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Her dark hair had grown out longer. It hung loose past her shoulders, the shorter strands in front sweeping across her cheekbones to open up and frame the arresting prettiness of her face. A change from the ponytail I’d last seen on her. But I guessed that was why she went to the Academy. Change. Evolution.
Cookie in my left arm, I wrapped my right arm around her backside and steered her toward the bench. I plopped Cookie to the ground and sat. “Nonsense—Damen is going to be beyond the moon to see you.”
Her dark eyebrows lifted skeptically as she sat. She leaned down to scratch Cookie’s head again. This time with three fingers. He promptly put his front paws onto her boot, looking up at her. “My father has never been over-the-moon in his life.”
I shrugged. “Okay, well, not outwardly. But he will be—jumping for joy on the inside.” I nodded with my head toward the castle. “He’s probably up in his study right now, watching us from above like he likes to do, just waiting for an invitation to join us.”
“My father does like to lurk.”
I chuckled, leaning toward her and squeezing her knee. “It is so damn good to have you back here. This place hasn’t been the same without you. I know it’s only been eight months, but you already look…older.”
She did. She looked like life had sped up for her, her eyes open wider now than they ever had been. Her mind ever expanding.
She shrugged. “I don’t know about that.”
“You do. Are you happy there?”
“I’m there. I am taking it for what it is.”
Well…that wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, and there was a shroud of darkness over the words. Definitely something to poke into during this week. I’d always had to do that with Venetia. She was the farthest thing from an open book. Thin layers had to be peeled back, one by one with care, so they didn’t tear.
I glanced up at the castle again, indecision slowing my words. Now was probably the exact right time. Now before we were inside with Triaten and Damen and all the drama that would entail.
I looked to her. “Before we go in, I have to tell you something.”
“About getting back with my father?”
My head bobbed from side to side. “Yes. Kind of.” Best to just rip the band aid off. “I’m pregnant.”
“Really?” Her eyes went huge, the angle of her dark eyebrows severe, and I held my breath.
Damen and I had discussed this again and again and again.
He hadn’t wanted to tell Venetia about the baby for a while—for a long while. He was worried of course, understandable given Venetia’s history with his other children. But I had been working on him, convincing him of how far Venetia had come in the years since he’d seen her.
He didn’t know how she was now. How much control she had over her emotions.
And this was the do-or-die moment if there ever was one.
“That is…that…” A flicker of sadness made the muscles around her eyes twitch, and then pure happiness flooded her golden amber eyes. Not the slightest bit of malice in sight. “That is one of the best things I’ve heard in—maybe forever. I’m going to have a true little sister.”
I laughed, grabbing her hands and squeezing them. “Or brother.”
“Probably a sister,” she replied with a smirk, her snark on full display.
I laughed. “Yes, probably. But we must both prepare ourselves for the possibility of a little boy.”
She scrunched her nose.
“You would love a little brother to order about.”
Her head tilted to the side, a grin on her face. “Eeeehh, maybe.”
“Whatever it is, they are going to be super lucky to have you as an older sister. You’ve done the hard part, walking this path of a hybrid alone for so much of your life. She—or he—will need your wisdom when they are old enough to understand exactly what they are.”
“Are you worried?” Her tone sobered.
My mouth closed, my bottom lip jutting up as I considered the question. “Yes…no…yes. It depends on the day and the hour and the minute. But then, I didn’t think I would ever get pregnant, while your father had the faith I would. So I have to take a page out of his book and have some faith that all will be well in the end.”
