He gives me a serious look.“Wherever you go I’ll always follow you.”
I press my face into his collarbone to hide my grin, and mutter.“So back to Vernallis, then? For now, at least.”
He nods.“I’ll have to talk to Kai first, he’s going to have to be in charge again, but then yeah we can go home.”
“I actually had another idea while you were sleeping,”I hedge.
He raises an eyebrow.“What?”
“I was just thinking that we happen to have an army already and a lot of extra space in the barracks for more soldiers. There’s that new school in the village, which could probably take all the children, and I’m guessing that anyone who didn’t want to be a soldier anymore could do other jobs on the estate or in the village.”
He looks at me with awe in his face.“You just came up with that while I was sleeping? Just like that.”
I shrug.“It’s not as if it’s overly complicated. There would be the issue of living in close proximity to Fae, so I’m sure not everyone would want to go, but I think a lot of those issues can be resolved with some time.”
“Maybe some magic lessons for the children,”Fox muses.
I grin“Exactly.”
He smiles widely, his dimple flashing, and leans in to kiss me. I smile against his lips.
A high pitched chattering sound makes both of us spring apart, startled. I crane my neck, and my mouth falls open in a wide grin. “Eugene!”
The squirrel is sitting on the tree-legged table, chattering and waving his tail at us, as if to say“It’s about time you showed up.”
“I could say the same to you,” I reply with a mock scowl. “You had me worried you’d become some wolf’s dinner.”
Eugene’s obsidian eyes go wide with terror and he dives straight into my satchel, disappearing from sight.
“Should we worry that the squirrel seems to understand you?”Fox says with a grimace.
“I don’t think so. I’ve made it pretty clear that if he turns out to be a shifter I’ll feed him to Alix’s cat,” I reply, my voice rising to make absolutely sure Eugene can hear me.
“No need,”Fox grumbles.“If he turns out to be a shifter I’ll eat him myself.”
“I think that would be fair. Your teeth are much bigger and sharper than the cats.”
He flashes a grin.“All the better to eat you with.”
I squeal with laughter as he flips me over on my back.“Did you mean to eat him with?”
For shakes his head, smirking as he presses his lips to my stomach.“Nope.”
“Alright, so we wanted to make sure everyone was here for the announcement. I’m pregnant!”
The entire kitchen erupts. Jett and Kastian jump up from the table, and throw their hands in the air, cheering. Odessa’s eyes go wide with excitement as she bounces on her toes, and Fox gets up to shake Daemon’s hand, and Beatrix promptly bursts into tears and has to lean against the counter to hold herself up.
A wide smile spreads across my face, as I cross the room to envelope Alix in a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Alix beams. “I heard it could take ages for Fae, but I guess being human has some advantages. I’m a few months along already. We’ve seen a Fae healer, a human doctor, and a sea oracle, and they all think I’m due around the end of the summer.”
“Why so many doctors?” Beatrix asks anxiously. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes. You can blame him.” She jerks her head at Daemon. “He’s over-protective and stressed. I thought he’d be excited, but instead we skipped the happy stage and went straight to doomsday prepping. Yesterday, I went for a walk on the grounds and discovered that he bought an entire flock of sheep. There’s like two hundred of them up in the field by the lake.”
“Why?” Odessa asks, wrinkling her nose.
“Children need a lot of clothes. Wool is good for clothes,” Daemon says, as if this is completely rational.
