“Daddy, Rian's nakey!” Sam cried.
“Yes, he is. Get your shorts on, Ri!”
“What happened to never wanting to be apart from me?” Brevyn called after his brother.
The shutting of the door was all he got in response.
Brev and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.
Chapter Five
Later that night, Arach and I sat on either side of Samara's bed, her between us, while we read her a bedtime story. It was a nightly activity for us, one that Sam loved. And when I say that Arach and I read her bedtime stories, I mean that I read them and Arach made silly comments. I think Sam liked his comments as much as the stories. Inspired by Kirill's choice for Lesya's bedtime story, I went with the same fairy tale, just the real version.
I started with the title, “Queen of Cinders.”
“Ah,” Arach said. “I knew her.”
“You knew the Queen of Cinders?” I asked.
“Yes, Queen Rivella. She was a Fire-Sidhe.”
When the stories had first been labeled fairy tales, it was because they were tales about faeries. So I wasn't surprised that Arach had met the original Cinderella. Humans had altered the stories a bit, better to fit their world, but they always kept a little of the magic. After I found a book of these true faerie tales in the castle, Arach had it translated for me, and they tickled me pink. Well, most of them. Some were a bit gruesome.
Which is why I asked, “Is this a PG story?”
“PG?” He frowned at me.
“Is it appropriate for our girl?”
“Mommy. Story,” Samara said.
“You know it as Cinderella,” Arach said.
“I figured from the title, but is it PG?” I asked, patting Sam's hand. “Is there any violence in it, Arach?”
“Well.” He scrunched up his face. “Nothing too terrible.”
“Isn't Cinderella the Disney movie with the singing mice?” Rian asked from the doorway.
“They don't sing,” Brevyn said as he stepped around him.
“But it's the one with the mice and the pumpkin, right?”
“Yeah, and the fairy godmother. Spelled with a Y instead of IE.” Brev looked back at his brother, then the two of them burst out laughing.
“Brev, shh!” Samara said. “Mommy is reading.”
“Sorry, Sammy,” Brev said. “Can we listen too?”
“Yes, you may,” Samara said primly.
“Oh, my little playa wants his mommy to read him a bedtime story?” I lifted a brow at Rian.
“If it's a real faerie tale, then yes, I do,” Rian said. “Those are good.”
I looked at Arach.
“It's not scary, Vervain,” Arach huffed.
