Himika

After that, I was completely forbidden from getting out of bed. Oszin and Aurekdel would hardly let me pee without them. The midwife gave me quite a talking to, that I was having twins, and the children of a seven foot tall man who was also a dragon, and I was very small and fragile, so if I wanted to have healthy babies and not die, I had better stay in bed.

She didn’t exactly say it in those words, but I got the idea.

I was not in the best mood.

But, I realized what a close call it had been. I was quite shaken. And Seron and Ezeru had to make it home first. Now we had guards inside the house, and most of the liquor stash was removed for good measure. It was only fair.

It was a wonderful time in most ways. I couldn’t wait to meet the babies that healed me. Maybe Phoebe had more graceful, easy pregnancies but had Rina healed her lately? I hoped for a girl and a boy, just like Rin and me.

Merrick was locked up and Phoebe’s guardians questioned him thoroughly.

“Sir Forrest said he would have done the same thing,” Raia told me. “Rothair made him choose between his family and people he’d never met. I mean, who wouldn’t choose their family? Once he got to know us, it was too late. He had already made a magical bargain and Rothair had some sort of spell cast on him. Abel pointed out that Merrick had done a lot to help us. There was no evidence he ever tried to sabotage Abel’s work.”

“So…what about you?”

“Well, I think…if he was my husband, I would want him to choose my life over the priestess,” Raia said.

“He doesn’t have a wife, does he?”

“Oh no no! Just parents and sisters. The only problem is…well…the priestess.”

“She won’t ever be the priestess, though,” I said. “I mean, hopefully!”

“No. But…Forrest said he felt a little bit of a pull to Phoebe even before she awakened. So if they bring the priestess here…” Raia turned red. “I don’t know how they would feel about it.”

“They?”

“Merrick and the priestess.”

“You don’t mean he would be with both of you!?”

Raia stared at me. “You think that’s weird?”

“Well, I’m…I don’t know. I’m a queen and things got complicated.”

“The priestess must have another potential guardian, too,” Raia said. “I thought maybe I could help find him and then it would balance out again and we could have a foursome.”

“Oh my!”

Raia laughed. “You’re still a human. Sometimes I forget nowadays.”

“I don’t know any dragons that have a foursome.”

“They just don’t flaunt it.” Raia shrugged. “I mean, it’s not common. But if everyone’s happy, I wouldn’t mind. Gilbert said they were reading about it—”

“Foursomes?”

Now we were both giggling. “No! Potential priestesses. It seemed like the potential priestess used to be like an understudy. Her powers weren’t as strong, but she used to watch the secondary gate. I have skills as a guard and a handmaiden now so I could be useful. And this poor priestess. Two of guardians are dead so she’ll never have as exciting a life as Phoebe does. But I think I’d be very good with three mates.”

“Better than you are at braiding hair, I hope.”

A few days after that, I heard horns blowing, and then cheering. Aurek was with me and he carried me to the window so I could watch the armies coming home. Then he carried me downstairs so I could meet Ezeru and Seron when they came home. They we all got yelled at by everyone for a blind guy carrying a pregnant girl down the stairs.

“Have you ever seen me fall down stairs?” Now Aurek was annoyed.

“Still, let me take her,” Oszin said, reaching for me.

“I’m never having twins again!” I cried.

“I bet Mother said that before she died,” said Rin, who sometimes went right for the dark joke. I stuck my tongue out at him because admittedly with my brother sometimes I went right for the response of a six-year-old.

The soldiers came home, and we watched it all from our vantage point at the peak of the hill. The mayor’s house overlooked the entire town of Istim, and we could see humans and dragons, horses and carts, and the herd of rock dragons.

Where I saw rock dragons, I knew I would see Ezeru. And beside him, I saw Seron. One black crown, and one of gleaming crystal. Two familiar faces, returning to me in triumph.

“We can go home soon,” I said.

“You’re not going anywhere yet,” Oszin said.

The rest of the army peeled off as they made their way through the town surrounded by a din of cheering and soon Seron and Ezeru were running toward us.

“We made it!” The usually subdued Seron actually waved at us. “And you still look as pregnant as ever.”

“More,” I said.

“You really did it,” Aurek said. “Didn’t you? You sound too happy to have lost much.”

“We did it, yeah…” Seron scratched his neck, then made a briefly awkward face. “Yes. We freed the mist dragon rebels. We got Merrick’s family back—I just heard that story, gods. We won back the gate. Rothair’s dead, thanks to Ezeru.” Ezeru nodded. “There’s just one thing you’re not going to like, Aurek.”