Page 78 of Pregnant With Their Babes

“If we can bring Llyr back, he can be the bridge—I sense it.”

“How?”

“ThatI can’t answer,” Oz said. “I hear a voice in my head—the same one that demanded we claim him. Innately, I know… he is the thread that will hold us together.”

Dagr grimaced. “I fear you put too much faith in him and what he can do. I can’t wed him. Neither can you. Where would we keep him? He belongs to the sea, Ozzy. Not to us.”

Oz shook his head. “I sense he is the key to all this. We simply need him back.”

Dagr eyed him a moment. “And if we bring him back and we still can’t be together?”

Oz shook his head. “We refuse to think like that. Wewillfigure out a way.”

Dagr sighed and took Oz into his arms. “I warned you not to get wrapped up in his fantasies.”

“His fantasies were real. Heisa merman.”

“No, but the sense there was a happily ever after with him might’ve been an illusion,” Dagr whispered against his ear.

“I once asked you to suspend disbelief and open yourself to him. Do it again, Dag. For me. I need you with me on this… because letting him go means letting you go, too.” Oz gasped, struggling to share how strongly he felt. “I won’t let either of you go without a fight.”

Dagr brushed a hand through Oz’s hair and held his gaze. “Then we fight to find a way back to him. Together.”

13

Three weeks later…

Llyr paused impatiently by the door, awaiting the signal from Prawnsby. When the seahorse ultimately appeared, Llyr slipped from his bedroom and swam down the corridor to meet his caretaker. “Took you long enough.”

“I did my best, Your Highness. Your father prohibited your visit with Ryland. I could be inside a cell beside him for doing this,” Prawnsby mumbled as they swam deeper down the passageway.

“I’m sorry… I was unfair. But I’ve been anxious to see him.”

Prawnsby eyed him. “I always wondered if there was something between the two of you.”

“There is. Friendship,” Llyr said before catching the seahorse’s true meaning. “Oh no… not him.”

“Heiswhat you omegas would call handsome, isn’t he?”

“Oh… I suppose he’s handsome enough,” Llyr said before contemplating Ryland’s face from memories. “I’d daresay some omegas would find him very handsome.”

“But you don’t?”

Llyr shook his head. “I’ve never thought of him in that way.”

“I think Ryland feels differently,” Prawnsby said. “You must be careful there.”

“He strongly doubt he sees me as anything more than a friend. And after this—I might not be able to call him that. I’m sure he’s angry at me. He deserves to be.”

“It wasn’t anger in his eyes when I told him you were coming tonight.”

Llyr glanced at Prawnsby, confused. Before he could question the seahorse, Prawnsby shushed him. They slowed as they neared the dungeons, trailing down into another part of the old labyrinth that had long ago been walled off to hold prisoners of the kingdom. At one time, the labyrinths had been an ancient kingdom, pre-dating their realm. The castle was built on those primeval foundations.

“Stay here,” Prawnsby whispered before swimming ahead into the dungeon’s main hall.

From his hiding spot, Llyr heard Prawnsby tell the guards, “The king wishes to speak to the prisoner—alone. Clear out.”

“That isn’t protocol. We cannot leave His Majesty alone with the prisoner and unprotected.”

---