Page 25 of Trickster King

“You got it. I’m sure Mindy won’t mind. She remembers when his daddy died but she never knew what to do about it.”

I grinned at the thought of his daughter, a rather feisty six, making friends with Eddie and creating mayhem. “She as into horses as you are?”

“Absolutely. We’re all horse mad here. She likes cattle, too.”

“When I get the ranch back up and running, bring your girl over for a ranch tour when Eddie’s home. That should start that without them being aware we’re meddling.”

“Sounds like a plan. We were rather surprised when your wife stormed the congress this afternoon without you, especially as she was in a no-prisoners mood. Then, when her RPS agents told her something between sessions, she started hissing about the food-thieving tyrants? There was a hot mic on the podium, but we weren’t broadcasting.”

“She has dubbed our future babies food-thieving tyrants. She was eating for two and not three, so the RPS dragged her in for the ultrasound. It’ll be common knowledge soon enough, although I’m surprised she started that at a session. I guess she’s decided she’s distracting everyone with the news while I am enjoying some time with my boy at the ranch.”

Senator Padrino chuckled. “Well, nobody cared you had left the palace after hearing the words ‘food-thieving tyrants’ leave her mouth, that’s for certain.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised she made it as long as she did after the ultrasound before slipping in congress. She’s probably ready to make her announcement soon. I wasn’t particularly expecting her to inform the congress she’s having twins through hissing at her RPS agents, but this is my wife we’re talking about here. She lives to do the unexpected. I suspect a distraction ploy. You can just quietly tell the congress Eddie isn’t feeling well. I won the draw to pick him up from school and be Dad for the next few days. The school nurse requested quiet.”

“Yet you’re moving your entire cattle operations with him in tow?”

“It’s the sort of quiet he appreciates.”

The senator snorted. “I can’t tell if you’re an excellent or terrible role model.”

“A bit of both. Now that I have you batting on my team for cattle, can I ask for a favor?”

“What do you need?”

I smiled at the thought of sending my wife all over Texas while I went to my new ranches and set up my operations. “Cover for me. I’m about to challenge my wife, and I need you and some other members of congress to help with my efforts.”

“Okay. What do you need?”

“I need a list of ranches I can go drop by for five minutes to say I was there, and then you all talk about how I’d sprung a visit on you with my boy in tow. I have some destinations in mind, but I need to get my cattle handled here first.”

“You’re running away?” He snickered. “Considering you haven’t taken more than a day or two at rare intervals since your coronation unless forced upon you, this is an interesting change.”

“I am running away with my boy, and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. Jessica is pregnant with twins. I will never be able to leave the palace unattended after this.” I didn’t mind, as once we added two more to the herd, I would become too busy to even breathe. “I’m not against begging.”

“You could use a vacation—one that wasn’t triggered by a bunch of twisted politicians who thought it was a good idea to remove a family man from the picture.”

Yep. Senator Padrino still harbored a healthy amount of resentment over my kidnapping, which had smeared the Texas political field for months afterwards. Jessica had needed to convince the entirety of our kingdom we didn’t need to toss out every elected official and that those responsible for my kidnapping had received a fair punishment for the crime.

The ones who had run and stayed in Texas had ended up going to prison—in a different kingdom, where they would remain for life. The rest had accepted their exile without a peep.

We’d accomplished our most important goal, sparing their families from a punishment they didn’t deserve.

In a way, one of the representatives had paid far worse prices. Upon learning the truth, the entirety of his family had turned on him, sending him into exile alone.

His family had declared their innocence in front of those who could sniff out the truth, and we’d granted them the mercy we hadn’t been shown.

They still lived in Texas, their lives a careful balance of the past, present, and future.

Jessica, in particular, worked hard to keep their lives pleasant, shielding them from the vindictive and giving members of the family opportunities when necessary. One of the representative’s younger daughters, recently turned eighteen, worked in the palace as an aide to a senator. The senator in question knew who she was, had helped her change her name so she could go through life undetected, and believed she would likely marry his son one day.

We worked hard to protect that, too.

Not a day went by without remembering everything I did had some sort of consequence—consequences others often paid.

“You’ll cover me?”

“You got it—and we don’t even need you to swing by our ranches. We’ll just complain we keep having to accommodate you flitting around Texas, unchecked and wild from freedom. We’ll have fun with it. And to sweeten the pot for you, we’ll complain about how you make doe eyes at our foals every time you come to our ranches and hate having to break your horse empath heart.”

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