“Got it in one,” I announced cheerfully. “Connor, please try eating the field peas instead of playing with them. If you’d rather have beans, I can get you beans instead.”
“I’d rather have beans, Daddy,” Connor said, squishing more peas.
As I went after the beans from the buffet for Connor, Ethan leaned over and whispered loudly to Coulter, “Would you like to try a slice of pizza, Coulter? It’s one of your Dad’s favorites, you know.”
“Can I?” Coulter asked excitedly, jumping in his seat.
“Can I try some, too, Uncle Ethan? Can I, please, can I?” Connor pleaded.
Ethan shouldn’t have done that. “Gibson, what’s on the pizza?” I asked, spooning a small amount of beans onto Connor’s plate.
“We have two pizzas, Lord Daybreak,” Gibson said. “One is topped with ham and pineapple and the other is topped with pepperoni and mushrooms.”
“Okay, boys, you may have one slice of either kind,” I said.
“Yay!” they shouted gleefully, waving their hands in the air. “What is pepperoni?” Connor asked, then Coulter asked, “What’s pineapple?” They smiled broadly as we laughed.
“You know,” Kieran started, “if you each choose a different kind and split your slices with each other, you’ll each get to try both kinds.” The boys thought for a second then whipped around to me questioningly.
“Do you want to do that?” I asked, watching their excitement grow.
“Yes, Daddy!” they said together. While I sought out the pizzas and a knife, Ethan tried to explain pepperoni and pineapple to the twins. Since they didn’t have a frame of reference, he stumbled several times trying to get out of the gate. Chuckling the whole time at Ethan’s expense, I put two pieces of each pizza on my plate and sat down. Splitting one of each for the boys and doling them out, the three of us dug in after I showed them the pineapple and pepperoni. I would rather have the roast pork loin than the pizza, but the boys needed the camaraderie more than I needed tender, braised meat. Damn it.
“So did Ellorn get his problem remedied?” Kieran asked once we were settled in again.
“He says he did and he was pretty close to it when I visited this morning,” I said, grinning at Coulter as he tore a bite of pizza savagely. “It’ll help when we can start teaching them some magic, too. It’s hard to see in them because they seem so self-assured, but they need constant reassurance.” I goosed Connor in the ribs lightly to make him giggle. “Take the house as an example. Nil was nearly in tears that I didn’t tear it apart when I toured it, even though I’d already said everything was in order.”
“You mean you like the house, Daddy?” Coulter asked.
“Yes, Coulter, I do, except for one security feature I can’t change,” I answered then took a bite while the follow-up question was asked. Starvation or learn the timing, my only options.
“Why did he want you to tear it apart, if you like it?” Connor asked, ignoring Ethan for the moment. I was just happy they were asking more complicated questions.
“Well, understand that Nil and he were touring a model here in the Palace, so tearing out a wall isn’t really an issue,” Peter interjected to give me a moment.
“And your uncles had already done that,” I said told them. “And First and Ellorn, then the Commanders of the Guard. Wasn’t it Tom who added the breaks?”
“Yes, damn him,” Kieran said cheerfully. “Gibson, is this your cooking?”
“No, Lord Kieran,” Gibson answered without explanation.
“Well, it’s very good stew, very rustic,” Kieran complimented the brownie anyway.
“So he was expecting me to do as thorough an examination as everyone else did, but I didn’t see the need, but his problem was the same as Ellorn’s,” I explained to the boys. “Once he understood he had my confidence in the first place or I wouldn’t have given Zero and him the job. They did a good job and I told him that. Which pizza do you like better, the pepperoni or the ham?”
“I like both,” Connor said and Coulter slapped both his remaining pieces together, said, “Me, too!” and took a huge bite, giggling. Everyone chuckled with their contagious laughter for a few moments.
“And the ransé problem?” Kieran asked. “Gambling, you said?”
“It’s just killing you, isn’t it?” Ethan murmured to Kieran, grinning.
Kieran cut a glance at him and, with a curt smile, murmured, “I can be patient when I must.”
