After I gave her a glass, I found Rayna off to the side of the room, leaning heavily against Wesson. She was injured, but recovering just fine.

“How are you feeling?” I asked my sister, stepping up beside them.

“Exhausted. And a little ashamed that a human had to save me from a selkie, but I suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now.”

Wesson grunted. “Eila was fighting to save her children. You shouldn’t feel ashamed for losing to someone that determined.”

“And clearly, Aria is far from human at this point.” My gaze followed my mate as she sipped her drink, her hips swaying lightly to the music playing in the background as she chatted.

“Your mate is impressive,” Rayna admitted. “I still can’t believe she controlled the beach for as long as she did with only a few months of training. I’m not sure I want to know what her power will be like in a few years.”

“Or a few decades,” Wesson rumbled.

“She’ll be stronger than I am far sooner than that.” There was no suppressing the pride in my voice—and I didn’t try to.

“Joa asked a question the other day that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind,” Rayna remarked. “How did we even end up voting about whether or not you would take a mate? Us traditionalists should’ve known it wouldn’t go in our favor. Not with how many turned humans we have happily pregnant right now. Someone mentioned it out of the blue, and we voted merely a few days afterward. None of us even considered the fact that she’d have the same power level as you.”

My lips curved. “Perhaps you all should’ve considered more deeply the consequences of determining my fate for me.”

No one had come out and asked me if I’d played a role in the vote, but I’d heard the same questions floating around that my sister had. They’d started fairly soon after I announced Aria as my queen, not just my breeder.

“Do you think she’ll change the abstinence law before one of your children takes the throne?” Rayna asked.

She didn’t seem upset by the thought. Though she was firmly traditionalist, she was one of the few people who had actually seen evidence of the loneliness that had consumed me before.

“I think she’ll change a lot of things,” I said. “And I look forward to every single one.”

Wesson sighed. “This place isn’t what it used to be.”

We all knew he was talking about the way it had been before the Dragons’ War.

“And it never will be again,” I affirmed. “But it’s much better than it was ten years ago. We’re developing a new normal.”