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“Want a break?” The question was nervous. I didn’t know how he’d feel about handing Quinn over, and I wasn’t entirely sure howIfelt about it either. There was no question that we’d honor Rogue’s request, it had never occurred to me to do otherwise, but the level of responsibility was intimidating.
Dare gave me a shaky smile, moving carefully so as not to wake her, and gently depositing Quinn into my arms. I snuggled her in close, Wild taking my weight from where he sat behind me.
“She’s heavier than I expected,” I murmured, watching her chest rise and fall, her mouth half open, snoring lightly. It was the most precious thing I’d ever seen in my life. “How old is she?”
Riot and Dare exchanged thoughtful looks.
“About one, I guess?” Dare hedged. “It didn’t come up when I was staying with them. We can always check with Dice. Whenever we see him again.”
Riot frowned. “If he’s still alive. Humanity has been through someshit, you know? I’m assuming everyone I know is dead until proven otherwise.”
“That seems pessimistic,” Bullet said, giving Riot a wide-eyed look.
Riot’s answering smile was a little sad, but mostly teasing. “Pessimistic is very on-brand for me, B. You’ll learn.”
“B,” Bullet repeated, smiling slightly to himself before gnawing on a fig.
“Well, I believe everyone is whole and healthy until proven otherwise,” I said, shifting a lock of hair off Quinn’s forehead with my finger. “I think I have to believe that, or I won’t be able to wake up in the morning.”
Wild hummed, stroking my hip. “I know you won’t sleep, but I think we should move to the cabin we stayed in last night. We can set up a bed for Quinn, and I can get a break from the Spartoi, who I’ve spent plenty of nights lying next to, listening to their snores.”
“Maybe we can heat up some water,” Dare suggested around a yawn. “We’re all covered in dirt and scorpion juice. We need to find some supplies for Quinn too. Diapers and stuff. Bottles? What do babies need?”
I had no idea, but I knew we’d figure it out. As challenging as life could be, there was nothing we couldn’t face together.
Chapter 33
Ithadbeenaquiet couple of days at the camp. As much as we knew there was work to be done, we were all in various states of injury and exhaustion, and—much to all of my soul bonds’ surprise—I’d been the one to put my foot down and demand we all hide away from the world and the expectations it had of us.
There would be time for all of that later.
For now, we had to find a new rhythm. Get used to one another again, and learn how to take care of a distraught one-year-old. She’d been up most of last night screaming, and Sophia had shown up in the morning—oh so helpfully—to inform us that Quinn was teething, and none of our shushing or rocking or singing was useful in the slightest.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Dare asked, glancing nervously out the window.
In her capacity as the personified spirit of wisdom, Sophia had decided we needed a break, and taken Quinn to the main camp house for dinner with the Spartoi.
“I do,” I replied, surprising myself with the level of certainty I felt. “You know they all adore Quinn.”
She was like the Spartoi’s little mascot, and while she was still very confused and unsettled about everything, bashing their noisy armor around the floor was always guaranteed to spark a smile.
“I wonder where they’ll go,” Riot mused. He stretched out on the bed, folding his hands behind his head, and I sat at the end of it, tucking one leg beneath me, the other dangling off the edge. “I don’t think they’re cut for a 9-to-5 with a picket fence and a commute.”
“Neither are we,” Dare laughed. “Besides, I don’t think the world is going to be exactly like that anymore. Or not for a long time at least. Humanity is in its second hunter-gatherer era.”
I rolled my eyes, smiling as Dare came to sit next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
Wild was leaning against the wall next to the travel crib we’d found in the storage room for Quinn, observing us with a small smile on his face, while Bullet had taken the twin bed against the wall. He was observing too, a mixture of curiosity, longing, and wariness on his face.
For now, he was sleeping on that bed alone, more comfortable there while he got used to us. So far, the dreamscape hadn’t called him away once, and I wasn’t even a little bit sad about it. The last thing any of us wanted was for Bullet’s head to be overloaded with visions again.
“I think we’re a little beyond that. We stillhaveall the technology that we had before, and mortals are very adaptable,” I pointed out.
“If someone could get started on indoor plumbing, that’d be great,” Riot sighed, tipping his head back. “Build some aqueducts or something, Roman-style.”
“I’m sure that’ll be a top priority,” I laughed, nudging Riot’s foot. “But in the meantime, why don’t youfinallytell us what you learned from the Fates about the bonds?”
I didn’t think Riot had been holding out on us to be difficult, but rather in a ham-fisted attempt at tactfulness. He didn’t want Bullet to feel any kind of pressure, which was sweet, but even Bullet himself was getting frustrated at the lack of answers, and Sophia warned us she and Aphrodite were going to begin disseminating the information about how to form bonds through whispers among mortals within the next few days or so.
