Page 172 of Broken Veil
Nêrys. His voice rumbled in her mind.Are you ready?
She threw up her arms when Cadell took to the air, waiting for him to reach down and pluck her from the frosty meadow.
She put a hand on her belly, whispering in her mind as the great claws closed around her.Do you feel it?
Cadell curled his foot back, creating a secure cage as he beat his wings and lifted into the sky.
Do you feel his power? Do you feel how he cares for us?
She rested her cheek on Cadell’s claw as he flew into the soft gold-and-pink sky with no sun.
Because the Shadowlands would always remain the Shadowlands. A place of myth and story. A place where fairy tales were real and the world was a dampened echo of the harsh and brilliant Brightlands.
But with every month that passed, Carys knew that the name others had given her was true. She was a daughter of two worlds. She was home in the light and the shadow, and even though she’d started this journey alone, she had found family in both places.
Love surrounded her; she would never be alone again.
Do you see that thunderbird in the distance?
No racing, Cadell.
Cadell’s mental laugh was low and wicked.
Cadell!
When she walked backinto the kitchen, her hair was a tangled mess, and Duncan was standing at the counter, dunking a cookie in coffee and peering out the window over the sink.
“Saw you walking in.”
She loved seeing him in her space, his shirt untucked, wearing his flannel pajama pants and slippers that he kept under her bed.
He had his own mugs and his own messes. Little hairs in the sink when he shaved, and he was still getting accustomed to not having a housekeeper to pick up after him.
But the laird was getting the hang of commoner life.
Carys slid her eye patch to the right and tried to comb a hand through her hair, but it was useless. “Why does a relaxing morning flight always end up being a race with a thunderbird?”
Duncan’s eyebrows went up. “Because your dragon is a daredevil?” He glanced at her belly. “All good?”
She had to admire his nonchalance. The Duncan of a month ago would have gone on a rant about his pregnant fiancée racing a thunderbird while clutched in the claws of a massive dragon.
“I’m good.”
“No nausea?”
“I’ll let you know when it happens so you can spoil me.” She walked over and slid her arm around his waist. “Is there more coffee?”
“Yes. Half caffeine.”
She stuck out her tongue at him, but he just winked and kissed her forehead.
“Just think,” he said. “That means you can have two cups of coffee instead of one.”
“Oh, good point.”
Duncan was very much trying to be cool about the unexpected. Considering how many fertility deities they’d been hanging around with, in the end, neither one of them was all that surprised when Carys was late no matter what kind of birth control she was taking.
Magic had a mind of its own.
