Seven
Zamir
"Zamir! Zamir! Where areyou?" Keoni shouted, his voice ringing through the trees as I placed the luggage on the ground, then eyed Dustin.
"Did you pack the entire house?" I asked, then turned toward the trees and called back, "I'm here!"
"Babies need a lot of stuff," Dustin declared when I turned back to him, and I accepted it with a nod. I wasn't dumb enough to argue with the dad-to-be.
Silas, it turned out, was. "And so do their pregnant dads, huh?" he asked as he hauled out the second suitcase, which was evenbigger, and Dustin turned on him, hands on his hips, light blue eyes narrowed.
For a tiny human—barring the big belly with the tinier person growing inside—Dustin could be scary when he wanted to be, and watching the half-troll stumble back with his palms raised in surrender made me snicker. Silas could crush Dustin with one hand, not that he'd ever hurt a human, pregnant or otherwise, and he might've been stupid enough to antagonize Dustin, but he'd realized it was best to retreat.
"Liam and I will take your stuff over to his apartment, and then you can make your way over, okay?" Silas said, and Dustin stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded.
"I'll miss you," I said, and Dustin smiled, his blue eyes soft and sad.
"I'll miss you too. Hopefully, we'll be back soon."
I nodded, then gave him a gentle hug, careful of his belly. Khush came out with Scrappy, their cat, cradled in his arms, and I raised a brow at him.
"Aren't you taking her with you?"
The two shared a glance, Dustin's lips pressed in a thin line, and Khush sighed, his yellow-brown eyes soft and hesitant. His dark hair was a mess, as if he'd been running his fingers through the strands repeatedly. "We thought it would be best if she stayed here. We might need to go to the hospital at some point, and we don't want her to be alone. Will you look after her?"
I blinked, then took her from Khush. She rubbed her cheek against my beard, and started purring. "Of course. We all will. She'll be okay, Dustin."
He smiled sadly. "I know she will, but I don't want her to think I don't love her anymore now that the baby's coming soon."
"She won't. As soon as she sees the baby, she'll love them too."
Keoni stumbled out of the trees, and the grin on his face fell instantly when he saw us gathered outside Khush and Dustin's house.
"You're leaving?" he asked as he came closer, and Khush nodded. He slithered past us and pulled Keoni into a hug.
"I'll be back soon, okay? Knock some sense into the headmaster. Get him to accept help. I want my baby to grow up here, with their Uncle Keoni, okay?"
"Yeah," Keoni mumbled, sounding choked. Those two had always been close, like brothers, and I hated seeing them unhappy.
Khush and Dustin left soon after, and we walked them to the exit, while Liam and Haruto went with them to the comic book store above which Liam's apartment was. He'd lived there before he met Haruto, but now that they were married and living here, the place had been empty. At least Khush and Dustin wouldn't be far, and Liam would be able to check on them daily.
Once they were gone, Keoni and I returned to the Forest with the others, and while everyone scattered, Keoni stuck by me, and I remembered he'd been looking for me earlier.
"Was there something you wanted to tell me?" I asked, and the confused look on his face prompted me to remind him.
"Oh right! I forgot all about that," he said, then pulled an envelope out of his shirt pocket. "This came for you."
"Came for me?"
"Someone slid it under the door, and considering the fact that it made it here instead of the actual building, I think it's from your dragon," he said with a grin, his melancholy muted for a moment as he watched me turn over the envelope.
On the front, my name was written in beautiful penmanship, and the back was sealed in red wax, though I could sense some magic in it too.
"I couldn't open it," Keoni said with a pout, and I chuckled.
"You think maybe that's why he sealed it?" I teased as I pulled the flap, and the seal released with a soft sound. Keoni leaned closer, peering at the folded piece of paper as I slid it out.
"If I ask you to let me read privately, would you?" I asked, and he gave me an offended look.
