Page 193 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“Ramil,” Brenton added.
I gave him a thumbs down.
“I like Zayne,” Brenton said. “It means good light.”
“I like it too,” I said. “Caspian, white magic and Zayne, good light.”
“Do we have our winners then?” Elias asked, a smile on his face.
“I don’t know,” I said, but my stomach turned in excitement. I pressed my hand to my belly. “What do you think?”
“Caspian Eiran and Zayne Eiran of house Thierry.” Elias’s smile widened.
“They sound like good, strong male names,” Brenton said.
I wrinkled my nose. “I kinda love them.”
Elias leaned closer to my stomach and laughed. “I think they love their names too.”
That settled it. Our boys had names.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
ELIAS
We wereable to hold the next council meeting within a few days. While Teddy had me sit with Brenton, she took a seat next to Etienne. It was a compromises of sorts, so Brenton knew Etienne was taken care of while keeping his distance.
It hadn’t been necessary, though. Etienne seemed well, and he was able to speak and carry himself without assistance. And once the meeting was dismissed, I’d heard him tell Teddy and Alastor how impressed Leah was with his improvement. I wasn’t sure if Brenton heard Etienne question Teddy about Brenton’s well-being, but since he didn’t mention it, I didn’t either.
I was satisfied with the meeting itself. While emotions remained high, everyone respected the other’s opinions and beliefs. In the end, it had been agreed that once it was determined who’d led the attacks, they would be executed privately, while those who’d followed orders would be imprisoned.
We weren’t sure how long they’d remain our prisoners—indefinitely if many of our membershad their way—but as they awaited their trials, their living conditions would remain the same, and they would be expected to assist in the human realm in rebuilding regions for those in that realm to live in. With the assistance of other human patrol, Donnie continued to work on the rehabilitation program we’d eventually enact. Maybe these prisoners would be the first to go through it.
Evander had gone a step further and had already scheduled trials for the soldiers responsible for enslaving and torturing our fae. Etienne and the rest of us were invited to attend, where Etienne and other fae could stand as witnesses if they chose.
It gratified me that we were able to come to a decision everyone agreed upon, leaving us with the remainder of the day open.
I wandered the streets of Somnio with Teddy at my side while Brenton chased the girls. While George came over after getting approval from Javier, the girls enjoyed the many sleepovers with Brenton. Probably because he got them as excited as George usually did but then calmed them down each night with a long chapter book he’d found at the library. While I listened to the story, a yearning for my magic always awoke. Since the book didn’t have pictures, I wished I could use my snow magic to create the scenes Brenton read about and freeze them for the girls.
Guardians help me, sometimes it hit me how I wished I had my magic for a lot more things than just that.
“Where can I buy wine?” Teddy asked.
I drew my brows together. “I don’t think you should be drinking.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “To bring when we meet up with Alastor and his guest tonight. It’ll go well with the cheese and fruits we’re taking.”
“You know he said we didn’t have to bring anything.”
While it was a human custom to attend dinner parties with a gift of sorts, us fae simply showed up. I preferred it that way. It was less stressful.
And completely unnecessary, considering it wasn’t a dinner party, and we were meeting at Respandora instead of Alastor’s home. Teddy wouldn’t budge on the issue, though.
“Do you really want my mom crawling out of her grave to whack us with a broom?” Teddy asked.
“I . . . I honestly don’t know what that means.” I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
