Chapter Text
I open my eyes and look around. I am in a dark room. I try to sit up but my head hurts badly. I just keep looking around the room.
“Ahh, you’re awake.” Healer Laurence stands over me and smiles. “You lost a lot of blood in your fight a few days ago. Your arm is healing nicely. I have it all wrapped up right now. Try not to move it too much. I put your nose back in place. Everything should be healed in a few days. You are a young healthy alpha so the healing process will be much faster. You will still need the sling for your wedding though. ” He turns and walks away. A few seconds later he hands me a vile. “Drink this and the pain should stop. Once you feel as though you can sit up I will send you to your chambers.” I nod and drink the vile quickly.
I gag, he just chuckles. I continue to stare at nothing. Time passes and my head doesn’t hurt as bad. I sit up and look around. There are books all over the room. Many of them half open. Vile's all around the room with weird things in them. I stand up.
“How come I saw red before I passed out?”
“So, the reason why you keep passing out is because your body isn’t used to all of the changes that go through you when you get angry. You saw red because that is one of the changes your body makes. It was returning to normal. Your body changes in many different ways when you get angry, your canines grow, eyes get red, muscles expand, and your nails grow.” I nod and look at him. No one has ever said this before.
“All alphas can do that?” He shakes his head no. He is sitting down now and looking up at me.
“Only certain alphas can do that. I don’t have much information on it. Jeremy is here to take you to your room.” The door opens and Jeremy runs in. He has the biggest smile on his face.
“See, you’re okay. If’s are bad.” He hugs me tight and I hug him back with my right arm. “Waverly is waiting for you in your room. All of your thing have been moved to her room.” I nod and we walk out of the healers room. We are walking down the hallway and to the staircase. “The wedding has been moved up. Waverly’s heat is nearing. By next week she will be in the middle of her heat so they want you married by the end of this week. So three days, so you have tomorrow which is your free day, the coronation, then the wedding.” I nod and we continue to walk to my chambers. We stay silent for the rest of the walk.
We are at the doors. Jeremy smiles wide then pats my shoulder. I walk in the room, Waverly is standing in front of the bed with worry all over her face.
“Nicole,” She runs at me and hugs me tight. I hear the door shut behind me. Waverly pulls back and just kisses me. The whole room smells like Waverly, like her heat. I groan into the kiss. Waverly pulls back out of breath.
“How are you feeling?” I grin and kiss her cheek.
“Much better now that I am here with you.” Waverly smiles and kisses my cheek. She leads me to our bed and I sit down.
“You scared me. I thought you died. Even healer Laurence thought you were gonna die. Jeremy told me what you said to him. The if’s. Why would you do that? That just leads to bad things happening. Nicole, I, I thought he was really going to kill you.” I take her hand in mine and look up at her.
“I wasn’t expecting him to be that strong if I’m being honest. I also didn’t want to go without making sure my family was safe. I knew Perry was a good fighter but I wasn’t expecting that.” Waverly starts to rub my back with her free hand.
“Well, it’s all done now. You won and we are getting married.” I can’t help the smile that is blossoming on my face.
“Tomorrow we should bring the kids back. Before the wedding. It’s not that I don’t want them there I just know that after the wedding we are going to be busy.” Waverly’s eyebrows raise.
“Busy?” I feel my cheeks heat up but I nod anyways.
“I was informed that this wedding is getting moved because your heat is starting early. Which is going to put me in an early rut.” Waverly grins and moves her hand to my chest. She starts to push me so I am laying down on the bed. My heart is beating fast in my chest.
“Uhh, what are you doing , Waves?” She throws her leg over my hips and settles on my lap. She shrugs then leans down and kisses me hard and full of passion. I kiss her back with just as much passion. I place my good hand on her waist. Waverly starts to move her hips then there is a knock at the door. Waverly pulls away and rests her head on mine.
“Who is it?” there is silence for a few seconds.
“It’s Wynonna.” Waverly sighs and moves off of my lap. She fixes her dress then walks to the door. I sit up and rub my bad arm. It hurts way more than I thought it would. The door opens and she walks in.
“Heyya, red. How are you doing?” I look over to her and shrug.
“Fine I suppose. My arm aches a little bit but I am feeling fine.” Wynonna nods and look at her feet.
