The Darkness of Shadoewynne: Book 3 of the Shadoewynne series

by Penelope Kein

  I snorted. “My magic is a natural part of me and my body is meant to grow babies. I don’t think my magic will hurt the baby.”

  He looked a little sheepish at that comment. “Okay, but removing the darkness may hurt the baby. Can we at least get a doctor's opinion?”

  The fear was still lurking behind his eyes, so I reluctantly agreed. “Fine, once I find a doctor, I will ask them if I can continue our work and if I can keep checking you.” He nodded, but didn’t look convinced. I watched him for a minute. “Are you good?”

  “I’m stunned, Sugar. This is huge. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “David, you won’t have to do it alone. You will have me, Travis and Kait. Your mom, Sarah, Travis’s parents will be there too. We have a bigger support network than I ever thought I could have. Also, we have a while to figure things out. It’s not like the baby will be here tomorrow.”

  “You’re right. We can do this!”

  As he responded, a feeling through the bond drew my attention. Shit!

  “We need to go stop Kait from making some rash decisions. The bond is telling me that he is jumping ahead of things without talking to us. Let’s go find him.”

  He laughed at that and it relieved me to see the shadows gone from his eyes.

  When we reached the lobby, Kait was speaking earnestly with the butler. He didn’t stop when I came up behind him. “Please send her this message. It’s urgent. Also, please make sure the kitchen gets the list of prohibited foods for our room.”

  Exasperated, I asked him, “Kait, what are you doing?”

  He jumped and turned around with a guilty expression. “I was just making a few adjustments to our personal menus. And asking for a note to be sent to a midwife I know.”

  I exchanged a look with David. Apparently we were too late to prevent the over-reaction, so I put my hands on his shoulders. “Kait. Calm down. It will be fine.”

  “We will talk about it later, Princess.” His brown eyes were wide and almost frantic. “We have so much to do and standing here isn’t getting it done.”

  “Kait, we have plenty of time. Over nine months. It will be fine.” It was getting hard not to laugh at him. I wouldn’t have expected him to get so panicky over it.

  His eyes focused on me. “Why are you down here? You should be upstairs resting! You need to take it easy. Don’t worry, we will deal with anything that comes up.” He turned back to the butler, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide a huge smile. “Don’t send any messages direct to the room. They must be delivered to me or one of the boys. Evalia is not to be bothered.”

  Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I shook my head and said to the butler, “Don’t follow that.” Then I turned back to Kait with my hands on my hips. I pointed a finger in his face and said, “Enough! We will not go back to you coddling me! I will meet with the doctor, or midwife, but I will still go with you to find the sick animals and heal them. None of you can do it, so I will not stand aside and let them all die.” He opened his mouth, but I cut him off with a slash of my hand. “I will take precautions and will confirm with the midwife that it won’t hurt the baby, but you will not stop me from living my life!” I punctuated each of the last few words with a finger jabbed into his chest. When I was done, he looked properly chastised.

  He rubbed at the spot on his chest as he took a deep breath before mumbling, “I’m sorry, Princess.”

  I laughed. “It’s fine, Kait. Actually, it’s kind of cute.” I put on a stern look and pointed in his face. “But don’t make a habit of it!”

  He smiled ruefully. “I may have a problem following that order.”

  I smiled back before kissing him softly. “I figured you would.” I whispered as he pulled me in for a hug.

  Chapter 20

  The guys went off to discuss something as the butler beckoned me over. “I heard congratulations are in order, ma’am. Would you like to look at his orders before we put them in the file?”

  “Yes, please.” I glanced over the restricted menu, and nothing really stood out as odd. However, he did put the coffee substitute on the list. I pointed at it. “Is this actually harmful to a baby or is he going overboard?”

  The butler bobbed his head. “It contains a mild stimulant that may cause contractions in early and late pregnancy. It is generally recommended not to imbibe during pregnancy.” I scrunched my face up at the butler and he looked down. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m not a doctor, but it was on the forbidden list when my bonded was pregnant with our children. There is nothing on that list that was not on her list.”

  “Okay. I’ll leave that then. Who did he send the message to?”

  “There were three. Two already left and one hasn’t left. That one is addressed to a Sarah and Janelle.” I waved my hand at him.

  “That one is fine, what about the two that already left?”

  “One was addressed to Angel, Travis’s mother, and one was addressed to Eir, the Oskmeyjar.”

  “Why did he send one to Eir?” It puzzled me, since he was so adamant that we not be friends with her.

  “The message referenced her being your midwife, ma’am.” What!? I turned on my heel and stalked toward Kait, leaving the butler open-mouthed behind me.

  “Kait! What did you do?”

  He turned to me with a stunned look. “What do you mean?” The genuine confusion written all over his face had me questioning what I thought I heard.

  “The butler told me you sent a message to Eir asking her to be my midwife?”

  “Yes. She is the best option.” There was steel in his voice, which put a damper on my ire. He was willing to fight me on this, so he must feel strongly about it.

  “I wish we could have talked about this first. I thought you didn’t want to be involved with her if we didn’t have to and you said you would give me a choice of medical care here or on Earth.”

