The Wolf King Needs an Heir by Max Rose

CHAPTER TWELVE

Three days until the due date…

Julian sank down onto one of the benches behind the Summer Palace with a groan. His feet ached. So did his back. These days, he groaned a lot.

The doctor encouraged him to keep exercising, claiming it could help start contractions. Edric walked with him when he could, but today he was making calls to alphas, coordinating something, or settling some issue between kingdom packs. It was hard to keep track. Sometimes being king seemed more like being a playground monitor with a crown.

He was tired. It seemed like he was always exhausted these days. Yesterday, he’d spent the afternoon and evening with Terra and Edric, catching up. He’d had a wonderful time. Part of him envied how close they were as siblings. He was an only child. But at least he could count Terra as a friend. She always made him laugh and helped take his mind off being pregnant for a while. He was glad she was here. She made him feel less lonely when Edric was busy being king. For a princess, she had a great personality. The exact opposite of “princess” personality, actually. She had been his first werewolf friend. Even before Edric really warmed up to him, Terra had reached out to him. He would never forget that.

It was almost noon. The sky was deep blue and filled with slow-moving, extremely fluffy clouds. The sunlight on his face felt wonderful. He rested a hand on the curve of his belly and concentrated on simply breathing. His baby had been active an hour ago, but right now, he seemed as happy as Julian to simply chill in the sun. He closed his eyes, arching his back. He kicked off his shoes and scrunched his bare feet in the grass. He would say one thing about his experience being around royalty—they had the best gardeners. The palace gardens were slices of paradise, full of flowers and lush foliage.

He let his mind drift, trying not to think about the looming event in his life and not really succeeding.

Soon their child would be here, and he would need to be the best parent ever. No pressure. But he wanted their son to be a good person, kind, caring, down to earth…and with plenty of characteristics from Edric. Determination. Strength. Leadership. Courage. He knew raising a child would be a lot of work, but—

“I’m pleased to have found you,” a woman said from behind him.

Some werewolf he made. He’d been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard anyone approaching. His eyes flew open, and he turned as much as he could to see who it was. The palace guards wouldn’t have let anyone dangerous get close…

He caught the scent of the priestess even before he met her cool gaze. He recognized her from the wedding. It was the moon priestess who had married them. Priestess Samara.

Julian was surprised to see her here, talking to him. He had only seen her at the palace once or twice since the ceremony. They hadn’t really spoken much since the wedding. He was a little intimidated by the priestesses. They were so…fervently religious. And he really wasn’t. Sometimes he felt as if they were staring at him like he was a heathen who should be put in stocks.

“Hello,” he said warily, trying on a smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me, Your Highness. I’m sorry I’ve missed the chance to speak with you when I first arrived.”

“You wished to see me? Why?”

She smiled. The priestess was in her fifties, perhaps, but still quite handsome. She had a dignified air to her, a grace he could only envy, but maybe that was to be expected of a high priestess. He wondered if they took classes in that kind of thing. Maybe someday he would learn how to be stately and noble.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” Samara said. “Sometimes, carrying a child can feel isolating.”

“Have you had a child yourself?”

Her smile was indulgent. “Priestesses do not marry. They cannot remain priestesses if they have offspring.”

Rules like that didn’t make him feel any more inclined to be religious. “Oh. I see.” He didn’t really, but it didn’t matter. “Thank you for asking about me. I’m doing okay. Edric has been wonderful.”

“You’ve made quite an impression on our king.”

“Have I?” He couldn’t help the thrill of joy that rushed through him at those words. It wasn’t as intense as when Edric had said that he loved him, but it was still heady. It helped it sink in. It put at ease crazy fears that lingered that this all might be a dream…

“You have. And you’ve made quite a stir in the packs. Speaking of which, I could use your help.”

“I’d love to help.” He knew Priestess Samara had been a fixture in Edric’s life since he and Terra had been children. And she had presided over Julian’s wedding. “I’m not sure what I could do, though. Maybe you should talk with Edric.”

“I have. I’m not sure he remembers. As you know, he’s a very busy man with much on his mind.”

That was true. But Julian still didn’t know what she believed he could do for her. He didn’t have a staff of his own. Since marrying Edric, they shared servants. Mostly, Julian’s job had been to grow a baby. But he refused to feel ashamed of that. It was important. To Edric, and to him.

“So…” he prompted. “What do you need?”

She pulled out a smartphone from a pocket hidden somewhere in her elaborate robes. His surprise must have shown on his face or in his scent because she smiled reassuringly.

“We do use technology even though we’re religious,” she chided. She handed him the smartphone. “I would like your help with a huge project that’s very close to my heart.”

