I looked up.
One, the bright stars overhead, twinkling like fat silver jewels.
I closed my eyes.
Two, a hint of warmth on the breeze across my cheeks.
I inhaled a long, slow breath.
Three, the sweet, light scent of jikkio blossoms and of my husband’s heady, intoxicating musk.
“Tell me what you are thinking of, rei thissie,” Seerin murmured in my ear, his arms tightening around me. “It drives me mad not knowing sometimes.”
“I’m just thinking that it’s a beautiful night,” I whispered, leaning my head back against his chest.
We were sitting on a moss covered hill which revealed a mesmerizing view of the deep valley below. In it, I saw a herd of wrissan, sleeping for the night, protected by a river at their backs. The air was fresh and pleasant. In the distance, I heard the echoing of the waterfall in the Hitri mountains, which reverberated across the entire valley on calm nights, which could be heard even from our encampment.
“I never want to leave the southlands,” I confessed softly.
The horde of Rath Tuviri had only been there for a handful of weeks, but already I mourned when we would move on from this place.
The cold season was gone, leaving in its wake warmer nights and a sense of relief. Seerin and I rode out on Lokkas often to this very place in the valley. Though, lately, he’d protested whenever I’d suggested it. The baby would come at any moment now and he worried that riding Lokkas would be too strenuous for me. But I cherished the quiet, private time I had with my demon king and I was loathe to give it up.
Eventually, as he always did, he gave into my pleas. I was discovering that Seerin liked to put up a good fight whenever we disagreed on something, but that nothing pleased him more than pleasing me.
“We will spend long months here,” he assured me, his lips brushing the outer edge of my ear, making me shiver. “But eventually, the horde will move on. As we must.”
“I know,” I said softly. “Do you know where we’ll go next?”
“Wherever Kakkari leads us,” he answered. “Perhaps to the north. Or further west.”
I bit my lip, hesitating. “Perhaps Vodan can help you once the time comes.”
I was wedged between my demon king’s thighs, my back to his chest, protected in his arms. So I felt the way his body tensed at my words.
Vodan and Seerin’s relationship was still rocky since his friend’s betrayal. But I’d spoken with Vodan often seeing as how his mate, Nukri, was a friend of mine. And I knew that, though Seerin rarely spoke about Vodan, the distance and divide between them ate at him. He’d known Vodan since he was a young boy. And the loss of the trust they once shared had cracked their friendship deeply.
But I thought that the crack was repairable. It could be mended with time, sewn together like thread in fabric. Despite Vodan’s actions at the council, I knew that the pujerak cared for my husband like a brother. Like they shared the same blood.
“You are meddling again, rei Morakkari,” Seerin rasped. But his words weren’t barbed and he brushed a kiss across the side of my neck after he said them.
“I cannot help it,” I told him. “I wish you two will move forward. I wish you will forgive him. I have.”
Seerin went quiet and I inhaled a small breath, hoping my words reached him.
After another moment, his arms slowly relaxed and he said, “I will try, thissie. I do not have as forgiving of a nature as you, but I will try.”
“That’s all I want, Seerin,” I whispered, pleased, relieved. If Seerin extended the branch, Vodan would take it with both hands and never let go. He would wear my demon king down until he had no choice but to forgive him fully.
“After all,” my Vorakkar murmured, his voice tight, “if you had not forgiven me, if you had not given me another chance…”
“Seerin.”
His voice was quiet, but I heard the raw emotion in his words as he said, “If you had not, I do not know what I would have done. I do not know what I would have become.”
Lokkas shifted on his feet next to us, as if sensing his master’s distress. I squeezed Seerin’s broad palm and then turned in his arms, giving him a small smile in comfort.
“Good thing you never have to know, my demon king,” I told him, coming up to my knees between his thighs. His grey eyes were locked onto mine and I rested my arms on his shoulders, twining them around his neck, playing with his soft, golden hair. I wondered if our son would have blond hair, just like his father, and hoped that he would.
My rounded belly brushed his abdomen and he made a rough sound in the back of his throat, one I recognized well. Leaning forward, I kissed him, softly and slowly, and pulled back when I felt the baby kick between us.
“Lo kassiri tei, rei thissie,” he said softly.
I love you.
A sensation overcame me, looking into his eyes. Seerin would call it Kakkari’s guiding light. But, for me, it was a knowing. A powerful knowing that told me I had found my place in life, my happiness, knowing I would spend it at Seerin’s side. Knowing that we would create a life that was beyond both of our expectations. Knowing that we were only just beginning in this new, exciting, and special chapter of our adventure.
Knowing that I loved him beyond belief.
Knowing that he loved me beyond belief.
His hands settled on my stomach, feeling his son kick and move inside. Immediately, the baby settled, as if sensing his father’s strong, firm presence. When Seerin looked up at me, my breath hitched.
One, the flecks of black and gold mingling with the grey in my husband’s beautiful eyes.
Two, the warmth of his hands on our child between us.
I closed my eyes.
And I felt it…
Three, the love that bonds us, that flows through our bodies like blood, a strong, sure, calm thing that is as breathtaking as it is beautiful.
And I smiled.