Chapter 21 #2
“You better not be thinking of leaving the rest of us witches out of this either,” Ernest says hotly. “I take it that was Septamus.”
I nod. “Yeah. He’s angry at Cass and me. But it was me who bound his magic. Cass had nothing to do with that.”
“But didn’t you tell me your brother tried to kill you once in a hotel room?” Sion asks him, looking concerned.
Cassie nods. “He did, but I have the protection rune and necklaces now that I didn’t have back then. Plus, he has no magic.”
“Neither did Tim, but he got spells off the dark web and worked with a demon to try and kill me,” Temp reminded him, stabbing a green bean.
“I think you’re all forgetting something,” Sal says, putting his cutlery down.
We turn to look at him.
“What’s that, Dark?” Jude asks.
“Titus is a true witch now, bet Septamus doesn’t know that little fact.”
I grin. “I bet he doesn’t.”
“Plus, the fact you will have light witches, grey witches and a dark witch backing you up. Your brother is already defeated, he just doesn’t know it yet,” Nix announces, with a decisive head nod.
Suddenly, I hear Lyric yell Kean’s name. Kean is up and out of that chair so fast, I shake my head.
“One day he’s going to leave a trail of fire behind him,” Ben says, also shaking his head.
“We’re so lucky Connie can’t talk yet,” Sal comments, stroking her head. She turns and gives him a massive smile.
“She will soon enough,” Emily says, putting her cutlery down.
“I’m surprised at how well Lyric talks. He knows a lot of words and hasn’t forgotten any of our names,” Adhan says.
I nod. “I noticed that and did some research on sixteen-month-old development and what their talking should be like. Kean says Lyric is a genius. I wondered if it was a shifter thing.”
“Adhan started speaking more than he should have by sixteen months. He literally copied practically every word my husband and I said. The same for Ben. Kean and Jude spoke their own language. Cam and Alfred were just normal. But it could be because Kitsune’s vocabulary develops earlier,” Emily says.
Sal looks at Jude. “Aww, snookum’s you and Kean had your own language?’
“Not that I can remember.”
“You did,” Adhan agrees. “It was annoying as hell.”
“What was annoying as hell?” Kean asks, walking back into the kitchen.
“Apparently, you and I had our own secret language when we were younger,” Jude tells him.
“We did?” Kean asks, confused.
“You did,” Emily says. “How was Lyric?”
“It would seem our son wanted to test out Titus’ listening spell.”
“You know you can buy baby monitors, right?” Jude says.
“Yeah, but magic works just as well,” Sal points out. “We only use our baby monitor at night; the rest of the time it’s magic spells.”
“I can’t guarantee how long he’ll stay asleep for, and in his own room,” Kean says, “but at least he knows the spell works.”
“You know you can just walk up the stairs, right?” I tell him, grinning.
“I mean, I could, but what if it’s urgent? Plus, I totally jumped the stairgates,” he says proudly.
“Did you jump the top one as well?” Sion asks, laughing.
“I did indeed. It was quicker than undoing them.”
I shake my head at him; he looks so proud.
“I don’t believe it,” Ben says, looking at the door.
Lyric is standing there grinning.
I get up and walk over to him, picking him up. “Are you escaping again? How did you get through the stairgates?”
Lyric grins. “I climb.”
“Over all of them? Including the one at the top of the stairs?” I ask in horror.
Lyric nods.
I practically fall into the chair. He climbed over the one on the top stair? He could have been seriously injured if he had fallen. I hug him close and drop a kiss on his head, looking at Kean.
Kean holds his arms out. “Come here, little man.”
I pass our son over.
Kean stands him on his lap and looks at him, his face serious. “Do you know why we put the gates up?”
Lyric nods. “No down.”
“Exactly. What you just did, climbing over the stairgates, was really dangerous. You could have fallen and hurt yourself. Do you understand?” he asks gently.
Lyric nods. “Miss oou an Tus.”
“I get that, but you know the listening spell works; you could have called for us both.”
Lyric flops down, so he’s sitting on the edge of the table and looks sad, looking at us both. “I bad?”
Kean shakes his head. “No, little man, just maybe try not giving Tus and me heart attacks and grey hair.”
Lyric leans forward and fingers Kean’s hair. “Sorry,” he says softly.
I poke him in his side and make him laugh. “Maybe I should magically bubble you at night so you can’t get out of your cot.”
Lyric shakes his head. “No down.”
“That’s right, little man, no down,” I say. “How about we take you back to bed?”
He shakes his head. “Duce, nack?”
“Just this once,” I say, getting up and chopping some apples for him and putting some water into his sippy cup.
“Down Clean,” Lyric demands, and Kean gently stands him on the floor. He toddles over to Temp. “Up Unk Emp.”
Temp laughs and picks him up, sitting him on his lap.
I bring a few apple slices and his drink over and put them in front of Temp.
Lyric picks up an apple slice and mouths it before handing it to Temp. “Unk Emp.”
“Yay, thanks, little man,” Temp says unenthusiastically and quickly eats it.
Kean has his phone out and is recording Temp and Lyric.
Temp passes Lyric more apples that he eats a bit of and slobbers on, before handing it to Ernest, who is sat next to Temp.
“Unk Nest.”
The look of horror on Ernest’s face is priceless, and I'm not the only one who laughs.
“That’s okay, little man, you eat it, it will help you grow nice and strong.”
Lyric scowled. “Unk Nest,” he says again, a bit more firmly, still holding it out.
“I’d really rather not,” Ernest says quickly.
I see Lyric’s bottom lip tremble.
Quick as a flash, Ernest plucks the apple out of Lyric’s hand and shoves it in his mouth, eating quickly.
Lyric smiles and pats Ernest’s arm, making us all laugh again.
“And just think, I got all of that on video,” Kean tells everyone happily.
“Gah,” Ernest says, grabbing his drink and taking a large gulp.
Lyric leans back against Temp and sighs, as his eyes start to close. He opens them wide for a moment before they close again, and this time stay closed.
“I think your son has just fallen asleep. I wish I could fall asleep that quickly,” Temp says.
“Getting Ernest to eat some apple wore him out,” Cassie says, laughing.
“The things I do for this family,” he gripes.