“How’s Aurelia doing with the pregnancy?” Eros asked Vardan.
“They didn’t know your mother was pregnant with you, right?” Jareth asked Ava.
“Right. This must have been when she was pregnant with my brother.”
Jareth nodded his agreement.
“Were you born yet?” Ava asked, realizing she didn’t know how old Jareth was.
“No. I’m the same age as Casimir. My talented father got two women pregnant at the same time.”
“Wonderful,” Ava deadpanned.
Vardan waved his hand. “You know how it is. She’s starting to get uncomfortable and complains more often than not. Honestly, her constant fussing is getting on my nerves.”
Ava shook with anger at her father’s words.
“You know how women are,” Orion boomed. “Unwilling to do anything that requires them to sacrifice even a modicum of comfort.”
Jareth’s jaw clenched.
“Your dad’s an asshole,” Ava said.
“It seems we have something in common.”
“Have you given any more thought to our hybrid situation?” Valeria asked, ignoring the comments about Aurelia’s pregnancy.
“I already told you where I stand. We outlaw breeding between kingdoms. Decide on a just punishment for those who do not listen,” Vardan answered.
“That isn’t enough,” barked Eros. “Our bloodlines are dwindling with every birth of a hybrid child. Within a few hundred years, the fae will be less powerful.”
“And what do you suggest?” Orion asked, his golden eyes—Casimir’s eyes—pinning Eros with a glare.
“Valeria and I have already made our stance clear.”
The others were about to speak when the scene before them faded away, another taking its place.
“I wanted to hear the rest of that conversation,” Ava stated. “Why did it change?”
“I don’t know. But I do know according to rumors, Valeria and Eros wanted to go further. To execute hybrids.”
A stone sank in Ava’s stomach. “Did our fathers agree with them?”
He shrugged.
“If your father hated hybrids so much…why did he get a woman pregnant who was from another kingdom?”
“Sometimes people in power are the loudest about the things they are trying to hide within themselves,” Jareth muttered.
Ava gawked at him. Utterly shocked at the depth of his words.
Jareth rolled his eyes at her and gestured to the new scene. It was Mosshaven. Inside the castle in what appeared to be Thorne’s current suite though it was decorated differently. Orion sat on a chair across from Vardan, visiting quietly.
The sound of a giggling child echoed from the other room before a red-headed boy burst into the space, squealing with delight as a woman chased him.
Heart squeezing like it was in a vise, Ava sank to her knees, unable to control her tears. It was her mother, playing with Thorne, who appeared to be about two years old, perhaps a little younger.
“Mom,” Ava whispered, her lip quivering.
