“High praise from a dire wolf,” Sebastian commented, leaning into frame so she could see him.
“Sebastian!” Seri’s face lit up. “Are you coming, too?”
“Someone has to keep Dad in line.”
I shot him a glare that promised retribution, but there was no heat behind it.
“We need to go,” Koa’s voice came from off-camera. “Cas is already out, and Zane’s going to join him any second now.”
“Fuck you,” came Zane’s weak mutter. “I’m fine.”
“Of course you are. That’s why you can’t even lift your head right now.”
“I’m conserving energy.”
“For what?”
“For telling you to fuck off again in five minutes.”
Their bickering was familiar and oddly comforting.
“I need to take care of them,” Seri sighed. “They’re going to beterriblepatients. I can tell already.”
“They are awful,” I agreed, remembering countless training injuries and the stubborn refusal of all three to admit pain or weakness.
Of course, I’d encouraged that at the time.
“Thank you for sending help, Papa, and for coming here yourself.”
“Of course,” I said, because what else could I say?
That I had spent decades teaching my sons to be weapons rather than children? That I had buried my grief over Catalina in coldness and distance? That I was only now, with Kaori’s patient guidance, beginning to understand the magnitude of what I had lost in pushing them away?
“Rest,” I added. “We’ll handle everything when we arrive.”
After we disconnected, I sat in silence for a moment, acutely aware of both Sebastian and Kaori watching me.
“Well,” Sebastian finally said, “I suppose we should get ready to leave.”
“Youwill remain here. I need someone I trust to oversee the court in my absence. Besides, Mirabelle would pine for you.” I noddedmy head toward his cat as she sat on her red velvet cushion, watching us with her judgmental golden eyes.
For a moment, I thought Sebastian might protest, but he only nodded in understanding. The traitor was still at large, and leaving the court without leadership was too great a risk.
“I could take my princess along, of course, but Brummy might terrorize her,” he agreed.
“I’d be more worried aboutherterrorizinghim,” I scoffed, then turned to Kaori.
“I would prefer you stay as well, beloved. For your safety.”
“Not a chance,” she replied, already standing. “I’ve been wanting to meet your sons properly, and this is the perfect opportunity.”
I knew that tone. In the short time we had been together, I had learned which battles with Kaori were worth fighting and which were already lost. This was decidedly the latter.
“Very well,” I conceded. “We leave in thirty minutes.”
As we left the dining room, I found myself thinking not of the destruction at Evermere or the captured witch, but of Seri’s unconscious ease in calling me Papa. And of my sons, not as the weapons I had forged them to be, but as the men they had becomedespiteme.
Perhaps there was still time to be the father they deserved.
