Page 20 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

“No,” I answered. “He defended his friends”—I jutted my chin toward the three young fae and Alastor, who sat on the lone recliner, his careful attention on me—“and family.”

Jasmine’s eyes flared, and I watched her examine me. She seemed to piece me apart.

“Neither Teddy nor I are going to be upset with any of you for defending or protecting those important to you,” I continued. “Are you all right?” I asked the female. “Javier said they struck you above your eye.”

The female nodded. “Alastor was kind enough to heal me.”

As soon as I sat on the large couch in our living room, opposite the smaller couch where the fae huddled together, Victoria crawled onto my lap.

Teddy crossed the room to hand five flowers from our herbal plant to Alastor.

While I didn’t want to intrude, I heard her whisper about him taking them for his head pains, which I guessed were a more constant problem than an occasional headache.

With a nod, he put them away in his inner pocket of magic.

Not satisfied, Jasmine narrowed her eyes. “What if an older kid was being mean to me and Javier beat him up?”

I gripped the edge of the couch to steady myself. Forced myself to still before I could rush out of the house and tear through whatever youngling had harmed Jasmine.

“What older kid is being mean to you?” I tried for it to come out calmly, but I heard the tremor of violence in my voice.

Jasmine shook her head dramatically, her long braid flinging from one shoulder to the other. “It was a long time ago,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Our dad got really mad at Javier for fighting the kid.” She lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. “But he’d pushed me down and hit me.”

“That’s different, Jazz,” Javier said. “Dad had a lot to deal with working all the time and Mom being sick.” He turned his brown eyes to me, wide in a way that seemed to beg me to understand. “He needed me to be the man of the house and not get in trouble.”

“Yeah, but?—”

“He was overwhelmed,” Javier snapped, his temper rising in a way I’d never witnessed from him before. “Instead of making life easier for him, I made it harder.”

Teddy ran a hand over Javier’s back and whispered something for only him to hear.

My heart clenched in that familiar way it always did when I thought about the younglings’ father.

They didn’t talk about him often. Rarely, really.

And seeing the way both Javier and Jasmine fought their emotions made me wonder if that should change.

If I should ask about their parents so they could work through their emotions safely .

Although I wasn’t sure how safe they’d consider me if they knew their father’s death sat heavily on my shoulders.

Javier nodded at whatever Teddy told him, and with a small smile, he went to sit on the edge of the couch, right beside the female fae.

I wondered if the young female was the one he’d told me about.

Delaney. I couldn’t remember the name he’d used earlier when he spoke of the kids hitting her with a rock.

“You defended me,” Jasmine muttered under her breath.

“Sometimes when adults have a lot going on, we don’t always react the right way.

” Teddy chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m not saying your dad reacted right or wrong.

He reacted the best way he could at the time.

I didn’t have a big brother to defend me, but I had Ry and Donnie, and they always had my back.

Sometimes my mom didn’t like the way we dealt with kids who weren’t nice to us, but she was always grateful we had each other.

And I think that’s the most important part.

Your dad may have preferred Javier not to fight, but I bet he was grateful he had your back. ”

“That boy never hit me again,” Jasmine whispered.

Teddy stroked the top of Jasmine’s hair, careful not to disrupt her braid or the flowers that always seemed to be twined through the girls’ hair. Teddy bent over to kiss Jasmine’s head, and Jasmine wrapped her arms around Teddy.

When Teddy looked up at me, I mouthed the word ready .

She bit her lip, her eyes glistening with joy.

I kissed Victoria’s head before I stood.

When I held my hand out to Teddy, she took it as she wrapped my arm around her stomach and leaned her back against my chest. Her fingers trailed over my arms, making my muscles twitch at her contact.

Guardians, I’d never tire of her touch .

“We have news,” I told the younglings and Alastor. “Good news.”

“Or we think it’s good news,” Teddy said. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was nibbling on her bottom lip again. “We hope you think it’s good news too.”

“Are you going to tell us, or should we guess?” Jasmine asked.

I smiled at her sass, knowing she’d picked it up from either Brenton or Ryenne.

“Jazz,” Javier scolded.

“What?” She threw her brows up in question.

I stroked my thumb over Teddy’s stomach, which housed the two little males I already loved dearly.

“Elias and I are pregnant,” Teddy said. “Or I’m pregnant, but we’re having a baby. Two babies, actually. Twins.”

“Two babies?” Victoria asked, her expression excited but confused.

