For an endless moment, Alyson knew relief as the baby slid from her body and into her mother"s hands.
Then Alyson lay back into the arms of her wyvern and received the boy into her embrace.
He squalled and wriggled on her abdomen, his skin bright pink with exertion.
Behind her, the grandfathers Franklin and John both laughed aloud.
Alyson laughed too and looked up at Queen Aria, holding her from behind, Threnody and Euphony across the room. She felt surprised that she was capable of laughter, for nothing throughout her pregnancy had seemed worth even a smile.
Not the smooth transition that Alsace had made from Guardian to Monarch, nor the rapid reintegration of wyverns into people"s lives.
Not even her crowning as Queen of Alsace, the large diamond that Josh, Aria, and she had shaped
