Chapter 12

Four months later

Aiden and Clint sat on the fountain in the inner courtyard and watched Dylan as he chased his cousin around. Colt and Colby were the first of the Court's children to arrive. Colt was eight while his sister was eleven. Though they were older they loved to play with the baby. They loved his laugh more than anything.

Clint cast his gaze to his wife. She had settled down and become a calmer person. Her mind was always on the betterment of their people, but if something came up that dealt with her son, he was her first priority. Family was the most important thing in her life and she was going to keep it that way.

Mikey had taken a month and a half to sift through all of the information Tyler and Austin had provided for him. There had been a massive indictment followed by a court hearing. After several hours of deliberation, those involved in the extortion and planned treason of the Golden Court were sentenced to life in prison, and that was different than human prison. Completely different altogether.

Court and Council were going well. Austin, Tyler and Keldin had moved to their Sectors to set up their teams. Austin already had his picked out. A couple of the guys he added he had saved from an idiot and was good friends with them. Keldin was having a little more trouble since he was the quieter of the Somme twins. Tyler already had his team. Klark and Jesse moved to the border of Louisiana and Mississippi so they could be close to their Sector and the Queen.

Kathryn and Jordan ventured into the courtyard with Cole and Wyatt. The two families had blended perfectly. Kathryn provided the motherly affection Aiden needed and her brothers were the ones who could keep a rein on her if Clint couldn't. It all worked out for them in the end.

"It seems you're dealing well."

Clint and Aiden turned around startled. Then Aiden jumped up and flew into Mikey's arms. Four months since the twins had seen each other and that meant emotions were still a little raw because they hadn't been able to discuss what had happened. The fountain trembled momentarily before settling again.

Clint knew his wife was still a little sore about the fact that he could have been killed. No matter how many times he consoled her that he was alive, she wouldn't listen. Then again he could understand her reasoning. Losing Tallyn had been like losing a part of herself. She wouldn't be able to handle it.

After a few minutes of fierce hugging, Mikey set his sister on her feet and led her back to the fountain rim. She sat down between him and Clint, leaning back on her hands as her eyes drifted to her son.

"I fired Igor, Pauline, Stanton, and Ethan. You were right. They were part of the old regime and needed to be extricated," he said to fill the silence that had settled between them.

"You didn't kill them, did you?" she asked.

"No, I didn't, but I put hefty fines on them and their families. By their nineties they will have paid back every cent they stole from our trust funds while they rot in jail." He smiled then. "Did you tell Tyler and Austin about not hacking my systems?"

"Yes, but Tyler's the one that developed that system. It's not like I can take the passwords. He'll just make a new one."

"But we can set restrictions on how long he can peek and when. Such as times like these," Clint added.

Mikey nodded at his brother-in-law's suggestion. "Sounds fair."

Aiden watched her brother's face. "Mikey, don't be the King for today. Just enjoy being with the family. You haven't seen your niece and nephews in a while."

He arched a dark brown but his golden eyes were alight with laughter. He stood and walked to his youngest nephew and swung him up in his arms. Aiden and Clint smiled at each other then followed him. For now they would enjoy the peace of their family before the next hurricane set in.

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Journal Entry… Ah hell, no one cares.

Sometime in the near future, I will let someone read all of these. It has been really beneficial for me to write things down as I go. I am able to process through things better when I see them in words.

Will this be an easy job? No. Will there be times where I want to give up and pass my title on to someone else? Absolutely. But I haven't fought this hard to the last several months not to try my best.

Hopefully down the road when my son is old enough, we will have settled into a semblance of normalcy. When it's time for him to inherit my title, hopefully he won't have to struggle as much as his father and I did. I want to leave a legacy he is proud of.

I can say I am proud of what we have done so far. I would like everyone to keep a log of what they do, but most of them are too ADHD for that. I'll keep my logs of my life, and hopefully they can help someone later.

Book 2 of The Silver Court Series will be released soon. Look forward to Austin's story in Thunder.