Free The Phantom King (The Kings) by Heather Killough-Walden

was impossible, though he hadn’t seen his bride in five thousand years, Dannai was his daughter. And these twins were not only Amunet’s grandchild ren .
    They were his as well.
    *****
    Dannai felt as if the entire world had strapped itself to her body and was pulling downward on it. And maybe it had, technically. After all, that was gravity in a nutshell. It was just that the laws of physics were absolutely broken that morning, and gravity had more of an effect on her , she was sure, than on any other living being on the planet.
    She was exhausted. She had never known a person could be this exhausted. She’d faced real evils in her life, but none had drained her more than the last twenty-four hours had.
    With tremendous effort, Danny pushed her eyelids into an open position and tried to focus on the hospital bassinet beside her bed. Inside, two tiny forms slept side by side like a yin-yang. Kavanagh’s dark hair was already thick on his head. Jazarah’s hair was finer, and had golden highlights. Where those had come from, Danny had no idea. Both she and Lucas had jet-black hair , as did Lucas’ brother Byron . Clearly her parents must have possessed traits that were now becoming evident in her children.
    Very slowly, Danny sat up in the bed. She’d healed immedia tely after the birthing process, and of course they’d been careful to insure that their doctor was also a werewolf , so the secret of her “miraculous” he aling abilities as a female wolf were never in jeopardy. However, she was sore and tired on a deeper level, and she also didn’t w ant to make any sudden moves that would awaken Lucas, who still slept soundly in the large chair against the wall.
    Her babies were wrapped in blue and pink blankets, more to help the nurses and staff tell them apart than anything. Danny didn’t need the blankets, of course. They were as different as night and day to her already, and each as precious.
    She watched them in silence, held immobile in the peace and wonderment that came with gazing into your newborn children’s faces. And as she did, their eyes opened. At the same time.
    Danny ’s brows raised. She smiled. “Hungry?” she whispered, placing her forefinger within Kavanagh’s tiny grasp. He squeezed, and his lips parted, his small legs kicking once in a baby stretch. “Okay,” Danny told them, lifting Kavanagh lovingly while bending to place a tender kiss on Jazarah’s forehead . “One at a time, then.”
    Her breasts had grown several sizes over the last few days, and either through the help of Lalura’s various teas or all on her own, she was now producing enough milk for both of her children – and then some. She was ever grateful for that now as she sat back on the raised bed and cradled her son in her arms.
    And then she felt something hard beneath the blanket over his chest. Frowning, she pulled the edge of it loose and unfolded it from his tiny body.
    A medallion had been placed arou nd his neck. The chain was impossibly thin, and wrought of gold. The symbol on the pendant winked up at her in intricate secrecy. Dannai gazed at it in shock and wonder. It looked familiar to her.
    Without thinking, but working on autopilot, Danny reached over and pulled the blanket off of her daughter as well. Jazarah fussed a little as the cool hospital room air caressed her exposed skin.
    A second medallion rested against her tiny chest, twin to the one her brother wore.

Chapter Seven
    Roman D’Angelo remained in the doorway to his wife’s office and watched her in silence. Her long sun-streaked brown hair cascaded over her back and shoulders like a silken waterfall. Her long lashes brushed her cheeks as she blinked, and her perfect skin seemed to glow from within. His chest felt tight as he looked upon her, and for the ten millionth time since she had agreed to marry him, he thanked whatever lucky star had blessed him.
    She didn’t know he was there. It wasn’t that he was cloaking his presence, it was