“Reif, do these men…and the vampires and witches…have names?” asked Oracle.
“Yes, but I don’t know them. My father might,” Reif answered. “It’s too late tonight, but I can call him tomorrow.”
“When you find the green diamond, who do you give it to? One of the witches or a vampire?” asked Kieran.
“Oh, none of them. I deal with their representative,” Reif said.
“What’s his name?” asked Brian.
“Don’t know that he has one. We call him ‘the man’,” Reif replied.
“What kind of paranormal is ‘the man’?” asked Logan.
“Sorry, don’t know that, but I think he’s a hybrid of some kind—that’s just a guess, though,” Reif said.
“One other question, Reif,” Oracle said. “Would you meet with a friend of mine, Mystia? She’s a witch and I am hoping she might help find the witches who have held your people hostage all this time.”
Glancing at Nessie, Reif asked, “Okay with you?”
“Ay, the faster we find these fuckers, the faster ye can relax and that’s guid for our babies,” replied Brian.
“Good,” Oracle said. “She will be in contact with Logan to arrange a time. Reif, do you have any other questions for me before I leave?”
“Just one, but you might not know the answer.”
“Go ahead but even if I know the answer, I might not be able to tell you. I have a lot of knowledge but not all of it can be disclosed until I am given permission by the Fates,” explained Oracle.
“Fair enough. Why does my sea dragon have five eggs instead of the usual one?” Reif asked.
Smiling, Oracle said, “The Fates were worried about the sea dragons dying out since they haven’t been claiming their Fated Mates. Since you are the first sea dragon to claim your Fated Mate in a thousand years, the Fates decided to give you more offspring to make sure sea dragons would survive. Initially, they planned to give you ten, but after debating it, they decided on just five.”
Chapter 28
“TEN?” questioned Reif, not sure he heard right. “The Fates were going to give me and Nessie TEN babies? All at once?”
“Yes, but then decided that might be a bit too many,” Oracle smiled.
“Ay, that it would be,” agreed Brian. “But five is just perfect.”
“Wha…?” Reif’s eyes grew big as he stared at Nessie.
“Ay, this being our first time as parents and ye being an older father…”
“I’m not anolderfather,” Reif snorted indignantly. “My dad had me when he was 1,500 years old.”
“Ye dinna say? Well, then five is a perfect number for a young parent like ye,” smirked Brian.
“Five is four more than my dad had.”
“Ay, but less than ten and certainly less than what serpents can have,” Brian said, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Reif’s eyes widened. “How many…you know...”
“Can a sea serpent have…normally?” asked Brian.
Holding his hands up, Reif shook his head. “Don’t tell me anymore. Five will be just fine.” Shifting his gaze back to Oracle, he said, “Anything you can do to help…I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“I will be in touch,” Oracle said, leaving the room.
