I had a sister, nephews, and nieces in the girls who Teddy and Elias had officially adopted a year ago. I had a family I’d found through my friends—a family I loved—and Teddy and Elias’s home, where I wasn’t simply welcome but felt like I belonged. I even had my own bedroom in their large cottage, although most times when I spent the night, the younglings and I all stayed out in the living room, having what the humans referred to as slumber parties.
Hoshiko coasted us toward the clearing in front of Teddy’s home, with little Victoria rushing to us as quickly as her short nine-year-old legs would carry her. Once on the ground, Hoshiko gently pushed his head against her stomach. I took in her peals of laughter as she pet the red mark on the top of Hoshiko’s head that identified him as one of our Elder dragons. While most of our Elder dragons no longer lived in our realm, now exiled deep into the mountains in the human realm, three had been allowed to stay behind, with Hoshiko being one of them.
Once I jumped off Hoshiko’s back and landed on the ground, I scooped Caspian into my arms. Still unsteady on his legs, Zayne ambled toward me, peering back at his mama after every few steps. Teddy beamed down at her younglings with the same pride I felt nestled deep in my chest whenever I was around the twins.
Who could blame me? These boys, my nephews, were extraordinary.
From the very first moment I held Caspian as a freshly born babe, he and his brother stole my heart. Though I’d been scared to hold Zayne while also carrying Caspian, Elias had insisted and placed him in my other arm. I could still remember how perfectly they’d fit, as if I’d waited my whole life to carry them. As they slept in my arms, their perfect little features softened by rest, I surrendered every part of who I was to them.
They didn’t simply own me but had me wrapped around their pudgy fingers so well that I’d do anything for them. Where many said we were spoiling the boys, I simply saw them as well-loved. They were secure and safe in their surroundings, with doting parents, an uncle, older sisters, and extended family who adored them. They also had Javier. Although he still found it difficult to be around Teddy and Elias, he made time for the twins and loved them just as fiercely as the rest of us.
Caspian prodded my face, poking my eyes before he squeezed my nose. I let out a loud, strange-sounding grunt that made him giggle. Zayne tugged on the leg of my pants when he reached me.
“Up?” I asked, running my hand through the soft curls of his black hair until a few caught against my fingers. Again. I pulled back, smiling at how even his hair refused to let go. “Do you want me to pick you up?”
He held up his arms and babbled something that sounded like “up.”
“Say, ‘yes, Uncle Brent, I want you to pick me up.’”
From the bottom of the front patio steps, where Hayden guarded Teddy and her family, the fae male snickered. As Teddy and the younglings’ head guard, he was almost always around unless he was at the military school instructing on swordplay or at the orphanage, where he cooked dinner for the younglings twice a week. We had a strange relationship. I knew it wasundeniably my fault that the warrior had lost his arm and almost his life, yet he pretended everything was fine. While he never held me accountable for the way I’d lost control of my magic over a year ago, I condemned myself for it.
As soon as I picked Zayne up, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and tugged. I winced but held still so Teddy could disentangle my hair from his firm grip. While Teddy and Zayne fought over the poor strands of my hair, Victoria sat on the ground with her back against Hoshiko. She opened the chapter book I’d brought her from the public library and began reading aloud.
Hoshiko let out a contented sigh that made the blades of grass dance.
“Nalari is going to be furious when she comes home.”I winked at my dragon while I spoke to him through our mental connection.
His pleasure over the upcoming encounter swam inside me.“She’ll eventually come to terms that Tori likes me best.”
Once Teddy freed my hair, she looked back at me with an amused look on her face.
“What?” I asked, hoping Zayne hadn’t pulled hard enough to cause a bald spot.
“Yes, Uncle Brent, I want you to pick me up?” She rested her hands on her waist while she cocked a hip out.
I grinned. “The book I’m reading said to speak to the babes in full sentences. It’ll help grow their vocabulary.”
With a shake of her head, she drew her brows up. “You know the library also carries books for fun. They’re called fiction and come in all sorts of genres from adventure to mystery to?—”
“Romance.” I sang out my tease, knowing how much she loved every sub-genre romance offered.
“. . . to horror.”
I shuddered. “No horror for me, thanks.”
“Are you still having nightmares from?—”
“Nope.” I backed away while Zayne squished my cheeks the way his mother often did to me. “We don’t talk about that.”
“It was a silly clown, Brenton.”
She went there. Of course, she did. My sister was cruel and enjoyed tormenting me, hence teaching her boys to squish my cheeks and pull my hair.
Only the oddities who were humans would think clowns were fun or appropriate for children. I still didn’t understand how she convinced our friend George to dress up as a clown for the twins’ first birthday.
Our fae friends and I had never heard of such a dreadful thing. But with Reignom’s scholars keeping a spotty magical connection to the human internet through a carefully sliced tear in the veil, Teddy commandeered it long enough to pull up several images. Elias used them as references to sew the costume together.
If the attire hadn’t been bad enough, they then covered George’s face in horrifying paint.
