Page 26 of A Single Thread Of Hope

“If you don’t let her up for oxygen, she’s going to pass out again,” Demke said dryly, and I pulled back.

Everyone was here. All my guys. And Cy, still in his canine form. We were in Teron’s medical suite, and the man in question was pacing the floor, looking like he was barely moments from ripping me from Milo’s arms.

Reaching up to cup my Minotaur’s cheek, I smiled reassuringly at him. “I’m okay. You can put me down.”

He rubbed his cheek hard against my palm. “You almost died.”

Well, that’s true. But it wasn’t even the first time this year.“I didn’t die. I’m okay.”

“No.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “No?”

“I don’t want to put you down. Please don’t make me.” His words quivered, and I melted faster than an ice cube at a frat party.

Looking past him to Teron, I shrugged. “I tried. We’ll work around it. Come on, big guy. We’ll go sit down so Teron can check me out. You can be my chair.”

I spotted Nate in the corner, his face pulled down in a frown. “Is Morrigan okay?”

He nodded. “Healed as soon as the knife was removed. It was an enchanted blade, but she’s not human like you.”

The wordshuman like youechoed around the room like a death knell. If Clio had been in the room, maybe she would have given a soft banshee wail. It was an irrefutable fact that had been sitting there between us, ever since Apollo had delivered that stupid prophecy.

I choked down the emotion that stole my voice, giving a nod. “Good. I’m glad.”

Taking his job as chair very seriously, Milo rearranged me on his lap and leaned back slightly to give Teron room to work. Teron cupped my cheek and ran his thumb across my bottom lip.His face was stern, but beneath that, I could see the worry. “You have to stop losing consciousness. It upsets everyone.”

It upsets me,Griff huffed in my brain. I could tell there was more to it, though, beneath the gentle reproval of his tone.

Well, my heart is beating for four right now, so I make no promises.My tone, even inside my head, was teasing, but the only thing he was sending back was fear and self-loathing.What’s wrong?

Despite the fact Teron was moving away, Griff’s voice in my head stayed steady and strong. That was never going to not be weird.

I can’t protect you. I’m a terrible mate.It was nearly a wail, and I saw Teron wince. I was going to have to get him to shift at some point today so I could snuggle with the big Gryphon.

You’re the best mate. I wouldn’t want any other. It’s definitely not your fault that I come with a lot of drama in the form of monsters and angry Gods.

Huffing, he fell into a sullen silence, and I just wanted to tell him it was all going to be okay. I wanted to tell all of them that, wipe those traumatized expressions from their faces. But it would be an empty promise.

“We should talk about what happens if…” If I died. If my bond to them took them all with me. Who’d care for the babies?

Tryp and Erus looked solemn, and Nate was shaking his head. “Nothing is happening to you,mo stóirín.”

I tilted my head. “Of course not, but if it does?” I looked at Demke, whose jaw was tense. Arguably, he was the least attached to me, despite the long, thick golden thread that bound us together. Would he survive my death?

Demke’s nostrils flared as he came to the same conclusion. “After the birth of the babies, we don’t know what our fate will be. Maybe the threads will stay with you, or maybe they’ll move to bond us to the infants for their protection. Everything isunknown. This isn’t a situation that has occurred within living memory.”

I understood that. I also understood that the Moirai had stood as the weavers of fate for so long that it was easy for them to gather an army to defeat us.

Well, two of the three. “You think I can get Typhon to eat the other two as well?”

Nate snorted. “Badb—I mean, Morrigan—apparently promised him entrance to the Underworld to be with Ekhidna. I don’t know who is going to tell Hades that.”

“Dibs not it!” Tryp shouted, and I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out.

“What he said.” As Teron took my blood pressure, grinding his teeth because it was high, my smile slid from my face. “I’m serious. We need a worst-case scenario.”

Teron sat back, his stethoscope on my stomach. “We understand, Wren. We do. But this decision could literally change the Mythic political landscape for millenia. That’s without the more personal decision of who we’d actually trust to care for the triplets.”

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