CHAPTER SEVEN

 

“WE SHOULD GET married,” Clay said, propping himself up on his elbows. It was a little after midnight, and he hadn’t left the room to return to his duties yet. I figured Mackenzie must have let Fiona know that he’d likely be gone for the night because no one came searching for him.

“I kinda thought that was the plan when you proposed.”

“Well, yeah, but I mean we should get married soon.”

“I think there are more pressing matters,” I said, rolling onto my side and resting my hand over my stomach. Even though there was no outward sign of my pregnancy, it was impossible to ignore the awareness I now had that it wasn’t only my life in my hands.

Clay’s gaze followed my hand. “Like?”

I ran a trail over my stomach. As I did, it occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten since before Mackenzie’s visit. The enchantments were probably already starting to fade. It was a reminder that I had to be careful. Although I didn’t burn through the fae enchantments quite as fast as I had when the sunbird was awake, I also wasn’t able to judge my need for them quite as well. Especially when I seemed to throw up half of what I consumed and now apparently had to factor in another entity. “Like, trying to figure out how the enchantments I have to eat to stay at the court might affect her.”

His smile fell. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“I hadn’t either until just now.”

He traced a path over my cheek with his fingertips. “You need more now, don’t you?”

Leaning into his touch, I gave a small nod. “I haven’t eaten since early this morning.”

“Let’s get dressed and head down to get something.”

“When are we going to tell your mom? And everyone else I guess.” From my experiences of court life, once one or two people knew any piece of information it spread rapidly through the whole court. Then all the fae commiserated or celebrated as one. No doubt the announcement that a grandchild of the queen was on the way would warrant a feast—or a dozen.

Clay pushed himself off the bed and started picking up the clothes we’d discarded in our haste to celebrate together. “As much as I want to keep this just our little secret for the moment, how long do you think we can avoid telling people?”

“Considering how fast Mackenzie figured it out, not long. Any of the healers will know just by brushing my aura apparently.”

“Then, maybe we’ll tell everyone tomorrow. For the time being, to make sure the news doesn’t spread too far, why don’t you stay here, and I’ll go get something for us to eat.”

“I am capable of—”

He cut me off with a kiss. “More than capable, but please let me do this. I don’t think Mack will tell anyone, but the more people who know, the less we’ll be able to keep a lid on it. Can you imagine Eth’s reaction if he finds out second-hand?”

I laughed because he was right. Ethan would be pissed. I might not have known him that well, but he was a family man through and through.

“I’ll be right back.”

Stretching out on the bed, I put my hands behind my back. “I’ll be right here waiting I guess.”

His gaze trailed my body, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say screw it, but then he sighed and left.

True to his word though, he was back in almost no time. When he returned, he had a selection of cold roast meats, fresh bread rolls, and some decadent looking chocolate cake.

The scent of the food wafted to me, and I clutched at my mouth as a wave of nausea rolled through me. I disappeared into the bathroom to throw up, and when I came back out, Clay held his arms open for me.

I stepped straight into them and rested my head against his shoulder.

“She’s going to be worth it, isn’t she?” I asked as the nausea rolled again.

“If she’s anything like you? Then yes.” He kissed my cheek. “A thousand times, yes.”

“Suck up,” I teased with a laugh.

He held out one of the rolls for me. “Just try this.”

“You’d think the enchantment would help it stay down,” I muttered after finishing a bite that left my stomach roiling.

The look on Clay’s face spoke volumes. It clearly said, “Unless it’s because it’s bad for her.”

I gave the bread another couple of small nibbles, knowing if I didn’t the enchantments would wear off. Who knew what might happen if that occurred while I was in the court. Would the place disappear around me, leaving me to fall into the middle of the East Meadow of Central Park? Would I fall into a place between the two planes? Somewhere like the Void Fiona had mentioned. “Maybe we should talk to your Mom tomorrow and come up with a plan B on the living arrangements.”

He frowned. “I liked knowing you were safe here.”

“We could go back to Sweden.” The idea held some comfort. We had been safe there, after all. Only Clay’s fae family and Caelan knew about that place. It wasn’t like Clay’s family was a threat and Caelan was dead, so we’d be safe there.

“No way. What if something happened?” He wrapped his arms around my waist. “I couldn’t stand being up there alone with you and have something go wrong with the baby.”

“Why don’t we think about it some more. Maybe we’re overreacting. Maybe she’ll be fine even with the enchantments. We can ask Mackenzie to investigate it for us.”

He brushed my hair off my face. “Either way, it’s a problem for tomorrow and you should probably get some sleep.”

“Are you going to start worrying about me more now?” I asked, not sure I could take him being more protective than he already was.

He laughed. “Evie, I always worry about your safety. It’s my job.”

