Page 113 of My Eternal Light

“Felix you can tell the sprites it’s okay to let the kids out,” Meryn said from the doorway where she had been watching with Ryuu.

Seconds later the door flew open, and Cody barreled at her, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry. Your quick thinking saved us all.”

Aralea looked down and stuck her nose in the air. “I didn’t even get to use this,” she said, holding up the taser.

Behind her the kids stared at the gore.

Cord’s eyes widened. “Maybe we should get them to the classroom.”

Zadie with Cody, stepped to one side. “Kids, the bad men are dead. They won’t come for you anymore. And even if they did, these amazing squires are here to help keep us safe.”

Giles took a single peek into the kitchen, then immediately spun Draven and the girls back into the pantry. The Eirson kids looked on, smiling in satisfaction.

“Zadie, let me introduce you to our amazing squires,” Meryn said. She pointed to the one that had levitated the men. “This is Eion, he’s the squire for Cas and lives like a couple houses down, same with Merrick.” She said pointing to the one who held the butcher knives. “He’s the squire who helped raise Priest. I think their house in on the other side.” She then pointed to the blond. “That’s Leo. Not sure how he got here so fast, but he serves the Lionharts in the city.”

Leo flexed his hands as his claws retracted. “I had also gone to the palace for some spices. With Declan coming home for lunch every day. I found my supplies dwindling faster than usual,” he explained.

Meryn wrinkled her nose at the mess. “Ryuu, can you get rid of this, it’s kinda gross that it’s in the kitchen.”

Ryuu gave a half bow, then winked at the children. Moments later, water began to swirl, cleaning surfaces and floors and floating the corpses out the door.

“What the fuck!” the heard from outside.

Meryn giggled then looked at her squire. “Did you know they were there?”

Ryuu shrugged. “Maybe.”

Aiden, followed quickly by Kincaid, skidded to a halt by the door. At their sudden stop, Ari, Gage and Priest slammed into them from behind.

Meryn watched as they all fell inward, cartoon style.

“There’s our conquering heroes,” she teased.

Kincaid looked up from under Ari. “Zadie, are you okay? Where are the kids?”

Zadie rubbed her face. “I’ll be seeing double for a while. The kids are fine.” She called backward. “Giles, the mess is gone, and your brother is here.”

Giles walked in carrying Enid as Draven held hands with Ember and Hazel. “Kincaid…” He looked down. “Why are you on the floor?”

“Dammit Ari! Get off me!” Kincaid said, wiggling and trying to army crawl forward.

It took a few seconds, but the men got to their feet allowing Kincaid to reach her. The second his hand touched her cheek. She felt his magic healing her. “Ahh, that feels better.”

It only took a few more minutes with five squires working to get the kitchen back to normal and a few batches of cookies in the oven.

“What happened?” Aiden asked.

Zadie shrugged. “Bad men showed up. Kids hid. Cody called for help. Bad man punched me, squires showed up, bad men died. The end.”

Cord looked down at Cody. “Why did you say you were hungry when you called for help.”

“Kincaid taught me those were squire magic words,” he explained.

Zadie watched as her mate blushed and the squires laughed.

Merrick leaned down and ruffled Cody’s hair. “He’s not wrong. You were very brave to leave the safety of the pantry and call for help.”

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