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I noticed Gennadi tense in his arms. Jace lost a bit of his bravado and sat straighter, closing Gennadi in an embrace and kissing the side of his neck.
It was actually cute, in a way. Jace was strong and aggressive, but Gennadi had him wrapped around his little finger.
I wondered if I had Hayk wrapped around my finger or if I was wrapped around his.
No, that wasn’t right. Neither of us were wrapped around anyone. We barely knew each other.
“Honestly,” Sebald said, coming out of his thoughts slowly and glancing up at me, “if this were an issue that I had to weigh in on as an ambassador to the Kostya Kingdom, I would advise Sai to just wait it out and see what General Rufus does.”
“You think we should just let General Rufus get on with it?” Lefric asked, his eyes wide.
“You’re an ambassador to the Kostya Kingdom?” I asked, yet again feeling like I’d missed out. Surely someone had said something about that on the boat, hadn’t they?
Sebald sent a bashful glance to Avenel, then squared his shoulders as he glanced to me. “I am. Magnus has officially appointed me to the position. Granted, Avenel, Premila and the baby, and I are going to spend the winter in either Gravlock or the king’s city, but in the spring, we’re going back to Hedeon.”
“Hold on,” Billie interrupted, narrowing her eyes at Sebald. “You have a wife and baby?” She glanced to Avenel.
“No,” Sebald said, laughing sheepishly. “Premila is just a friend. But she’s a friend I’m now responsible for, and she has a baby. So, yes, actually, you could say that I have a family.”
“Sebald is our resident family man now,” Jace said, thumping a hand on Sebald’s shoulder and breaking into a teasing grin.
“Peter and Neil and Magnus are planning to have children soon too, though,” Lefric explained to Billie.
Billie laughed. “And just how do you plan to do that?”
Neil and Peter exchanged a look as though they really didn’t want to be talking about their family plans.
“Galina, one of the healers in Gravlock, our home settlement, has an idea about how to impregnate willing women so that the wolves of our kingdom can have children,” Peter said.
“Magnus is adamant about finding ways for as many babies as possible to be born into the Wolf River Kingdom,” Neil added.
“Oh! Hey!” Lefric sat straight, suddenly beaming at Billie. “Maybe you could move to the Wolf River Kingdom and volunteer to have babies for the wolves.”
“I beg your pardon?” Billie balked, blinking rapidly.
Lefric clearly didn’t see how offensive his suggestion could have been. “You’re a woman. You can have babies. I bet Magnus would love to have you living in the Wolf River Kingdom and having babies for wolves who want families.”
“Steady there, Lefric,” Sebald said with a smirk. “You can’t just go volunteering your friends to be baby factories.”
Lefric suddenly went bright red. “Oh. You’re right. I’m sorry, Billie,” he sent her a look that was so apologetic it made me want to laugh. “But if you ever want another home, I know the wolves would have you in an instant.”
I started to laugh. Lefric still wasn’t hearing his own words. I wasn’t the only one of my friends to laugh either. We all thought—
I stopped suddenly as a horrible thought struck me.
Friends.
Mine weren’t all here.
“Conrad is in the Old Realm,” I said, my eyes going wide. “If General Rufus destroys the mountain pass, Conrad will be stuck in the Old Realm.”
It was a tiny thing, so small that we really shouldn’t have considered it. One man was hardly something to be upset about. But Conrad was a Son of the Cities. He was our friend, our brother.
All of the Sons suddenly looked just as horrified as I felt.
“We can’t let Conrad be trapped in the Old Realm,” Neil said. “We just can’t.”
It was a testament to how much we all cared for Conrad that Peter didn’t even look jealous at Neil’s expression of concern. “We have to let Magnus know immediately,” he said. “He’ll figure out a way for us to get word to him that he has to return as soon as possible.”
