The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) (25 page)

              So he was ready. And the more space we put in between us and whoever ransacked Gabriel’s church the less likely we would be to finding anything out. That should have been enough for me.

              Hell, remembering anything that had happened up until now should have been enough for me.

              But there was another side to my emotions apparently…. Another side I hadn’t even known existed until Amelia showed up and that other side wanted, no, demanded that I stick around for the next day and get to know Amelia as much as possible. In fact this brand new side all but completely revolted at the idea of leaving early.

              And now that I sat around a long, formal table, with her on the other side practically begging me to carry her into the other room and ravish her with her sleep mussed hair and form fitting tank top and sweat pants, I realized just how close this new side was to winning the argument.

              “Avalon, are you still planning to stay for another day?” Bianca asked as if she could read my thoughts. “Sebastian says that Titus is better.”

              “He is better,” I agreed. “I wanted to give him plenty of time to recover, but if he is as well as he says he is than we will probably leave this morning. I don’t want the trail to go dead before we have a chance to chase it.” Damn duty and responsibility.

              “Where is the trail?” Jean asked in his bored voice that had more to do with how he was raised than his actual emotion behind the tone.

              “Peru,” Sebastian answered, giving a pointed look to his parents that I didn’t quite understand.

              “Who will you take with you?” Amelia asked. I met her eyes from across the table and I was rewarded with a small, friendly smile that reassured me I hadn’t imagined there really was something between us. Although if we left this morning I had no idea when I would see her again.

              “Gabriel, Silas, Sebastian of course,” I nodded at Sebastian assuming he was already planning on going, “And then Jericho, Xavier, Xander, Roxie, Titus and the retired Titans if they’re up for it. We don’t always see eye to eye, but they have an insight into Terletov that I don’t.”

              “Mimi, aren’t you in Lima for the next few days for that human trafficking seminar?” Bianca asked casually.

              But I was a former member of a resistance and had studied Bianca over the years when running intel. I knew she wasn’t as casual as she was pretending.

              “I am,” Amelia nodded, looking back down at her breakfast.

              “You should meet up with Sebastian when you’re finished,” Bianca stated. “It would be good for you to get some of this experience.”

              “No!” I practically shouted in unison with Jean, her father and Sebastian her brother.

              “It’s enough that you go to all of these humanitarian projects in dangerous areas, you don’t need to join your brother on these death missions,” Jean lectured with uncharacteristic emotion in his thick French accent.

              “He’s right, Mimi,” Kiran agreed.

I was satisfied that so many other people had her best interest in mind, but a little unsettled that Amelia actually seemed put out by it. She wasn’t really considering joining us, was she? Besides the fact that the mission was dangerous, from a director’s point of view she had absolutely no experience.

“I’m glad you’re all in agreement on how I should spend my time,” Amelia huffed, pushing her plate forward.

“It is dangerous, Amelia,” I reminded her gently. “Look at what just happened to Titus. We were lucky Eden was so close.”

“Not you too, Avalon,” Amelia groaned. “I am not Lucan’s spoiled niece, and I would greatly appreciate it if you all stopped treating me like her.” She gave each male at the table a nasty glare in turned.

I shot her a charming smile, believing we had collectively made our point when a violent surge of nausea threatened to bring my breakfast back up. I leaned against the table, resting my face in my hands as I tried to get the sickness under control. My magic could not work strong enough and I had no idea where it was coming from until I caught the feint smell of eggs in the air.

Eggs?

Before I could examine why eggs would make me feel ill, just the thought of them had me reeling again.

“Are you alright?” I heard Kiran ask.

“Ugh, I’m fine, I’m just pretty sure those eggs were spoiled,” I mumbled through my hands.

A pause before, “I’m glad to hear that Avalon, but I was actually asking Eden.”

I didn’t have to see Kiran’s face to hear the irritation in his voice. I should have known Eden would be feeling sick if I felt sick. We had gone through the King’s Curse and enough battles together to prove that physical pain affected us both. But we weren’t really supposed to get sick outside of the King’s Curse.

Especially not with something as asinine as food poisoning. And this was two days in a row.

Of nausea.

When we’re around food.

Wait a minute.

Eden?
I demanded in our heads.

Not now Avalon!
She pleaded just as she reigned in control of the sick feelings and her magic.
Please!

“I’m fine,” she smiled brightly at Kiran. “Um, Avalon wasn’t feeling well, it must have affected me as well.” And then in our heads,
Just let me figure this out first, please.

Uh, huh.
I agreed, in a bit of a daze.

“I, uh, I need to prepare to leave. Thank you for breakfast,” I nodded to the Cartiers and then got the hell out of there as fast as I could.

That better not have been morning sickness.

I was going to kill Eden if that was true. Well, first I would probably hug her until it was dangerous for her unborn baby, but then I was going to kill her.

There was probably nothing more emasculating than going through three trimesters of something only women should be blessed with.

On the other hand…. I would probably be awesome at being an uncle.

Chapter Twenty-Three

              “You wanker, how dare you keep something like that from me!” Kiran accused as I was packing up the last of my overnight bag in the fancy guest room of the Cartiers.

              Kiran and Eden had burst into my room all swirling magic and radiance. She confirmed my suspicions. Or probably her suspicions….

              “It’s true?” I ignored Kiran who looked decidedly more at ease today. I hadn’t realized how disheveled and run down he had been over the last twenty four hours.

              Eden nodded shyly, her eyes brimming with tears.

              “You’re pregnant?” I clarified, knowing she was but needing to hear the words out loud.

              “Yes,” she whispered, a tear of joy slipping from the corner of her eye.

              I crossed the room in three steps and swept her up into a tight hug. “I’m going to be an uncle,” I laughed.