Teddy squeezed my hand once before she took the few steps to reach Victoria, who hopped off the couch. Teddy took the small girl’s hand and placed it on her belly.

“In here,” Teddy said. “We have twin babies inside me.”

Victoria’s expression soured, but she let Teddy keep her hand against Teddy’s stomach.

“How do you have two babies inside you?” Victoria asked.

“Did you eat them?” Juanita’s question came out as a horrified whisper.

Guardians help me, this little girl was adorable. If I could find a way to bottle up that adorableness so I could carry it with me, I would. This girl, all the younglings really, had a way of brightening my world, of breathing life into my heart whenever it’d turn hard .

There was no room inside me for hate when I was with my family.

Teddy threw her head back and laughed, which only seemed to puzzle Juanita more. I scooped her up, her arms instinctively winding around my neck.

“Teddy didn’t eat the babes,” I told her, holding back my amusement. “She’s keeping them safe in her tummy while the babes grow until they’re big enough to come out.”

“Ah, Mama Teddy.” One of the young males stood to hug her. “Have you been getting me all those fruit bombs so I’d offer to babysit the babes for you?”

“Elias, this is Aidas,” Teddy said instead of answering. “He’s a bit of a handful, can be a little shit at times, but he’s charming and insists on doing dishes whenever he eats here, so I keep telling him to come back.”

Then Aidas was like Brenton. I smiled and, using my most authoritative voice, said, “Are you the one who ate all my fruit bombs?” I arched a brow in question.

“No, Prince.” He took a step away from Teddy, who looked at me with a curious half smile. “I mean, yes, but Mama Teddy, or Miss Teddy, said I could have them.”

“Are you saying my mate fed another male?”

He swallowed hard and turned to look at the front door as if he’d make a run for it.

Teddy stalked toward me and pinched my side.

“Tell him you’re joking before he bends space and runs off.” Teddy narrowed her eyes.

She was cute when she tried to appear threatening.

I ran a hand over my face and laughed.

“Were you joking?” Aidas asked, which made me laugh harder.

“Of course, he was joking,” Teddy answered .

From the couch, Javier laughed while the other male shook his shoulders in what looked like quiet laughter.

“My father did something similar to Brenton the first time he came to the castle,” I told Aidas. “I didn’t realize how much fun it would be.”

With an incredulous look, Teddy shook her head. “Menace. If you’re done tormenting them, let me introduce you to Kieren and Delaney.”

So it was Delaney. While his friends stood to greet me, Javier mashed his lips together, avoiding my eye contact.

“Kieren,” I said. “Are you the one who made that drawing of Nalari?”

He nodded.

“It’s a stunning piece,” I said. “Thank you.”

He nodded again.

“How much did Elias flip out when you told him you were pregnant?” Javier asked Teddy.

“I didn’t flip out,” I said, using their strange human term. Although, I absolutely did flip out.

“He took me straight to the healer to hear the babies’ heartbeats.” Teddy dug out her phone from the back pocket of her pants, and after finding the recording, she handed it to Javier.

The girls gathered around him to listen. Teddy peered up at Alastor, who stood in front of the recliner, rocking on his heels.

“I’m happy for you,” Alastor said. He looked like he maybe wanted to hug her, but he stayed in place with his hands in the front pockets of his pants. “Truly.”

She strode to Alastor and hugged him without giving him a choice. It took him a few beats before he returned the embrace .

With one arm still around Alastor’s back, she said, “Kieren, this is actually one of the reasons I asked if you could come by after school. Elias and I wanted to see if you could reach Brenton. He’s in the human realm, and my magic isn’t strong enough to reach him.”

“We want to have a celebratory feast in the castle,” I explained. “We’d love it if you all came, but we can’t have it without Brenton.”

“It wouldn’t be the same if the troublemakers weren’t around.” Teddy looked at Aidas, whose grin widened.

Aidas held his palm to his chest. “Mama Teddy, I’m touched.”

“Careful,” Delaney whispered so low only fae ears could hear her. “Teddy is the prince’s soul-bound mate. Keep acting foolish and he may throw you in the dungeon.”

I smirked at the way Aidas’s light complexion paled, that smirk only growing when she winked at Kieren who held back his own grin.

“If Koa and his mate would like to come, I’d love to meet his family and for my family to meet his,” I said to Alastor.

The smile Teddy gave me was a gift.

“I can communicate with him through the veil,” Alastor said. “But we would need to send another lirio to replace him.”