Page 5 of Spectacle

“Come on then,” Saxon says to Zeydan, and then he leads the way to the elevators for us to return to our rooms.

The rocking movement as I lie in Saxon’s arms is soothing, and I find myself dozing on the way to our rooms. I vaguely hear them talking, but I’m so tired, I can’t force myself to listen, so instead, I allow the calming sounds of their voices to wash over me.

“Lila.” Caspian’s voice has me cracking my eyes open, and I smile when I see my beautiful blue kraken peering at me as he takes me from Saxon’s arms.

“Hey,” I mutter, trying to keep my eyes open. He looks down at me with that beautiful smile that makes me want to sigh like a Disney princess.

“Hi, gorgeous. Let’s get you some rest,” he says softly, but I struggle in his arms and look around.

“The babies?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.

“They are fine. They are sleeping. I took them down to swim with Nikos while you were all doing your thing. I think we wore the poor guy out. He was practically asleep when we left, but they all had fun. Xavier helped me put them to bed.” Oh good, at least I know my warlock husband is around. I still need to get to the bottom of his crabby mood, but that can wait until the morning.

“Okay, good. Did someone tell Echo about Maxsim?” I ask, and he nods as we move farther into our suite.

“Yes, you just missed him. He left to go sit with him. He’s fine too, but I’m sure Link will give him a workup while he is down there,” he reassures me, and I relax in his arms.

“Oh, Zeydan…” I try to look back the way we came to see if I can find the god, but Caspian squeezes my thigh.

“He will be fine. Saxon will get him settled. Both Tirrian and Brannock are in the process of moving into one of the spare rooms in here, and I’m sure he can have one of their rooms.”

Everything has happened so quickly, and I don’t know how I feel about the god. He claims I’m his mate, but I don’t know whether to believe him or not. Can a god really have a mate, and just one at that? I mean, he’s fucking gorgeous, and I am super attracted to him, I felt an attraction mark form on my body, but maybe it was a mistake. Maybe he’s disappointed he’s mates with a lower being.

“Lila, stop overthinking things,” Caspian scolds me, and I pout.

“Are you like Xavier now, picking up on my emotions?” I grumble, and he chuckles.

“No, but I know you. You need to rest and recharge, and we can worry about everything else tomorrow. We have a long trip back to Fluxx before we’ll face our next problem. Let’s just conquer one thing at a time.” He reaches my room, and instead of putting me on the bed, he passes it and heads into the bathroom. “Let’s wash some of this gunk off you.” He places my feet on the floor, and I look down my body.

I’m wearing the dress Xavier conjured for me, but the rest of me is filthy. I’m not quite sure how I ended up so dirty. I also hadn’t realized the dirt stayed when changing forms. Black Madovian blood is splattered up and down my arms, and I can’t even begin to consider what my face looks like.

I wince. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I can’t believe Brannock even looked at me twice like this.”

“From what I hear, you were wearing your Aaz’axian form. There is no way he could have resisted that, and we all find you attractive no matter what form you’re in or if you’re covered in blood.” He turns the shower on before stripping the dress up and over my head. I lean against the wall as he removes his shirt before peeling his sweats down his legs. He wraps his arms around me and walks us both under the stream. I moan loudly as the hot water washes over my tired, aching body.

“They don’t have any mating rituals that I need to know about, right?” I ask him, knowing he and Link have discussed all of my possible mates’ needs.

He shakes his head. “Nope, you can mate him the Skarrian way, but before their women started dying, they were a very fertile bunch, so keep up with the birth control unless you want to carry his baby.”

I shudder. “Nope, no thanks. Maybe one day, but I think seven is plenty for now.”

He pumps some soap into his hands before rubbing them together then gliding them over my body. I close my eyes and lean against the wall, letting him take care of me. “Actually, it’s eight.”

“Eight what?” I mutter, loving how his hands feel on my skin.

“Well, Brannock’s daughter makes eight.” My eyes pop open, and I stare down at my kraken who is kneeling as he washes my legs.

“Fuck. I’m going to be a stepmom. What if she hates me?” I bite my lip as nerves prickle in my belly.

He presses a kiss to my thigh before standing up. I feel a slight moment of disappointment that he didn’t kiss anything else while he was down there, but I’m too fucking tired right now to be really upset.

“How could she? You’re amazing. She never knew her mother, remember? She’s probably desperate for some female attention.”

“I wonder if they age at the same rate as shifter babies. She’s supposed to be like four or something, right?” I ask, and he shrugs unhelpfully.

“I think so, but I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Brannock.”

“Ugh.” I bang my head against the wall. There’s so much I don’t know, and I hate the thought of her being trapped with Smith. Thankfully he thinks Brannock is still on his side, so he should be treating her well for now.

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