Page 84 of Fated or Knot

Next to this other nixie was a younger version of my father, Kellam. Well, maybe nottoomuch younger than what I remembered. Just a more carefree version of him. He looked at her like she’d hung the moon. No wonder—she had his cloud-formed pack mark between her brows.

I’d already learned that, no matter what, I couldn’t get the attention of anyone to disrupt a memory. What happened would happen. I circled around the table to get a better look at her, Dorei, my mother. She had a sweet, tinkling laugh, and herfingers twined with my father’s. Her hair was braided behind her head in a fancy style, the white strands glimmering with stars. She was a dreamlander, then, made more obvious by the specks twinkling in the whites of her eyes and the blue of her irises.

She was still a nixie, though, with light purple skin. The trailing fins resting on her back glowed with indigo swirls, motifs of comets through them all. “You’re so beautiful,” I murmured.

Then she coughed. A deep, nasty cough that cut through the hum of conversation in the room.

“Oh dear. Should we call for a healer?” Thalas asked.

“No, no. It’s okay,” Dorei said past the napkin she held over her mouth.

“She’s picked up an allergy or something.” Kellam glanced over at her with a hint of concern tightening his mouth.

Nemensia tutted. “She’s allergic to that farm town you stole her away to.”

“The whole town?” asked the dark elf sitting next to Thalas. He didn’t look familiar, with his dusky skin, ruby-red eyes, and horns, but his smile sure did. I’d seen that level of Unseelie mischief on Fal’s face every day.

“Thewholetown,” the queen echoed in agreement. She rubbed her stomach idly, and the fabric of her dress pulled, revealing the curve of a belly bump half hidden under the table.

“Or it could be…” Kellam drifted off, and Dorei met his gaze meaningfully as she finished dabbing at her lips.

As she started to smile and cup her belly too, I noticed something. That button nose, the shape of her mouth and the apples of her cheeks. I looked in the mirror every day and saw my mother in my features. What an unexpected blessing.

Stars, she seemed so kind. I was hanging on her every word and gesture by this point. She’d passed away before my memories even started, ended as I began. This dream was a gift. A chance to see her as she was.

“We came here to tell you something special,” Dorei said. She was practically glowing with happiness as she and Kellam announced together, “We’re expecting!”

Nemensia purred with delight and grabbed her in a big hug. “It’s about time!”

“Ah, first-time parents,” the dark elf king remarked, tilting his head toward Kellam as the two nixies held one another tightly. Nemensia rubbed her own belly again and said something that had Dorei giggling. “Just a bit of advice. The female is expecting. There’s very little ‘we’ to the whole matter.”

Kellam hummed. “Sure, Ren.”

“Congratulations,” rumbled out the gigantic redcap, who nearly knocked the dark elf from his seat slapping the back of it in an unsubtle gesture.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Nemesia was saying. “You sell your farm town and move into the palace with us. We have room and an entire puddle of children to raise your baby with!”

Dorei and Kellam exchanged an amused glance. This wasn’t the first time Nemensia had suggested they do something like this, I bet.

“I believe it’s more of a lake at this point, my heart,” remarked the last king, a kelpie with half his head shaved. The other half was partially braided, making him resemble his second form even more strongly mixed with his solid features and gray, dappled skin. His name for her was in Serian… They’d all been speaking it this whole time, and I’d understood them perfectly.

“More to come,” the queen said. She whipped her head toward her redcap mate. “Right? Even more? You still owe me a son.”

He gave her such an intense look of promise that I blushed and glanced away. “Then a son you will have,” he answered.

“Anyway,” Dorei put in with a musical laugh. “Before we leave, I was hoping to ask…ah, you all must get this a lot.” She fidgeted nervously with her fingers. “We spoke to an auracle and learned that we’re having a little girl. I just can’t imagine a world where we’d leave her, but?—”

Another nasty cough wracked her frame. Nemensia frowned, and she wasn’t the only one. It seemed like everyone at this table was worried for Dorei.

“Go on,” the queen urged.

Dorei took a sip of water and cleared her throat. “Sorry. I was hoping you would be her godmother, Nemensia. And one of your males could be her godfather?” She glanced across the table with a hopeful look. “Thalas, perhaps? She will be part dreamlander. Maybe she’ll have my dream warden magic.”

Thalas sat straighter in surprise. “Me?”

“Don’t leave the rest of us out,” the dark elf king murmured. He, along with his brothers, had all turned to Nemensia, waiting for her decision.

She stood and walked to the space between my parents’ chairs, putting an arm around either of them. “I wouldn’t dream of taking any bonus child to my nest except for one born from you two,” she said.

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