"Daddy, are you done?" Philippa asked, squirming on her spot.
"Almost, sweetpea," he appeased her. "You know, I would finish is much quicker if you weren't moving so much."
His daughter groaned, but stopped, sitting quietly as Leo pined the end of her braid into place just as her twin ran in front of her, hair done and fixed, probably thanks to Cora.
Getting their kids ready always required a task force. In 15 years, him and Cora had managed to become parents to not one or two, or three, but ten little princesses and princes, five girls and five boys.
Seven of them were going to be present for the celebration of his 15th year of reign, with only little Florent, Andrew and Edna – their younger child, who was just months old – staying behind in the nursery. That meant that Leo and Cora, with the help of his father, Lady Anne, Lady Rosamund Bryton and two of the ladies responsible for the children, had to get all four girls and three boys dressed and ready on time, and Leo was on braiding duty for Anya, Philippa and Dunch.
Anya was the easiest one. Because she was over 10 – his daughter had recently turned 12 – her braids had already changed from child princess to maiden princess, a status she absolutely loved. She wore her silver ribbons with pride and always sat quietly as her red hair – taken from her paternal grandfather – was braided. Even Dunch stayed quiet as he did his hair. The twins… well, they were a different story.
Because Philippa and Anne were just 8, still under 10, his daughters didn't wear any ribbons yet, and that was a relief, because he wouldn't have to worry about trying to make it visible through their strawberry locks, but it was hard to make them settle for long enough to make the simply side braids they would be wearing.
That was why little Philippa was the last one to get ready, after everyone was already dressed, braided and waiting for them to leave.
He was ready to go, finally, when he glanced at Cora. And Cora was gorgeous, she had managed to maintain almost all of her elegant look through braiding the hairs of Florence, Edgar, little Leo and Anne.
Almost.
"My love," he called, causing her to turn to look at him. "Come here, let me fix your hair."
Cora sat on the chair in front of him and Leo carefully pined the thin braid that crowned her hair, undoing and then rebraiding her lower braids, placing letting it fall gently over her collarbones.
"There you go," he smiled, pressing a kiss on her temple.
"Thank you, Leo."
He held her waist gently as she stood up, and kissed her back when Cora brushed her lips over his, pulling away with a chuckle when Edgar fake gagged.
"Don't be gross, dad," he groaned.
Philippa ran to them and pulled on her mother's skirt, and Leo shook his head.
"Come on," she whined. "Everyone is waiting. You can kiss later."
His wife chuckled, already looking for things to fix on their daughters hair, but Leo put a hand in the middle of her back to stop her.
"Don't worry," he whispered. "She'll keep it decent."
"How do you know?" she raised him an eyebrow.
"I trust her."
Cora didn't answer, shaking her head a little bit and straightening her posture.
"If you say so."
And he was right. They paraded through the river that crossed the capital and the kids were all very excited and royal, each with their own levels of each.
Florence and Anya were very royal and elegant, and the twins were more excited than anything, and Dunch was just a little bit done and decided he would be happier climbing Leo and sleeping on his shoulder, which meant he spent the whole time carrying him, leaving Cora to carry on with whatever duty that required free hands.
He wasn't complaining. Even as King and Queen, Leo and Cora were very hands-on as parents. They spent a lot of their time together as a family, and they had taken it upon themselves to tutor them through the countries language and other important things they should know as princes and princesses.
When they made it back to the castle, the nanny took Dunch in her arms to sleep, and one of their ladies brought in Florent and Andrew, who were very excited to come to their small party.
"Hi, Andy," he brushed his youngest boy chubby cheek after he jumped to her arms.
"I missed you, daddy," he grabbed his father's hair.
"You did?" he raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, baby, I hope I didn't take too long."
"Edna sleeps the whole day," he complained. "She's boring."
Leo chuckled.
"She is a baby," he told his son. "She doesn't know how to do a lot of things."
Andrew pouted, and Leo pinched his little nose – a feature he had absolutely inherited from him – making a silly face at his boy.
"You know, you were a baby like her not long ago," he told him. "Soon, she'll be big like you, and you'll be able to play with her just like your other brothers and sisters."
Andrew's eyes grew wide, as green as fresh grass, wet in the morning. His eyes were brown, Cora's eyes were blue and he had no idea where Andrew's eyes had come from, but he absolutely loved staring at them.
"Your majesty," Lady Rosamund walked to him. "Do you want me to hold him?"
"No need," he shook his head. "You should know I'm used to doing everything with one hand carrying a baby, or toddler or kid."
Lady Bryton laughed a little bit, and nodded, walking to adjust the kids' positions and put them in line, from oldest to youngest, and their large family walked into the throne room.
They received gifts, talked to guests, and did everything they should be doing as king and queen before standing up and mingling with them and the kids and Coraline had been standing in a corner, watching their kids dance together and with other people – Leo was absolutely keeping an eye on the Bryton's older boy, who seemed to be ready to lay on the floor for Anya to walk over if she asked him – when he approached her, making his wife jump a little bit in surprise.
"What's going on on your pretty mind?" he asked, smiling down at her.
Cora bit her lip, looking over the group around them.
"I didn't know I could have this," she confessed. "The… family thing. Feeling like home. Ever."
Leo looked at her, resting his hand on the end of her back.
"I didn't know I would even… fall in love with you," she chuckled. "I was looking for the good of the country because I thought you wouldn't know what to do with it, and didn't know if I would even be happy with you."
He chuckled. Yes, he was very inexperienced when he first arrived in Plaenia, and she had been of great help.
"And you married me anyway," Leo noticed.
"Yeah," she mumbled, looking up to meet his eyes. "I made a good choice, after all."
He smiled, and Cora did the same, raising herself to his level and kissing his cheek gently.
"Thank you, Leo," she said to him. "You gave you everything I ever wanted."
He raised her chin, placing a soft kiss on her lips.
"I love you too, sweetheart. Very, very much."