“Oh, poor Brummy,” I laughed, following him. “Did you wear yourself out?”
His answer was to flop onto his side with a tremendous sigh. I plopped down beside him, suddenly aware of my own weariness. My limbs felt heavy, like they were filled with sand instead of bone and muscle.
“Sorry,” I murmured, grass tickling my cheek. “A year ago I could’ve chased him all the way around the orchard.”
“Don’t fret about it,” Lucian murmured. “Strength returns with time.”
“True enough.” Sebastian plucked a leaf from my hair as he sat down beside me. “The fact that you’re playing at all is remarkable, considering what you’ve been through.”
Then Lucian, thevampire king, lowered himself to the grass on my other side.
“Your suit!” I squeaked. I didn’t know much about men’s formal wear, but I could tell his was expensive.
“A triviality,” he dismissed, waving a hand before lounging back on his elbows. “We are here foryou, Seri, not a fashion show.”
Two days ago, my husbands had explained a bit about their father. His first beloved, Catalina, was a human who died giving birth to Sebastian, and Lucian drowned his grief in bloodbaths and women for three years. Koa had dryly commented that the vampire king might have rampaged longer if kids hadn’t started popping up on his doorstep.
Casimir’s mother arrived first. A Valkyrie named Reginleif, she’d manifested in a storm of thunder and lightning to hand Lucian a newborn baby boy before disappearing. Five weeks after that, Doria, a swan maiden, swam into the mansion on invisible waters and opened her wings to reveal a redheaded baby swaddled in snowy down and stardust. Finally, Koa’s mother came forward a month later, asking only for shelter for her and her son.
As Koa had kept his eyes locked on his boots, Casimir had quietly explained that Mahina Akana was a gentle, sweet human, and Lucian gladly put her in charge of all three of his illegitimate sons, a happy arrangement until she passed away when they were six.
“That’s when dear old Pops decided we were ready to be molded into weapons,” Zane had smirked even as resentment burned in his brown eyes. “Fucking first-graders being trained in assassination and mortal combat.”
And my heart had bled for the boys they once were.
I wished they could see Lucian now,I thought wistfully.
His stern exterior had melted just enough for me to glimpse the hint of a fatherly figure, one who made me feel safe even outside in the dark. A papa-in-law, just as I’d called him at dinner, and I hadn’t missed how brightly his eyes shone when I did.
“May I ask a question that might be personal?” I ventured, propping my head on Brumous’ flank. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Ask away, dear girl,” Lucian invited, so I did.
“Why do my husbands use the last name Cimmerian? Did they invent it?”
“Cimmerian was originally their team designation,” Sebastian explained. “When they entered training, they needed a group name, so they chose one from history.”
“What was a Cimmerian?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“In ancient mythology, they were a people who lived in perpetual darkness, beyond the reach of the sun. Homer mentioned them in theOdyssey. They dwelled at the edge of the world, shrouded in mist and clouds.”
“That sounds beautiful,” I murmured, imagining a realm of eternal twilight. “Like something from a fairytale.”
“They were known for their strength and resilience,” Sebastian continued. “Living in darkness didn’t weaken them; it made them extraordinary. When your husbands turned eighteen, they legally changed their surname to Cimmerian. It had become more than just a team name by then; it was their identity.”
I thought about my husbands, how they moved like shadows, how they protected each other and now me, and nodded.
“It suits them perfectly!” I grinned at him.
“My brothers made something powerful out of that name. Something that belongs to them, and now to you, too.”
I bit my lip, hesitating before turning to Lucian. The king sat quietly beside me, his silvery eyes reflecting the soft ripples of the lake.
“And you didn’t mind that?”
“Frankly? No. At the time, I didn’t care.” His expression didn’t change, but his eyes held sadness and regret. “I don’t know what they might have told you, Seri, but the truth is, I was never a father to them. And now, I fear it’s…”
He stopped abruptly, but I heard the unspoken word hanging between us.Too late.
