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Kade shrugged.
Finn came to take the satchel from my shoulder, “They didn’t seem to know much about sailing. I doubt they’ll make it far.”
“It isn’t our concern,” I said to him, “For Thana, I hope they make it somewhere and start a new life. One without… well, you know.”
He nodded, “I do,” he said, and turned to walk the gangplank up onto the small vessel, finishing up loading the rest of our things.
We’d hidden the Blessed Blade away in the bowels of the palace—left it in the hands of Morgana far below the ground. Strange, how easy it was to find her temple chamber when I had searched and searched before. I had a feeling it was only there when I needed it. And would reveal itself for no other. I hoped I was right.
The new Graces I’d stolen from the Mad King felt strange in my core, foreign. The Grace of shadow and that of earth—I wished I could give them back to the Fae they were stolen from. But that wasn’t possible. What I could do was promise their spirits one thing; I would use their Graces to dogood.Or, perhaps, I wouldn’t use them at all.
I hoped I wouldn’t need to ever again.
A bout of nausea gripped me, and I swallowed back bile, curling my fist into my stomach.
“Not even on the ship yet and you’re already sea sick?” Finn said, coming back down to stand with us on the dock.
I smirked, blushing.
When I didn’t say anything, Alaric picked up on my emotions. The hesitation. The anxiety. The worry.
“What is it?” he asked me.
Steeling myself, I sucked in a long breath of the chill sea air. Tried to relax the tension in my shoulders.
Kade put a warm hand on my arm, and I flicked my face up to find his golden gaze staring warmly into me. He tugged gently at the tether holding us together through the Immortal Bond, “Are you alright?”
I smiled. Finding Tiernan’s jade green gaze just as warm and inviting as Kade’s. And Finn just as worried as Alaric.
What am I so afraid of?
“I-It’s not sea-sickness,” I starting, licking my dry lips, “It’s—oh what did Loris call it…? Right! That’s it, it’smorning sickness.”
Finn’s jaw dropped. Alaric, and Tiernan’s followed suit.
Kade cocked his head at me, making a strange face that told me he was the only one who had absolutely no idea what I was on about. “What?”
Finn shoved his brother, “She’s with child, you idiot.”
His face burned with a bright red flush, and his eyes glowed like molten steel. He turned to me, and the flush faded. The confused look morphing into the most brilliant smile I’d ever seen him wear. He charged in and lifted me from the dock, crushing me against his wide chest before setting me back down, leaving me off balance, staggering as I tried to find my footing on the wobbly wood.
I beamed at him, and I spun to find three more smiling faces and waiting embraces.
“I love you so much,” I said to all of them. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away—I didn’t… well I wasn’t sure how you would react.”
Because we’d never know who fathered the child for certain. We could guess, of course. But I didn’t want to. This child—ourchild would grow up with the love of four fathers. And I thought that was the most beautiful gift I could give my child.
Alaric pulled me against him, and I jolted. His emotions of excitement and pride rushing into me. And there was something else there, too. The love for his unborn son or daughter. I could already feel it within him—and if I reached out—withinallof them.
The others crowed around us, wrapping their arms around Alaric and I until we were cocooned in warmth, shielded from the sun by my Draconian warrior’s great black wings.
It was time for another sort of adventure.