The smartphone’s screen displayed a bunch of text under the title Rylan Orphanage Project. He scrolled down the screen, skim-reading. It seemed to be a non-profit project to build an orphanage-school thing for werewolf children in the kingdom. He didn’t know much about business—anything, really—but the project had all kinds of facts and figures, including cost projections and impact statements in business-ese. Or was it legalese? Whatever. It all seemed very impressive.

“This looks good,” he said as if he knew what he was talking about. “I think it’s a great idea.”

He held the phone out for her to take back, but she held up a hand.

“Please, keep the phone for now. I don’t have a hard copy of the project prospectus at the moment. But I’d still like you to read through the project in detail. Familiarize yourself with it. Because I’d like to change the name to the Julian Rylan Orphanage Project. Or name it after your child once you’ve settled on one.”

He smiled, touched by the offer. This was the type of endeavor Edric had mentioned long ago, back when he’d been making his case for what Julian could do as the alpha king’s mate. Something like this would be a clear good for the kingdom without a bunch of wolf politics involved. Sure, he was surprised Samara wasn’t naming it after the Goddess or the moon or something, but he wasn’t going to complain.

“I would be honored,” he told her. “How can I help with this?”

“I am very pleased you’re on board. We can help so many underprivileged children. As for helping, I mostly need your vocal commitment and your name. With a Rylan behind it, the project will have no problem getting funding through a joint venture between nobles and commoners through patronage, charity events, and crowdfunding. With long-term funding from the crown, of course. Don’t worry. I will set everything in motion and handle the details. You focus on bringing a new life into the world.” She nodded at the smartphone. “But promise me you’ll read through that prospectus when you have a chance. This will be a joint project between the crown and the church, but I’d like you to know how much good you’re doing.”

“I promise to read it all. I’ll remind Edric about it, too. I’m sure he’ll think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“It just so happens that I have a meeting with His Majesty in a few moments. I’ll tell him that you agreed to help. I know he’ll be proud.”

That worked too. That way, he wouldn’t have to waddle his way to the third floor of the palace to find Edric. Sure, there were elevators…but they seemed so far away right now. He would talk it over with Edric later this afternoon, probably over dinner.

He lifted the smartphone and held it out to her again. It didn’t look like an expensive one, but he didn’t want to hold on to her phone. What about all her personal stuff like text messages and so on? Or what if he dropped the phone? Or lost it? He hadn’t owned a cell phone since he’d moved into the palace and the security people had seized it as if it were a live rattlesnake.

Besides, if she really wanted him to read every detail, she could print it out and give it to him.

“Are you sure you don’t need this?” he asked, nodding at the phone in his hand.

“Don’t worry. It isn’t a personal cell phone. I use it for business.”

“Priestess business?”

“You could say that. Tell you what. I will find you again later today and pick it up. That way, you need not worry about it.”

“Okay…” It still felt weird keeping it, but she was insisting. He didn’t want to insult her after she wanted to name an orphanage after him or his baby. That seemed ungrateful.

She stood and turned to look at him, her head cocked to the side. “Your child…”

“Yes?”

“Will you raise him in the light of the Moon Goddess?”

It was a brazen thing to ask. Invasive. Presumptuous. Over the line, in his opinion. But how did you say that to a priestess without offending her? Especially one who had played such a big role in Edric and Terra’s lives. And again, she wanted to create an orphanage and name it after him. So he decided to let it go and answer truthfully but carefully—as if this woman were his mother-in-law.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t talked about it with Edric. I’m not religious myself.”

She looked wistfully disappointed. He couldn’t help but feel his answer had failed her. Then again, he wasn’t here to live his life making people who weren’t his friends or family happy. This was his life, Edric’s life, and their child.

“I suppose that’s an honest answer.” She suddenly smiled, the disappointment in her eyes evaporating away. “Thank you for your time, Your Highness. I’m glad we can work together to help the children of our kingdom.”

Julian watched her glide away with her fancy robes swaying. She headed for the house, rounded one of the hedges, and disappeared from his view. He took a deep breath and went through the slow process of moving from sitting to standing with his prize-winning watermelon belly making things complicated. He intended to finish his walk and head back inside once his exercise was done. He slipped the phone into his pants pocket. After his walk, he’d read through it in detail so he could talk it over with Edric later. Maybe Julian could get more involved in the details of the project after he had the baby.

Or maybe he was being ridiculously optimistic. He would probably be sleep-deprived and barely hanging on until the baby decided to sleep through the night. He put his hands on his stomach, staring down at it and thinking of kids without families, on their own…

“You will always have a family,” he said to the son inside him. “I promise.”