Page 21 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 21

Big Kitty

KELLAN

L aw doesn’t put me down even when we stand in front of the gates of Thistlemist. I could have Walked us into the Ember Palace but I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to sneak two Cait Princes into Callan’s court. Teddy invited us. Everyone can deal with us being here.

I’m done hiding.

After a few minutes, Rachel comes for us. She’s barefoot, wearing jeans and an off-the-shoulder, All Blacks jersey rather than her white armor. I watch as she emerges from the court’s high wall, wondering what to say to my friend. What would I want to hear if she’d tried to kill Law or Luca or Rhodes?

I settle for “Hi.”

She levels a finger at me. “Bitch, do you have a death wish?”

“Possibly,” I admit.

She plants her fists on her hips and shakes her head at me. “I thought it was one of those unwritten rules of sisterhood: thou shalt not try to kill thy sister’s Daddy.”

Law stiffens in my arms and murmurs, “Does she really call Lords ‘daddy’ all the time? I’d like that.”

“Yes, she does, and no, not gonna happen,” I mutter back, before saying to Rachel, “It definitely is. Punch me and call it even?”

“Ha,” she says. “I’m holding this over you forever. For-EV-er. I want the coolest gear for every holiday, my birthday, your birthday, and all the human holidays, too. And you’d better deliver. I don’t want to hear there’s a shortage of spider silk this year or that Solomon’s jewels only come in red. You’ll get it for me and you’ll get it in pink or I’ll remind you of the time you nearly killed the man I’ve waited for, for seven fucking years, and send you back out to get it.”

“Deal,” I agree, feeling I’m getting off lightly.

“Okay,” she huffs. “Now you can come inside.”

She twirls on her bare heel and stalks back into the court. A huge, silver gate, the central bars twisted into the shape of a thistle, appears as she walks through the wall. With a dramatic creak, the gate opens.

We get quite a few stares as we walk through Thistlemist. Maybe because Law’s who he is. Maybe because I’m still wrapped around him like a tired toddler. Maybe, even, because I am who I’m becoming.

I return each and every stare. Most look away hastily but a few nod at me.

The doors to the Ember Palace, which is really more of a swish manor house, are open when Rachel leads us to them. Law hisses under his breath when he crosses the threshold but strides inside without pause.

We pass through the kitchen on the way through the house, following Rachel’s slightly meandering path. Darwin and Gabe are arguing good-naturedly over a stove covered with furiously steaming pots. Darwin’s creating fairy cake in mid-air, spinning the deep golden goodness between his hands. I’ve never learned to cook with magic. Most mages don’t not just because it depletes their magic reserve but also due to unexpected side-effects.

Alice in Wonderland-type side-effects.

It doesn’t surprise me that Darwin has, though. If there was a fae competition for “most likely to use magic to wipe his nose,” Darwin would win every year. His magic reserve seems inexhaustible.

Teddy’s magic reserve is the same, but it’s not doing her any good today. Rachel leads us past the kitchen and into one of the many parlors-turned-playrooms. Teddy’s lying stretched out on a chaise lounge, resting against Charlie. Her eyes are closed and the skin around them is pinched. She’s always pale—even after the summers she spent in California; she’s one of those Celtic Britons with dark hair, dark eyes, and skin that only burns—but today she looks slightly green. Charlie’s stroking her forehead with one hand. With the other hand, he rocks a cradle set beside the chaise. The Twin Terrors are playing on the floor. They’re building something industriously, absorbed and miraculously quiet. Then I see who is stretched on the floor next to them: their favorite uncle with horns and a tail. They’re playing with building blocks that glitter in my Sight.

I narrow my eyes at the construction. With a glare at Jou, I flick my claws and scatter the blocks.

“Build something else,” I say to him.

“Whaa—?” The demon raises his hands innocently.

“You know what. That’s the sigil for the Arlech, Hell’s Compass. You’re not drawing part of Teddy’s house into the Styx.”

Jou chuckles.

“Mother’s sake,” Teddy groans without opening her eyes. “Yesterday it was a lesser Malebranch. Jou, I’m gonna rat you out to Tsara if you don’t stop teaching them how to summon demons.”

“Shakin’ in my hooves over here,” Jou grumbles. “They’ve mastered manes. Pretty sure they’ve got their own personal demon now. Might as well level up.”

