Happily Ever After
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- So this is the last in a trilogy that was never supposed to be a trilogy, lol. This follows “Hollow” and “Healing” [NSFW] and deals with Diavolos and Kenna taking some much needed family time. This is the response to two requests as well, one asking for a story where Diavolos plays hide and seek with the kids and loses one and then one asking for a birthday party and the line “this is what happily ever after feels like”.
Pairing- Kenna/Diavolos
Rating- PG
Summary- Kenna and Diavolos take a much needed getaway with their children. Follows “Hollow” and “Healing”.
Words- 1567
“Diavolos?” Kenna asks quietly one night.
“Yes, my love?” Her husband raises himself onto his elbow so that he can look at her. The love in his eyes takes her breath away. Even after all this time, she will never get used to the way Diavolos loves her.
“I want to go to the mountain castle for a while.” It’s something she’s been thinking about for some time, she’s just been waiting for things to settle down before suggesting it.
“The whole court?” Diavolos asks in surprise.
Kenna shakes her head, “no, just us and the children.”
She knows they’ll need to bring some servants and guards, of course, but she wants to keep it that. She doesn’t want to make it a social occasion, she just wants time away with her family.
So much has happened in the past few months… The trouble in her marriage, the political uprising, the shooting… She and Diavolos have found their way back to each other, but she knows they could still use some time together, with their children, away from the stress of their everyday life. Not as King and Queen, but as husband and wife, as a family and after everything they’ve been through, she feels like they deserve it.
“If that’s what you want, we’ll make it happen,” Diavolos promises, placing a kiss on her shoulder.
—
It isn’t that easy, of course.
It turns out that the King and Queen can’t just pack up and go on vacation whenever the mood strikes them. It requires a lot of planning and strategy. Security has to be taken into consideration, plus delegating responsibilities of two separate kingdoms and arguing over who will accompany them.
Jackson tries to insist on going with them but Kenna firmly turns him down. “You have your own family to look after” she reminds him, “I can’t take you away from them for a month.”
She says the same thing to Raydan and Dom, after all so much has changed over the last ten years and all her friends have lives and responsibilities separate from her and her court, as it should be. Besides as much as she loved her friend, she wants this time with Diavolos, not with Diavolos and a few of their closest friends.
Kenna knows they can’t go completely alone, but she’d rather choose guards who aren’t part of the family, who would be fine to watch and observe, but she wouldn’t feel the need to entertain.
“You are still the most stubborn woman I have ever met,” Jackson tells her, but in the end, Kenna gets her way and the trip is arranged.
—
As much as Kenna loves Stormholt, there’s something special about the castle in the Abanthean mountains. It’s where she and Diavolos went to be alone shortly after their marriage, so it was the natural choice for this much-needed getaway.
“Can we climb the mountain?” Leon asks excitedly.
“I don’t know if we can climb the whole mountain, but we can go for a hike,” Kenna agrees with a smile.
Her children love being outdoors, something they’ve inherited from both her and Diavolos.
“There’s lots to explore in the castle too,” Diavolos points out.
The boys take that as an invitation and immediately run off, desperate to discover every nook and cranny of the castle. Adriana is content to go at a slower pace, oohing and ahhing over how pretty everything is while Livia toddles determinedly after her brothers.
Kenna watches them with a smile, thinking that this was just what she needs, what they all need.
—
While Kenna and Diavolos have always been devoted parents, their duties tend to keep them busy and there is only so much time in the day. Now, though, they can devote their days to being with the children and the kids thrive on having their parents undivided attention
There are hikes and horseback rides and endless games of hide-and-seek.
Though, Kenna decides there needs to be some rules after they lose Adriana for several hours because she manages to hide a secret hidey-hole that neither Kenna or Diavolos knew it existed and fall asleep.
It’s an experience that’s not exactly conducive to the relaxing family vacation that Kenna had in mind, though Adriana is very proud of herself, “I won!” She says, sticking her tongue out at her older brothers. It’s out of character for Kenna’s sweet-natured little girl and makes her laugh despite herself.
