, Alaric bouncing happily and perfectly cementing how different the three of them were.

“Yes,” Alaric was the first to answer, nearly tackling me to the ground in a hug and making me laugh.

“You should have known my answer already, Ezra,” Antoni kissed my forehead with a smile, “absolutely.”

“I… suppose,” Zarian whispered and I stared at him, “of course.”

“Then come here,” I held my left arm open as Alaric wrapped himself around my right and Zarian cuddled into my chest, Antoni joining him, “I love that the two of you are so small. Alaric is almost my height but really thin.”

“I have strong legs,” Alaric puffed his cheeks out and I snorted, kissing his nose, “I've lived in the forest for years. I'm thin I can't help that.”

“It's cute. Now I have to meet with the jeweler to make you all rings for the wedding as well as a crown for Alaric. Hm. We have Zarian the Wise. I had your crown fixed by the way after I broke it to get you home.”

“Thank you,” Zarian nodded as I lay in the grass, Antoni in the crook of my left arm and Alaric in the right as Zarian relaxed on top of me.

“But what do they call you, Antoni? Chevalier picks.”

“Ah, I hate it. Antoni the Quiet. Because I move silently and rarely raise my voice. My crown is made of black and silver with a tiny rabbit on the front.”

“That's perfect though. Hm,” I looked over at Alaric and he smiled brightly, “Oh. Well, that was easy. Alaric the Bright. Gold with a sun on the front. Every time you smile it seems as though the world around you is a bit lighter.”

“It's perfect,” Zarian reached over and gently caressed Alaric's cheek, making Alaric whimper, “ah. Poor thing.”

“What is it?”

“He's touch-deprived. He's very cuddly and not having that for years is hard on the spirit. I get the feeling he's going to be wrapped around one of us at all times.”

“I love it,” laughing, I tilted my head up and slowly kissed Zarian, making him groan quietly, “Thank you. The three of you.”

“For what? We already knew we'd get married. We've just been putting it off.”

“Zari. You knew I was married in the land of reason. I had a wife. She was horrible to me and Celeste. For the first time in over a year, Cassandra isn't in my mind filling me with doubt. Because I know none of you will treat me that way. Without the support, I wouldn't be the man I am right now. Learning from Chevalier how to run the kingdom. I wouldn't have another beautiful little girl that calls me Daddy. The fact I have two spirit mates and a man who waited so long for me to come home to him fills me with more peace than I thought possible and for that I'm thankful. I love you, Zari and Antoni. And I know I'll love you before I realize it's happened, Alaric. This is our family. We four and our daughters. The castle will need to be shifted. We have to have a large enough bed for the four of us once we're married. I'm not sleeping without all of you.”

“You're so sweet,” Alaric kissed my shoulder and I smiled, closing my eyes, “there's nothing that's happened in Nouvelle I don't know about. I'm a fantastic spy. I've been getting into the castle for years to keep an eye on Antoni. Oh um… I know who took Sidra last year.”

We all stared at Alaric in shock and he cleared his throat, sitting up.

“Jothen had a sister. Did you know that?”

“Yes,” Zarian nodded as Antoni and I shook our heads.

“Jeshera. She was able to make herself unnoticed. Pass by without anyone knowing she was there they'd simply forget they saw her. I watched from my tree as she carried Sidra and climbed into that portal. I tried to grab her but then I heard the hoof beats of a horse and ran away. Ezra appeared a bit later and I watched you sit there the entire night waiting for the Rabbit to come back with Sidra. I've never seen such relief. But it broke me to see her come from the portal as a toddler. You all missed out on the phase of her growing from a baby to a toddler and it killed me. She's so beautiful. Thank you. For letting me be part of her life. I feel like you should all be more cautious about me.”

“Antoni knows you and Ezra is a good judge of character,” Zarian shrugged, “I trust them and so I trust you. We have time to truly fall in love. It takes a year to plan a royal wedding. We're hoping that it's enough time to be married before Myran attacks Nouvelle.”

“It will be,” Alaric nodded and we once again stared at him in surprise, “what?”

“How in the world can you know that?” I stuttered.

“Huh? Oh. Remember I've been in Serce guiding the loyalists for years. Since King Rupert was killed. It's been secret though, I didn't want to be caught. Myran shared his plans with his soldiers in Serce to ensure they'll be in the correct places at the time of his attack. We have five years. His first plan is to take Celeste and Sidra to Alanin and essentially force them into marriage with one of his other sons. Myran has five sons and four daughters. Jothen and Jeshera were extras. Then, when Nouvelle rises up to siege Alanin and get the princesses back, he’ll use the mages he has to create a sink hole and cover it at the choke point. Trap everyone possible and smother them to death with the sand,” he let out a sigh as he looked at the sky, “by forcing the princesses into marriage, he then controls everything. But from what I understand, he has three very young sons. The same age as our girls. They don't understand what's going on. I wanted to try and save them from the life he's forcing but I can't. They would be prisoners of war unless Myran was dead and that's not fair. They're children. His final plan, should all that fail, is to kill Ezra and Leon. He figures that will break Zarian enough to force you into marriage with him. That gives him control over the entire land. But he won't be expecting Appanolia. Antoni, has Elis shared anything about our homeland?”

“Not really. I don't ask,” Antoni shrugged, going over to sit in Alaric's lap and making him smile.

“It's huge now. New fae have been born. We aren't alone. The land is booming. They're struggling with getting animals for food but they're trying. Elis and I keep in contact through my hand mirror. If I ask for his help, he will send us as many people as he can. Mostly fae. We need to find a way to capture Myran. But not tonight. Tonight is about this,” Alaric softly kissed Antoni on the shoulder and I turned Zarian so we were in the same position, my right arm now wrapped around Alaric's back as we watched the sea crash into the cliffs below.

“My mother killed herself out here,” Zarian whispered, looking to our right at the furthest point of the cliff, “Red tried to follow after. But it's nice to overwrite that tragedy with the best memory I could have asked for.”

“Zari?” Antoni called and leaned over and Zarian slowly kissed him, both smiling, “you aren't alone anymore. We never should have been away from each other. I'm so glad that life has allowed us to have each other. My lovely fiances. I'm so lucky.”

“Oh stop it we all are,” Alaric laughed, squeezing Antoni, “Antoni?”

“Hm?” He turned his head and Alaric slowly kissed him, his hand now resting on Antoni's throat.

“I missed you,” Alaric whispered.

“I missed you too.”

“We should head back soon. The suns will start to rise,” I called and Zarian turned to straddle me, huffing softly.

“Kiss me first.”

“Fine,” laughing, I deeply kissed Zarian, smiling at the soft moan that came from deep in his chest, “stop that.”

“It's so good. I can't help it,” he licked my bottom lip and I continued to kiss him, lowering him into the grass, “yes…”

“We aren't doing anything until we're married I've already had to atone for that once,” I snorted, rubbing his side.

“Really?” Alaric called and I looked over to find him lying on top of an incredibly flushed Antoni.

“Antoni and I uh… well we thought we were going to die so.”

“Jealous,” Alaric huffed and Antoni snorted, leaning up on his elbows to kiss him.

“Stop that. We don't do jealousy. We're all together.”

“Huh? No that's not what it is. I just want to make you scream.”

“Jesus,” Zarian laughed loudly, the first bright smile I had ever seen on his face, “that's not what I thought I'd hear from you. We're going to have a weird dynamic. Aren't we?”

“Probably. But it's worth it.”

“Absolutely.”