“I seriously doubt you could have chosen a bigger dress, Alex,” I say, and she chuckles as she looks at me. The dress has a massive, black skirt at the bottom, with a white, frost pattern laced down the dress on one side, and the top part is all white lace. Alex put my hair into a bun that is on one side, and there is a little curled bit left out that shapes my makeup-filled face. I don’t usually wear this much, but the smoky eyes and pale lipstick does look pretty. The thoughts of my long night with Wyatt flash through my mind; the things he whispered in my ear as he was inside me. The way he held me in his arms all night afterwards, last night was perfect. Only when I left Wyatt’s room this morning to get dressed in my own, I didn’t expect to walk into the selection of dresses and madness that Alex had turned my bedroom into. The dress is every bit perfect for the crowning of the angel king and queen, well me and Dabriel. Alex couldn’t have chosen a better dress for me to wear, and even being in it is giving me some confidence about today. The black represents the dark angels and the white lace, the light angels. I want us all to be united, and this dress shows off that. I love that I didn’t even have to tell Alex this, she just knew.

“This one isn’t as tight as the red one I made you wear last time,” she says, reminding me of the night I was stupid enough to let the vampire king use me to open that portal. The dress was amazing, though. I look over at Alex as she straightens her long, red hair, and memories of growing up with Alex flash through my mind. I remember the first time I met her and sharing my ice cream. I remember holding her as her parents hadn’t fed her in two days and giving her my lunch before taking her back to my house for the first time. Once I told my mum, she adored and looked after Alex as much as I did. Alex was always more of a sister to me, and despite the fact the demon king has killed all my family, I still have Alex. I will fight to the very end to see her live through this war.

“You’re my best friend, you know that?” I tell her and walk over, giving her a hug. Alex has on a simple, white dress with little, black flowers up the sides. Simple, but stunning. Her red hair brings that little bit of colour to her outfit, as well as the red, jewelled necklace she has on. I don’t recognise it, but it’s lovely.

“Yes, I think so, although I miss the days where we planned our nights out and not how to survive a war,” she replies.

“I miss those, too, but I think this was always planned for us. All of it,” I say and place my hand on her still small stomach.

“What did Drake say?” I ask her, and she smiles at me. I haven’t had much time to speak to her alone about everyone’s reactions to the pregnancy. I know everyone knows but not how she told them.

“He was over the moon and told everyone. I’ve never seen him this happy,” she tells me with a bright, happy smile. Alex is almost glowing recently, with what I’m sure are pregnancy hormones.

“Want to know what the army brat said?” Alex asks me, referring to Leigha.

“Something about locking you somewhere safe, I bet,” I reply, knowing what Leigha is like.

“Yep. She insists on training some poor girl to protect me and locking me away,” Alex says. It doesn’t surprise me one bit.

“My mates all say she is amazing at training, that all the people respect and listen to her. Jaxson thinks it’s best to let her and Harris work together permantly to train everyone. They are both very good,” I say.

“Only because they are scared of her and too scared to say anything about her in case either Harris or Drake hear them. Both of them are seriously protective of Leigha,” Alex chuckles, and I remember Leigha training me, I was scared of her, too.

“I think Harris is good for Leigha. He has that playfulness that is good for her. She is too serious on her own,” I reply.

“Like how your mates are good for you. Each one of them. I don’t know, it’s like they make you complete and happy.”

“It’s because I love them. It’s that simple.” I say gently, thinking of them as I smooth my dress down, and there’s a knock at the bedroom door.

“Come in,” I shout.

“It’s time,” Lucifer says as he walks in. Lucifer has a long, black cloak on, with dark-black clothes on underneath, and there is a clip with double wings holding the cloak together near his neck. His large, black wings fold in on themselves, so I can only see the tips of them as he stands waiting for us. There is only him and Gabriel left from the council, and it’s custom for a council member to walk the new queen to the soon to be crowned king. This was explained last night by Dabriel before he left me with Wyatt and went off to play cards and have a few drinks with the other guys.

“Good luck, but you don’t need it. You’re every bit the queen they need, you’re kind, strong, powerful, and most of all, you’re meant for this,” Alex tells me and walks out as I take a deep breath. She is right, but it’s hard to convince myself of it.

“Let’s go,” I tell Lucifer as I walk over, and he offers his elbow, so I link my arm in his.

“I wouldn’t have chosen a better queen for us, even if you are no angel. Only angels have sat on the throne for many years. But, times are changing, we as supernaturals are never going to forget this war or the fact it’s brought us all together,” Lucifer says, and I laugh a little.

“Have I ever told you that the Goddess shows me the past in my dreams sometimes?” I ask him.

“No, you have not,”

“In the past, all supernaturals lived together in the castle. In peace,” I say, knowing that this has worked for the supernaturals in the past, and it will work again. We just need to put our differences aside and work towards our future.

