Page 172 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
For some reason, that made Alastor bark out a raucous laugh. Leaning over with his hand on his stomach, he continued laughing and kept right on until the rest of us joined him.
Donnie perched on the edge of the couch. “If there are some prenatal vitamins at the pharmacy Cierra found, would you take them?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I’d have to ask Leah. She’s been having me take a tea that’s supposed to help the boys. I don’t know if I can mix the two or if one is better than the other.”
“What do these vitamins do?” Elias asked.
“They’re supposed to support mom and baby so that we’re all healthy,” I said. “The boys are absorbing nutrients from me. Since they’re pretty much little vampires sucking everything out of me, the vitamins make sure I get what I need to stay healthy for both of us. Or all three of us.”
“I didn’t know such a thing existed,” Elias said. “What Leah’s giving you is for fae. Just like the contraceptive tea may not have worked for you because you’re not fae, the tea she gave you to help with the pregnancy might not work. I think the prenatal vitamin would be better for you.”
“I agree,” Donnie said.
“When my brother returns, we can go out to see what we can find at the pharmacy,” Cierra said. “Are there any other medications you want us to bring back?”
“If you bring back whatever you think the humans hereand in the human realm might need, I can have our scholars work on replicating them,” Elias said. “As they replicate them, we can distribute to your people and our clinics as needed. It’s a good backup to have with the unreliability of everyone’s magic.”
I snuggled closer to him. So completely in love with this man, my soul-bound mate and partner.
“I love how no one is going to acknowledge the fact Teddy just called her sons little vampires,” Ryenne said.
Elias reached for a cushion that had fallen on the floor. To everyone’s surprise, he tossed it at Ryenne’s face.
I satat the dining room table we rarely used since we either typically ate on the couch or the patio and stared at the drawing I’d made. Earlier that morning, Kieren had brought in a dry tree limb. He’d assured me it wouldn’t be difficult to draw, so after he retrieved everything we’d need from his pocket of magic, we started to draw.
Although Kieren kept his instructions and strokes simple and precise, my drawing looked more like . . . scraggly lines, maybe? While his looked exactly how it was supposed to.
“That’s good,”Kieren said, trying to encourage me.
Laughing, I poked his shoulder.“Good if I’d never held a pencil to paper before in my life.”I pulled my phone out from the back pocket of my jeans and scrolled to a picture of purple tulips Ryenne and Donnie had given me one Valentine’s Day several years ago.“Can you show me how to draw this? They are, or were, my favorite flowers.”
Kieren took my phone and pulled out several pieces ofpaper while he practiced drawing them. His eyes were narrowed in intensity while his tongue stuck out from the corner of his mouth. If he wasn’t using my phone as a reference to draw the tulips, I’d take a picture of him. He looked that adorable. No wonder his father had looked at him with such pride. I could only hope my boys turned out as kindhearted as Kieren.
Once he was happy with one of the multiple drawings, he slid a piece of paper to me and pointed at the drawing in the far-left corner.
“How’s that?”he asked.
“Looks damn near perfect to me.”
Elias kissed the back of my head as he settled a sandwich he’d made beside me. I grabbed one of the pieces he’d cut the sandwich into, chuckling at the fact Elias had cut my sandwich into four parts. It was sweet and enchanting and one more reason he was an incredible father to the girls and would be just as fantastic to our boys. I took a bite, savoring the creaminess of the cheese in Niev.
Kieren went to work drawing a bigger replication of the sample he’d made. As I ate, I watched in fascination while he made the drawing come to life with vibrant shades of purple and green.
There was no way I’d be able to draw that.
Then a thought hit me.
“Elias,” I shouted, probably a bit too excitedly. Kieren stopped to look at me in concern, and Elias rushed toward me. I waved a hand in the air. “Nothing’s wrong. I just had a fantastic idea.”
Elias held a hand to his chest and blew out a relieved breath.“Mo elma.”
“I’m sorry, but I promise it’s worth the freak-out.” Maybe.I switched to Kieren’s mind-speak magic to talk to both of them.“If Elias and I were to paint the boys’ nursery walls white, do you think you could do like a whole landscape with mountains, trees, and dragons? A green landscape. I’m tired of the snow.”
“I don’t think you should be painting unless Leah gives you permission,”Elias said.
“No, of course not. I meant once our baby’s heart is strong, and she takes me off bed rest.”
Because his heart would get stronger. Where before the terror of the situation had gripped me, Elias’s confidence had started to bleed inside me until I felt it too. Both our boys would be well.