Using my napkin to cover my grin and wipe it away, I said, “Yes, gambling. Apparently they managed to swindle over fifty million out of several different casinos before they ran out of time and had to give up.”
“Seth, ‘swindle’ is a harsh word,” Peter argued. “They said they weren’t cheating and I’m inclined to believe them. Aren’t you?”
“I would be, but I know better,” I said, rather judgmentally. “It’s one thing to have a strong hunch that the next card out of the shoe is a Jack of Spades, but it’s quite another to subconsciously look at the next card and see that it’s the Jack of Spades. See the difference?”
Peter had to think about that for a second. “Okay, I see your point.”
“Furthermore, they said they weren’t watched or followed,” I went on. “But they haven’t exactly been trained in magical watches, now have they? It could be some time before we’re aware of the fallout from that. Or, they’re absolutely right and no one noticed them. In either event, they won’t be gambling in the future.”
“I imagine it’s not very fun to gamble when you already know the outcome,” Kieran said.
“That was my argument,” I agreed. “But I left the problem with the people handling it already. Peter knows more about it than I do.” And Peter was desperately trying to hide behind Coulter’s bunny right then, creating a few more chuckles.
“And is Sara healing properly?” Kieran asked, continuing along my list in order.
“She wasn’t but I believe she’ll do better now,” I said. “Her parents understand her problems better now and her cousin Brian isn’t quite as angry as he was. And of course the rest of the druids will help more now that they’ve been spanked.”
“Who spanked them, Daddy?” Coulter asked, followed by Connor’s, “What’s a druids?”
“A druid is a kind of magician, Connor,” Kieran answered. “They use a particular kind of nature magic. Your Daddy is the only Archdruid to exist.”
“Really? Merlin wasn’t an archdruid then?” I asked. “Oh, I’m sorry, Coulter, I spanked them, figuratively speaking. They did a very bad thing and had to be punished for it.”
“Like you and Uncle Pete did with the shuntok?” Connor asked.
“No, we destroyed all the shuntok we found,” I explained. “The druids just had to be punished, so I increased their work a little for the next twenty years.”
“Okay,” Connor said and went back to his pizza.
“What did the druids do?” Peter asked.
“Set us up to arrive in a trap that could have been lethal,” I said. “I chose to come in the front door instead and that apparently confused them. I had Ryan, Nil, and Naught with me then. It was a perfectly nice afternoon except for spoon-feeding Sara, but I think I got her rooted in her past again.”
“What did you do about the trap?” Peter asked. “Surely that wasn’t the Whites’ doing.”
“Dissected it in front of them,” I answered disinterestedly. The boys were fiddling with their food now. “It was more impressive when Ryan brought the wall down, which would make more sense if I told you about it in the first place.” It was time to let the twins off the hook. “Boys, would you like to play with your blocks while I talk with your uncles some more?”
“May we, Daddy?” the boys asked excitedly.
“Yes,” I said, standing and pulling my chair to the side. “Let’s make some room. Coulter, I’ll take your chair. Connor, if you’ll push yours to the end of the buffet table, I think that’ll give you plenty of space here.” Guita
r walked up holding the box of blocks up for me. “Thanks, Guitar. Here you go, boys. Have fun!” Setting the box on the floor, the twins swooped down on it like raptors on field mice. The blocks were on the floor and the box was flying to the side before I could turn to the table again. I was still chuckling when I took my plate and sat down again.
“Why do they seem so… stunted?” Kieran asked in barely a whisper.
“It’s the Hant,” I said quietly. “They’ve already progressed quite a bit more than I expected. Tomorrow, they may peak in some areas and hopefully by Sunday fully resolve.”
“So by Sunday, they’ll be more what, elven, human?” Kieran asked. I wasn’t quite sure there wasn’t a touch a racism there. Or maybe that was speciesism.
“No idea. I’m guessing it will be something similar to the huri, but no way of knowing ahead of time. I’m thoroughly enjoying it,” I said.
“But why that? Why not just take them?” Kieran asked.