  He nodded. “I don’t want to be involved with her. But in this case, it is the best thing for you and the baby. She will also be able to cleanse your system if you insist on continuing to help with the sick animals, which is why I called for her. I assumed, maybe wrongly, that you wanted to stay here, since you were talking with David about continuing our work.”

  After a moment, I realized he was right. I hadn’t really even considered going back to Earth just to have the baby. The dragons and what was going on here was more important. “Fine.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Fine? No argument?” His tone said he thought it was too good to be true.

  “No argument. Although, do you think she will ask another favor in return?”

  His shoulders rolled uncomfortably as he muttered, “I hope not.” Then his eyes met mine. “We will deal with it if she does. It’s what’s best for you and the baby.”

  The look in his eye said I wouldn’t win the argument if I pursued it. Since he was so set on this, I just nodded. “What other decrees did you issue while I left you alone? I know about the foods and I’m not happy about no coffee, and the messages. Did you do anything else?” It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. He just grinned at me as he took my arm to guide me to a couch by the window.

  “No, I did nothing else. But, you know there will be other restrictions. No heavy lifting, you must take naps, things like that.”

  Lifting an eyebrow at him, I said, “I will comply with anything reasonable. I just wanted to make sure there were no more surprises for me.”

  He took my hands and kissed the back gently. “The recommendations are always changing. Eir will develop a specialized plan that works for us.”

  David rushed up to us. “Guys! We have news! One of the lab technicians figured something out.”

  “What?! Figured something out about what?”

  “The rocks!” Oh, duh. In my happy excitement, I forgot about the rocks from earlier. “Shortly after we dropped them at the medical facility, the dark power disappeared from the rocks. They became completely normal. That confused the guy running tests, so he began
more. Then, about an hour later, the darkness returned, stronger than before. He was running a specific test at the time and it recorded the dark power being forced into the rocks from another dimension.”

  My mind was reeling. That explained some, but how could we fight that? David was staring at me, a happy grin on his face, so I figured I must be missing something. “I’m glad they figured that part out but how does that help us? How can we stop it from happening again?”

  “It doesn’t help us stop it.”

  “Then why are you grinning at me like that? What am I missing?”

  “The lab technician figured out how to trace the magic the next time they pull it, or force more into it, through whatever dimensions it goes through, to the source.”

  “Okay, that will help!” Now I was getting excited. “Kait, we need a plan of attack once we have the location.”

  Kait crossed his arms over his chest, showing off his bulging biceps as he did. I traced the lines of muscle in his forearms as he talked. “You’re not going. Healing animals is one thing, all out battle is another.”

  “Kait, come on. I can see it being a problem when I’m showing and slow, but I’m fine now. You are not all going to fight without me.”

  He nodded. "That’s right, we aren’t. We will all stay here and I will send my soldiers to the location. We can do the recon after.”

  I have to admit; I gaped at him. My mouth hung open as I processed what he said. It had never occurred to me he would sideline himself, or David and Travis. “What?” I finally managed.

  He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “It is my intention that we all live to see the birth of our child. The battle is important but I have specialized soldiers that can handle it. Before you, it was rare that I would become involved in the actual fighting, so they won’t miss me that much, and David and Travis really aren’t up to the level of my elite forces. I can easily let them handle it.”

  I glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? Before the attack on the Svikari, you acted like you had to be personally involved in every fight.”

  “I was only involved because you were. Since you insisted on fighting, we had to fight as well.”

  That wasn’t quite the way I remembered it, but I could see his side. They had kidnapped me, tortured me, and threatened me. I had decided I would not sit back and wait for them to try again. “Fine. But, promise me you really won’t be fighting.”

  “I promise, Princess. I will be with you the whole time.”

  I looked to David. “Did he have any idea how long it will take to find the source?”

  He shrugged. “Not really, but he is confident his rig will work the next time it happens. If the previous pattern holds, I would think he will have something within the next couple of days.”

  Kait brushed my knee to bring my attention back to him. “Once Eir is here, I suggest we move to the castle. They have an advanced lab, medical facility, and it can hold should it come to a fight. I sent a message to Angel this morning but I can send another one telling them we are coming to them.”

  “No. I want to stay here as long as they need us. Kait, I love this job. I want to continue helping the animals until we don’t need to anymore. If I stop, and it takes weeks to find them, many more animals could die. It will bother me that I just left when I still could have been working.”

  He sighed. “Fine, but remember, you will only continue your work if Eir says you can. If she says it’s a danger to you or the baby, you will stop.”

  The steely look in his eyes told me this was non-negotiable. I would have to make sure Eir didn’t say it was a danger. I nodded but the steel didn’t leave his expression. If anything, it got stronger. Fuck. “I’m sorry, Kait. Until she gets here, I am going to keeping working. Once she is here, I will follow her orders. However, I will explain to her how much this means to me and ask for the most lenient rules on it. I don’t want to hurt the baby, but this is important to me as well.”

  “We will have the conversation with her together.” His voice was hard.

  “Fine. Now, I’m a little hungry, can we get something to eat?”

  His face relaxed. “What do you want?”

