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Callan smiled at her. “Everything is being handled, Little Fox. There is nothing for you to do but enjoy the day.” She smiled, but it was tight as she turned her attention to fixing her plate. “Tava?”

“It is nothing, Cal.”

He was up, around the table, and sliding into the chair beside her in the next breath. He took a serving spoon from her hand and set it aside before taking both her hands in his as she twisted to face him. His thumb swiped along her knuckles and across the ring she now never took off.

“Tell me, Tava, and do not tell me it is nothing.”

“I am simply not used to so much attention,” she answered with a soft smile. “I was always a spectator at such events.”

“You are no longer in the background, Tava.”

“I know. It takes some…getting used to.”

“I will be beside you. All day. If you need a moment, I know the perfect small conservatory to get some air.”

She huffed a soft laugh, pulling a hand free of his to cup his cheek. “I truly do love you, Callan.”

He reached up and gently grasped her nape, pulling her to him. As her lips parted for him, he resented the fact the staff would be here soon to begin preparations when he’d much rather take her back to bed.

With willpower he did not know he possessed, he pulled back. Her turquoise eyes followed his lips and that willpower almost shattered. “Was this what you were thinking by the window?” he asked, swallowing down desire.

“What?” Her brows knitted together for the briefest moment. “Oh, that. No. I was thinking of Balam, as odd as that sounds.”

“I do not think it is that odd,” Callan replied, tucking golden hair behind her ear. “He did raise you.”

“True. And I think…” Her gaze fell to her lap for a moment before she said, “I think he truly loved my mother, and perhaps by extension, Drake and I.”

“I think he also loved you both,” Callan said. “Everything he did was to keep you both out of harm’s way, just as he vowed to your mother.”

“I think that is why he did it,” she said, fingers reaching for her amulet and dragging it back and forth along the chain. “He made the comment he vowed that Drake and I would not know pain and suffering as our mother had, but he had known it too. He rarely spoke of her. I think it hurt too much to do so, and if you had…”

Callan thumbed away the single tear that had slipped free. “If I had what?”

“If you were gone, I would have known the same pain and suffering he had lived with for the last two decades.”

“Immortal beings do not seem to love the same way mortals do. I do not know if it is simply because they live for so many years or if it is something else, but I think you are right, Tava. I think Balam loved you both. If I have learned anything over the last year, it is that to love is to sacrifice.”

“I wish I knew her story,” Tava whispered, swiping at another tear. “I know this is silly. I have lived my entire life without my mother, but I wish I knew what happened.”

“It is not silly, Tava. From the sounds of it, her story was not an entirely happy one,” Callan said gently. “I think that was another way of keeping his vow to her. That you would not be burdened with the knowledge of her suffering.”

“That is a beautiful way to think of it.”

The door being thrown open had them both starting, and Callan turned to find Eva skipping into the room. She stopped suddenly, a frown appearing on her face.

“Why is Tava crying?” Then her eyes flew wide. “Are you leaving again, Cal?”

“No, Eva,” he said quickly, getting to his feet and going to his sister. He crouched before her. There were still sleep lines on her cheek. “We already discussed this. No more traveling for quite some time. When the time does come again, you and Tava will come with me.” She nodded a few times, worrying her bottom lip, and Callan reached up to tug it from her teeth. “Would you like some breakfast before it is time to get ready for today’s festivities?”

Her face brightened at that. “Yes, please,” she said, skirting around him and bouncing over to climb into the chair he had just vacated. She and Tava were already in a deep conversation about dresses when he lowered back into his chair. As he watched them, he found himself grateful for a Maraan Lord that had learned to truly love so that he could have these moments.

* * *

“Do I get to steal away a High Queen for a dance tonight?”

Scarlett looked up at him as she tried to hide her smile. “It would be foolish to refuse an invitation from a king, would it not? Although, I do prefer my invitations written on paper and left inside books.”

Callan barked a laugh, taking the hand she extended to him. He nodded at Sorin before he led Scarlett to the dance floor.