“Waverly umm, I don’t think Waverly ever wanted to marry Perry. So uhh, don’t worry about it.” Wynonna gets up and leaves the room. I shake my head then look at Waverly. She has a slight smile on her face.
“That was her apologizing. She isn’t very good at saying sorry.” I stand up and walk over to her. Waverly has this wide smile on her face. I place my hand on her hip and she steps closer into my space. I lean down and peck her lips.
“I get it, Jon was never good at saying sorry either. Do you know where my father and brother are?” Waverly’s whole face lights up. She takes my hand and starts to walk to the door.
“I have them in guest bedrooms. They are very worried.” I nod and we walk out of the room and down the hall to all of the guest rooms. I can smell the orcs, then the elves, the mermaid, now my father. Waverly stops in front of the door and I knock. The door opens, my father looks up at me. He grabs me and pulls me into a hug.
“You’re okay.” I wrap my good arm around him and close my eyes. A few seconds later he pulls back and looks at me. “You look good, not as skinny. I missed you, Sam missed you.” A door behind me swings open.
“Nicole!” I turn and Sam has a wide smile on his face. He’s grown a few inches. He runs over and hugs me tight. I place my hand on his back.
“Hey, how are you doing?” He looks up at me and there are tears in his eyes.
“I’m fine, how are you? You look awful.” We all laugh and I nod.
“I am feeling a little sore but nothing rest and food won’t fix. How about we all eat some lunch and catch up?” My father and Sam nod. Waverly is just standing to the side.
“I’m sure you know but this is Waverly.” I smile at her and she waves to them.
“Yes we know, she has been very kind to us. We are staying for the wedding then we are going back to the farm. We hired a farm hand, he stays in your old room. He is a fine man.” I smile at him then just look around.
“Okay so at midday we’ll have lunch?’ Everyone nods. I smile and take Waverly’s hand. We walk back to our room. Once there I sit on the bed.
“How are you feeling?” I look up at her then take her hand.
“I am feeling fine, I smell gross though. I am going to take a bath then we can have lunch.” I grab clothes the go into the bath house. I take a bath and try to keep my bad arm dry. The water feels nice even though it’s ice cold. The soap smells like rosemary. I get out of the bath and get dressed in the shorts, an undershirt and a loose white shirt with strings across the chest to tighten.
I walk out of the bathroom and get some black pants on and black boots. Waverly is at the table with a book in her hands. I kiss her cheek, Waverly looks up at me then back at her book.
“Ready for lunch?” I say yes then we head to the guest rooms. We get to their rooms and we retrieve them. Waverly and Sam make small talk as we head to the dining room. My father seems to be very quiet. We get there and a feast is waiting. A pot of soup, chicken, beef, bread, ale, wine, fruit. So much food. We get to the table and they all look at me.
“After you.” I make a face and sit at a random chair.
“Nicky, you should sit at the head of the table.” I look around and all of them are still standing. I shake my head no and gesture for them to sit.
“From what I understand, I am not King until I have my coronation. I am not King so you all may sit where you please.” They all sit and now they are just sitting there. “I swear, you all better start getting food.” Sam laughs and starts to dig in. Everyone joins. I get some soup, bread, chicken, and ale. We eat and everyone seems silent.
“How is this farming going? All the crops seem to be starting to grow?” My father nods and finishes chewing.
“It’s going great, we seem to have more crops this year than last.” I nod and he keeps telling me about how much more money they can make and all of that. Sam is just stuffing his face with food. “I have some bad news though, Jon, he is trying to take the farm. Because you are King now he thinks he has a claim on the farm. I told him it goes to Sam but, he is trying for it.” I nod and look at Sam. “If he takes the farm, he will kick us out. We will have nowhere to go.” I look at the two of them and they seem worried.
“I’ll take claim of the farm before I become King, then I will give the farm to you in place of Sam. Once he is old enough he will take the farm and it will be his. I am marrying the Queen after all I am sure I can get a paper saying so.” I look to Waverly and she is nodding, she takes my hand that’s on the table.
“You guys have nothing to worry about. I will do that right after lunch.” They say their thank you’s then we continue to eat. It stays silent for awhile.
“So , Nicole, are you ready to be King?” I look at Sam. I grin and nod.
