Page 31 of Pregnant With Their Babes

She let Llyr go and focused on Oz.

“Is that not why you’re here?” She hooked a thumb Llyr’s way. “You’ve got questions about this one.”

“Well… yes,” Oz said, his face a mask of confusion.

“Ya didn’t know ya’d caught a merman, did ya?” She chuckled, shaking her head at Dagr and Oz. “Well, he’s yours now.Forever.”

“What?” Llyr asked, eyes widening. He cast a look toward Dagr and Oz—and both men wore the same shocked expression he expected swathed his own face. He focused back on the witch, needing more understanding. “Why would you say… I’m theirs?”

“Well, that’s tha story I’ve heard. If a man catches a mermaid, she’s his. Wouldn’t tha same be said fer a merman?” she asked.

Llyr was frozen for a moment. A mixture of panic… and exhilaration… filled him. He wastheirs.

The excitement quickly faded. He was quite sure they’d refuse. Where did that leave him?

Hopefully not back with Alphonse.

The witch reached out and clasped the pendant around his neck. “Whoever crafted this is apowerfulsorceress.”

Llyr took a half step back, reaching for the pendant. It was too important to fall into another’s hands.

The witch eyed it close before letting it go with a gasp. “Don’t take it off. Ne’er. Not ‘til yer free.”

Llyr reached up and gripped the pendant. “I’ll never be free.”

“Oh yes. You will,” she commented. “Hewill absolutely free ye.”

“He?” Llyr asked, curious who his supposed savior would be.

“The King of Aegeaus,”she whispered close.

Oz cleared his throat. “We came… because we need to see if… a love spell’s been cast over us. We experience a powerful attraction to this man—and we barely know him.”

“Sometimes tha heart understands ‘fore tha head can catch up,” she answered before cocking her head. “Ya don’t seem too upset that yer heart is bound ta another man, do ya?” She smiled. “Nay. Ya don’t. Ya prefer it so.” Her smile grew broader. “Because a man already holds yer heart, now does he not?”

She tossed her gaze toward Dagr. “Fer many years, eh?”

Oz seemed to ignore her comments. “Is there more to that pendant Llyr wears than merely protection from these supposed monsters after him?”

She walked back toward Llyr and observed the pendant. The witch ambled over to her wall of bottles and took one off a shelf before shaking a powder into her palm. She again faced Llyr and blew the smoke over his face and chest. “Tis no love spell. It helps him pass as more human,” she answered. “Which keeps tha demons at bay, as well.”

Llyr frowned, remembering then that the Enchantress had said that. In his rush to the surface, he’d forgotten. “Pass as human? The witch already took his tail.”

“Merfolkaren’thuman. They’re close kin, but not the same. We humans have no alphas and omegas, as ya do. Men are incapable of givin’ birth here.” She eyed the pendant. “This helps ya hide yer omega side, it does.”

“Wait—did you just say men don’t give birth here?” Oz asked. He looked at Llyr. “As in they do there?”

“This is outrageous,” Dagr spat, interrupting. “Llyr’s obviously got to her first—convinced her to participate in his madness,” Dagr paused, shaking his head. “Men don’t have babies. Merfolk are fairytales. They’rebothtoying with us.”

The witch spun to face Dagr. “Ya dare challenge my veracity?” She stalked closer and pressed a finger in the middle of his chest, eyes ablaze. “He, who has magic swirling in his very veins?” She moved her crooked finger and pointed it at Llyr. “Ya know he’s telling tha truth—don’t ya? Ya saw tha monsters yerself, but ya still disbelieve.”

“Magic? I have no magic,” Dagr argued.

“Ya do! I can see it glowing ‘round ya. Potent stuff.” She cocked her head to the side. “Yer mother.Shewas a sorceress. Apowerfulone, at that. Even more than tha one who did that charm.”

Darkness came over Dagr’s face. Anger. Sadness. A maelstrom of emotions. “If she was so powerful, how come she and the man she loved died, leaving me all alone?” he demanded.

“Because she used e’ything she had in her ta saveyou!Tha child created of that love.”

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