Page 88 of Samhain

“What the fuck did you just say?” He widened his eyes and blinked, perhaps trying to keep up.

“She took us to the top of the Sphinx.” Ivy crawled into the empty bed and flipped the covers over her lap.

“Like…the Sphinx in Egypt?” Lex said.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Oh.” He pretended to be nonchalant. “How was that?”

“Unseasonably warm,” I said. “But you know, nothing like ripping through time and space in the middle of the night.”

“Fucking hell.” Lex pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“It’s why they’re fighting over her,” Ivy explained.

“Ashley told us our magic, the magic Siobhan gifted us, it’s elemental.” I ran a finger over Poppy’s hair, brushing it back from her face. “But hers is from time and space. That’s what she meant.”

Lex glanced back and forth between us. “She needs us…doesn’t she?”

“If the queen is harmed, and the king is hunting her,” I started. “Yeah, she needs us a lot.”

He took a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder to where Miri was still passed out. “You think she’s going to be okay?”

I nodded. “Our Juliet is strong.”

“And stubborn.” Ivy let out a little laugh.

“Let’s talk in the morning,” Lex said. “Once we’ve had a chance to sleep.”

Ivy took him up on that, turning out the light next to her bed and hunkering down under the covers. Her soft breathing evened out in seconds, leaving me alone with our husband. This time, something different lurked behind his hazel gaze. Now, some sick version of adoration hit me low in the gut, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Lex was regarding me—sitting here, holding a child in my arms.

It could almost be his child.

It could almost be his vision.

“Why are you looking at me like that, DC?” I murmured, readjusting Poppy on my chest so her head hit my sternum instead of my pec.

“You look entirely too fuckable,” he said, shaking his head. “It isn’t fair.”

I snorted a laugh.

“I’m telling you this now.” Lex shifted his hips in his seat, perhaps readjusting a hardening cock. “If you grow that”—he gestured to all of me—“into a dad bod, I’ll never let you out of my bed. You understand me? Chicago, I’ll fuck you every morning until you can’t walk.”

I chuckled harder. “Such things you say.”

“You think I don’t mean it? Bet me.”

I shook my head at his audacity.

“Go on. Bet me.”

“No, because then you’ll do it out of spite.”

He nodded and stood, gesturing to the bed. “Enough. Get some sleep. I’ll stand guard for a bit.”

“Poppy and I can take the couch.”

“I wasn’t asking,” he said. “Take the child and get in bed with our wife.”

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