              “Of course you would only be thinking about yourself,” she mumbled. I could tell that she was overwhelmed. Actually, I could feel the hundreds of emotions going through her and it was a bit disconcerting. She was excited and happy, completely thrilled and filled with joy, but at the same time terrified and unsure, she was nervous, anxious, sick…. She was too many things.

              I separated our connection, hoping she wouldn’t notice. But honestly, there were too many feelings for me. I was happy and that’s all I wanted to feel.

              “Not true,” I defended myself. “I’m so happy for you.”

              “I know,” Eden agreed softly.

              “I would like to say though, that next time you feel her morning sickness you clue me in,” Kiran lectured. “You have no idea what I’ve been going through the last few days. I was sure you picked up something weird on your mission and Eden was going to die by default.”

              I laughed. Loudly. “You would blame me for something like that.”

              “You’re damned right,” Kiran nodded enthusiastically. “You’re a liability to my happily ever after.”

              “To be fair, I obviously didn’t recognize it as morning sickness until this morning and even then if Eden wouldn’t have figured it out on her own I’m not sure I would ever have gotten it. It’s not like I really thought I would ever get pregnancy symptoms. I mean…. ever.” I reiterated. Suddenly I was panicking. “Oh no, what else do I have to go through?”

              Eden laughed at me. “Nothing, I have it figured out. I just didn’t understand what was happening before and it kept sneaking up on me. I promise, now that I know I will not let you feel sick anymore.”

              “Better safe than sorry,” I mumbled and I know she felt the disconnect between us, but she only nodded her approval. “So when will you leave for the Citadel?”

              “Eden doesn’t want to go back to Romania,” Kiran replied and I could tell he wasn’t happy about her decision.

              “Why not? You obviously need medical care,” I immediately took Kiran’s side. My sister was notorious for her stubborn tendencies.

              “I know that, but I am not about to get it from the doctor/notary/weirdo/one of the three wise men,” Eden bit out sarcastically, referring to the Witch back at the castle.

              I laughed again, her assessment of him was not that far off. “He was not one of the three wise men.”

              “No, but he did slice my hand open in a blood oath and I am not about to let him near my hoo-ha,” she grumbled.

              I immediately covered my ears like a child. Some topics would always and forever, as in forever ever, be off limits.

              “You can’t go to a human doctor, E. Won’t they want blood tests and what not? You’re not human, remember?” It was a legitimate question. Sometimes she didn’t remember.

              “There is one human doctor I can go to,” Eden said firmly. “We’re going back to Omaha, Aunt Syl will take care of me.”

              I beamed in response. Sylvia would take care of Eden, and it might do her some good to be back in her home town. Plus, Kiran could still run things from the downtown club. She had thought this through.

              “That will be good for her,” I turned to Kiran who was looking at Eden with all of the love any one man was capable of holding. She was his world, that much was clear.

              “I suppose,” he relented, his face softening as she returned his gaze.

              This was getting gross.

              “Eden, I’m so happy for you,” I broke whatever weird love connection was happening around me and pulled her into another hug. “You’re going to be a fantastic mother.”

              Kiran cleared his throat suggestively. “What about me? Don’t I get a hug and a speech?”

              He was joking. Thank God.

              “I’ll leave the hugging up to my sister, but seriously man, congratulations,” I shook his hand feeling even closer to my brother in law. He wasn’t just in charge of taking care of my sister now; he was in charge of raising and protecting my niece or nephew.

              “When are you leaving?” Eden asked, nodding at my backpack.

              “Half an hour. We’re meeting back at the airport. There are too many of us to use Gabriel’s small plane,” I explained.

              Eden shuddered. “That’s probably a good plan. He flies a death trap.”

              “Eden, it’s not a death trap because we’re-“

              “I know, I know…. magic,” she waved me off impatiently.

              Kiran and I smiled.

              “Be safe?” she asked, knowing it was useless to assume I would be.

              “Probably not,” I admitted, giving her a playful smile. “But I will be thorough and that’s the best you can ask of me right?”

              “Will you kill him there or bring him back to Romania?” Kiran asked and I liked how he already assumed my victory.

              “Probably bring him back to Romania. You know with the whole ‘I’m pushing for a Democracy’ thing, it’s better to give the people the benefit of the doubt rather than murder our citizens on the down low, no matter how scum of the Earth they are.”

              “I’ll meet you there after you wrap this thing up,” Kiran offered.

              “Sounds good.” I paused for a moment and thought things over. I didn’t want to admit there was a possibility of failure, but I had to include every option in my plans. “Kiran, just in case though, maybe you should make plans to inform the Kingdom. If we don’t catch up with him soon, I’m afraid of what that could mean for innocent people just because they weren’t warned. I’ll be in touch in a few days and depending on my progress we can go from there, but I want to be prepared, just in case.”

              “Absolutely,” he nodded.

              “Give Sylvia my best,” I changed the subject and pulled Eden into one last hug. “And take care of the little pot roast.”

              “Pot roast?” Eden laughed.

              “You know, because you’re cooking him,” I clarified. I mean, that was obvious.

              “Him?” Eden asked again.

              “Obviously,” this time I rolled my eyes. “An heir.”

              “Obviously,” Kiran agreed with an identical eye roll.

              “Sure, obviously,” Eden laughed at us. “Call when you get there.”

              “Sure thing, have your own safe travels,” I demanded and then they left me alone.

              Putting the last of my meager belongings into the suitcase I felt her before I heard her. Her magic infected my room with the feel of her. She was everywhere around me and I stilled myself before I could toss her onto my bed and move our relationship right along in the best ways possible.

              I forced myself to take my time zipping my backpack and putting it on before I let my eyes find hers. She stood in the doorway, her long wavy hair tumbling over her shoulders. She was wearing fitted trouser pants and a white blouse that seemed very grown up but in that sexy secretary way.