He groaned. “Let’s hope you can fix my heir. I don’t think I can go through the process again of procuring another one.”
I stifled my laughter as Justin made having sex with a woman sound distasteful. That he didn’t enjoy the encounter had me smiling even if I suspected he was playing it up to ease my concerns over him leaving me for a woman.
“How is the mother?”
“Minerva is fine, but she isn’t a mother, she’s a vessel that carried my child. My heir will never have a true mother.”
“Don’t you worry about that?” It hadn’t been my choice to be parentless, but Oss had loved his mother with a fierce passion. “He might need a woman’s touch?”
“Why? You didn’t have one and you came out wonderfully, and my mother died when Thorne and I were young and we’re fine. Besides, I hired a nanny. She will do as a maternal figure for now.”
My mouth dropped open. “Justin, I don’t know if you should use me as standard for anything. I’m barely saner than Affie.”
He barked out a laugh. “You are far saner than that street kid.”
“There is a small margin between us,” I insisted. If I was the bar he measured sanity against, the world was in trouble.
“You don’t think high enough of yourself. You’re one of the cleverest fellows I know.”
I sighed. “You can’t just foist your child off on nannies.”
Justin patted my arm. “It is a fine family tradition that has worked for generation of heirs. Unless you want to step in and be the responsible parent?”
“You’ve already commented on how I can’t take even take care of myself,” I pointed out. “I doubt I should be trusted with a baby.”
“You just need practice. If you don’t want me to use nannies, then I fully intend on you being the second parent to my heir. We’ll have to make sure he can’t get inside any of your workshops when he starts moving on his own.”
“Before, you said your heir would have nothing to do with me.” I repeated the particular part of our fight that had hurt the most.
He laced his fingers through mine and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry for saying that. I was lashing out. I would be honored if you would be part of my child’s life.”
“Thank you.” His highhanded ways were one of the many things we had argued about the most. “We will have to do a lot of compromising if we want to stay together.”
“You still have a lot to learn about nobility, if you think we compromise,” Justin sniffed.
“You’re lucky I left my knives at home.” I elbowed him not so gently in the gut.
The loud train horn brought our conversation to a close. I admired the shiny red engine as it puffed past. I always enjoy watching the train traverse from one side of the city to the other. I heard a rumor that it used to carry passengers from city to city before the dangers outside the walls became too treacherous and the desert reclaimed the tracks. Now there were monsters in the sands that would eat any trespasser.
“One day, we will open the trade routes again,” Justin said. Like me, he was watching the train go by.
“Don’t we still have them with the dirigibles?”
“With only dirigibles, we can’t haul as much and passengers are extremely limited.”
“We have to find a way to get rid of the monsters first.”
Justin nodded. “I’m planning on sending out scouts soon to see how bad things are.”
“I hope you aren’t sending Thorne. I won’t be responsible for Oss’s retribution if Thorne gets eaten.”
“Maybe I should send the magistrate.” Justin smirked.
A feral grin curved my lips. “I would support that idea if I didn’t know he would send other men out in his stead. He’s a coward at heart.”
Justin didn’t refute my claim. For the rest of the trip, we bantered back and forth over what other disfavored people we would feed to the monsters.
It was a nice conversation to bond over.