  I thought about it for a second. “You know what really sounds good? A peanut butter and banana sandwich. On toast.”

  “Random, but okay. I’ll see what I can do.” He headed off to the kitchens. A few minutes later he was striding back to me with a napkin-covered plate in his hands, “Here you go.”

  I eagerly took the plate and bit into the sandwich. It wasn’t quite right, but it was darn close. I moaned with my mouth full, then, once I had swallowed it, I gave Kait puppy dog eyes as I said, “Thank you, Baby.” A small smile played at his mouth but he just grunted at me in reply. I smiled as I finished the sandwich in record time.

  “I was wondering, Kait, how do messages work here? I mean, I get Angel and Orn, they have a designated place they live, and spend most of their time. But from the conversations I have had with Eir, it seems she is more nomadic. Does the messenger have to wander the forest until they find her or what?”

  He shook his head. “Most highly powerful beings like Eir have designated places, with notification wards, to leave information for them. I expect we will hear from Eir within a couple of days.”

  I nodded, but my attention wasn’t on him. It was on my stomach and the nauseous feeling the sandwich had caused. After a moment, I realized I would not get to keep the sandwich, and I bolted for the nearest bathroom. When I emerged a few minutes later, David was waiting with a glass of water. I took it gratefully, and drank down a good portion, washing the taste from my mouth. “This will get old fast.”

  “When you feel sick the next time, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Alright, but it’s a natural thing. My mom used to tell me all the time that she was sick all nine months with me. The worst part is that I’m hungry again.” He laughed, and we walked back to the lobby where Travis and Kait were waiting for us. Both looked up anxiously when we approached, relief quickly filling their faces. “Okay, guys, I’m sure this is normal morning sickness. Y’all can’t go getting your panties in a twist when I throw up because it may happen frequently.”

  Travis looked chastised, but Kait just looked pissed. “I will worry about you if I want to. And how do you know it’s normal?”

  “Because it is. I’m sure at least one of the many pregnant women you’ve known have had it.”

  He glared at me for a second. “If they did, they hid it from me. Remember, I was just the Captain of the Guard. They wouldn’t share personal details like this unless they absolutely had to.”

  That hadn’t occurred to me. I assumed that they had worked closely enough with him that they wouldn’t have been able to hide it. Since I didn’t know how to answer, I said nothing. A minute later, David approached with what looked like crackers and a sparkling glass of golden liquid. It reminded me of the champagne on our wedding night. My eyebrows drew down as I looked at the glass. “What’s that?”

  “Crackers and something close to ginger ale. They have a root here called Aluimute that tastes like ginger and has similar medical properties, such as settling stomachs, and that they make into a non-alcoholic drink. The butler said this should help settle your stomach.”

  I took the crackers and the drink before taking a small sip. He was right; the drink tasted a lot like ginger ale, but had a faint taste of cinnamon to it too. The crackers were dry and almost tasteless, but sat on my stomach better than the sandwiches had. I munched on the crackers while the guys had a brief conversation about keeping a supply of Aluimute ale and crackers in the room and in the carriage when we traveled.

  They were still discussing the easiest way to have a stash with us at all times when the butler approached again. He cleared his throat to get our attention. “The King and Queen have responded. They are traveling here by gateway and will be here in an hour or so. I am preparing a room near you for them. They asked
that we notify you of their impending arrival.” He stiffly turned and walked away.

  The formalness of his delivery and the message worried me. I raised an eyebrow at Travis, who turned red and looked at the ground as he muttered, “They can throw around their power when they like.”

  “That wasn’t what the look was for. Why so formal? Should I worry? I mean, I don’t know your dad that well, but he’s never been super formal with me.” My breathing sped up as my anxiety kicked into high gear. They were gonna be pissed.

  David took my face in his hands and leaned in close. When my eyes locked on his, he said, “Don’t worry so much. They are formal in communications, especially with people outside the family, to maintain appearances. I’m sure they are ecstatic. They wouldn’t be rushing here otherwise. Once they get here, there will be more private dining than before, but I’m sure nothing else will change.” I nodded as the knots inside me relaxed. Of course they are more formal when dealing with others. That should have occurred to me. When I finally relaxed enough to glance around, Travis was gone.

  “Where’s Travis?”

  Kait said gently, “He needed a minute. He’ll be right back.”

  I found the little bundle of emotions that represented him. It was a roiling mess. I picked out apprehension, love, disbelief, and an overwhelming emotion that blanketed everything else. It wasn’t immediately clear to me what it was, though.

  “I’ve got to go to him. I’ll be back.” Kait raised a hand like he would stop me, then dropped it before nodding.

  A nice benefit of the bond was being able to find the guys easily if I concentrated. It led me into the gardens, to a shady reflection pool surrounded by stereotypical-looking tropical flowers. Big, bright blooms punctuated the large, dark green leaves and made me feel like we were in paradise. He was sitting on the edge of the naturally curated pond, dragging a finger across the top while watching the large gold fish follow the ripples.

  “What’s the matter, Travis?”

  “I’m so happy about the baby, Babe, but I’m worried.”