“But…” Niemi frowns, stepping over the threshold and gazing sharply around. “The changeling.”
I’ve heard enough. “Johannes was well protected, and Lark took care of the creature before anyone could be hurt.”
I won’t tell him about Lark getting bitten. Since Katja healed him, it doesn’t feel important to mention.
The sentry scans my face, then Lark’s, then the kids, who have all lined up in the hallway. They look calm. All orderly and safe.'
After a pause, the sentry exhales and tugs a folded parchment from his satchel. “Fine. I won’t report this since it appears no harm was done.” He passes the document to Lark. “The sentry board hearing is scheduled for the day after the Trade Lightsfestival. I just need your signature to indicate I've informed you and you'll attend.”
Lark goes tense beside me, taking the form wordlessly. He signs it and hands it back with a curt nod.
Niemi lingers, eyeing the cracked wood trim and empty window frame, Aili’s paper-chain decorations, and the barefoot girl tugging crimson hair across her mouth while Mikael’s large hand holds her shoulder.
The sentry clears his throat. “I’m glad to see you all doing well here. Is the wedding date set?”
“Oh, not…uh, not yet.” I nearly choke as my tongue grows too large for my mouth. I should be ready for the surprise inspection and interrogation. We’ve been practicing for this.
Lark steps in smoothly. “If it were up to me, we’d do it tomorrow,” he says with a wink. “We could go back to that restaurant we both love, right,ihana?”
My pulse stutters. Of all the times to drop a pet name. I was not prepared!
“Yes, the…uh, tavern,” I blurt. My eyes go wide. Do I not know any other places to name in all the Hinterlands? Seriously!
Larks eyes twinkle while he nods in agreement. “Yep, the tavern right here at the Laisi Mula. We do love the cabbage rolls and meatballs here.”
“Oh, charming.” Niemi’s frown has me flustered again, but Lark is a star.
“We’d have the tavern cater a small wedding. I’d gather enough Crystal Skeleton flowers for a bouquet, and Val would bake her incredible apple pie for all of us for dessert. I’d marry her anywhere, on a heartbeat’s notice.”
The look he gives me leaves me breathless. He really noticed how much I loved the apple pies we made together the other day. And does he know I keep thinking of those vanishing flowers he showed me? It’s like he sees right through me, to the part insidescreaming,yes! I’ll marry you tomorrow. Yes!I'm not sure what's wrong with that part of me.
Fortunately, Lark has enough sense to stay in character. “But of course, Val is from the Sundalands, and I promised I’d take her back home to marry her on the beach. She loves the beach.”
“Mm.” I lean in when he wraps an arm around my waist. “I can’t wait.” My eyes are strangely misty. Without thinking, I tilt my head to kiss his lips.
Sentry Niemi gives a fawning sigh. “Well, it’s clear you two really love each other. I do still wish there were a more stable home, but you seem like a good man, Mr Hyveri, and with a fiancée—”
“Now wait just a moment,” I snap. “There is no home more loving than this, no matter where the house happens to be. If you think for a heartbeat that you’ll find anyone who loves these kids more than Lark, or anyone more capable of looking after them, you have another think coming. And agood man? Open your eyes, Sentry Niemi. This isn’t just a good man. This is the best man I’ve ever met in any of the fae lands. Everyone he meets immediately loves him, not because he charms them with illusions, but because of his true heart and generosity. He helps every person who needs it, regardless of what’s in it for him, and when these kids needed someone to step up when the orphanage closed—due to what I can only see as uncaring and insatiable greed from the upper class mind you—he didn’t hesitate.
“He’s been with them through more hardships than you or I can imagine, and this is a family more stable than any I’ve known. He does what is right and what is needed, no matter what he has to do to achieve it. No one works harder. No one loves better. So don’t tell him he needs a fiancée to win over some board. I’ll be there beside him because I wouldn’t be anywhere else, but not because he needs me there. Lark is enough as he is. More than enough.”
I stare down the sentry like I’m channeling my stepmother’s icy temper, surprised to find myself several paces in front of Lark now, and the man before me backed up to the door.
“Well,” he sniffs, his little nose twitching, “I’m glad to see he has such staunch supporters.”
When I turn to look, all the kids have lined up behind Lark wearing steely expressions. There are hands on hips, arms folded over chests, and ferocity beaming from seven pairs of eyes. I realize how ardent I was in my defence. It was probably too much.
I can’t even look at Lark. It was definitely too much. I totally lost my head! What if I ruined his chances? What if Niemi writes a bad report because of me?
The sentry draws his cloak around him with one last look at the hole in the door and steps out into the cold.
We get the door closed behind him and fasten some burlap over the opening for now.
A long breath escapes me as Mikael and Juani return to the others. We follow more slowly, Lark stopping to pick up Eevi from the mat where she was playing happily with Hugo. In Lark’s arms, she giggles and tugs his hair.
Not until we reach the bedroom to put her down for a nap do either of us speak.
I should have held my tongue before. I shouldn’t have snapped. “Do you think he was upset?” I ask in a shaky whisper.
