Page 26 of The Dark Elf's Surprise Baby

He pats me on the back of the shoulder again, his mouth opening to say something when a group of ladies begin to wander over to us.

Kerym lets out a soft chuckle. “Perhaps you may be in need of someone to warm your bed tonight, Demethys.”

I scoff into my glass.

Hardly, is what I want to tell him. But getting into why I’m so miserable and why I have been over the last few years wouldonly damper his good mood. It wouldn’t be fair of me to bring him down into my misery with me when it’s his party and I’m only a guest.

Plus, I can’t deal with someone worrying about me right now. I’m already fending off my staff’s side-eyeing me all day and night, I don’t need him doing it too.

“Good evening, ladies.” Kerym greets all four of them when they stop in front of us.

“We wanted to tell you what a great event this has been,” One of them, the taller of the bunch, smiles. “You put on an amazing one, Kerym.”

He chuckles. “Thank you. I have to make sure that I continue to impress my mate. You know, to keep the romance alive.”

He winks at them, sending them all into a flutter of giggles.

I sigh to myself.

“That’s very romantic, Kerym.”

His chest puffs, pride shining in his eyes. “Anything for my beautiful wife… speaking of which.”

All of us turn to where his eyes are fixated, a soft smile stretching across his lips.

Layla walks over with Jasper balanced on her hip, her eyes darting around the group of women gathered around us.

“Oh… am I interrupting?”

“Absolutely not,” Kerym reaches for her, parting the group of women with his arm and gathers Layla into his side, placing a soft kiss to her forehead. “How are my two favorites?”

She laughs, leaning into him. “Jasper got tired of dancing, so now we’re saying hi to everyone.”

At that, their son leans over and rests his head against his mother’s shoulder, nuzzling into her neck. The sight absolutely makes my heart melt, along with the women gathered around us.

“Oh, he’s so precious.”

“So sweet,”

They ‘oooo’ and ‘awww’ at him until he’s buried his face completely into his mother’s hair, hiding from all of their vocal affections.

I chuckle. “Not one for attention, is he? I wonder where he gets that from…”

Kerym laughs. “It certainly is a mystery.”

Layla smiles and slowly bends to set Jasper down. “Why don’t you go find Addie to play with for a while, my little love.”

She gently waves her hands at him, all of us following with our eyes as Jasper runs off.

I feel a hand graze over my elbow, pulling my attention away from the happy family and over to one of the women who I hadn’t noticed moving closer to me. She smiles at me, her white hair tied back into intricate knots with two twin braids coming down the sides of her head to hand over her shoulders.

“Demethys, why don’t we get out of here for a bit?” Her hand tightens around me. “I’d love it if you walked me home.”

I hold back a sigh and pull away from her. “Sorry, but I—”

My words die on my lips in the middle of my rejection, a strange movement over the woman’s shoulder catching my attention instead. There’s another woman, a couple dozen feet away from us that I can’t help but stare at.

For some reason, her figure feels familiar to me.

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