Chapter 32 Here For You
Seri
“It’s not that I don’t trust their abilities.” I traced the edge of the library table. “It’s just—”
“Natural.” Lucian turned a page of Celestine’s grimoire without looking up. “Completely natural to worry about your mates.”
“Casi once tracked a pixie smuggler through three realms using nothing but lichen spores.” Prince Sebastian spun a throwing knife across his knuckles, the blade catching the afternoon light in dangerous winks. “They’ll be home before you finish your morning biscotti.”
Trying to get back to work, I stared at my design for a ward against siphoning, notebook pages spread between us, pencil lines wavering like uncertain spiderwebs. Brumous sneezed against my ankle, sending a puff of gray fur drifting onto Sebastian’s polished boot.
“Maybe I should change the grounding element?” I tapped the central sigil, remembering how my hands had shook as I drew it while crouched in my closet, Brummy tight to my side and our stomachs rumbling.
“I wish we could be more helpful, but lunar magic is outside our wheelhouse. Koa is right, however. The theories in here are a good place to start.” Lucian closed the book with a sharp snap, his silver eyes softening as I flinched.
“Yesterday, Kaori reminded us that lunar witches are in the skyborne branch of the magic family tree,” Sebastian spoke up.
“Skyborne?” I tilted my head in question.
“Lunar, solar, cosmic, and storm. Very common in the Sky Realm. You might find more answers with Zane’s mum since she’s a storm witch.”
My eyes flicked to Lucian at the mention of his former lover, but his face didn’t change. I had so many questions about her, as well as Casimir’s mother, but I knew better than to ask them.
“I’ll remember that if I ever meet her,” I said instead.
“I’m sorry I don’t know of a way to lift your silence shackle,” Lucian murmured. “It’s a tier three whisperbind. Expensive on several levels and powerful. As far as I’m aware, only the caster or her death can undo it.”
I shrugged a little as I laid down my pencil and pushed back the papers. I’d guessed as much, so I hadn’t gotten my hopes up.
“How about we do something fun now?” Sebastian sheathed his knife. “Any ideas, little sister?”
A smile spread across my face as I thought of something.
“Oh, dear.” Lucian’s eyebrows raised slightly. “I’m not sure whether to be afraid or eager.”
“Both, Dad,” Sebastian laughed. “With this one, I’m thinking always both.”
Then my shoulders slumped in disappointment when I realized my plan wouldn’t work.
“What is it, Seri?” Sebastian gave me a gentle smile. “We can do whatever you want.”
“It’s outside, and the sun’s down.” I sighed and tried to think of what else we could do.
“Scared of the dark, daughter?” Lucian said with a blank face, but I knew he was teasing me
“No, I just can’t see to drive the golf cart,” I pouted.
“We can.” Sebastian winked at me, making me blush. “We are the dark, after all.”
“Now you sound like a bad vampire movie,” I laughed.
#
The golf cart’s leather seats were a little cool as I sat down in the center row.
“Lakeside air is medicinal,” I announced.
“And the snacks?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the picnic basket.
“Absolutely mandatory, I’m sure,” Lucian murmured.
“Part of my pre-bedtime routine,” I agreed solemnly.
Brumous hopped into the front passenger seat, tail thumping against the carved walnut panel. Sebastian eyed the wolf pup’s sprawl of claws and teeth.
“Remind me why we’re letting a living cheese grater near Italian leather?” he sighed.
“Brumous and I love riding in the golf cart!” I beamed.
“But why does he have to sit next to me?”
“Because he enjoys terrorizing you,” Lucian deadpanned, settling in beside me. “Now drive, chauffeur.”
“Yes, sire!”
As the lake came into sight, glittering under the rising moon, I told them what I did to Mr. Storms with a hint of shame for making a scene, but mostly pride in myself for protecting my husband.
“—and as he was splashing out of the shallows, Simmy fired him!”
“You pushed him in fully clothed?” Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “Watch out, Dad. This delicate flower has thorns!”
“Of that, son, I was already aware.” Lucian glanced at me, and my laughter echoed across the water, startling a heron into flight.
#
Brumous splashed in the lake shallows, pouncing on invisible prey with enthusiasm that made me laugh. I would have waded in after him, but the water was too cold for me, so I sat on the covered dock and watched him play, grateful for the fairy lights Koa had installed for me last week.
“Be careful, Brummy,” Sebastian called from shore. “The bottom gets muddy about ten feet out.”
