“Hmmm, would I not?”she taunted.
Riven smiled and pulled her to her feet by both hands, then draped her arms over his shoulders.“I yield, Princess.Do not call upon the Great Ones.I do not think I could handle their particular form of attention again.”
“Are you gonna kiss?”Marie asked them.
Riven eyed the little girl before looking back at Bella.“I was thinking of it.”
“Eww,” Gustav pulled a face while Marie jumped up and down and screamed, “Do it!”
Bella smiled at her husband.“I have learned it is best not to disappoint Marie.She is quite vocal when she does not get her way.”
Riven smiled and slanted his lips against hers, delivering a kiss that always melted her spine and swirled her thoughts.Marie giggled and raced around the hut in her happiness, and Bella took the moment to draw Riven’s hand to her stomach.
“I think it is time you know, we shall soon have a little tadpole of our own running about.”
His eyes lit up, and he jolted with his surprise.“Really?”
She nodded.“The midwife confirmed it this morning.”
“Tell me she did not confirm it is actually a tadpole?”
Bella smiled and pretended to ponder.“Well, she didn’t say itwasn’ta tadpole.”
He mumbled under his breath about loving insufferable women as he pressed his forehead to hers and smiled.Bella knew he was teasing her right back and loved every minute of it.
“Have you told anyone yet?”
“Henriette was with me but is sworn to silence until after our general announcement.Then she is allowed to tell all and sundry that she was the very first person to know.”
“When are we allowed to tell our families?”
“Another moon, husband.These days are yet fragile.”She placed a protective hand over her belly, wondering what it would feel like when the baby moved.
“I know your father will leap over the moon when you tell him.”
She smirked.“Thank you for dragging him out of his house last year at your royal command and making him move into our village.I do so enjoy having him here.”
“You mean, did I defend my wife by demonstrating what it feels like to have all your options forcibly removed from you?Why, darling, I have no idea what you speak of.”
“I said nothing,” she replied in a singsong voice.“You must be imagining things.”
“Anything for you, love,” he said as he placed a light kiss on her lips, then chuckled.“I can already see your father, bragging of the royal lineage he helped raised, and the new generation he will also embrace.”
Bella smiled as she envisioned her child sitting atop Papa’s knee in Henriette’s old shop, where he now got to invent items all day long, earning a royal paycheck to boot.Henriette had married Leon, the guard, and was given larger accommodations closer to the castle as The Royal Clothier.She had even found a talented protégé to take under her wing to keep up with demand.“He will be a doting grandfather, for certain.”
“He could certainly teach my father a thing or two about kindness.”
Bella stroked her husband’s soft hair at his hurt-filled comment.“Well, hehasbeen more doting over Luc.Look you how long he feeds those trout.”The reminder that Luc had not been freed of his punishment still sat poorly with Bella.“You know, I firmly believe ill deeds deserve repercussions, but a full year of this seems overly harsh.”
A frown puzzled Riven’s brow.“For some reason, I remember Luc was thus sentenced for twenty-six years, to unlearn his foul behaviors, at which point he will emerge as the day he left.How do I know this?”
Bella waited for an answer, then asked, “Well?Howdoyou?”
“Darling, I do not know.”
She tapped her lip in thought.“Luc was punished while you were...absent.Think you the Great One told you the details of the spell?”
“She must have, else I have no idea how I would have come to that kernel of information.”
