Chapter 24

Trae brought the chest over to his Grandmother.

She chuckled at his perplexed look. She was glad that she did live long enough to see it claimed. She was distressed at what had transpired to get to this day, but she knew that the Gods had a will of their own and she was as much their pawn as any other.

“Prince Trae Quinton, do you promise to serve and protect the One People to the best of your ability?” she asked.

Trae scrunched his eyebrows. “Who are the One People?” he had to ask.

Rowena chuckled softly, “Our people and all of the sentient races of this world.”

Trae looked at the cubs, and they both started purring. He chuckled. He wondered if his Grandmother realised that they were included in her statement. He didn’t know why they were different to other cuttails he had met, but if he agreed, they would be included, and he had no problem with that. “Yes, my Queen,” he replied.

Rowena nodded satisfied. “Then claim your inheritance and open the box.”

Trae did so. He then screamed and gripped the side of the box tightly. He felt the loss of his entity as a deep wrenching in his heart and head. He vaguely heard his Grandmother say, “Katrina, quickly put the diadem on his head.”

Relief flooded his system as the diadem settled on his forehead. He took several deep breaths as the pain leached from his body and the entity soothed him, as he connected with her. He opened his eyes and looked into the box.

“What does a Lord Wizard do?” he asked the people who surrounded him.

“Rule, until he works out how to make a Queen’s box and the Wizards boxes for his decad,” Robin replied.

Trae turned to see Robin, Ruby, Shield Dominic and Judge Anders had joined the group. The room was getting a little crowded. Rowena added, “Put the rest on, son. Then I think that we should take this to a more appropriate room.”

Trae smiled and did as she asked while the others chuckled. As he donned the medallion and the ring, he felt the contentment of the entity to finally have a master again. He did wonder what the strange crystal ball was for but he decided to play with it later. He also noted that the wand was different as he pressed it to his side.

He saw that his old items were sitting on the bed beside his magical box. He touched them and smiled. “One more thing, before we leave,” he said as he picked them up. He turned to Edward and said, “Sir Edward de Vaal, do you promise to serve and protect the One People to the best of your ability?”

Edward looked at him in shock, as did Francine and Deirdre. Kat and the Queen just smiled. “Yes, I, hum, do, Lord Wizard Quinton,” Edward stuttered out. His eyes were wide as he realised Trae was offering him his High Mage items.

Since Edward wore no magical items, he at least was spared the pain of separation. He only felt the joy of joining with the entity as Trae placed the diadem on his forehead. “I’ll have to find you a new satchel since I didn’t have these items linked to mine,” Trae told him as he placed the rest of the items on the ecstatic Edward.

Trae dug into his satchel and found a spare one. He placed his old spell book and a bag of crystals in it, and then he linked it to his old magical items before handing it to Edward with a big grin. He now knew why he’d not given Edward any items previously.

The lad had been waiting for his, even though neither of them had realised it at the time. He had guessed that Edward was a Lore Mage, so it now made perfect sense to Trae. The girls all happily hugged Edward and congratulated him. Trae didn’t miss the wistful look in Francine’s eyes but it wasn’t her time yet.

Francine recovered first. She shooed the rest of them out of the room. “I’ll help Grandmother get dressed. Why don’t take them to the family dining room, Lord Robin,” she finished.

Robin agreed this was a good place to go and led the group past the poor guard who was wondering what in the void had been going on in the Queen’s chamber.

The servants took drink orders as the group seated themselves around the family dining table.

Trae and his friends brought the new people up-to-date with what had transpired while they waited for the Queen and Francine to join them. “So what happens now?” Trae asked the group.

“Well,” Robin started, “while the palace servants know that something happened here, I don’t think we should advertise your change of status until Ruby’s coronation.”

“It’s going to take me some time to get some grip on this new status,” Trae replied. He had noticed that they had all been careful not to mention his new title when the servants were with them, and he was grateful. He did feel a little overwhelmed with the day’s events so far.

They all chuckled when his tummy rumbled at the smell of food. Robin smiled as Trae forwent diplomacy, grabbed his bread and tucked into the large bowl of soup placed before him. Edward and Kat took this as a sign that they too could eat. Robin whispered to one of the servants and made sure plenty more food was coming.

They had finished the soup when the Queen and Francine joined them. The Queen looked very frail but she was determined to join them. Trae’s spell had eased the poison from her system but she knew as well as he did that most of the damage was irreparable.

Her age was also catching up with her and she was more than ready to hand over the mantle, even if Trae wasn’t quite ready to assume it. The times were a changing, and she had decided that Trae and Kat needed to herald this new beginning.

“I suggest we put a privacy shield over the room,” she said as she took her seat.

Kat smiled and said, “I did, as soon as we entered. I had one over your room too. I hope that you didn’t mind.”

The Queen chuckled and said to Trae, “You have found yourself a very intelligent, as well as a beautiful bride, my son.”

Trae took Kat’s hand in his and replied, “I know, and I plan to keep her as long as she is willing to put up with me.”

The Queen chuckled again, “Such sentiments will go a long way to helping you achieve that outcome.”

Kat kissed him on the cheek, “I just might keep you for a very long time.” Trae’s smile and the love in his eyes said that he planned to ensure they were together as long as he lived.

Robin changed the conversation by saying, “What are we going to do about Collin and Justine?”

“The boy will have to be arrested,” the Queen said without preamble.

“I’m afraid he will,” the Judge agreed and the others nodded in affirmation.

