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“I intend to, my darling.” His fingers closed around mine, then released them. “Rest.”

Alaric stayed a little longer. I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand, feeling the small ridges of his old scars.

“And when do you get a break?”

“I will come to you when I am able.”

“As long as you come back safe, that’s all I ask.”

Before drawing up the blanket, he pressed a kiss to each side of my belly. “Be good for your mother.”

“Now they’ll behave,” I murmured. “They wouldn’t dare ignore their papa.”

I smiled as I drifted back to sleep, surrounded by the scents of all five of my mates, with our girls safe inside me.

By late morning, I had decided my feet were designed for somebody carrying fewer babies.

“I’m so glad they put a bathroom out here,” I told Eira as we returned to the daybed. “If I had to go all the way inside every time I needed a wee, I’d never leave the bedroom.”

Eira smiled as we took the path slowly. My ankles had swollen over the past few days, and dizziness sometimes caught me when I stood too quickly. I was seeing Thaddeus every day now. The monitor beneath my sleeve sent live readings to his team.

Two guards kept a little distance as we walked. A female Alpha stayed nearer to me while her male colleague watched the paths and the doors. They were familiar enough that I noticed when someone else took their places.

Eira helped me settle on the daybed and arranged the cushions along my back. I sighed and turned onto my left side. The garden smelled of damp soil and warm leaves, and Titus worked near the greenhouse beyond the flower beds. I’d left our grafts inside, as I had promised, until he was ready to check them with us.

“I think I’m going to ask them to install a heated pool.”

Eira settled beside me with her pad. “What is a pool?”

“It’s like the square bath we have in the bathroom, but much bigger. Although they can be pretty much any size. Or shape, actually.”

“You wish to place a bathing chamber in the garden?”

“Yeah, but a shallow one. Then when the girls are old enough, we can play in it together. Babies love water.”

“Is this another Earth custom?”

“Sort of. Not everyone has one at home. We never did, but we used to go to the public one.”

Eira sat up. “What do you mean by ‘public’?” she asked slowly.

“It means anyone can go as long as they pay to get in and don’t cause trouble. Ours had a really good children’s area, and every half an hour they turned the wave machine on.” I grinned at the memory. “That was so much fun.”

“Elowen… what do you mean by anyone?”

“Men, women, children of any age.”

I tried not to smile at the horror creeping into her expression. She was quite good at hiding her reactions, but I’d known her long enough now.

“I see…” She lowered the pad into her lap. “How do you bathe in public with your clothes on?”

“You don’t bathe. You swim. And you wear a swimsuit.”

She looked confused again. I should have stopped there, but instead I explained one-pieces, bikinis, tiny bikinis and men’s swimming trunks. And because I had no filter, I also explained thongs.

“You expose your stomach and your buttocks to anyone? Men and even children?”

“Everyone does! And people aren’t just standing there staring at you. Plus, I lived in a small village, so I knew nearly everyone anyway.”