“That isn’t obvious?” I asked, looking around Ethan who was watching the boys. “Kieran, they’re the third and fourth Pactholders.” Kieran’s eyes grew so wide I almost laughed, then he looked at my boys hard and saw that I was right. “Yep, all the known Pactholders are in this room and two of them are half-breeds. I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen.”
“Who were their parents?” Ethan asked, still watching in fascination.
“Their mother’s name is Mioreala, a Wylde Fae of significant ability and power,” I answered. “Their sire was a wizard also of significant ability and power, named Eliot.”
“Eliot?” Kieran asked with more interest.
“Yes, Eliot. Eliot McClure, our brother,” I said smoothly. “I adopted our nephews at their mother’s request.”
“I didn’t know that,” Peter said, leaning back in his chair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Really hasn’t been much time,” I said quietly. “Having to be so careful with them, it’s been hard to talk about anything of consequence. Not that I can see what difference it really makes. Eliot died several months ago according to Mioreala. She didn’t know how he died except that it was violent and his last thoughts were for her and his sons before their bond broke. The boys spent those years twisted, Kieran. Eliot either didn’t know how to pass the Pact properly or he didn’t trust the faery blood with it. He had Mioreala force all the ‘fae’ out of Coulter and into Connor and gave Coulter the Pact. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for them all those years.”
“You put them back together?” Kieran asked, confused in more than one way.
“No, their mother did that,” I explained. “They aren’t exactly elves, Kieran. That’s merely the form she chose to meet Eliot in and keep as they continued their relationship. She kept the boys in that form because it binds best with Eliot’s genetics and with mine.”
“So what are they then?” Kieran asked. I decided to believe he wanted understanding of a difficult situation that was out of his control and not a species issue, even if it colored his responses.
“My sons and your nephews,” I said as casually as I could muster. “Gibson, I agree with everyone else. Dinner was excellent. Is there any coffee?”
“Thank you, Lord, yes, Lord. Coming right up, sir,” Gibson squealed happily and disappeared around the back corner.
Kieran sighed tensely, running his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Seth. I’ve acted badly.”
“No, you haven’t, Kieran,” I said sympathetically. “You’ve acted very well for a man that’s been bushwhacked with strange and hard news.”
“Maybe if you started at the beginning?” Ethan suggested. “I’m more than a little lost on how you found them and what the mountains had to do with it, not that I’m not proud of the both of you for destroying two mountains and being alive to brag about it a few hours later.”
“Well, I admit I didn’t so much destroy the whole mountain as the top four to six inches of it,” Peter said, almost shyly. “The Hinterlands took care of most of it.”
“That distant third signal that I heard in Germany was Coulter,” I said. “With Mioreala’s attention failing, the signal got through, so he knew someone was out there. They had been under siege by shuntok in increasing numbers for weeks and the situation became desperate. Whether intentionally or subconsciously–I didn’t try to find out–he rang his bell. Both Peter and I heard him, but it took some time to find him.
“In fact, we found the shuntok first, simply because there were so many of them,” I said dramatically, then reached down to take the mug of coffee Gibson offered me. “Thanks, Gibson. There were thousands of them crawling up the side of one mountain, trying to access one particular plateau with only one other pass leading to it. It was heavily warded by a Pactward. You can imagine my surprise when I stepped onto a faery’s land. But the ward was failing and the shuntok would overrun the place when it did. She knew she could get out and maybe get one boy out, but not both of them before they attacked. So her choice was to make the ward last as long as possible. Coulter and she worked together to identify what they could of the Pactward’s control and power systems and then, ‘fused’ herself with them.” I gulped hard at the memory of seeing her wracked with pain and tensed with effort to keep that out of my communion bond with my boys.
“How… does that even work?” Kieran asked in a horrified whisper.
“Gruesomely,” muttered Peter. Nodding in agreement, I checked on the boys. They were building a very good likeness of their cabin in the woods in blocks.
“She knew where they were coming from,” I said, sipping at the coffee. “There was a cave in the base of the mountain next door that the pass attached to. Hidden in the back of that cave was a hole, a portal into the Sundered Realms. That, no doubt, is where the loss in Faery is occurring.”
