Page 60 of The Magic of Eternity
I cleared my throat, drawing everyone’s focus. “We got some news just before the battle started.” I paused and raised a brow at Red, letting her decide if she wanted to be the one to share what Balor had told us. She smiled, giving me a small nod to continue.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense, brother,” Cam grumbled.
I found myself grinning widely. “We have less than a week until we’re officially fathers.”
“A week?” Bram gasped, looking to Red for confirmation. Seeing her smile and watery eyes, his knees hit the floor, his fist pressed tightly over his heart. I walked over and gripped his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Less than a week?” Fischer piped up, his tone both curious and shocked. “As in… it could happen any time?”
“This is amazing!” Faris darted over to our woman and held his hand up. “High five, little mama.”
Saige laughed, and it sounded so carefree. It had been a long time since I’d seen her like that.
“Why do you keep doing that?” Faris asked curiously.
I glanced around to see who he was talking to, but found everyone looking at me. Cam was smirking. Dickhead. My curiosity won out, though I had no idea where this was going.
“Doing what?”
“Showing your teeth and like, moving your face upward.” Faris gestured with his hands over his face dramatically.
I blinked.Who is this creature anyway? Where do the things that come out of his mouth come from?
“You mean smiling?” Cam snorted, covering his mouth with his fist as his bare torso shook with silent laughter.
“Faris!” Red hissed.
He threw his hands up. “What? He looks weird.”
“No, he doesn’t, Baby Fang. He looks happy,” Bram said, rising back to his feet and slinging his arm over my shoulders. Faris tracked the motion, and I wound my arm around Bram’s waist, giving me the perfect angle to flip the bird at that little shit. Which I did. He saw it too, lifting his own middle finger to his mouth and piercing the pad of it on a sharp fang. The conversation continued around us as we glared at each other.
That crazy fucker let the blood well just enough to start dripping down his finger. He brought it to his mouth, painting his lips red, flipping me off the entire time. Puckering his bloodied lips, he kissed his finger, then blew the kiss at me and snapped his teeth a few times for good measure.
I didn’t appreciate his antics… At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself, despite the fact that every damn time he acted up, it caused my balls to ache and my dick to twitch.Look away, Sloane. Look away.
Red’s voice had turned strained and emotional. “I just… I’m so happy that we’ll all be together when we become parents. I missed you all so much, and I feel like even just the thought of what could’ve happened will give me nightmares for the rest of my life.” Her lower lip quivered, and it damn near broke my black heart in two.
“Come here, Cub,” Kai purred as he took a seat on the chair. “Come sit on my lap. It’s been too long since I’ve held you against me.” Cam walked her over and deposited her into Kai’s lap, who didn’t waste any time nuzzling his face into her neck, taking great heaving breaths of her scent. The two of them shivered at the contact. It felt like we all just were desperate for each other. We needed to feel connected again, because if we were together, nothing could hurt us.
Directly after the battle, Khol had immediately told us to get out of there and go get some rest. Thankfully, Balor’s injuries from the battle were able to be healed, and he’d stayed behind to help Khol. The young guard, Joris, had also survived, though he would have a gnarly scar from his hairline down the right side of his face for the rest of his life.
The Exiled didn’t stick around after Asrael hit the deck. They claimed they had no desire to participate in any sort of government rebuilding, that their job was done. We were grateful to them, of course. They still gave me the creeps with those masks, but their power was unmatched, as was their level of fucking craziness.
There were already discussions going on about a celebratory ball the following evening to celebrate our victory and the return of health to the realm. So that gave us a little over twenty-four hours for some rest and whatever else we decided to get up to.
Faris glided through the room, plopping himself down on the floor between Saige’s legs, resting his head against her inner thigh. Her hands immediately sank into his hair, his eyes fluttering shut at the contact. My own eyes trailed across the room to a man that I hadn’t seen in far too long. I knew he was looking at me, because I could feel it. I’d always be able to feel Fischer. His attention ignited my blood every fucking time. When his honey oak eyes collided with mine, magic pulsed between us.
In three steps I was before him, towering over him just slightly. “Hey, pretty boy. I missed you.” I lifted my hand to his face, wanting to feel the smoothness of his cheek beneath my thumb. He flinched away, and hurt ricocheted through me. “What is it?” I asked, confused.
“I—” he started, and shook his head like he was trying to banish whatever thoughts were tormenting him. “I’m sorry. Sloane, I–I just went through some stuff, and... Fuck.” He dragged his hands down his face, his expression pained.
“Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. We always do.” I tried to reassure him, and also put my own feelings on the backburner. I was pretty sure that whatever had happened wasn’t something I’d done. And yet, the fact that he didn’t want my touch, that he didn’t crave it as much as I did… It stung a lot. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. Even I could hear the pain in my voice. I hated that.
His eyes searched my face. “Can I just hug you first maybe?”
“Gods, Fischer, you don’t even have to ask.” I opened my arms and welcomed him in. He was stiff at first, slowly wrapping his arms around my waist, but then I felt his cheek press against my chest. He was trembling in my arms, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to know who had hurt him and what they had done so that I could make them fucking pay for it. This was not the reunion that we were owed.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” I whispered as I rubbed his back.