“I think I am. I have been reading many books. Some on former Kings, others just on the people and the land we live on. I think I am ready based on what I have read. I won’t repeat mistakes. I also have been looking at laws written by the other humans. Many of their laws are basic like ours. No murder, no stealing, Things of that nature, they also have laws on cheating and rape. I was thinking of talking to Waverly then maybe put those laws into place.” They all nod and we finish up eating.
“You two must be excited to get married. The talk of the castle is that you two have been very close all through the trials.” Waverly and I nod. A big goofy smile appears on my face.
“I know I am thrilled to get married. I have been fighting for nearly a year to get married.” Waverly takes my hand then begins to speak.
“I am also very excited to get married. I can’t wait to have a partner to help with all of the court intrigue and laws that need to be passed.” My father smiles and he seems happy. He looks genuinely happy.
“That is great to hear. I will let you two get back to whatever it is you need to do today. I’m sure you two are busy. I will see you later.” My father gets up and pats my shoulder. Sam is still at the table.
“Can I spend the day with you?” I grin and nod.
“Of course. I’m not sure I will be doing much today though.” I look at Waverly and she has a weak smile on her face.
“Glenda wants you to meet with her. You need to pick out fabrics for your new clothes. Then you need to get your boots shined, head to the blacksmith to have your head measured. After that you need to meet with Sir Marcus to speak about the coronation.” I throw my head back.
“I was basically dead a day ago and you want me to go and run around?” I look at her and she has a small smile on her face.
“I know, my poor baby.” She makes me look at her then she kisses me softly. “It must be so hard to become a King and become rich. I am so sorry.” I start to pout. Waverly giggles and kisses me quick again. “You’ll be done before dinner. We are having dinner together. Just me and you.” She stands up so I follow suit. Sam walks around the table.
“Fine, I’ll see you for dinner then.” We kiss one last time then she heads out of the dining room.
“Ready to go and do a bunch or boring stuff?” Sam nods and has this excited look in his eyes. I mess up his hair then head up to Glenda’s work shoop. Sam and I get up there and we both are winded. I don’t get how she does this all of the time. Her door is open so we both just walk in.
“Hello, Glenda.” She turns to me, a bright smile is on her face.
“Nicole, you’re okay. That is amazing.” She walks over and hugs me. I hug her back. We both pull away. “Who’s this?” I wrap my arm around his shoulders and pull him close by his head.
“This is my little brother Sam. He wanted to spend the day with me so we are running errands together.” Glenda smiles at us then turns back to the table.
“Come here, loves. I need you to pick out fabrics. You are to have five royal outfits for everyday life. Then you need to pick you your colors for the wedding outfit. I was thinking since you like black you could have an all plain black outfit. Golden buttons going up the middle of the the shirt and a red sash going across your chest. Obviously you will also have the crown. For the coronation you are wearing all of the same except the suit is white.” I stand next to her, all of the fabrics on the table are very, mute. Browns and tans with odd designs on them. I pick five random ones.
“Great, so I will make these look like the outfit I made for you last time. The other two suits will look more neat.” I nod to her and thank her. She kicks me out after hearing the rest of the people I have to meet with.
Sam and I go to my room and grab my boots. We head out to the leather maker and I drop off my boots to be shined. He shows me a pair of white boots for the coronation. I thank him then we head to the blacksmith. He is in the basement next to healer Laurence. Sam and I make our way down there.
“Why is Jon being a jerk?” I shrug and look at him.
“Jon has always been like that. He has always been rude to everyone. He hates who he is. He blames everyone but himself for his mistakes. Jon is just an angry man.” Sam looks away.
“I don’t want him to be an angry man. I want him to be my brother. I want to have a nice brother. He has two kids that we never met.” I stop in my tracks.
“I know, Sam. But there is nothing we can do. I want to meet his kids too, hell even his wife would be nice. He us just full of resentment. Maybe one day he will change his mind.” I mess up his hair and continue to walk to the blacksmith shop. I am slowly learning my way through the castle. I get to the shop. He is a big man. A huge beard and large arms.
“Hi, I’m here to be fitted for my crown?” He looks at me, the man walks towards me then drops to one knee.
“It is an honor to serve my new King.” I look at Sam, his eyes are wide.
“Sir, stand up. There is no need for that. I am not King yet.” He stands up and nods to me once.
