I took Ivy’s hand as she looked back at them, beaming. “Thank you for everything.”
The woman waved a dismissive hand. “We just did as we were told. They did all the heavy lifting. Just make sure they look after you, poor girl. Sweet dreams.”
“Good night,” Ivy murmured, watching them walk towards the guest entrance. “What about you, Thea?”
The blonde groaned. “I didn’t get drunk,” she pouted. “What’s the point of a wedding if your maid of honour doesn’t get white girl wasted and embarrasses you?”
Ivy barked a surprised laugh. “That might be the supernatural in you.”
I took the seat beside Ivy, which put me next to the divination mage. “I’d put money on you being a shifter, then,” he said. “They have the highest tolerance for alcohol.”
“Ah, yes,” I murmured, staring at the unknown female. “But she is no wolf, nor bear shifter. No known shifter, at least.”
“If anyone were to know,” the charm mage started, leaning forward from where he sat beside the other female, “then it would be you, Rhadamanthus. You’ve seen it all.”
“C’mon,” the female said. “Guess. Please.”
If I were to be honest, I would guess dragon. But it was impossible. I’d been there the day the last one perished, before the realm they called the Old World was cut off from the rest of the realms under Nyx. I had guided the female’s soul right into the Field towards her mates and Nyx. There were none left to carry the bloodline.
“I’ve no clue,” I said. “The only one who would is Nyx.”
“And getting answers out of her is like pulling teeth, got it,” the blonde sighed. “Fine. So, are we getting drunk, or is the wife going to bed?”
That spurred on another conversation, one easy to drown out.
You know something, don’t you?Ivy asked silently, her eyes finding mine.
I brought her hand to my lips.Nothing. I promise you. Though I wish I did.
Love you, she whispered, smiling.
So much.And I would not give this up for anything. Not my crown, my immortality, or my power. Nothing compared to having my mate, claimed and mine, knowing one day this family would grow—and I would get to see it all.
10
Ivy
“Blindfolding the pregnant lady isn’t a great idea, you know,” I muttered, taking every step carefully as Hawk guided me towards hissurprise.
I knew he’d been working on something with help from the others, just notwhat. He’d already made a gym with Adrian and Elias, and there was something about him lending a hand to Orion on another project. All I knew was he liked to keep himself busy with home projects now that he couldn’t exactly go back to being an agent. As it was, Hawk didn’t want that life anymore. He’d already spent a couple of decades as an agent, a soldier, a pawn.
He was happy living a more…quiet life.
I think we all were now.
The others surrounded me, though they allowed Hawk to be the one to share his surprise. Hawk had one of my hands trapped in his, our fingers entwined, with his arm around my middle. I could sense the others, through scents and bonds, all around me, like a guiding path towards whatever waited for me.
Since our ceremony last week, I’d been inundated with gifts. That wasn’t an unusual occurrence; Maeve understood howmuch I liked schedules, so we had several variations around the house, particularly in the family room off the kitchen, and she’d had a special kind of diary made by a mage in the Underworld just for me.
Xerxes and Arthur took to managing the outside gardens while I couldn’t, bringing back cool things they found. Like a little hair comb they dug up that must have belonged to someone who lived on the island previously, or an old potion bottle that I now kept fresh flowers in from the morning runs Rowan and Adrian went on.
Orion brought me books any time he left the island, and they were about anything and everything—I didn’t care, I loved them all, but Damon specifically always found the raunchiest, dirtiest romances. It turned out House Lust had alotof prolific romance authors penning some of Avalon’s bestsellers—as well as some in the human world.
Elias was a master at making my morning coffee. One pro of being a supernatural being: I could still drink the elixir of life and eat raw fish if I wanted to. Baby wolf made sure of that, and baby charm really liked caramel lattes. There was always one waiting for me, even before I craved it.
Hawk was always fixing something—when he wasn’t bringing me little daggers from around the realms, Houses, and Courts. I had a full collection in my walk-in that was in a charmed case so the kids couldn’t get to them. And every blade had something different about it; like the first one he gave me was imbued with a feather from his wings. Or the delicately small one hidden in a pen.
It was pretty fucking cool. I never thought I’d be a dagger girl, but they were awesome to look at.
