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I cupped her chin, turning her head toward me. “What’s the matter, baby?”
She looked at me through a sheen of tears. “I miss Pappo and Yaya.”
Aurora pouted. “Me, too.”
Oh. My heart twisted at their confessions. I’d been so preoccupied with rescuing them from the mind spinner, I hadn’t thought that they’d miss their grandparents. “I’m sorry, darlings.” I sat up against the driftwood headboard, pulling them with me. “It’s not safe to be with them right now.”
Ember sniffled, wiping her nose on the sheets. “Will we ever see them again?”
I forced a smile. “I’m sure we will.” Though I wasn’t confident it would be an amicable meeting.
The door leading to my mates’ room cracked open, and they poked their heads inside, giving me an expectant look.
I immediately felt self-conscious in my thin night shift. I pulled the covers up to my waist, silently cursing when the girls kicked them back down.
Aurora turned on her side, tucking her hands beneath her head. “Why won’t our wolf pappo talk to us?”
I was keenly aware of my mates approaching the bed, the sounds of their muted footsteps and their ruffling feathers drawing closer. I did my best to focus on the girls, though I swore I felt my mates’ heated gazes roaming the length of my barely clad body.
“I imagine he’s too sad to talk after what the bad king did to his family,” I said to the girls.
Ember sniffled. “I miss Bethamy.”
Blaze dipped the bed as he sat down beside us, the warmth from his body radiating outward and caressing my bare skin like a whisper. “Do you want me to go back and get her?”
She shook her head. “Then our wolf pappo will be sad.”
Nikkos knelt at the foot of the bed, his face cast in shadow, his wings partially open, and he reminded me too much of the angel of death, though I didn’t fear him. “Girls, tomorrow night we’ll be at Abyssus.”
My breath hitched. Tomorrow night? Oh elements. Where I’d be forced to tolerate Draevyn’s sour moods again. Goddess help me.
“And do you know that we have a big nursery with all kinds of pretty dolls?” Nikkos continued.
“Really?” Both girls shot up.
“What do they look like?” Aurora squealed.
“They have rosy cheeks and silk dresses,” Nikkos answered, “and their hair and faces look real.”
Ember’s eyes sparkled with stardust. “May we play with them?”
Nikkos and Blaze shared a look.
“You may keep them if you like,” Blaze answered.
Both girls gasped, looking as if they’d seen a ghost.
“But don’t they belong to other children?” Aurora asked.
“No.” Blaze’s eyes softened with distant memories. “Our mother kept a large nursery with all kinds of toys for all the children that visited our estate.”
“Nobody has played with these dolls in almost 25 years,” Nikkos said, his bottom lip turning down in an exaggerated pout. “I imagine they’re very lonely.”
Ember squeezed her sister’s hand. “We’ll keep them company.”
“Tomorrow night, then.” Blaze stood, and there was no mistaking the flame in his eyes as his gaze locked with mine.
“You’ll also get a big bedroom with a soft bed and many more toys,” Nikkos added.
