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“Birth parents? Aren’t they dead?Imight faint,” my dad says setting my mom on the couch.
“I hope not,” Xavier says as he appears with my other parents.
It winds up being the exact distraction I needed, introducing my parents to each other. Both of my moms have a good laugh over how close their names are, saying that it was fate that they both be my mom. My dads talk over the best type of grill and if calories count for gods.
Cat holds my hand when I get too quiet. Eventually, my worry ratches up higher and higher. Today is the first day I’ve really spent away from Essos and I start to fear that today is the day that Essos wakes and I’m not there. I should have started with baby steps. Some time in the Underworld, some time here, instead of trying to do it all at once.
Will he be afraid? Will he wonder if something happened to me?
Xavier takes the cue and gracefully pulls the day to a close. I want to give him directions on what to do with my birth parents, but my mind is already back home, wondering if Callie would know to get me if Essos did wake.
I say hurried goodbyes before transporting home to find everything exactly as I left it.
Waffles is curled on his pillow beside Essos’s head and Dave is belly-up on my side of the bed, knocked out cold.
And Essos slumbers on.
The tears that fall from my eyes are not new ones, they’re the same ones I’ve been crying for myself and for Pom, who might never get to know her father.
CHAPTER39
Pom’s movement keeps me up most of the night. Even when I manage to fall asleep, she’s right there again, twisting and kicking. Waffles comes over, pressing his front paws to my belly, making little biscuits, and when Pom hits at him, his eyes lift to mine, startled. Without ceremony, the cat drops onto my abdomen, purring louder than I’ve ever heard him. It seems to settle the baby, so I set aside my Princess Lorelei book and try to sleep again.
I’ve managed to doze for a few hours when I feel movement around my stomach. Thinking that it’s just Waffles again, I give him a light shove, only my hand connects with another hand and not the warm furry body of a cat. My eyes open, my whole body tensing, but I’m not prepared for the brilliant blue eyes I love to be looking down on me.
“You just looked so peaceful. I’m sorry for waking you.” His voice is gruff from disuse, but I don’t give a care for anything else. I grip his face and pull him to me.
Our mouths meet in a crush of desire. My lips part so our tongues can dance and flick until I feel him wince in pain from my hands gripping his shoulders. I release him immediately, but he doesn’t pull away, only presses his advantage. Essos’s hand grips first my side, then moves to my tender breast.
“Essos.” His name is more a prayer on my lips than anything else as he moves down to my neck. His mouth is hot as he sucks on my skin, sending my back arching into him. Essos rolls onto his back, the same prone position he’s been in for a month. He’s not letting me go, pulling my body with him.
I hover over him, unsure if this is the right move. Essos sees my trepidation because he props himself up on his elbows with another wince of pain.
“What’s wrong, my love?”
“Say my name,” I plead, reaching for his cheek.
“Daphne.” There is a rough quality to his voice, which rips my heart open.
I reach between us, gripping his cock. This is a bad idea, but I can feel in my bones how badly we both need this. I rise to my knees over him. “Again.”
“Daphne.” His voice is begging, and I meet his plea with my body. I slide over him, crying out, and then just crying as we move as one. His body trembles below me with release and I follow him over the edge shortly after.
I collapse into a heap beside him, my tears still flowing freely. Essos gathers me to him, kissing the crown my head and then each tear that follows.
“Is everyone still here?” Essos asks, one hand idly stroking my back.
“Here?”
“Yes, as in our house. Where everyone has been staying for the last several months.”
I can’t talk around the lump in my throat. “Essos, how long do you think it’s been?”
“A few hours? A day?”
I burrow into his chest, and he’s silent, waiting for me to continue. “It’s been thirty-six days.” I manage to choke out.
“You’re not…serious.” He sits up a little more to get a read on my face. “You are serious.”