There’s a collective groan around the room. When a deeper, masculine groan comes from near a window overlooking the Summerlands, I notice Evan sitting quietly in a wing chair, a book with a portly man smoking a cigar on the cover spread over his crossed knees, round glasses perched on his nose. I nod at him, a gesture he returns without rancor.

Law carries me over to the chaise, stepping around the demon-summoning trio on the floor. He sits, tucking my legs up behind him before he plants his ass. Since it’s awkward to have a conversation straddling him with my back to the room, I untangle myself. He lets me move just enough to twist around before he arranges me in his lap and crosses his arms over my chest, resting one hand on my belly. The heat of his palm seeps through the corset dress I’m wearing. Teddy and crew have seen me in it many times because it’s so soft and comfy; it’s my go-to dress for family dinner. But Law hasn’t seen it before. The neckline’s a deep V. My boobs are pushed up by the unboned corset that laces across my ribs. He’s been so good, I think he needs a reward. I lean back against him so he gets a clear view down the front of my dress.

He growls.

“Your breasts are fucking perfection,” he whispers in my ear.

They’re also fucking sore. I’ll be happy when the week’s over and it takes my period with it because this month’s is going to be a doozy. I seriously consider his offer to rub them better. Is there any chance we can do that without having sex?

Realistically, no.

I sigh.

“Teddy,” I say softly, looking over my prone friend. “Is this more than ‘I was up all night nursing the new baby’?”

Teddy grunts. Charlie flushes so red he looks like a tomato.

“I got overzealous,” Charlie mutters.

“Someone has super-sperm,” Teddy says.

Charlie’s color darkens toward crimson.

“Wait, you gave birth five minutes ago,” I point out.

“An’ I haven’t even had my monthly yet,” Teddy agrees. “But someone managed to knock me up anyway. On practically the first try.”

“Well, second,” Charlie mutters.

I snigger. I can’t help it.

“Not funny,” Teddy grouses. “I just got through pukin’ for nine months. One whiff of the garlic Gabe was fryin’ and I barely made it to the sink to hurl. I swear to the Mother, if I have morning sickness all through this pregnancy, I will castrate you, Charlie Miller. Bloody men.”

I’m not the only one who sniggers this time.

“Name, Charlie?” I ask, hoping to catch him off guard and win the pool that happens every time Teddy gets pregnant.

Charlie colors even more furiously. “Uh, names, I guess.”

“Names?”

The sniggers turn into chortles.

“Twins run in my family!” Charlie protests.

“Kill. You. Dead,” Teddy grumbles. “Five kids in three years. Bloody men!”

Behind me, Law is laughing silently. Silently but so hard he nearly bounces me off his lap. “Twins run in my family, too,” he whispers to me.

I’d actually love to have twins. I know it’s more work for the parents, but I adore the bonds I see between the twins I know, Law and Luca among them.

“I’m up for twins,” I whisper back. “Five kids in three years is a lot, but I have a feeling your parents will be the most doting grandparents ever, and between the four of us, your parents, and Aine-the-best-aunt-in-Faery, we wouldn’t be outnumbered.”

Law’s arms tighten around me. “They will and we won’t be.”

“All good then.” I raise my voice above a whisper and say, “Professor Nowak, are you feeling up to office hours? I could use your help thinking something through.”

Teddy opens her eyes and props herself up against Charlie’s chest. “Lay it on me. Anythin’s better’n lying here feelin’ sorry for meself.”

“I’m going to have to make a choice between continuing on tenure track and ... other things. Chiefly going after Ulune’s Daughter but also going public with my relationships.”

Law grunts. I told him about Rowan’s threats while we waited for Rachel. His solution, of course, involved burying Rowan’s body where it would never be found. I firmly rejected his suggestion and pointed out that the murder of a fellow academic, no matter how much of an asshole, was as likely to derail my tenure application as the picture of us. He was still muttering something about no one ever finding anything in the Quaking Bogs when Rachel finally appeared.

Teddy crosses her arms over her chest. “Your tenure application’s due at the end of the spring semester, innit?”

I nod.

She shifts her eyes to glare over my shoulder. “Can’t wait until the semester’s over?”

I click my claws at her. “It’s not fair to lay this at the boys’ door. I made the decision to stop hiding.”

Law’s purr nearly bounces me off his lap. The twins climb up off the floor and toddle over, looking up at Law with wide eyes.

“Kitty?” Nor asks.

