Page 1 of Trickster King

ONE

I figured she picked fights just to enjoy the consequences of my talent.

Why hadn’t anyone warned me how hard being a king could be? Had I known, I would’ve made a few extra demands before accepting my crown. As I wouldn’t give Jessica up for anything, I would’ve limited my protests to requiring a few extra horses and mandatory vacation time. The mandatory vacation time topped my list. A few more hours in my day to cook for my family would have gone second. Becoming the king had made spending time with my wife a requirement, something I appreciated.

I couldn’t have handled the job without my wife.

The last time I’d gotten a vacation of any sort, it hadn’t been voluntary, I’d been dragged across the kingdom, and I had resorted to weaponizing a hardback novel to secure my freedom. For a year afterwards, Jessica had taken hovering to extremes, refusing to let me out of her sight. After Carl’s birth, she’d loosened her hold on my leash enough I could go to the stable without her if I was gone for no longer than thirty minutes. After thirty minutes, my wife came to confirm for herself I was where I belonged.

It made escaping to my ranch to visit Eddie and my bulls quite the challenge, especially when I wanted to do so on the sly. It’d taken work, but I maintained my visits, although there was nothing sly about them.

One day, I might figure out if my empathy made me a sucker for punishment or if my natural personality held the blame, but I enjoyed when my wife followed me around constantly. I loved when she bristled if she thought we’d be separated for longer than a few minutes.

An insecure man might have viewed her protective tendencies as a slight against his pride or prowess, but I recognized the truth behind her behavior.

She loved me, and I’d already been targeted once. Her talent gave her the tools needed to be good at the offense and defense. While she held a reputation for being aggressive, she loved nothing more than protecting those she loved.

I could cook and care for my horses, and I could make good use of a hardback in a pinch.

I figured time had done its work, and she needed some space.

I cheerfully blamed Laurette for Jessica’s two week vacation. Our little girl wanted a lot of attention. Jessica needed to come to terms with being pregnant again. The blame went to me on that one; my wife’s various flares of temper brought out her fire and beauty and reduced me to desperation.

After we fought, the need to shower her with all forms of affection took hold, and my empathy talent infected my wife with the same need.

I figured she picked fights just to enjoy the consequences of my talent.

I loved our children, but after seven solid days of being Dad and playing at being a king while their pregnant mother enjoyed some time off, I needed to bail, steal a horse, and find somewhere to hide. Baby Boy needed some exercise as did What’s the Story, Morning Glory. And where What’s the Story, Morning Glory went, Morning Glory and Chocolate Cupcake followed. I betted we could make it across the kingdom before my wife waged war against her RPS agents to drag me back.

The fishing rod, reel, and tackle I’d purchased on my involuntary vacation waited for my attention in my tack room. I’d carved a warning on the box informing everyone if they touched my tackle, they’d face the queen’s wrath.

Seven days of having a monopoly on my attention had worn the entire herd out. Rather than screaming, yelling, and attempting to kill each other so they could have more of my time, they slept in the cushion fort I’d constructed with them in my office.

Even Laurette napped after devouring twice as much milk as I’d expected for her afternoon feeding, a warning she’d be adding inches and pounds the next time I blinked. While we’d already started transitioning her to solid foods, Jessica preferred supplementing our babies with breast milk or formula until a year old. At eight months, Laurette lacked any desire to murder her siblings, making her the easiest of the herd to care for. She just wanted milk, peas, apple sauce, diaper changes, and a lot of cuddles from me. She adored bath time, too, one of my favorite tasks as a parent. On rare occasions, she screamed for Deidre, who loved when her sister wanted affection.

It amazed me that my wife had schemed to escape to the royal ranch two hours away, leaving me to hold down the fort. When she found out I’d decided to hold down the fort by making one out of cushions, we’d have one of our harpy-screeching fights. Normally, those fights had the potential to add another child to our family, but a prior harpy-screeching fight had already accomplished that deed.

Texas had gone from insecurity over the Royal line to having extras kicking around. To my dismay, several kingdoms had already expressed interest in Adam, unaware Deidre would one day head to Europe while Adam took over Texas.

Deidre still adored her prince.

I kept my reservations to myself, made certain her betrothal papers had an easy way out should her chosen prince prove incapable of loyalty, and prepared for what might happen if Deidre didn’t go to Europe to rule.

If the worst came to pass, Deidre and Adam would co-rule Texas, and the two would spread the workload between them. When I’d proposed the idea to Jessica, she’d protested.

Then she’d taken the time to think it through and had embraced it unconditionally.

Our proposal had gotten a rare unanimous vote from our congress, who was aware of the bid for Deidre’s hand in marriage.

Adam’s intellect made even more of a difference than his gender, and our congress clung to the idea of having both rule the kingdom.

To add further complication to my life, my wife took her stubbornness to a whole new level, refusing to acknowledge her current pregnancy. She took her prenatal vitamins without much complaint and accepted offerings of pickled peppers while stating there was zero chance we could possibly be adding yet another hooligan to our herd.

I missed sleep. When the newest addition to our family came along, I doubted I would ever sleep again.

Every child we added to our herd turned any form of rest into a luxury I couldn’t afford.

Jessica needed the extra hours of sleep, and I paid for them without much regret.

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