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I make a mental note to call Jill after dinner. I want to see her during our Yule visit to Scotland, but who knows what magickal fuckery will be going on by then? I’ll call her tonight.Carpe diem.
“Do you enjoy cooking for him because of the element of feeding your mate or because of the taste?” Callan asks me as he watches me set the table. I notice he doesn’t stir his stumps to help. Entitled bugger.
“Both,” I say. “Makes me happy to see the boys eating the food I’ve made. To know it’s nourishing their bodies. I wish I could cook like me Auntie Jill and delight their taste buds but, you know, I’ll get better, and there’s always Google.”
“Ah, yes. A technology poorly represented in the courts. Something I’d like my son to reform.”
“I thought technology was anathema to the fae.”
“It’s such a part of the mortal realm now, I see no way for Faery to survive without embracing it. You’re no doubt suspicious of why I’d encourage my son to marry outside fae royalty—”
I shake my head and speak when he pauses. “Darwin told me about the pure blood curse. I understand you need constant infusions of mortal blood to produce the next generation. Another fae royal, even a half-blood, you’d be taking a chance that they were sterile, too.”
“Our ladies are less prone to sterility than our lords. Ihaveintroduced Darwin to a number of ladies from families of known fecundity but none appealed to him.”
Ah, Phoebe. She’s Callan’s plant then.
“Possibly because they were your spies,” I suggest.
Callan’s lips quirk. “Quite possibly. I don’t suppose I could offer you an inducement?”
“Are you having a laugh, mate?”
“The incorruptibility of youth. What if I offered to spy for you?”
“On who?”
“Whom,” Callan corrects gently.
“Seriously, no, mate. On all counts.”
“It wouldn’t hurt you to have an insider in the courts giving you information.”
“Which you could do because you love your son,” I point out.
“Which you could do because you love my son,” he retorts.
I hold up a fork and tip it in his direction. “Toosh.”
Callan’s brows twitch, but he doesn’t react to thePretty in Pinkreference.
“A bargain then? Information for information.”
“Nothing that hurts Darwin,” I tell him.
“Agreed. I know you see me as the enemy, Teddy. I promise you, I’m not.”
“Jury’s out, mate.” I fold napkins and set them above each plate. “You prolly see me as the enemy, too—”
“Not at all,” Callan interrupts smoothly. “I see you as my son’s choice, which I will always respect. I wasn’t allowed to make the same choices he was, but I—”
I drop the napkin I’m folding. “You loved Darwin’s mother.”
“With my whole soul. I miss her every day.”
“Was she the one you were forced to mate, or the one you were forced to leave?”
“Ah. I understand why you’d ask that question. Neither. I’d produced enough heirs to satisfy the most belligerent courtier before I met Noinin.”
