Adhan comes walking out of the kitchen carrying the refreshment tray, which we abandoned in our search for Lyric.
“Thank you, darling,” Emily says, as we all sit down on the blankets.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, Lyric decided to go and play in the vegetable garden. Xander came and got us, and Ben sniffed him out,” I tell him.
“He was lying in one of the new veg beds, happily covering himself in dirt,” Ben adds.
“And then we found out about Greasy hiding up the dining room chimney,” Temp finishes.
Adhan burst out laughing. “I remember that. You ran up to me, hugged me and as soon as I was dirty, you ran off to find someone else to dirty up.”
“Your childhood sounds amazing,” Sly says, almost wistfully.
Yeah, I can’t see Sly having a happy childhood, not with his family.
He suddenly laughs. “There was the time I magicked crabs up and put them in my brothers’ bed. They screamed the house down, so worth the trouble I got in.”
We all laugh at that.
The children come over and join us for drinks and biscuits. Lyric plonks himself down on my lap, leaning against me. It’squite cute actually, he ran up to me, turned around and walked backwards, before sitting on my lap. So cute.
“You tired, little man?” I ask him.
He nods and leans his head on my chest.
“Do you want some juice?” I ask, as I feel him fall asleep.
“While Lyric’s asleep, go and join Kean and get some rest,” Emily suggests gently.
I give a tired sigh. “Okay, just for a little bit. See you all later.” I stand up, cradling Lyric and walk into the manor and up to our bedroom. I pause by the door to River’s room when I see Kean asleep on the snuggle chair, with River asleep on his chest.
I magic my phone into my hand and take a picture. Yeah, that’s going on our wall.
I think of a soft blanket covering them and ask my magic to help. A light blue light blanket covers them. I thank my magic and carry on to Lyric’s room, and sit on his snuggle chair. I settle comfortably, and magic myself a light blanket, rest my head against the back of the chair, and with Lyric asleep against my chest, I fall asleep.
I suddenly come awakeas I feel someone trying to take Lyric from me. I call on my magic to help protect my son, but it tells me it’s just Kean.
I open my eyes and see Kean kneeling in front of me, an awake Lyric holding his arms out to him.
“It’s only me, honey,” Kean reassures.
I sigh and nod. “Thank goodness my magic recognised you, you were about to be zapped.”
Kean grins. “Thank you, magic,” he plucks Lyric off my lap and drops a kiss on his head. “You two have been asleep for hours, and it’s Lyric’s dinner time.”
I run a hand down my face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”
“You needed it. River and I had a few hours as well. I woke up when he was hungry. But look at you both, you look like you’ve been playing in the dirt,” Kean says, looking at our dirty clothes.
“I do,” Lyric replies.
“You did,” I correct. “Lyric here snuck away from his cousins while Sly and I went to get refreshments. Ben found him in the vegetable garden, lying on one of the beds, dropping dirt all over himself. Xander was beside himself, thinking he’d lost him.”
“You need to tell someone if you’re going to wander off,” Kean says gently.
Lyric nods. “I sorry Der, Nox, Ora.”