Page 40 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

“Are you sure this is safe?”

“If Diyo wanted to harm you, their food would be the last way they would try. Everything at Diyo’s table is safe… once you get up from their table though, all bets are off.”

“It wasn’t actually me I was worried about….”

His hand sweeps over my stomach as he sinks to the cushion behind me. “Nothing in either of our realms will hurt the babe. Godborn are nearly invincible.”

A crack rends the air, and Diyo leaps up onto the table and blows a shrill tune through his flute. “Everyone! Everyone!”

The jungle quiets and Diyo looks over all of us with a wide grin. The vine induced moans are the only thing that break the calm of the slowly dimming sky.

“The night is young!” Diyo says holding their hands up as the sky turns a deep green and the stars pulse with light. “And you all have debts to pay.”

Their eyes skip over us as they scan the crowd. “Give me your pounds of flesh.”

As if that was some incantation, the gathered devotees erupt from their seats and music echoes through the grotto.

Half a dozen hands reach for me and I shrink back against Jack. The throng of writhing bodies surrounding the leprechaun and his vines is the last place I want to be right now.

Jack shifts behind me, and when I turn, he’s on his feet, hand held out for me. “Come take a walk with me.”

I take his hand, but when I stand, I look at the writhing, dancing mass. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave?”

“Diyo will find us. Even if they didn’t want us, they’re curious why we’re here, and they’ll know we haven’t left.”

He looks at the gathered devotees over my head. “I don’t expect it will take long for them to break away.”

He leads me from the table, back into the jungle and a quieter part of Diyo’s domain.

“Where are we going?” I ask when I start to feel the strain of the distance we’ve walked.

As if asking brings it forth, we step into a small clearing.

Even though I can see the shifting sky overhead again, the leaves crowd close, and I begin to feel almost claustrophobic.

A daybed hangs from thick vines. Piled with pillows and silken sheets. Utter decadence in the dark that has descended.

It seems as though the stars have begun to fall, floating lower like thick flakes of snow.

“Did you know this was here?” I ask as Jack lifts me into his arms and falls back onto the bed, sending us rocking about at a skew.

I close my eyes, resting my head to his chest and let that weightless feeling take me.

Jack’s fingers trail over my back. “Have you decided what you’ll name our child?”

“Is that going to be up to me? I imagined that would have been predetermined. Ester’s bargain keeps providing surprises.”

“The child is yours until it is twenty-five…” he smooths my hair back, drawing me to him for a kiss. “And then, you can be mine, forever.”

Assuming I survive this.

It only takes a moment to think of one.

“What about Nalesh? It’s a family name.” I’d like to think the gods would approve.

“King of flowers?” His smile twitches. “Fitting.”

The stars drifting down around us flicker like embers when they reach the ground and I watch them, feeling a little guilty for simply enjoying this quiet moment.

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