Laurell Hamilton - Divine Misdemeanors

“I think so, but … How many of you have had wives and children before this?”

“All of us except for Frost, I think,” Rhys said.

“I had both,” Frost said.

“Rose,” I said.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“I didn’t know you had a child with her, though. What happened?”

“She died.”

“They all died,” Doyle said.

Barinthus spoke from the dimness of the backseat. “There are moments, Meredith, when being immortal and ageless is not a blessing.”

I thought about that. “As far as we know, I’m aging just a little less than humanly normal. I’m not immortal or ageless.”

“You were not immortal as a child,” Barinthus said, “but then you didn’t have hands of power as a child.”

“Are you all going to be sitting in some rocket-powered car a century from now telling our children about me?”

No one said anything, but Rhys took one hand off the wheel and laid it over mine. I guess there really wasn’t anything to say, or nothing comforting. I clung to Rhys’s hand, and he held it all the way home. Sometimes comfort isn’t about words.

I took off the high heels as soon as we were through the door. Then it was like a comedy routine, with all the men trying to help me up the stairs. Julian and Galen stepped out of the living room into the foyer. Galen was all concern when he heard that I’d been sick, but both he and Julian had trouble not laughing when they heard that I’d thrown up in the forensics lab.

I frowned at them both but I hugged Julian, because I knew that him being here meant that his dinner with Adam hadn’t gone well. “Sorry I wasn’t here to cuddle during movies tonight.”

Julian laid a brotherly kiss on my cheek. “You were off crime-fighting. I forgive you.” He made a joke of it and his smile was genuine, but his brown eyes held a sad shadow.

I stepped back from him and Galen picked me up.

“I can walk,” I said.

“Yes, but now they’ll stop arguing and follow us while you get ready for bed. I have more news. And so does Julian.”

Galen had already started for the stairs, and with a call to Julian he used the speed his long legs could give him. Julian had to hurry to catch up.

Rhys actually caught up with us on the stairs before anyone else did. He explained as he ran to keep up, “Doyle and Frost are talking to Barinthus. We’ve never been friends, so I thought I’d come help tuck you in.” He grinned and gave a lascivious eyebrow waggle.

It made me smile, which was why he’d done it. “What’s happened now?” I asked.

Galen kissed my cheek as he got to the top of the stairs. “It’s not bad news, Merry, but you could probably do without it.”

“Just tell me,” I said.

“Julian,” Galen said.

“Jordan came out of the meds saying one sentence over and over again: ‘Thumbelina wants to be big.’ He just kept repeating it, but when he was completely out from under the meds he didn’t remember saying it, or what it meant.”

“Did you tell Lucy?”

He nodded. “But it could be nonsense. You know that.”

“It could be, but the murderer has been copying children’s books. Maybe this is the next book,” I said.

Rhys opened the bedroom door and Galen carried me in. The bed was already turned down, with a silk robe laid out for me.

I leaned my head into the bend of Galen’s neck, letting the warmth and scent of his skin soothe me. I whispered, “I had to stand up to Barinthus. I told him Jeremy was more useful to me than he was.”

“Sorry I missed it,” Galen whispered.

Rhys said, “She really let him have it.”

“Did you hear what they said?” Julian asked.

Rhys nodded. He looked at the other man. “Just like Galen and I heard your conversation with Merry on the sidewalk, so I know that you being here is a bad sign for your dinner with Adam.”

“Damn, how good is your hearing?” Julian asked.

Galen set me on the bed. Then he knelt in front of me. “Mistral is talking with Queen Niceven in the mirror in the main room. She’s insisting that you feed Royal tonight or the alliance is over between you and her.”

I looked at him. “One feeding and she’d cancel the alliance,” I said.

He nodded. “We’ve been talking to her for most of the time you’ve been gone.”

“What’s happening at the court to make her want to be rid of us so badly?”

Galen glanced back at Julian, who took the hint and said, “I think you need to handle things here and sleep tonight, Merry. Thanks for the offer of a cuddle, but you have other things you need to do more than me.”

“We’ll cuddle you,” Rhys said.

Julian looked at him, frowning.

Rhys grinned. “I told you, Galen and I heard what you told Merry. If you’re that desperate for some touch, Galen and I can do it.”

Julian looked from one to the other of the men. “Thanks, but I’m not sure what’s being offered.”

“We’ll put you in the middle,” Galen said.

“Strictly as friends,” Rhys said.

Julian looked at me then, and his expression was pained. I laughed. “You’ll get your cuddle, but you will be stuck between two of the prettiest men around and no sex.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and finally said, “I want the touch, but I’m not sure if I should be insulted or complimented.”

Rhys and Galen both laughed. “It’s a compliment,” Rhys said, “and we can send you back home with your virtue intact.”

“Won’t you be sleeping with Merry tonight?” Julian asked.

“Not tonight. Mistral hasn’t seen her in two days, almost three, so we’ll step aside for him. Not sure who the other man will be, but we’ve bunked with her recently, and I think tonight won’t be about sex.”

“I feel strangely fine now,” I said.

Rhys gave me a look. “I still wouldn’t push it. This is the first morning sickness you’ve had, so I’d take it easy.”

“I didn’t know you could get morning sickness in the evening,” Galen said.

“Apparently you can,” I said, and didn’t elaborate on the conversation in the car. I reached up under my skirt for the tops of my thigh-highs. I wanted them off and then I’d brush my teeth. Strangely, I really wanted to brush my teeth soon. The breath mints that Carmichael had given me only went so far.

Mistral came through the door cursing under his breath. His hair was a uniform gray like rain clouds, but unlike Wilson’s, his had always been that color. His eyes were the shade of sickly yellow-green that the sky turns just before the heavens open up and the tornado eats the world. It was the color his eyes went when he was very worried, or very mad. Once long ago when Mistral’s eyes had been that color the sky had mirrored them, so that his anger or anxiety had changed the weather. Now he was simply more than six feet of muscled warrior. He was the most masculinely handsome of my men. He was very handsome, but you would never look at his face and think pretty, or beautiful. He was entirely too male-looking for that. He was also the only one with shoulders broader than either Doyle or Frost. Barinthus had him on sheer physical size, but there was always something about Mistral, Lord of Storms, that made him big. He was a big man who took up a lot of space. Now he was a big, angry man. The only thing I caught completely in the rush of very old Gallic was the name Niceven, and a few choice curses.

Galen said, “I take it Niceven wouldn’t change her mind.”

“She wants out of this alliance for a reason.” He made a visible effort to master his temper and came to me. “I have failed you, Merry. You have to feed that creature of hers tonight.”