“No you’re not. You’re Uncle Q.”
Qylar chuckled, brushing her hair back from her face. “If there weretwolittle princesses, how could I ever choose a favorite?I couldn’t.”
Zaadi sighed, unimpressed.
“Well, we’ll wait a little while for that introduction and you just hang out here with me for now, hmm?”
“Okay,” Zaadi mumbled after pressing her face against his shoulder.
A cough caught Qylar’s attention. He turned his expression to see King Krythar eyeing him.
“I’m not accustomed to no greeting when I enter a room,” Krythar said to Alex.
“Your Majesty,” Qylar murmured, tightening his jaw and keeping his eyes on the floor. “I apologize for my late welcome. My concern for Zaadi made me forget myself. I hope you can forgive me.”
“I suppose I can.Thistime,” Krythar said. He turned to Alex and gave him a pointed look before scratching Zaadi’s back. “Princess? Poppop would like to see your ballerina ornaments. Can you show me?”
Zaadi lifted her head and stared at Qylar a minute. “You promise not to hold the baby?”
“Not until you give me full, written permission,” Qylar whispered.
“Okay,” Zaadi said, reaching out for the king to take her.
Once she was in Krythar’s arms, the king gave him an odd look but marched on silently to the tree.
“I asked you not to tell anyone Kenji was my mate,” Qylar whispered to Cryss.
“You did what?” Kenji asked, anger written all over his face.
“Toprotectyou,” Qylar said.
“Who’s going to protect me from you?” Kenji asked before leading Ael back to the tree.
Qylar sighed.
“You stepped in it there,” Alex said to Qylar. He sighed. “I need off my feet.”
Alex left them to sit on the sectional, as he should so soon after giving birth. Qylar’s gaze drifted to Kenji—who held Ael and showed him all of the decorations in the living room up close. A knot formed in his throat seeing the toddler in Kenji’s arms.
Kenji met Qylar’s stare, sadness in his.
“How are things?” Qylar asked Cryss before leaning in to eye a sleeping Xandor.
“Uncle Q!”Zaadi cried.
Qylar stood back up to his full height, hands up in mock surrender and turned to her, still held in Krythar’s arms. “I never touched him. Just got a better look.”
“Don’t do that either,” Zaadi said.
“You two havea bigproblem,” Qylar said to Cryss in hushed tones.
“Wehave a problem?” Cryss asked. “You have one of your own I fear might be even bigger.”
“Let me worry about Kenji. Is anyone else not allowed to touch the new baby or just me?”
“You’re the only one of us who hasn’t handled Xandor, so I’m assuming this is her way of holding on to someone all her own. Not sure exactly how that works given the fact she’s shared her Uncle Q with Ael for two years, but this is four-year-old logic we’re talking about.”
“Well, if you two have been focused on caring for a newborn, she might just want to know she’ll have someone focused on her.”
