“Am I going to get breasts now?”
Rian, standing to one side, choked on his juice. I chuckled, glad to see that my little Romeo wasn't so much like his father that hearing his sister talk about developing breasts didn't disturb him. He'd been way too casual with talk of his future conquests.
“Not yet, Sam,” I said and smoothed her long, brown curls. “That will take several years more. But you have proven that you have a fully Fey essence, and that's wonderful.”
Sam didn't know how wonderful it was. Arach may have played it off, but I knew he'd been worried that Samara might not be a full-blooded Dragon-Sidhe and therefore, unable to shift. When I said we had fire-proofed the nursery, I meant that we had done itbeforethe boys were born. Rian had a diamond cradle and a tree trunk for a scratching post—all the things that Arach said Dragon-Sidhe babies needed. But Sam hadn't needed those things. She had never burned her bedding or clawed the scratching post we installed for her (a white birch to go with the pink room). Because she had never shifted. I reassured Arach that I knew for certain that Samara had a full portion of Dragon-Sidhe essence, but genetics were tricky, especially when it came to gods and faeries. And me. Arach needed proof, and there was no greater proof than Sam's transformation.
“Why is it wonderful?” Samara asked.
I blinked, coming out of my thoughts. “Because there aren't a lot of our kind and now we can be sure there's one more.” I tapped her nose.
“And maybe there will be more through you,” Arach said.
I glared at Arach, but he only stared back at me as if baffled over why I'd be upset.
“Through me?” Samara asked.
“What your daddy is trying to say is that someday, when you have become a woman, you could have a baby. And if you choose to have that baby with another Dragon-Sidhe, your baby would be a Dragon-Sidhe like us.”
Sam thought about this. “Then I should lie down with Rian.”
Rian made a wheezing, terrified sound and fled the table. Roarke, seated with his family a little further down since they were royals of our court as well (the Fire Cat-Sidhe were a sort of court within a court, and Roarke was their King), covered his mouth but I could see his fiery eyes burning with laughter.
I looked at Arach accusingly. “You see what happens when you give the sex talk too soon?”
But Arach had his lips pressed together to keep from laughing as well.
“Where did Rian go?” Samara asked.
“You scared him, little girl,” I said and kissed her forehead. It amazed me how far she'd advanced in speech alone over the last few months. Just in the time since I'd returned from the distant past, Sam had developed a more complex way of speaking.
“He doesn't want to lie down with me?” Sam asked, so innocently.
“Not in that way, baby. Brothers and sisters don't have children with each other. You're already family. To have children, you need to lie down with someone you aren't related to.”
Samara scrunched up her face. “But I love Rian.”
“I'm glad you do. One day you will understand that there are different kinds of love. The one you have for Rian is brotherly. The one you'll have for your husband will be much different.”
“But there aren't any other Dragon-Sidhe, Mommy.”
“There are two others who aren't related to you,” Arach said, right on cue. “And one is a boy. That means you could have a full-blooded Dragon-Sidhe baby with him.”
“Who?”
“Prince Baidhen of Darkness.”
“Baidhen?” She frowned in thought. “I don't know if I like him.”
“You're young, sweetheart. Give it time,” Arach said. “I'm sure you'll like him more when you get older.”
“Arach,” I said in a warning tone.
“What, A Thaisce?” He asked with wide eyes. “I'm only counseling our daughter as any good parent would.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes.
“What's wrong, Mommy?” Samara asked.
