Part of me feared it, but also understood it in a way, too. Which was why I’d gone back to meet with them.
“So, they’re definitely joining the council?” Ivy asked, looking up at me with shining eyes.
I nodded once. “Yes. They like having me on it currently, and I will remain until they elect three to replace me. But I offered to stay on. You don’t mind, do you?”
Ivy pulled back enough to meet my stare evenly, her features softening. “Of course not,” she replied gently. “I want you to do what makes you happy.”
There were so many reasons to love the female standing across from me. Her beauty and kindness being two most would gravitate towards. But there was more; her intent to ensure everyone around her was taken care of, her love for her friends and her family, the patience she held for those who didn’t deserve it being few I could name off the top of my head that some admired.
But I loved her for the little things, too. Like her laugh when she woke to find the little ones in bed with us. Or the soft hum of her voice when she read them stories from their childhood. The moment light would hit her perfectly in the greenhouse and make it look as though she were glowing from the inside out. The look on her face whenever we found trinkets in the back gardens for her, left behind by the ghosts of the manor.
I cupped her cheek, feeling the warmth of it beneath my cool fingers. Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, lingering a moment to breathe her in. “Eventually, they will assume control, and then I will be released from those expectations. But I don’t know what I will do with myself.”
“The council gives you purpose,” she murmured. “I get it. Have you thought about maybe going to the academy with Rowan?”
Rowan had become an instructor at Oberon, specialising in the war against Dante. When he’d brought up sending Primal scholars into Avalon to educate the creatures on Theros, the idea had struck me as interesting, but I hadn’t thought twice about it.
Now, though, I wondered what that would look like. “Perhaps I could start small,” I suggested. “I could go to the school with the girls and teach them.”
Ivy grinned. “I think they’d love that idea.” Though as the words left her lips, she winced.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving my other hand to her belly. “Are you?—”
“No.” She waved a hand, breath shaky. “My feet just hurt. Sit down with me?”
She never had to ask me to enjoy her company. I would spend forever by her side.
Gently, I guided her to the sofa in front of her desk. Together we sat, her on one end facing me, me at the other. As much as I wanted her beside me, I settled with taking her feet in my lap and gently removing her slippers.
“What else happened while you were there? How was Phaedra?” Ivy asked, hands resting over her stomach. Through the bond, I could tell asking about my old leader wasn’t exactly out of care. Phaedra hadn’t given Ivy a good impression of her, and although my mate understood my world and the politics of it better, she still held some resentment over what’d happened.
I couldn’t blame her. We’d been the ones to trap them in the old palace and lure athraxto them. Of course, my mate and the others in her circle easily defended themselves, but I understood the tension.
Taking Ivy’s swollen foot in hand, I massaged it gently, reaching for a balm in my pocket I’d picked up while in the village. It was commonly used for pregnancy swelling, though not made often because of the low birth rates. It was a wonder I’d found it at all, though reports from the clan leaders indicated the pregnancy rates were up.
“Nothing, really,” I replied honestly as I rubbed the salve into her heels. “They have yet to find the Prima.”
Ivy groaned, slumping to the cushion. “I know she’s out there,” she said, eyes closing. “I saw the pregnancy when I pushed the power onto her. There’s a female out there about to give birth or already has.”
“None of the clans reported any female births. Two males, though.”
“Saw those, too,” she muttered, pushing her foot further into my hand. “But she’s out there. I know she is.”
“And they will find her,” I said. “There are nomadic Primals. She could be born without a clan. They are sending out trackers now.”
“That’s good,” Ivy murmured, yawning. “Sorry. What about Phaedra? Does she still hate me?”
I stiffened. “Hate is a strong word.” Though perhaps still relevant. Phaedra tolerated Ivy. After what’d happened and Ivy’s complete dismissal of her, the elder had very few kind things to say about my mate. Though even she had to admire Ivy’s strength against Dante and how she’d handled the war—and everything that’d come after.
Ivy, though, giggled as if she were unperturbed by the elder. “Oh, she’ll get over it. You’d think she’d understand the rush.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You would think. But she is still hesitant. I don’t think she will take the seat on the council.”
Finally, my mate opened her eyes again. “Why not?”
“What happened in Theros changed and reshaped our people. And now that we have a new Prima out there, Phaedra’s position is tenuous. I believe there are some who blame her for us not being prepared for Dante’s attack. For so long, we only saw thethraxas our enemy. We did not look at the ocean for attacks, and we were ill-prepared to fight an army.”
Through the bond, I felt her calming presence, a soothing energy passing from her into me. “You had no reason tobe prepared for Dante. Hell, we weren’t. And that’s not on Phaedra,” Ivy murmured.
