Acceptance

Chapter 74

Qin's POV

I felt the burn as I continued to push myself during my work out. We made a statement over the news about our war declaration. Since then Alice and Drake have been getting in contact with all of our allies, readying in case it lead to a fight on the battlefield. Pyrus and Shelton are working on supplies to ensure if we had to set up camp, our soldiers would be well equipped. Cindy has been acting as a mother hen, taking care of us. She has made sure no one skipped a meal, yells at us when we stay up to late, and a number of other things. I have been working on getting the warlock warriors up to speed with modern practices around war. I have the help with the warriors Alice trained before we found out she was pregnant. After she became pregnant, Nathaniel had taken over their training. The time of swords and shields were gone.

After the attack on the castle, our parents have decided to make themselves at home to help us with the twins, and to ensure we were safe as well. Our fathers were readying to go with us to the front line. Now however, it was becoming a fight between me and my mates on who would be going. We can't all go and leave the women defenseless. We decided to leave that decision till later since it isn't confirmed if combat was going to happen.

I could feel eyes watching me so I stopped doing my chin ups and turned my head. I saw Cindy standing in the door way. "No, don't stop," she whined. "I love watching those sexy muscles of yours. It's rare we get to see them since you wear shirts all the time." I dropped to the floor, my face feeling much hotter, "Are you saying you wish I went about shirtless?" "Only in the bedroom," she confirmed. "I wouldn't mind if the rest of your clothes were missing either."

I felt the heat in my face increase as I grabbed my towel to wipe away my sweat. "So what brings you to me," I asked her curiously. "To get you to stop working out and come take a shower before you join me for lunch." I began to shake my head, "Cindy I can't." I froze when I saw the glare in her eyes, "You can, and you will. You need to tak better care of yourself, Qin Vin," she snapped before grabbing me by the ear and teleporting me to our room. She then pushed me to the shower. "Now go shower you workaholic."

Not wanting to anger her even more, I did as she said. When the hot water hit my muscles I let out a soft groan. I quickly showered and got out. I wrapped a towel around my waist before leaving the bathroom. "Where are the twins," I asked her curiously. "With my parents in the media room," she replied. I put on some clothes before she took my hand and dragged me from the room. We went to the kitchen where she took a tray of prepared food and decided we would be eating in the courtyard today.

"So I know for safety reasons we aren't going to do a big thing for your birthday like we did for Pyrus and Alice, but I still wanted to get you something," she said before making a small present appear in her hands. "I know it's a couple of days early, but I felt you needed it now." She held it out to me eagerly. I smiled softly as I took it from her. I opened the box and found a watch much similar to what she had gotten Shelton. "I went and made sure this one had the ability to have two alarms," She explained to me. "One alarm is set for the time you should be eating lunch and the other alarm is for when you should be eating dinner. No more skipping meals. When that starts beeping you better stop what you're doing and get you something to eat."

I smiled softly, "And if I'm too busy pleasuring one of you or feeding one of our other mates?" "That's the only exception, then immediately afterwards, you get something to eat. Also make sure to drink plenty of water. Don't need you getting dehydrated," She told me. I nodded, "Yes my Queen." She rolled her eyes, "I'm not a Queen." "You're a Queen in my eyes," I told her. Her cheeks reddened and I felt like I made the greatest accomplishment in the world. It was rare anyone other than Alice and I blush, so I take great pride when I can get the others to turn red.

I slipped the watch on, "Thank you Cindy, I love it." She smiled brightly, "I'm glad." We then began to eat while talking about things that didn't involve our current issues. We talked about the twins, and we talked about Alice's most recent appointment with the doctor. Cindy wanted to plan the baby shower so badly and couldn't wait to know what the genders. We knew one was a female since she was part succubus, but the others were a complete mystery.

"I see I'm missing a nice and peaceful moment," Drake said as he came outside. "I wanted to make sure Qin didn't miss lunch," Cindy said while smiling. He gave her a kiss before kissing me. "I see you also gave him his present early," Drake noted. "Because he needs it. I wont be able to barge in everyday to tell him he needs to eat since once I'm crowned I'll have my own things I need to do," Cindy explained to him. "Although I'll do it as often as I can."

I smiled, "I'll be looking forward to it." After lunch, I went back to working, handling paperwork, and going over reports.

Cindy's POV

Knowing Qin had eaten, I was able to go about my day. I went to Alice's spell room and saw she was in the office attached to it. She had a bag of sour cream and onion chips open that she was munching on while drinking a peach flavored soda. I tried not to cringe at the odd combination since I too had weird cravings. She smiled when she saw me. "Did you eat lunch," I asked her. She nodded, "I had chicken parmesan with garlic bread." I smiled happily, "Wonderful." I went around her desk to give her a kiss. After kissing her I looked at her computer screen.

"Whatcha doing," I asked her curiously. "I'm going over the reports on the rebels. I'm trying to see if I can predict their next possible moves. It won't be a sure thing, but it will allow us to be better prepared," She replied. I pulled a chair around and sat next to her. "What do you have so far," I asked her.

She showed me her notebook that had well thought out ideas. "They are trying to attack us when we should expect it the most, like the day of the coronation, because they want to make a statement. Every time they did a big attack, it was during one of our events, even those that the guys handled before the attacks happened. They seem to no longer be trying to do anymore smaller attacks, like when they shot at Drake and Pyrus, so we don't have that to worry about. However, the bigger the statement the rebels want to make, the bigger the attack, resulting in a larger number of casualties. If we truly do meet on the battlefield, it will be their biggest statement, with the most casualties. Unfortunately the rebels are past communication, and won't settle for any treaties or words of peace. They want action, and it's an action they're wanting to take."

"What do you think their next attack will be," I asked her. "My money is on the next full moon," she confessed to me. "It will be a time we're all split to celebrate and follow the customs of our people." "Attacking on a full moon would also be a declaration of war against the moon Goddess," I pointed out to her. "Are you sure they would risk something like that?" She nodded, "They could be blaming her for the kingdom unification because she was the one that mated all of us together after all."

She had a very valid point. "We will have miss this full moon," I declared. "That may not stop the attacks though. We're at war now. They could attack to simply wipe out our soldiers and followers," she told me. She ran a hand through her hair and I could tell she had been working on this for a while. "Take a break honey," I told her. "We'll talk this over with the others and get their thoughts on the matter. Right now, you need to get some rest."

She sighed and nodded, "You're right." She sent her notebook to her pocket dimension to ensure no one could try to sneak in and read it, before taking my hand. "Care to take a nap with me," she asked me. I nodded, "I would love too."