“Good job, Whitey,” I say, shooting a grin over my shoulder. “Are you going to let the Twin Terrors pet the kitty?”

Law gulps. “I didn’t think that through, did I?”

“No, especially not if you’re going to turn into the seven-foot-long, saber-toothed panther version of kitty. Most of the house is in Faery.”

Teddy laughs. “They’ll probably want to ride you. Gal, Nor, would you get your kitties and show them to Lawson, please, ta?”

Gal throws her arms over her head and runs out of the room, shrieking “kitty!” Her twin follows her more sedately, looking back over his shoulder at Law, clearly trying to figure out where the kitty is.

“Do they pull fur?” Law asks Teddy.

“Uh-huh, and ears, and tails, and whiskers. We’re still teaching them the concept of ‘gentle.’ You’ll note they don’t have any pets of their own yet.”

Another gulp from the mighty Cait warrior-prince at my back.

“They’re gettin’ better about tails,” Jou offers from where he’s still sprawled on the floor beside their blocks. I notice he’s not manifesting his tail right now, despite what he says. “Might try grabbin’ for your crown, though.”

“I don’t have a crown,” Law says.

“You do in your cat form,” Jou says. “I saw it at Jedburgh Abbey. It’s how I knew who you were. Only three crowned, giant black cats roamin’ your world right now.”

I twist to look at Law. “I never noticed a crown.”

He shakes his head.

Jou shrugs. “Maybe it’s still manifestin’, but I could see it.”

“Do I have a crown?” I ask Jou.

Jou snorts. “You got twenty-foot, electric blue crow wings flappin’ around you. You don’t need a crown.”

I grin over my shoulder at Law again. “Mine’s bigger.”

He huffs but he’s grinning.

The twins tear back into the room, carrying armfuls of stuffed animals. A few are recognizably cats. A few might have been before they met the Terrors. Others bear no resemblance to cats. I see Pokémon, dinosaurs, puppies, and something that might have been a flamingo draped over Nor’s shoulder.

The menagerie gets dumped at our feet. Then the Twins each pick up a stuffie and gravely introduce them to Law. Purring, he greets each one and admires it appropriately before handing it back.

We all struggle not to laugh as we watch the big, bad Cait warrior meet “Mubble,” “Feffer,” “Peppa,” and “Whumpy.”

“Getting’ back on track,” Teddy says, the corners of her mouth twitching. “If you’re not gonna turn in your tenure project on time, it’s better to get ahead of it. Ask for a year’s sabbatical or sommat.”

I take Feffer when Gal offers me a floppy pile of brown fur. “I’m not confident I’ll be at Bevington in a year. Remember Rowan Wright?”

Teddy grimaces. “Plonker.”

“Plonker with incriminating photographs of me and Law.”

Teddy tugs at her lower lip as she does when she’s puzzling over a problem. “Could he be convinced not to show them to anyone?” she asks.

“Sure, if I give up my teaching position, give him credit for the Magi of the Mists, and stay out of the search for Ulune’s Daughter. Oh, and he’ll probably want a b.j. or two?—”

Law growls. Alarmed at the effect his growl might have on the twins, I glance down. They’re both looking up at Law with wide eyes. I expect at least one of them to cry. Instead, Gal turns to Nor and tries to imitate Law’s growl while shaking a shapeless, blue stuffed animal at her twin.

Law buries his chuckle in my shoulder.

“Right,” says Teddy. “Serious plonker. Any reason we can’t just lure him into Faery and off him?”

Law chuffs. “I suggested the Quaking Bogs already and was told I was being excessively bloodthirsty.”

Teddy levels a finger at me.

“There’s no such thing as excessive bloodthirstiness in academia. You should know that. All’s fair in love, war, and tenure applications. Look, you can’t let him control the narrative. That’s career suicide. If you’re seriously abandoning tenure track, I’m not gonna try to talk you out of it. Carrie clearly wanted you to go after Ulune’s Daughter or she wouldn’t have thrown down the gauntlet at her funeral. You’re one of the very few who has a chance of recovering whatever it is Carrie was protecting. If you can’t do that and tenure, I support your choice a thousand percent. But that’s no reason to burn your career. We get ahead of this thing. I’ve got an idea for how to deal with your teaching position while you take a sabbatical to go treasure hunting, but first you gotta weather the storm of going public with your relationships. It’s gonna end up in front of Academic Standards, so you have to get Emilia on your side. Go to her straight away. Offer her a package deal. Somethin’ so good she won’t turn it down no matter how pissed she is at you for creatin’ another scandal.”