When I raised my eyebrow in question, he just laughed.

“You know what I mean. I like taking care of you.”

“Just so long as you know I can take care of myself,” I said, fixing him a stare.

“Trust me; I know you’re more than capable of that.”

After I’d finished a little bit of the food, I got ready for bed and brushed my teeth. It was amazing how oddly domestic our life had become. We could have just been any regular couple living in New York.

Nearly an hour later, I was still staring at the wall, and judging by Clay’s breathing, he wasn’t asleep either.

“What are you thinking?” I asked in a whisper.

“I have a date in mind for the wedding.” I didn’t think that was the thing keeping him up, but it was clearly the only issue he was willing to raise.

I hummed in question as I rolled over in his arms.

“April Eighteenth.” He met my gaze and there was a confidence in his eyes that I didn’t understand.

“That’s my birthday.” I wasn’t sure if he understood the significance of the date.

“I know.” He lifted his lips into a small smile as he brushed loose strands of hair away from my face. “I’ve known that since we were in high school, and I researched you to find out what you were and where you might have gone.”

He fell silent as the memories of that time in our lives washed over both of us. So much had passed between us. Good and bad. All of it led us to where we were right then.

“Even though we’ve never been together to celebrate it, I’ve marked it every year. And I also know you haven’t had many reasons to celebrate it before, so I thought maybe this year I could give you the best present I can think of—all of my love, my heart, and my soul.” He rested one hand against my cheek. “I’m sorry that it’s all I have to offer.”

I teared up, but it wasn’t only at his words. Clay’s thoughtfulness and desire to give himself to me as a birthday present made one terrible, selfish, and inescapable fact crystal clear. A sob shook my chest.

The smile fell from his lips and his face grew ashen. “If you don’t want to share your birthday with our wedding, that’s okay,” he whispered in a rush. “We can pick another date if you’d prefer. Any other date you want.”

I shook my head and waited for the worst of my sobs to pass so that I could speak.

“That’s not it,” I was finally able to say. “I just . . . I just realized that I don’t know when your birthday is.”

Another sob rushed from me as I admitted the dreadful truth. I knew he was around my age, we’d been in the same classes after all, but I didn’t have a clue whether he was a few months older or younger.

To my surprise, he chuckled. “It’s okay. I’ve never told you, and you weren’t the one obsessively investigating me. My birthday was a few months ago, February Second.”

“I missed your birthday?” I sobbed harder. “You must think I’m a terrible, selfish person.”

“Missed it?” he said, tilting his head in question. “You didn’t miss it, Evie. In fact, you gave me the best damn gift in the world.”

I frowned. I hadn’t given him anything recently. Not big enough to be the best birthday gift in the world.

“You don’t remember what happened on February second?”

I shook my head. “Should I?”

“You woke up,” he whispered and the elation in his voice was so clear. “You woke up and you told me that nothing had changed even though the sunbird was sleeping.”

“That was your birthday?”

He nodded. “That’s why I was with Mom. That was the only reason I wasn’t at your side. They couldn’t have dragged me away for anything less. And trust me, they tried.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I had slightly more important things on my mind.” He kissed my forehead lightly.

“February second,” I repeated to cement the date in my mind—not that I needed to because I knew I would never forget it. Not now that I actually knew it. I kicked myself mentally for not asking him sooner. It was just one of those casualties of the war life had waged against us. It had been swept away as unimportant in the face of what we’d had to endure. No more. Now, I would ensure the smallest details of our lives were made more important than anything we might have to face.

He gazed at me with a soft expression on his face and such emotion brimming in his eyes that I knew we’d be celebrating our upcoming nuptials and the baby at least once more that night. Did he see the same emotion printed on my face?

“You don’t mind our wedding anniversary being on my birthday?” I asked.

“Are you kidding me? It’s every man’s dream. It means I’ve only got to remember one date,” he joked.

I ignored his remark. “It’s really soon though, do you think we can organize it all in time?”

“What’s to organize? It’s not like we’re putting on a wedding of celebrity scale.” He stopped and stared at me for a second. “Unless, you want that, of course? If you do I’ll—”

I pressed my finger to his lips. “I just want you.”

He nuzzled against my neck. “That’s all I want too.”

“You want you?” I teased.

“You know what I mean,” he murmured playfully.

“Getting you for my birthday . . . I like it,” I said.

He pulled back to meet my gaze.

I grinned. “Let’s do it.”

“We’ll tell everyone tomorrow, when we tell them about the baby.”

I chuckled. “You know Eth’s going to make some wisecrack about a shotgun wedding, don’t you?”

“Eth can say anything he damn well likes, as far as I’m concerned, I’m getting my happily ever after.”

I guided his lips to mine to give him his happy ending—and claim mine too.