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My pregnancy with Kayla went well, but it was stressful and I leaned on Luka more than I had a right to. Looking at him now, holding Kayla in a thin layer of muslin with such care, using his giant hand to gently pat her back, I’m in awe. He has proven himself as mentally sturdy as he is physically.
I cannot imagine my life without him.
Even when he orders me about like I’m one of his warriors, I love him. Even when he fails to communicate the most basic of information, I know he loves me. Thanks to him, the promise I made to my Mama, the one toliveif I ever got the chance, has been fulfilled in every way possible.
“Talon has grown, has he not?” Luka asks in a rumble and I feel a grin tug at my lips. He’s always so proud of his offspring. “I think he’s almost ready to trade in his pony.”
The boy has practically been fully-outfitted for manhood already. Glory’s foal has been chosen for him and a warrior’s sword was commissioned last spring. It’s a good thing our son loves everything rough and tumble just like his father. They even share the same amount of interest in practicing their letters, which is none.
Before I have a chance to tease him, I spot Kata and Dion emerging from the trees not far from where Talon is now banging a stick on the log. It truly warms my heart that the sweetest woman and man in the realm found happiness together. Talon takes off like a shot to meet them as soon as he notices their presence. He loves Kata like a second mother and I wince when I envision my son barrelling into her small frame at top speed. Dion saves her though by scooping Talon up before he can make contact, setting off screams of delight as he’s thrown in the air.
“Shall we go say hello?” I ask Luka innocently.
He sends me one of his famous glowers, this one sayingdon’t push your luck,and I can’t stop a giggle from slipping out of me. He’s never quite gotten over his jealousy of Dion, the first Northerner to show me kindness.
“Well, we can wave from here and Talon can catch up. Now that she’s sleeping we don’t want to risk waking Kayla, anyway.”
That Kayla will grow up in a different world from her grandmother’s is something that I take pride in. Women come to me now when they face unwelcome attention from men and I encourage Luka to come down hard on the perpetrators. Luka’s father’s legacy has not disappeared overnight, but it lessens every year, and I think everyone has benefited.
Other than that, things have not changed overmuch around the stronghold. Though they’ve never married, Noé and Lorna, after many years of being on-again and off-again, have been given a chamber together in the stronghold. Now no man would dare ask her for anything more than a tankard of ale. Ion and Bron are still very much in love, as are Eldon and Daysa. We still go out to their home almost every week. They have another son now, much to Trudy’s disappointment.
Yvette never married, but her son, Rionnon, did indeed achieve his goal to one day be as tall as his Uncle Noé and is now in training to become a warrior. To my mind, he’s a little young and gangly at fourteen, but Luka claims that with the current uncertainties facing the Realms, it’s never too early to start training men. While Luka has never faced a challenger from within, the eastern savages are more of a problem than ever and the Range now has men permanently stationed in the Wolf Realm under Koda’s command. And worse, while Kharon has managed to hold on to power in the Bear Realm, his attempts to unseat Luka greatly rankled many of the other deves who see their realms as sovereign. Loyalties among the unified Realms were badly shaken, something that King Gaden in the south is very aware of. There have been scattered reports of men slowly amassing along D’heilar’s northern border.
A soft yip carries on the warm breeze and both Luka and I turn. Venna. She stands proudly on the other side of the meadow, keeping her distance while two of her pups from this spring wrestle together in the grass. During my first summer here, she disappeared from around the stronghold. At first, Luka feared she was dead, but it turned out that she had found a pack of her own kind.
Like me, she found a home.
Now she visits occasionally to check in with Luka or, like today, to show off her pups.
“Papa,” Talon says reverently from much closer than he was a minute ago. “It’s a wolf.”
“It is,” Luka confirms, slipping a hand onto his shoulder.
“Mama.” My son’s tone changes to officious. “Wolves are wild animals and we mustn’t bother them . . . right?”
“Wow,” I tell him, trying to hide my smile. “Thatisright. How did you get so smart?”
He lights up. “My papa told me.”
Luka ruffles his hair. “Come, then. Let’s head over to the duck pond.”
Talon’s enthusiasm for the idea couldn’t be more obvious as he takes off at a run while my husband follows at a much more sedate pace. Turning back to bid farewell to Venna, I’m a bit disappointed that she’s already disappeared back into the forest, but I do catch sight of a crow, or maybe it’s a raven, winging its way across the tree line. From there, I notice the North Star just becoming visible as dusk falls.
I smile at the sight. It always reminds me of how far I’ve come, how I somehow managed to endure, and ultimately thrive.
“Are you coming, my little raven?”
With a brow raised and his eyes soft with love, Luka holds out his hand to me and I take it.