The Queen frowned before saying, “The real issue is Carl’s estate. Francine will, of course, have to assume control of Martha’s, as she was her heir. However, Justine is too young to inherit, and since Carl attempted to kill me and my heir, then his estate has effectively been forfeited to Trae and me, by law.”

“If Justine is innocent of her father’s wrongdoing then we will need to assume guardianship of her. I believe her mother’s estates should still legally go to her. We will have to find out what state Carl’s affairs are in.”

“Your Majesty, I happen to know that Carl owed my mother a lot of coin,” Deirdre told her. “I also believe that he had tried to sell her land that she believed belonged to Justine. She took the mortgages over that land instead so he couldn’t sell them.”

“Hum, I wonder if she would take on Justine and her guardianship?” the Queen said.

“I think she might,” Edward added. “She writes to Justine often. I’ve had to deliver the letters as for some reason Mother wouldn’t send them to the house. I also think that Justine has been kept in the dark as to what her father and brother were up to.”

“She rarely sees him or her brother from what she has told me. I visit via the servant’s door. She has her own section of the house, and as long as her Nanny is not present, I do get to talk to her. I think she is very lonely as her few school friends are not allowed to visit her and they are scared of her father.”

“Fine, we will send a letter to Dalila. Being her Aunt she is the logical choice,” The Queen replied.

“Mother said that she and father will be here tomorrow and she agrees that they are the best choice to look after Justine,” Edward said.

“Pardon?” the Queen said.

Edward grinned a little self-consciously, “I just contacted her.”

Trae chuckled, “It’s a handy skill isn’t it? I hope you didn’t frighten your mother.”

Edward blushed a little, “No, she handled my connection to her with her usual aplomb. I think she was quite excited that she could now call me. I may regret doing it.”

The others all chuckled at Edward’s admission. They waited for the servants to serve the next course before continuing their discussions of what the future held.

“So what do you envision happening with your rule, your Majesty?” Trae asked Rowena.

“Well, at the coronation for Ruby, I will hand the mantle over to you. I will also explain that you and Katrina are acting as Viceroys for your daughter. Is this acceptable?” she asked Trae. “You do after all have other commitments as the Lord Wizard, and I think by also naming Katrina this will work better for you both.”

Trae looked at Katrina, ‘I would prefer to co-rule with you, my love.’

Kat smiled at him, ‘We have a lot to learn but I also think for our daughter’s sake that I wish to hold your hand and walk this path with you. You can be easily distracted by a single issue when your help is required, and I know you will find dealing with a lot of people stressful.’

Trae grinned at Katrina before looking at his grandmother, “Yes, together is better for us. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, and we complement each other. Kat is my soulmate. It must be together.”

Rowena was pleased that she had read them as well as she had. She suspected that as time went on Trae would take a more dominant role but he needed Katrina to balance him. He did after all have a lot to learn in the coming years, and the dual roles he held would put a strain on him.

Just to remind him she said, “I suggested this method since you also have to find your other Wizards Trae. I believe you may have a lot of travel in your future. You may even end up with consorts, as from what I have read, this is common for Lord Wizards.”

Trae looked at his grandmother startled and then at Kat. He was even more shocked when she giggled and replied, “I’m quite sure he will.”

The Queen was tiring, and they broke up the impromptu meeting.

Shield Dominic and Judge Anders went to arrest Collin and check on Justine. Ruby and Robin also had a lot to do since they had to change their plans for the ball a little. Edward happily accepted a lesson in blinking, and Trae and Kat took him, the cuttails and the girls’ to their home.

Trae told Edward to direct his parents to their house as they had plenty of room to put them up. He then took Kat and the cuttails to Erin Valley.

Jim and his family were very relieved to see them as they had been in a panic as to where the cuttails had disappeared. The twins had hugged the cuttails fiercely telling them that Paul and Tom would have been very displeased to find that they had lost them.

Sampson and Kitty both licked them and said they were sorry for frightening them, in their cuttail method of communicating. The twins were just relieved that they hadn’t come to any harm. They had been able to communicate with them for some time and considered the cuttails to be part of the family.

Trae and Kat had to bring their friends up to speed on the latest happenings and by the time they headed home, they were both exhausted. Trae was as horny as he had ever been and despite being tired, he wanted to make love to Kat.

Kat was surprised that he wasn’t in a hurry. Trae took his time undressing her and lavished his attention on her. She giggled when he paid particular attention to her tummy and wished to greet his daughter before he moved lower and paid homage to her.

By the time he finally entered her, Kat was his willing bed slave. The joy of having Trae inside of her had her coming long before Trae even got going. He chuckled as his wife thrashed beneath him but he still slid slowly in and out of her as he waited until she came down a little.

As Kat built up to her next orgasm, she worked her pelvic muscle, to wring groans of ecstasy out of Trae and forced him to pump harder into her. This time they climbed the pinnacle together. Trae suspected that his need for a magical fix was going to be intense.

Wishing to share with Kat, when he finally had to succumb he pulled in the magic and pushed it through her. Kat, in turn, had to direct it to where ever she could before the intensity overwhelmed her. Trae also tried to push the magical energy from them when Kat went limp in his arms after a massive scream.

He was finally able to shut off the magic when he too joined her in oblivion.

Another young man also learnt of the intensity of drawing in magic while achieving orgasm that evening.

Francine had climbed into Edward’s bed. He had learnt that masturbation wasn’t enough when he showered before bed. When Francine found him naked and had joined him, Edward was had been hard-pressed to tell her to go away. Francine silenced his concerns, “You need this and I want to do it for you.”