“Yes, Your Grace.” I place my hand on his shoulder.
“Nicole will work just fine. What’s your name?” he turns and starts to walk further into the shop.
“My name is Reginald.” I follow him in. The shop is huge, there are swords hanging off of the walls, axes, hammers, and shields. The room is super hot, all of the fire for forging. “Sit here, all I have to do is measure your head then you may leave, Nicole.” I sit in the seat he is pointing at and he comes up to me with a metal ring. He wraps it around my head and then starts to adjust it.
“I didn’t see you at the ball, why was that?” He chuckles and keeps adjusting.
“I don’t do dancing and socializing. Not really my thing. I also had nothing to wear.” I grin, he finishes measuring. “There, I will have the crown ready for your coronation.” I stand up then shake his hand.
“Thank you for doing this. I will see you soon, Reginald.” I slightly bow to him then walk out of the shop with Sam.
“That seems like a fun job.” I look down at him and smile.
“If you want to do that then look into it. I’m sure you’ll be able to find an apprenticeship.” Sam doesn’t say anything. We head to the last place. Sir Marcus. He is going to be telling me what I have to recite the day of the coronation. I am worried that I am going to say something wrong and mess up in front of hundreds.
I go up the stairs and make my way to the tallest tower in the whole castle. This is where we worship the Gods. All of our places of worship all around the Kingdom. It’s so we can be closer to the Gods. We make our way to the top of the tower.
“Sam, have you ever been in a place of worship?” I look down at him, he is shaking his head no. I sigh.
“Neither have I, buddy.” I walk in and there are pews on the left and right. I look around and I don’t see Sir Marcus.
“Hello?” I walk further in. My family isn’t religious, when my mother died we just buried her on the farm. I keep walking in, Sam is trailing behind me. “Hello?” I hear fast footsteps.
“Hi, hello, sorry.” He walks up to me and shakes my hand. “So sorry, I was preparing for the coronation. There is much to be done. Now, sit. I am going to tell you what you need to recite.” I sit down next to him and he takes my hands. Sam starts to laugh. I elbow him in the side which makes him stop.
“These are the holy words that connect you with the Gods.” He smiles at me and I just grin back. “Now the oath that is to be said is very much revolved around promises. Being a great King and holding the laws of the Gods to the people.” He hands me a piece of paper. I thank him then leave the room with Sam.
“Well he seems weird.” I slap Sam’s shoulder.
“That is not very nice,” I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him to me. “But you’re right. He does seem weird.” We both laugh then head to my room. I get in and Waverly is sitting at the table reading a book. Sam walks around the room looking at everything.
“This is a nice room. Look at you living the good life now. Not having to wake up a dawn and start manual labor. Must be nice.” I scoff and walk over to him.
“I’ll have you know, I have the weight of the whole Kingdom on my shoulders. I’ll wake up and want to throw up from all of the responsibility.” Sam laughs, Waverly giggles. I look out the window and the sun is setting. “Okay, bud, you should head back to your room. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sam hugs me quick then leaves the room. I sit down across from Waverly and groan.
“Are you okay?” I shrug and unroll the paper Sir Marcus gave me. I read the oath once then place the paper on the table.
“How is your arm?” I lean back in my chair and take my arm out of the sling.
“It’s fine. Still a little sore. Tomorrow is the free day. We can stay in bed till midday.” I smile sleepily and Waverly shakes her head no.
“Tomorrow we need to take the kids back to the orphanage, you are the one who suggested it. Then we can stay in bed for the rest of the night. Wynonna wants all of us to have dinner together but I told her we can’t it’s gonna be a long day.” I smile at her and say thank you. I get up and change into pajamas. “Don’t care what I see anymore?” I turn and grin.
“We are getting married in three days. I don’t care all that much. I’m sure there is some religious thing saying that we shouldn’t be in the same room. Saying that not being a prude is bad but I don’t care.” Waverly is grinning.
“You’re going to give the sacred oath without even knowing the Gods laws?” I nod and lay down in bed. I groan. This bed is so soft. Waverly laughs and lays in bed next to me. I pull her to me. Her head rests on my chest. “Dinner will be here soon so don’t fall asleep yet. I know you need your rest but just wait till after dinner.” A yawn escapes my mouth. Once I am done yawning Waverly kisses my fast. “Don’t sleep.” She gets up and sits back at the table. I stare at the ceiling and feel my eyes drift shut. There is a knock at the door. I sit up, Waverly gets the door. My dad is standing there.