“What is the Sundered Realms?” Kieran asked.
“It’s a dimensional graveyard, of sorts,” Ethan said. “It’s not a place you want to go, no matter how powerful you are. Some realities don’t mix well with others and there are places where there is no reality. The next step down is the grist that runs the mill of the universes. Don’t go there, Seth. It’s beyond dangerous.”
“Yeah, I don’t particularly want to go again,” I muttered, giving him a grim smile over my coffee cup.
“You saw him, then?” Peter hissed.
“Not directly,” I said and stood up. “Connor, Coulter, are you ready for bed yet? You’ve had a very long day, today.”
“Aw, Dad!” they even whined in unison. Coulter said, “Can’t we stay up a little longer and play? We’ll be good.”
“Well,” I drawled out. “I was only thinking of y’all. If you don’t get enough sleep tonight, we won’t be able to go swimming in the pond tomorrow morning.”
Both boys jumped from the floor and ran to me. “We’re going outside tomorrow?” Connor asked excitedly and Coulter asked equally as excited, “We get to go in a pond?”
“Yep, let’s get ready for bed,” I said, then pointed at the bunny and truck stuffed into Connor’s chair. They ran to fetch them and ran back to take my hands. “Be back in a few minutes. Say ‘good-night’ to your uncles, sons.” Leading them around the table to Peter first, he leaned out of his chair and hugged them together, coping with the squeals and giggles wearing a grandiose smile.
“Good night, boys,” he said affectionately. “Your Dad was certainly right about one thing: you two are easy to love. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Come on, now, Pete, don’t hog all the love,” Ethan chipped in. “I want some, too, y’know. It’s not every day your celibate little brother comes home with twins.” Kieran and Peter laughed, so I dignified his joke with a smile. “Good night, boys, it’s been wonderful to meet you and welcome to the family.” More squealing and giggling ensued with “Thank you, Uncle Ethan” and “Good night, Uncle Ethan” said by both. We moved along to Kieran.
The boys crept closer to me as we stepped up to
Kieran. Their anxiety and fear of Kieran flooded our bond, but didn’t give me a reason for it. I couldn’t think of a reason that they would be afraid of him since he was as invisible as Ethan and Peter were to them.
“What’s wrong, boys? Why are you afraid of Kieran?” I asked quietly, turning them sideways to both of us with my hand on their shoulders. Both boys peeked at Kieran nervously, edging closer to me.
“He’s a Lord, Daddy,” Connor whispered fearfully.
“Mommy told us to stay away from Lords and Ladies,” Coulter added. That still didn’t answer the question for me, but apparently, it was enough for Kieran.
“Oohh,” he drew out slowly. “I understand now. In telling you that, Daybreak was trying to make you more comfortable with me. Instead, he scared the daylights out of you. Are you afraid that I might try to take you from your Dad? Is that it?”
“Is that what you’re worried about? That Kieran might try to take you away from me?” I asked right behind him. The twins gripped my hands more tightly and looked up with tear filled eyes.
“He won’t, will he, Daddy?” Connor asked meekly. “You won’t let him, will you, Daddy?” Coulter asked, his bottom lip quivering.
“No!” I said and swooped into a hug with both of them. “No to both questions. You are my sons now and no one is taking you away from me.”
“Besides,” Kieran said, chuckling, “I couldn’t break your father’s geas if my life depended on it. My little brother is stronger than I am in many ways. Seth, may I bring Shrank next time so they can see the extent of my bound Fae?”
“Yes, I should have thought of that anyway,” I said, still clutching the boys. “I’m sorry, Kieran. I made a mess of things here.”
“No, you haven’t, little brother,” Kieran said. “This is easy to fix. Your sons just need to know that you’re stronger than I. Pete, would you hold the boys’ toys for a moment? Seth, take their hands.” Kieran sat forward, leaning on his knees until we’d done as he’d directed. “Okay, boys, now take my hands and remember that both your Dad and I said that I can’t break his geas. Trust in that.” Kieran held out his hands palms up and waited. The boys looked up at me, less scared but still.
Sons (Book 2) Page 145
