“You are," he said. He kissed me again and then stood as someone knocked on the door. The guard who was quickly becoming my favorite, named Jasper, opened the door, and stuck his head in. "Ma'am? A Mrs. Grunst is here to see you."
I stood and smoothed my shirt. "Thank you, Jasper. Please show her in."
Mrs. Grunst bustled in carrying a bag of knitting. She couldn't have been any more stereotypically a grandmother if she'd fallen right out of a movie. She was even wearing a cardigan.
"Hello, dear," she said as she came over to hug me. "I'm so excited to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too," I said, instantly feeling at ease with the older woman.
"Oh, hello Roan." Mrs. Grunst said with a sense of familiarity. "Oh, look at you."
Roan stepped forward and hugged the older lady tight.
"You two know each other?" I eyed Roan; a bit miffed he hadn't mentioned it to me.
He blushed a bit. "I didn't want to sing her praises and you not hire the person you specifically liked because of my influence. Besides, you picked her right off so I knew things would work out."
Mrs. Grunst swatted Roan's shoulder. "I was the nanny for this scamp, as well as his cousin, our king, Alexander."
Now my gaze toward Roan turned irritated. "I would've rather had your and Zander's nanny. You should've said."
He shrugged and gave me a grin that had me ready to forgive him. "I wanted you to like her for you, not me."
"Oh, well, I suppose it has all worked out," I said, turning my attention back to Mrs. Grunst.
Doryu stood and walked over. "This is baby Alex," he said.
Mrs. Grunst set her knitting down in a hurry and took the infant from Doryu's arms. "Oh, you sweet thing. You really are blue aren't you?"
Alex opened his eyes and blinked at his new nanny, and she melted in front of us.
"He's going to be a heartbreaker," she said as she backed into the rocker and rocked him gently, never taking her eyes off the baby.
I smiled and looked at Roan. "I think we may have found our nanny."
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "I told you."
"Okay, then." I got busy showing her where everything was kept, including the filtered water and warmer, and where I'd been writing down his diaper changes and feedings to make sure he was using the bathroom often enough. That'd been a recommendation in one of the baby books.
"I'll warn you," I said when I couldn't think of anything else to tell her. "He eats a lot and frequently."
She also couldn't take her eyes off Alex. "Then it will be my pleasure to feed him often."
I chuckled. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."
"Oh, I know we are, dear," she said.
"If you need anything, just let one of the guards know and they'll get in touch with me," I said.
Roan and Doryu exited into my room, and it was difficult to make myself follow, but I did it, leaving the baby who was not mine, with a very capable nanny. "Just let me grab my shoes."
Ten minutes later, we were ready to head through the portal and to the Junta headquarters for the meeting.
I was pretty sure Zander had only called the core council for the meeting, yet when we walked into the amphitheater, it was half-full.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Roan as we sat down in our usual seats up on the dais.
"I'm not sure," he said. "This is odd."