I nod. “Ulune’s Daughter—whatever it ends up being—for Bevington’s museum. That’s unquestionable.”

“Good,” says Teddy, rubbing her hands together. “Charlie, how d’you feel about coaching the Swingers again, love?”

Her husband grunts. “As long as I get to lobby the Aedis Astrum while we’re there.”

“Go for it, big boy,” Teddy says. She pats her husband’s knee. “Better tell Dar and the King of Garlic. They’ll want to buy a new house or sommat.”

I glance from Teddy to her husband and back. “A new house?”

Teddy sits forward so Charlie can climb out from behind her. “Aye. Unless you fancy us livin’ upstairs from you?”

I don’t. I also don’t quite understand what’s going on.

“Let me offer you Cait House as temporary accommodation,” Law says smoothly. “My parents built for a large family but after complications with my younger sister’s birth, they stopped at three. We have an absurd number of guest rooms and my parents would be delighted to have little ones underfoot again.”

Teddy snorts. “You—and they—will probably regret that after the first of Gal’s tantrums, but I ain’t gonna say no.”

I twist so I can look at Law over my shoulder. “You’re offering them Cait House?” I mouth at him.

He winks.

Unhelpful.

I turn back to my friend. “Teddy?—”

“Mmm?” She bounces Nor, who has climbed up into her lap. “Whatever you’re about to say, don’t. We were probably gonna end up back at Bevington sooner rather’n later. Holly King’s pressuring Callan sommat rotten to foster the twins at Ivywhile. I don’t fancy bein’ away from them yet. Dar’s the only one of us who can walk the Fae Ways comfortably every day, so he can commute. We’ve got another nine months of parental leave at Anadl Draig. We’ll figure sommat out by autumn term.”

“Teddy—I can’t ask you to leave your country to bail me out?—”

“Didn’t hear you askin’,” Teddy responds, scooping up Gal, who is whimpering for her share of parental attention. “I told you, you’re not alone, Kells. We couldn’t be there for you like I wanted when you were going through hell but fuck if I’m gonna stand by and let some plonker ruin your career. We always shoulda been a package deal. Now we can be.”

I climb off Law’s lap and cross over to my friend. She unwraps her arm from around Nor and holds it out to me. I sink onto the chaise and sandwich the babies between us as I hug her.

“I can’t thank you enough?—”

“Shurrup,” Teddy says, bumping my forehead with hers. “I shoulda come up with a way for us to be better friends to you while I was preggers. That’s on me. Doing sommat we were prolly going to do anyway? Doesn’t warrant a thank you. Just don’t shed us when you’re off somewhere exotic chasin’ down Trojan treasure. This time, I want in.”

“You’re pregnant,” I object.

“I’m two minutes pregnant. It’ll be months before I show, much less get too big to do fun shite. I’ll pass on the Shark God—” She pauses to snort at Evan’s strangled groan. “But we’re in for the rest.”

Law slides onto the chaise behind me. “Perhaps we should show your friends our new base of operations in Italy?”

Teddy narrows her eyes at me. “New base of operations?”

I can feel how red my cheeks are. “We got a villa.”

“A villa,” Teddy repeats. “You got a villa. Like you got hag pox or sommat?”

“Weeelll.”

Teddy snorts. “Never, ever wanna hear about Princely again.”

I rub at my fiery cheeks.

By the time Rhodes and Luca join us, we’ve moved into the “little” dining room. As opposed to the “big” and “really big” dining rooms. Teddy better not tease me about “my” princes. At least our Italian villa only has one dining room.

The little dining room is still big enough to seat the fifteen of us. One end of the room opens into Faery through a set of French doors, with a patio leading into a meadow of wildflowers, crossed by a small brook. I spot some fluffy sheep at the far end of the meadow, enthusiastically munching wildflowers. Fairly sure those are my sheep. I did say Teddy could borrow some, but I didn’t realize Teddy, or more likely her fae prince, could cross into my realm without me knowing about it. I put that question on my to-do list once tensions aren’t running so high.

And tensions are running high enough to give everyone indigestion, despite Darwin’s excellent fairy cake. Because the Holly King joins us for dinner.