Page 62 of Cathmoir's Sons

“It did have four legs. And a tail. And some tentacles,” the demon admits.

“Jou!” Tsara plants her fists on her hips. “Go get them. How many times have I said she’s a bad influence? She is abad influence! Who thought it was a good idea to make a damn mindflayer their godmother? She should not be teaching them to summon things from outside Space-Time before puberty. And please tell me Kartcher isn’t with them? I swear I can smell him.”

“Eh.” Jou equivocates. “It’s fine. They’re all fine. Fire’s mostly out. They’re probably flame-proof anyway. They’ve given it a name. It only tried to eat them once. They’re having a sleepover.”

“No, absolutely not. I want Ash Hill to still be standing by morning.”

Jou waves vaguely. “I think I have somewhere to be. Very, uh, pressing baronish business. Enjoy the fruit.”

He disappears in a poof of fire and the stink of brimstone.

“Jou!”

“Can’t hear you,” the air answers in the demon’s deep voice.

“Yes, you can! Tell Cyz I want the babies back by their bedtime. And that is not their bedtime on Golacher the way she argued last time. I mean it!”

“Yes, honey.” A finger of fire runs down the demoness’ cheek in a warm stroke.

Tsara rolls her eyes and sits down next to Kellan. “He’s impossible.”

Kellan arches an eyebrow at me. “I know how that is.”

I hold up my hands innocently.

Kellan crooks a finger at Luca. “Zee, Luca’s magic is antithetical to his father’s. He’s hoping that the technique you used to bind the Wild Hunt in your bones might help him bear his dad’s power.”

The demoness picks up the tray of fruit and waves her hands over it. The fruit shifts to more familiar shapes. Bananas, apples, grapes, mangoes. Tsara hands a rosy apple to Kellan who bites into it with a crunch. She offers the tray to me and Luca. I take a handful of grapes to be polite but I don’t really want to throw any more challenges at my stomach today.

Once Luca’s taken an apple, the demoness puts the tray aside and gestures to the wall. Kellan hops up and Luca takes her spot.

The demoness offers Luca her hands and when he takes them, rests their joined hands on her knee.

“I can sense Air,” she says. “I’m an Air-witch, too. I’m going to lower my mental shields and pull you into my mindscape so you can see the bindings. I think you’ll see how you could either bind what hurts you or craft a shield against it from what you’ll see in me, but I’ll warn you, I died binding the Wild Hunt.”

“It wasn’t permanent, though,” Kellan points out around another bite of the apple.

I take a step to slide behind my mate. Cautiously, I rest my hands on her shoulders.

She doesn’t object. She finishes her apple in three bites, watching my twin and the demoness.

I step up close, so she can rest her weight against me. When she doesn’t snap at me or move away, I slide my arms around her, resting one hand on her belly. There’s nothing to feel yet. I Googled it—and bought an entire library of pregnancy and baby-development books—and our baby is the size of a pinhead. But I feel close to both Kellan and our kit this way.

Under my palm, the muscles of her stomach feel rigid. They don’t relax under the heat of my hand, so she’s not tensing them. I rub my palm over the tightness and she sighs.

“Is your stomach off? You seem to be handling this better than Luca or me,” I whisper into her hair so as not to disturb my twin.

“I’ve got more experience Plane-Walking,” she says. “I’m PMS-ing. With my luck, it’ll start on Monday when I have my first class. You would not believe how sore my breasts are. Sorry, that’s too much information.”

“Would you like me to rub your breasts?” I offer. “I’m happy to.”

She snorts and bats my hand before it wanders. “I bet. And no, touch my boobs at your peril.”

“I would take the risk if it brought you relief,” I say silkily.

Kellan snorts again but doesn’t say anything. She also doesn’t push away. Her warm weight rests against my chest and abs, the sweetest burden. She fits perfectly in my arms, with my hand cupped gently over her belly.

When her menses don’t come next week, the game will be up. Caileán warned me that her unawakened self would not take the news well, but surely she won’t go back to ignoring me when she discovers we’re going to be parents?

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