Page 54 of The Goddesses' Gifts

“Nicolas and I want to add you to the house guard. You’ll have to take some leave for the babies at some point, but I expect you back on duty when you’re ready. Take as much time as you need, obviously. The position will be here.”

“Really?” I asked, my mood brightening. My work was all I had for so long. I knew realistically, even with three adults raising three little ones, it would still require much of my time. Was the source of my irritation at being left out just pride? A thought to pursue later.

“Yes,” Emma answered. “Nicolas insists I have a personal guard, particularly during outings. But really,” she leaned into me a little and whispered conspiratorially, “I’m probably more dangerous than the entire guard, army, and lords combined.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” I laughed. “I can think of no other way I’d want to serve here. I’m honored to accept the position.”

“I couldn’t ask for a better friend or guardian,” Emma beamed at me.

We turned our attention back to Oshruli as he zipped across the garden path. There was a bird foraging among the plants. He stalked it, likely curious to have a closer look. The bird’s keen eyes caught his movement and spread its wings to escape.

“I’m already looking forward to this spring,” I said as the startled bird flew away. Oshruli squinted into the sky to watch it escape, disappointment apparent in his face. “Though my hands will be full by then. His father will probably get to experience those joys with him.”

“I know,” Emma nodded. “There will be many, many full hands by then,” she said, with a touch of manic cheer. “Almost every woman of childbearing age in Bergellon is pregnant.”

I balked and stared at Emma. But should I be surprised?

“I’m going to hire a tutor for Oshruli, to help him learn the languages used here. And likely some laborers to help lighten the burden of such a large surge in the population. I just need the new steward to get accustomed to his position so we can figure out how it would impact the finances.”

“Emma,” I said with as much disapproval as I could muster, “you can’t just say everyone is pregnant and sweep it under the rug.”

Emma wrung her hands, turned away and then back to me, as if unsure what to really say. “When I Became a demi-goddess of life and love, it turns out that comes with fertility too.”

“So this,” I gestured to my abdomen, “is as much your doing as it is Lhoris and Lobikno?”

She offered me an apologetic grimace. “And probably the one before,” she admitted. “Ozanna I am sorry. I simply had no idea what I was doing.” She shook her head and sighed.

It wouldn’t do any good to hold it against her and I didn’t doubt her sincerity. But I also needed to file a complaint. It wasn’t often one got the opportunity to do so directly to the divine source of one’s woes. “I’m having twin sibling-cousins,” I groaned.

Emma winced and anxiously flapped her hands in the air between us. “It sounds yucky when you say it that way,” she said hurriedly, giving me a glimpse of the girl I’d known on the journey here. “But it’s not. It’s just … awkward.”

I huffed a laugh, though it didn’t feel like the smile touched my eyes. “I know. It’s a lot, but it’s not bad.”

Overall, it could have been so much worse. I could have been blessed by a fertility goddess then trapped underground, perpetually pumping out multiples until I was spent. That thought made my blood run cold.

“Ozanna,” Emma said, putting a hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yes, I am. Or I will be,” I grumbled.

Oshruli had come to the end of the garden path and encountered the smithy. He paused there and looked back to where Emma and I were standing. Before long, it would be too bright out there for him without a hat, and we would need to find something else to engage him. I crouched down and opened my arms to him, gesturing for him to come give me a hug. He beamed at me and ran as fast as he could into my embrace. I scooped him up and smothered him with affection while he laughed and nuzzled my cheek with his face.

“Let’s take him to the library after this,” Emma said with a smile of her own, as if reading my mind. “We can show him the first volume of the sea fae books.”

CHAPTER 26

EMMA

Ireturned to my chambers after Ozanna excused herself and Oshruli from the library. He was over tired after an afternoon looking at books and picking up the words we introduced to him. I’d held up very well during breakfast and throughout our afternoon, but when the doors closed behind me, I gave into the trembling that wanted to start the moment I realized Oz was carrying twins. Leaning against the doors, I stared down at my shaking hands.

She wasn’t supposed to have twins. In those last moments before I carved the Oracle out of my being, like the cancer it was, I’d only ever seen Oz with Lobikno’s baby … for the immediate future, at least.

Something had changed.

When I realized it, I’d automatically reached out for that power that wasn’t there anymore, only to be reminded of its absence.

I stood there staring into my parlor and laughed at the irony. “I wish I’d had the foresight to not get rid of my foresight,” I giggled and moved to the window, opening the frosted glass to look out on the courtyard. Then out to the fields and houses beyond the curtain wall. I had a sense that the Oracle was still out there, somewhere. It had been cast away recklessly on an impulse, I’d not considered where it might go. How would I even go about finding it? I scoffed. Why even consider such a foolish thing? I’d cast it out for good reason. But what if Ozanna’s second child was just the first wrong thing? Or worse, what if it’s not the first and I just don’t know it?

“First thing first,” I murmured to myself, “I need to find a teacher.”

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