The End of Innocence: Book 3 of the Kinstone series
Chapter 10: A slowdown and reconnect

When I finally was able to pull myself away from the horde and never-ending barrage of questions, I retreated to one of the many pavilions and plopped onto a picnic table bench and let out a long hard sigh. That is just way too intense. But then again, the Summer Gathering really is more of a family reunion and everyone just wants to catch up with me.

I rest my back against the table and folding my arms into my lap. My eyes pan over the park, watching men standing in front of fire spitting grills, all with beers in their hands as they laugh together.

The women all group together, talking about anything about the previous spring. My eyes then catch Fenris as over a dozen little kids chase after him, with a couple on his back. I grin, noticing a few other familiars appearing on the park grounds, all staring at him.

I pull my legs into my chest and hug them. A warm breeze gently blew against me, catching some of my hair as I sit in the shade. This is what I’ve been looking forward to for the past couple of months.

No suitors, no having to deal with foreign dignitaries, just the massive extended family of my Coven. I lean onto my knees, my jacket hugging my chest.

The bench rocks and creaks a little. I pan over to see Alexis and Henry both climbing over the table and sitting with me. I give a soft smile, seeing my old teammates, “Hey guys.”

Alexis plops herself beside me, pulling my tiny frame into her, hugging me, “Hey hunny, you have no idea at how much I’ve missed you.”

I rest my head onto her chest, “Missed you too. It’s been a crazy long spring for me.”

She flicks my nose, grinning, “So I’ve heard.”

Henry sits on top of the table and leans over, ruffling my hair, “Good to see you squirt.”

I smile, “Hey Henry. So…did you get lost while on your dates?”

He smirks, “For your information no, I never get lost.”

I cock my head to him, looking unconvinced.

He rolls his eyes, “Okay, okay. It happened only once when I tried to take her up to the overlook near our town. I...ended up taking us clear across the other side of town.”

My mouth stretches into a broad Cheshire grin, “There’s still that option of implanting a GPS into your brain.”

He huffs at me, “Keep dreaming squirt.”

I giggle. Apparently he had also gotten lost while just driving to the store, somehow making a turn down a random street for whatever reason.

He then pats my shoulder, “You doing okay? I assume everyone’s been asking you that question a lot.”

I lean my head into Alexis’ chest, letting out a soft sigh, “As well as can be expected I guess. Still haven’t accepted the idea that I’m royalty. Not only that, the princess to a kingdom that’s been gone for centuries. So what’s to rule if there’s nothing to rule?”

He shrugs, “Can’t say.” I sigh, feeling Alexis stroking my arm.

“Hey…I’m betting with this news that that merman probably decided to back off didn’t he?” she chimes.

My head shakes softly, “Nope. The day I found out about this, he showed up in my lake.”

She looks to me, “Are you serious?”

I give a soft sigh, “Turns out I was right in that he’s the prince of Nerazon.”

Alexis’ teal eyes shimmer in disbelief, “He’s…the prince?”

I smirk, grinning, “Yeah.”

She leans over and stares into my eyes, “Please tell me you said yes to him asking you for your hand.”

I glare at her, “No. But I did set our feelings straight.”

She slaps her forehead, “Girl…he’s the freaking prince of merpeople. What more could you ask for?”

My cheeks burn hotter. “Maybe someone that I might actually care for?” whispering.

The both of them look at me, with Alexis grinning, “You found someone didn’t you?” My head pans away from her. Her grin only widens, “Oh. My. God. You have. You really did replace someone.”

My cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. Henry ruffles my hair some more, “Wow…to think that our little Aria was going to stay single forever.”

I bury my face into her chest even more, which only makes her laugh, “So…who’s the lucky guy or maybe girl?”

Great, just had to be ambushed like this. I knew it was coming, just not from either of them.

“His name…is Kenji. I met him while over in Japan.”

She hugs me tightly, “Oh…so is he human then? Did you replace a nice normal boy?”

I stare off into the distance, “He’s a kitsune.”

Her grip tightens, “Oh I see,” sounding like a dowering mother, “well I hope he treated our little girl with respect. Because he didn’t, he’ll received zero mercy from me.”

I giggle, “Fenris would’ve been first to do something if he did.”

I feel planting a kiss onto my temple, “Good.”

Henry hops off of the table and kneels before me, “You’ve got a lot of people rooting for you. You know that right?”

I smile to him, “Thanks Henry.”

He grins, holding my hand.

A small wisp of chilled wind blows against us, causing Henry to shiver. My eyes crane up to see Fenris sitting in front of us, with a couple kids dangling from his tail. I chuckle, “Hey Papa Wolf, need something?”

He gently places the kids onto the ground, “I was asked to bring you over to where the tournament is to be held.”

Alexis pulls out her phone, “Damn, is it starting this early? Last year they didn’t do it until after we had lunch.”

I take a long deep breath, “Guess it’s time to see who reigns supreme this year.”

Henry grins, “I’m not going to lose to you again squirt.”

My head turns to him, smirking, “Make it through the prelims and we’ll see.” He slaps my hands and stands up. Alexis pulls me forward and off of the bench, and walking us over to where the rest of the children are now gathering.