“Nicole, can you come out here for a second?” I walk out of the room and shut the door behind me. He hands me a ring, my mothers ring. “After Sam was born, your mom was alive for ten minutes. You took Sam and cleaned him off, I was in the room with your mother. She told me that she wanted you to have her ring. For when you get married.” I hesitantly take the ring and look at it. I place the ring in my pocket then hug my father. He hugs me back. When I pull away he has tears in his eyes.
“She would be so proud of you.” I smile weakly and pat him on his shoulder.
“Thank you for giving me the ring. I really appreciate it.” He grins and pats my shoulder as well. He says goodbye then heads back to his room. I go back in and Waverly is looking at me with questioning eyes.
“Nothing, it’s a secret.” Waverly rolls her eyes then sits at the table. Lucinda walks in and starts to place food on the table. A little boy is with her, he has the wine and ale. Waverly and I thank the two of them then start to eat our dinner.
We eat dinner in mostly silence. I have sweet onion soup, Waverly has pheasant and bread, After eating I lay down in bed and try to fall asleep.
“Wait, I’m coming into bed.” Waverly goes to the corner of the room. She walks back over and my eyes nealy pop out of my head. Waverly is wearing here nightgown, she is wearing a pair of the shorts Glenda made me and one of my shirts. She crawls into bed and rests her head on my chest. The door opens and the plates are taken away. My eyes start to drift shut.
“Nicky, time to get up. We need to get ready to take the kids back to the orphanage.” My eyes open slowly. I look around the room, Waverly is dressed and ready to go. People need to start waking me up earlier. I always feel rushed. I get out of bed and get dressed in my farming clothes that I have. Waverly takes my arm and we head down to the kids rooms.
We get there, as soon as the door opens the kids try to tackle me to the ground. I laugh and pick one of them up with my good arm. All of the kids are cheering and saying King Haught. I can’t help but smile. The kids have bags packed and they seem to be ready to go.
The women help the kids bring the bags downstairs. The little baby is sitting up and doing great. He’s a very giggly baby. I grab him and an extra bag. We all go outside and line up next to all of the horses. I get on Orthrus, Waverly gets on her horse. I turn, the guards are helping the kids on their horses. Soon we are all ready and heading out back to their brand new home.
The ride up to the orphanage feels slow. The kids are singing some song, the guards are singing along with them. I look to Waverly and she has the biggest smile on her face. Jaxon is on the same horse as her. I have jessica behind me and the baby in front of me.
We finally get to the orphanage and it looks, amazing. Two floors like we said, I can see at least three chimneys. The kids are hoping off of the horses and they are running into the orphanage. I get off of my horse and then go inside.
On the first floor, there are rows of table, in the front of the room there is a board looking thing. On the big desk there are white sticks. Those must be used for writing on the board. I look around the room and it’s amazing. I see a door wide open. I go through the door and there is a staircase.
I walk up the staircase. At the top there is one giant room with two fireplaces. There are about fifteen kids beds and two bassinets. There are two doors on the other side of the room. Both are open. One is a bathhouse and the other looks like a room for the three women. The kids are running around the room placing their things in their trunks at the end of the bed. This whole place is amazing. I look to Waverly and she has the biggest smile on her face. I walk over, wrap my arm around her waist.
“This place looks amazing, Waves. You did a good job.” Waverly looks up at me and kisses the underside of my jaw,
“We did good.” Waverly and I only stay at the orphanage for a few hours. It was a hard goodbye but we promised them to come back soon. Jessica seemed to be very heartbroken. Waverly and I are on our way back. So far we have been silent the whole time.
“Have you, thought about, taking one of them in?” I look at her and nod. I look back at the road. “I was thinking after everything settles down we should talk about adopting the baby boy.” I smile and turn to Waverly.
“I would love to talk about this more, but definitely after everything has calmed down.” She smiles at me, I look back at the road.
We get back to the castle and Waverly is swept away leaving me alone. I walk back to my room and sit at the table. I grab the piece of paper Sir Marcus gave me and start to read it. Tomorrow is going to be so stressful.