As I settle to make my way back, my body surges even faster through space until I stop outside the nursery. My hands tremble as I run my fingers through my hair. What did I just witness? I wish I could have heard what Selnor was saying, even a word or two. I’ll get back to Zhoric and collect my thoughts and figure out the next course of action. Then, the murmur of voices stops me in my tracks.
I take a few steps back until the voices sound clearer and I notice where the wall is unaligned. A concealed entrance. I recognize my sister’s voice before I see her through the crack of the door.
She’s nursing one of her babies at her breast while Thrace, sitting across from her, holds the other in his arms. My hand goes to my mouth. The room is small and completely enclosed, not a single window looking to the outside along any of the walls.
“Tiring, my love?” Kalixta asks. “I can take her if you need.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle with you here,” Thrace says, swaying his body gently from side to side, but I see what she means. Dark circles rest beneath his eyes, his skin a touch sallow.
“I think me being here is causing you trouble,” Kalixta admonishes, her tone harsh, but her finger gently traces the curve of her baby boy’s cheek.
Thrace raises a brow, a smile bringing light to his eyes. “What Iknowis that I would be causing trouble if you weren’t.”
Kalixta leans back. “How long can you keep this up?”
“Eternity. For you—eternity.”
My heart twists. Kalixta works to keep her expression stern, but I can see as well as Thrace the pleased smile attempting to break across her lips.
He sweeps forward, his free hand sliding down the side of her face, his thumb caressing her mouth. “Don’t you dare keep that from me. I earned that one.”
Her mouth blooms into a grin, and he takes it with hislips. A deep longing pulls at my soul. Their exchange is like nothing I’ve ever seen and it at once breaks my heart and fills it.
When my niece, Anila, whines and squirms, Thrace sits back and bounces her.
Kalixta’s smile falls. “Zhoric is worsening.”
She says it like a statement, a gut punch that leaves me breathless.
“It’s what I thought, but…tonight he didn’t seem to fair as poorly.” Thrace looks over his shoulder, as if he can see through the wall to Zhoric’s rooms.
Kalixta switches the boy to her other breast. She looks down at him, murmuring, “Sorry Breamus, my love, your sister took her fill.” I press a hand to my chest, hearing my nephew’s name for the first time.
“We can call for a nursemaid,” Thrace offers, dipping his thumb into a container on the table beside him, then reaching forward to swipe a salve to her freed nipple before gliding the back of his index finger down the slope of her breast.
She sighs, giving him an appreciative smile, but shakes her head. “He’ll get enough. I’ll keep him here all night if I must.” Once she has the baby settled, she asks, “Do you think it’s because last time was so bad?”
Thrace closes the jar of salve with a free hand. “I don’t know. One thing I do know is he’s keeping something from me.”
“It always seems he’s keeping something from you,” Kalixta says, shifting from side to side until she’s comfortable.
Thrace smirks. “I know how he seems. This time though…it feels like the past. In the days when he wouldn’t tell me what she was doing to him. He was protecting me.”
My pulse jumps as I realize Thrace is talking abouther. Zhoric’s Alixor.
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“It’s not exactly the same though. He’s keeping something from me, yes, but there’s also a sort of…lightness to him.”
Kalixta hums. “Will you ask him?”
“I should be able to catch him tomorrow before he fully rouses.”
“You mean you’ll ambush him?” Kalixta asks with a half-smile.
“He’ll be delighted to see me.” Thrace grins.
“I wonder…could it be a lover?”
