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“Looking forward to it, little witch,” he says, poking the tip of my nose.

“Inpulsa,” I say when I smack his hand away. He recoils, and Dad laughs heartily.

“Ow! You little shit,” he laughs as he grabs me in a hug and tickles my sides. I giggle and squirm in his arms. He stops tickling me and kisses my neck. “We won’t survive if we lose you, Lilith. We aren’t trying to be assholes, but we want to make sure you can handle yourself out there.”

“I know,” I say softly. “I’ll kick your ass, and then we can go kick asstogether.”

“I know we are being a pain. We won’t go easy on you tomorrow, though. We love you too much to risk you dying trying to save everyone. I don’t…”

“You love me?” I pull away and ask. He just stares at me for a moment. I don’t think he realizes that he said it, and he is just as shocked.

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I do. I love you. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but I know I do.”

I hug him to keep myself from crying. “I love you too,” I whisper. “More than I can comprehend right now.” Kael kisses the top of my head, and I pull away when Eldric and the others come over.

“Your Majesties,” Eldric says.

“Hey. So, first I need names and who your group is,” I say.

“Well, I’m Leli. I’ll be with the witches.”

“Smartass,” I say, giving her a deadpan expression.

“I’ll be reporting for the dragons,” Vash says, chuckling.

“I am Ulfric. I’ll be reporting for the bears,” he says.

“I am Fermin. I am reporting for the foxes,” he says.

“When they get here, I’ll handle the incubi and succubi. There will be a few imps as well,” Dad says.

“Okay,” I say.

“First, the lands are slowly coming together,” I say bluntly.

“What?” Ulfric asks. “Like… Literally?”

“Yeah. They should be damn near touching by now. My brother is leading a team in Voradia that will come up from the southern border. I need to get in contact with him so he knows we will be moving that way,” I say. “Tomorrow I will be with my dad working on some spells to make sure I am good to go. We will leave before the sun comes up on the following day.”

“Okay,” Eldric says. “How are we traveling?”

“Let’s get as far as we can on buses, but we need to be prepared to go on foot, so we need to pack light but have a way to eat,” I say.

“I’ll be honest, Lilith,” Vash says. “If we end up on foot, we will struggle with a group this size.”

“We can handle any hunting,” Fermin says. “We have become accustomed to scavenging.”

“That would be a huge help,” Ulfric says.

“It’s the least we can do,” Fermin says, waving him off. “You are fighting for our freedom and the witches. We can at least make sure you don’t starve to death.”

“So, tomorrow I need everyone to work on preparing to leave while I’m with Dad,” I say.

“I’ll need a few shifters to come help though,” Dad says.

“I am tempted to volunteer, but I have a feeling I’m going to get my ass kicked by a tiny witch,” Vash says.

“Aren’t you mated to a tiny witch now?” Ulfric asks him