She gave me a look that cut me off. "It’s your mother’s special blend. Just drink it. You need a clear head."
I took the cup with shaking hands. The warmth seeped into my palms. The first sip sent heat cascading through my chest, easing the knot of tension that had been strangling me since the market. “This is helping,”I admitted. “Thanks for insisting.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she told me.
“Tell me if this is close to what you saw.” Tarja projected an image so clear it might as well have been a photograph.
I shuddered involuntarily and nodded. “That’s a good replica,” Nina interjected as she ended the call, telling me Tarja had shown it to everyone. "Aidon's coming. Like, right now. He sounded—" She paused, searching for the right word. "Scary."
That was fair. Aidon in full protective mode could make gods nervous. I'd seen him face down Hades himself when his father had suggested the triplets might be safer in the Underworld. The argument had ended with scorch marks on the throne room floor and Persephone diplomatically suggesting they all take a breath.
"We will kill it and make sure the babies are safe,” my familiar promised.
"I appreciate the sentiment," I said, running my hand down her back. "But we need to figure out who it is first."
"Once we know, we kill them,”she purred, the sound promising violence.
"Then we kill them," I agreed.
"Damn right we do," Nana said. "And I want first dibs on their kneecaps."
Mom shot her a look. "Mother."
Nana gave Mom an exasperated look. "What? I'm being helpful. Kneecaps first means they can't run while we're questioning them."
Mythia zipped around the room, checking each crib. Her expression was one of love and fierce protectiveness. Like the rest of the people who had become family, she would die to protect our babies. Her tiny hands brushed over the protective runes, reinforcing them with sparks of pixie magic that glittered like starlight.
My gaze skipped to the door when I felt Aidon’s presence. The back door slammed open hard enough that I heard it up in the nursery. Footsteps thundered through the house.
"Oh good," Nana said dryly. "The angry god has arrived. Someone get me popcorn."
"Mother," Mom hissed
Then Aidon was there, filling the doorway with divine energy that made the air taste like ozone and dark wine. His normally sapphire eyes had gone completely black. The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
"I am so glad those Twisted Sisters figured out how to make magic and technology work together,” he muttered, referring to the reason Nina was able to reach out to him at all. He went to the cribs first. “What happened?” His chest heaved like he'd run the whole way through the Hellmouth.
"We were at the farmer's market..." I began and trailed off as I watched Aidon examine our babies.
His hands hovered over each baby without touching them. Power rolled off him in waves as he checked them. No doubt he scanned for injury, magical residue, or any sign of harm.
Melaina woke first, having sensed her father's presence. She blinked up at him with her gold eyes and made a soft cooing sound. Then she reached up, her tiny fingers grasping for his hand. Aidon froze.
The tension in his body left him in a rush. It was replaced by raw emotion that I'd only seen a handful of times. When we'd gotten mated. When I'd told him I was pregnant. When he'd held each baby for the first time. And when he'd thought he might lose us to Lyra's parasite.
"Hey, Little Spark," he whispered, letting Melaina wrap her fingers around his. "You're okay. You're safe." His voice cracked on the last word.
Aidon's jaw clenched, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. "I should have been there."
"You were consulting with your father about protecting them," I said, standing up. My legs felt steadier now that he was here. He was my rock and always made me feel better. "You can't be everywhere at once."
"I shouldn't have left." He carefully extracted his finger from Melaina's grip and moved to check the other two. Thaniel slept on, tiny sparks still dancing across his hands. Nyssa opened her eyes for a second before falling back asleep.
"If you're done with the touching family moment," Nana began, "we need to strategize. Because whoever this asshole is, they found my great-grandbabies once. They'll try again."
Nana’s comment made Aidon turn to face me properly. The look in his eyes nearly undid me. "Yes, we do. Tell me everything," he said.
This time, when I went through things, Nina added more detail and more observation. I was grateful she had been there too. I’d gone into mama bear mode while she'd kept remarkably calm during the attack. She cast a protective dome without hesitation. Another way my teenage daughter had been forced to grow up too fast.