The next day, she and Diavolos leave the kids in the care of the nurse and explore every nook and cranny of the castle, finding a few surprises, to make sure that that situation doesn’t happen again.
—
At night, after the children are asleep, it’s Kenna and Diavolos’s time to be together.
They make love, yes, but they also talk for hours, sharing more of themselves than they have in years. They talk about old times, re-learn every scar and mark on each other’s body and the stories behind them, and share their feelings about the last few months.
He tells her about what he went through when she was shot. “When I thought I might lose you…” Diavolos trails off, unable to finish the thought and Kenna holds him close, comforting him.
In turn, she opens up about her despair after Livia’s birth. “I just felt this overwhelming sadness and anger that the choice had been taken away from me,” she admits, “and I guess, I was angry that you didn’t feel the same and I pulled away from you.”
“I’m so sorry, my love,” Diavolos tells her, “I should have been more sensitive…”
“Well, I didn’t marry you for your sensitivity,” Kenna teases, causing him to growl at her at mock outrage.
Diavolos grabs her and flips her so that he is looming over.
“So why did you marry me?” He asks in a low voice, his face hovering right above hers.
“I can think of a few reasons,” Kenna says breathlessly before his lips claim hers.
After that, there is no more talking for a while.
—
Livia turns two during the trip and they celebrate just the six of them.
Normally, the children’s birthdays are grand affairs, with the whole court wanting to celebrate and it’s kind of nice to keep it simple. In fact, as a child, Kenna used to dream of having a simple birthday celebration, and so this is as much for her as Livia. Besides Livia is young enough that she’ll be happy as long as there is cake.
“Can we make the cake ourselves?” Adriana inquires.
Kenna just stares at her. She’s never baked anything in her life. In fact, the only time she’s ever been in the kitchens is to discuss things with the cook.
“We can try,” she says, not one to deny her daughter anything.
So Kenna and Adriana head to the kitchen and tell the cook what they want. Kenna notices the older looks both dismayed and amused by the idea of the Queen and the princess baking a cake, but she gamely agrees to show them.
It’s not the cleanest endeavor (and Kenna resolves to give the kitchen staff a bonus) but they make an edible cake. Maybe it’s not the prettiest cake ever, but it really does taste good, and that’s what matters right?
Diavolos and the boys lavish praise on their creation, though the boys aren’t quite as enthusiastic as their father and she can see Diavolos nudging Rys to make him say something nice.
It’s a perfect evening, just the kind that Kenna use to long for when she was a lonely princess, wishing for a simpler life. She knows that they’ll have to go back to reality soon, but this trip has been everything she ever wanted.
—
“You look happy,” Diavolos comments with a smile. They’re watching the boys spar while Adriana is dancing in a corner and Livia naps in Diavolos’s lap.
“I am,” Kenna tells him with a warm smile, “why wouldn’t I be? This is what happily ever after feels like.”
Diavolos is quiet for a moment. “I never thought I’d have this,” he says finally and she can hear the awe in his voice, even after all these years, “I thought I was going to die fighting my father’s war and never let myself imagine anything else. Sometimes I still think this is just a dream and I’ll wake up and be back on the battlefield.”
Kenna reaches over and squeezes his hand, remembering the way he was when they first met, struggling to be more than his father’s shadow and marveling at how far he’s come since then. From hardened warrior to devoted husband and father.
“It’s not a dream,” she assures him, “it’s real and it’s ours.”
It isn’t always perfect, they have their struggles, but as she holds her husband’s hand and watches their children play, she marvels at our wonderful it is.
Soon they’ll have to head back to court, first Lykos and then Stormholt, and the realities of royal life and duty. She’s ready. This interlude has been wonderful, a chance to reconnect as a couple and a family, but she’s ready to go back to their everyday lives.
She’s ready to keep living their lives and see what happens next, knowing that with Diavolos and the children by her side, she can handle anything.
- End