“Can I ask you a favour?” he asks as we walk down the corridor, and he stops us at the top of the stairs. The stairs are lined with flowers, all white, and have been tied to the bannister. Someone has even tied fairy lights around the bannister in-between the flowers and the effect is amazingly beautiful.

“You can ask, but I can’t guarantee I will be able to help,” I reply, knowing as a queen my word is not something I can just hand out to anyone. I’ve come a long way since I first met everyone, and since then, there is a lot of responsibility resting with me.

“My son Josh, is a half and what he is . . . well I don’t want anyone ever knowing. Especially, not him,” Lucifer tells me, and I look up at him.

“Why not?” I ask, because I don’t believe in anyone not knowing who they are, what they are. My own past and who I am was kept from me, and that nearly killed a lot of people.

“Because it would destroy him,” he tells me, his dark eyes watching me, and I don’t know what to say to him.

“Did you love his mother?” I finally ask.

“No, my sister loved his father,” he tells me, and it starts to make some sense now. I know angels only mate to one person, so having a child with another would have to have happened after he was mated. I know this does happen because of what Dabriel told me of his father and his siblings.

“So, he isn’t yours?” I ask gently.

“No, but no one can ever know that. My mate, well she dislikes Josh but won’t ever tell the secret of where he came from. She was bound by my sister before my sister died in childbirth. Angel births are difficult to survive, and with who his father is . . .,” his sentence drifts off when some witches in cloaks walk past us, stopping to bow at me before going down the stairs.

“What is it you wish from me?” I ask him gently when they are gone, understanding that this is big for him to tell me. I have the feeling he never told anyone other than his mate this.

“If I die in this war, protect him as your own. Tell him that his parents are both alive but in a place no one can return from. That they could only be together that way.”

“But, you said his mother died?”

“She did,” he tells me, and I just don’t understand what he is saying. If she is dead, how is she with her partner?

“That doesn’t make sense,” I say.

“I can’t, I can’t tell you anymore . . .,” he says firmly, but the slight quiver in his tone suggests he wants to tell me more.

“You’re blood bound,” I say, realising straight away why he can’t tell me. This must have been what it was like for Jaxson not to say anything about Freddy.

“I will protect him, if I can,” I tell Lucifer, who takes a deep breath at my words.

“And, I will protect you on the battlefield and your mates, My Queen,” he says and nods his head at me before starting to walk us down the stairs. When we get to the bottom, there is a mixture of people standing around, all in white or black with their heads bowed. Some in cloaks, and some are in wolf form. The very presence of all these supernaturals, standing together to crown the angel king and queen is amazing. We walk down the path way in the middle of them, which is sprinkled with white rose petals on the floor, as I look around the entrance hall. We eventually get outside, where I see my mates all standing together, one after the other next to an archway of white and black roses. My eyes run over all of them. Wyatt, Jaxson, and Atti have black shirts and black trousers on, with white roses pinned on the pockets. Dab has a white shirt and black trousers, with a black rose pinned on him. They all look extremely handsome as they stand there and all I can think of is how good they look without their clothes, too. After getting my hormones in check, we walk down the pathway and Lucifer lets go of my arm, handing it to Dabriel.

Dabriel pulls me close to him, whispering as he brushes his lips against my ear, “You look so beautiful, Winter.”

I blush, and he smiles as he pulls away from me to face the old angel standing under the arch. I walk forward with Dabriel, remembering this angel is called Gabriel and the last light angel on the council to survive the battle. I haven’t spoken to him much, just a little with Dabriel, but he comes across as firm. The angel has long, grey hair, which I’m sure was white when he was younger and large wings, much like Dabriel’s. His light-purple eyes watch me and he smiles as he starts to speak.

“Thank you to everyone that came here today to witness the crowning of the King of the Angels, and his Queen. I never expected to crown a king like this, with not only angels, but witches, wolves, and vampires to watch. I feel this is how we will survive from now on, united together against a war that threatens us all. We need our royals to win this, for it’s what the prophecy told us, and the only way I feel we will win,” he says, and cheers follow his words through the crowd. Gabriel walks over and picks a crown out of a box that a male angel holds behind the arch before walking back over. Dabriel lets go of my hand to kneel down and lower his head.

“I crown King Dabriel, King of the Angels.”

The cheers that follow Dabriel being crowned are so loud I’m sure the world can hear them and seem to go on for a long time as Dabriel stands up, his purple eyes glowing. The crown is just as powerful as the others, with white, almost silver stones inside the silver swirls. I pull my gaze away when Dabriel links our hands and holds them up in the air.

“Queen Winter!” Dabriel shouts, and then everyone shouts my name back, the sound filling the outside. The angel ceremony is far simpler than the vampire one, the crown seems to be important to them. I look over to see Jaxson and Atti with their crowns on and the absence of Wyatt’s crown is noticeable. I don’t feel you need a crown to rule, you can rule on your own.

“We will win this,” Dabriel whispers as he lowers our hands and slides his other hand onto the back of my head, kissing me. I hope he will win this too, and that the price isn’t too high to do so.