I glanced back at them where they stood like sentinels watching us, Lucian in his immaculate charcoal suit with a blood-red tie, Sebastian in pressed trousers and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his tattooed forearms. Both looked as if they belonged at a high-end business meeting rather than a lakeside picnic on a fine spring evening.
Brumous chose that moment to shake vigorously, sending water flying everywhere.
I squealed as the freezing drops hit my skin, and he woofed happily, then charged back into the shallows only to circle back to splash me again.
I ran off the dock to the soft grass under the willow trees and, for half an hour, Brumous and I played, chasing each other and jumping around.
I felt like a child again, carefree in a way I hadn’t been in years.
But all too soon, Brumous’ energy flagged. His exuberant bounds became slower until finally, he trudged over to the Ro?us and pancaked dramatically at Sebastian’s feet.
“Oh, poor Brummy,” I laughed, following him. “Did you wear yourself out?”
His answer was to flop onto his side with a tremendous sigh. I plopped down beside him, suddenly aware of my own weariness. My limbs felt heavy, like they were filled with sand instead of bone and muscle.
“Sorry,” I murmured, grass tickling my cheek. “A year ago I could’ve chased him all the way around the orchard.”
“Don’t fret about it,” Lucian murmured. “Strength returns with time.”
“True enough.” Sebastian plucked a leaf from my hair as he sat down beside me. “The fact that you’re playing at all is remarkable, considering what you’ve been through.”
Then Lucian, the vampire king, lowered himself to the grass on my other side.
“Your suit!” I squeaked. I didn’t know much about men’s formal wear, but I could tell his was expensive.
“A triviality,” he dismissed, waving a hand before lounging back on his elbows. “We are here for you, Seri, not a fashion show.”
Two days ago, my husbands had explained a bit about their father.
His first beloved, Catalina, was a human who died giving birth to Sebastian, and Lucian drowned his grief in bloodbaths and women for three years.
Koa had dryly commented that the vampire king might have rampaged longer if kids hadn’t started popping up on his doorstep.
Casimir’s mother arrived first. A Valkyrie named Reginleif, she’d manifested in a storm of thunder and lightning to hand Lucian a newborn baby boy before disappearing.
Five weeks after that, Doria, a swan maiden, swam into the mansion on invisible waters and opened her wings to reveal a redheaded baby swaddled in snowy down and stardust. Finally, Koa’s mother came forward a month later, asking only for shelter for her and her son.
As Koa had kept his eyes locked on his boots, Casimir had quietly explained that Mahina Akana was a gentle, sweet human, and Lucian gladly put her in charge of all three of his illegitimate sons, a happy arrangement until she passed away when they were six.
“That’s when dear old Pops decided we were ready to be molded into weapons,” Zane had smirked even as resentment burned in his brown eyes. “Fucking first-graders being trained in assassination and mortal combat.”
And my heart had bled for the boys they once were.
I wished they could see Lucian now, I thought wistfully.
His stern exterior had melted just enough for me to glimpse the hint of a fatherly figure, one who made me feel safe even outside in the dark. A papa-in-law, just as I’d called him at dinner, and I hadn’t missed how brightly his eyes shone when I did.
“May I ask a question that might be personal?” I ventured, propping my head on Brumous’ flank. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Ask away, dear girl,” Lucian invited, so I did.
“Why do my husbands use the last name Cimmerian? Did they invent it?”
“Cimmerian was originally their team designation,” Sebastian explained. “When they entered training, they needed a group name, so they chose one from history.”
“What was a Cimmerian?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“In ancient mythology, they were a people who lived in perpetual darkness, beyond the reach of the sun. Homer mentioned them in the Odyssey. They dwelled at the edge of the world, shrouded in mist and clouds.”
“That sounds beautiful,” I murmured, imagining a realm of eternal twilight. “Like something from a fairytale.”
“They were known for their strength and resilience,” Sebastian continued.
“Living in darkness didn’t weaken them; it made them extraordinary.
When your husbands turned eighteen, they legally changed their surname to Cimmerian.
It had become more than just a team name by then; it was their identity. ”
I thought about my husbands, how they moved like shadows, how they protected each other and now me, and nodded.
“It suits them perfectly!” I grinned at him.
“My brothers made something powerful out of that name. Something that belongs to them, and now to you, too.”
I bit my lip, hesitating before turning to Lucian. The king sat quietly beside me, his silvery eyes reflecting the soft ripples of the lake.
“And you didn’t mind that?”