Chapter 37
Elyse
After the ceremony, the servants efficiently rearranged the patio for dinner.
They set up tables on the right side of the courtyard, leaving the left side open for dancing and mingling.
No sooner had the plates been cleared than Manny whisked his new bride out onto the dance floor, and they hadn’t stopped dancing since.
Elyse watched as Manny whirled Sera around the patio.
The gardener was strumming a lively tune on his guitar, one that many in the party couldn’t resist. The shifters had paired off to dance, except for Yanis, who had engaged Killian in a deep conversation on the other side of the courtyard.
Dah and Kal were cozied together, moving slowly amidst the younger dancers, while Nina and Corin took turns twirling one another.
“Elyse, can you hold him?” Sera’s sister, Viola, was shoving her infant toward Elyse with a pleading smile. “You don’t mind, right? I just want to dance for a bit.”
Elyse found a place to set down her glass of sparkling mead and held out her hands for the child. “Not at all,” Elyse offered. She pulled the baby into the crook of her arm. He seemed unfazed by the exchange as he happily bopped his teeny fists together.
Viola immediately ran onto the dance floor with Camilla and Taleea. Elyse smiled down at the baby and used his bib to wipe away a spot of drool. “There you go,” she cooed as she bounced him up and down.
She twisted the child in her arms so he could see out into the crowd. “There’s your Aunt Sera,” she whispered, pointing toward her friend. “And your Uncle Manny,” she added, chuckling to herself at his new title.
“Who’s this little fella?” asked a deep, amused voice from beside her.
Elyse pivoted and was delighted to see that Killian had somehow slipped away from Yanis. “I believe his name is Ihsan,” Elyse replied, thinking back on conversations with Sera. “Ihsan, meet Killian.”
“How do you do?” Killian asked, taking Ihsan’s teeny hand in his own and shaking it gently.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” Elyse squeaked from the corner of her mouth.
Killian laughed, and the sound was the perfect addition to the merriment surrounding them. Her heart swelled with so much happiness, she nearly felt dizzy.
“I didn’t know you like babies,” Killian mused as he glanced from Ihsan to Elyse.
“I love them for a few hours at a time,” Elyse answered, bobbing Ihsan to the beat of the music. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“I prefer them when they’re a few years older and have a bit more personality,” Killian said. He gave Ihsan’s foot a tiny squeeze. “Though, these little feet are irresistibly cute.”
“So, does that mean you want kids of your own?” Elyse asked with a smirk.
Killian raised his brows. “Are we having this conversation?”
“Humor me,” she said casually.
Killian continued to wiggle Ihsan’s feet, though the infant remained aloof to the action. “Maybe one day,” he answered vaguely. “You?”
“Maybe one day,” Elyse repeated his words.
Killian let go of Ihsan’s foot and turned toward the party. “And what about all this?” he asked, gesturing at the gardens.
Elyse followed his gaze, scanning the revelers and their broad smiles. “Do you mean a wedding? Or marriage in general?”
“Both, I suppose,” Killian answered. “Humor me,” he added with a wink.
Elyse pursed her lips to the side as she considered.
“I can’t say I’ve thought about it much,” she admitted.
“First, I never thought I’d be able to reveal my secrets about Lazarus to anyone, so I figured I’d be alone, like my mother.
Then I had the widow’s decay,” she continued, bristling at the memory of the disease that Privya had cured her of.
“Anything regarding weddings or marriage was always a distant fantasy for me.”
Killian nodded, remaining quiet. He never acted uncomfortable or pitying. He never offered hasty condolences, as if doing so would erase the past. He simply let her words be truth, nothing more or less. She loved that about him
“Well, what do you plan to do after we defeat Lazarus?” he asked. “You’ll have total freedom. No secrets, no warrants, no rituals. What then?”
Elyse didn’t dare feed the hope that was blooming in her chest. She kept it at bay, but didn’t snuff it out entirely.
She’d dreamt of the day when she could put Lazarus behind her, but she never allowed herself to look too closely at that life.
There was still too strong a possibility they wouldn’t all make it out alive.
But if she let herself peek at that prospect of a future, she saw various things.
Killian was always there, of course. Sometimes they were young, sometimes old.
Sometimes there were children, other times not.
Manny and Sera made appearances, too, along with Mrs. Southwick, Corin, and Nina.
Privya had been in those glimpses, but that, Elyse realized with a pang, would never be.
“There is one thing for certain,” she started. She lifted her gaze to Killian, letting her emotions show on her face. “If I survive, and Lazarus is ended, then I’m closing the Emporium for good.”
A hint of surprise flashed across Killian’s face, but he let her go on.
“I’ve never truly liked it. Most of the customers are idiots, and I hated dealing with them. The shoppe was always my mother’s dream.”
“What do you want to do instead?” Killian pressed.
“I don’t know,” Elyse said with a shrug.
“Well, you’d better figure it out. I have very expensive taste, and I expect to be taken care of.”
He grinned at her, and Elyse elbowed him in the side. A moment later, Ihsan spit up, dribbling down the front of his little outfit.
“Look what you’ve done,” Killian teased. “You’ve sickened him with your violence.”
Fortunately, Dah came rushing over. “I’ll take him, dear,” she assured Elyse. “He didn’t get any on you, did he?”
Elyse handed over the baby, then inspected her own dress. “No, it appears I’m safe.”
As Dah whisked Ihsan away, Killian slid behind Elyse.
She would never tire of feeling his warrior’s body against her own, or the way his hands caressed her waist. His stubbled jaw prickled her cheek as he whispered in her ear, “What a shame. It would have been a good excuse to get you out of this dress.”
Elyse’s skin heated at the hunger in his voice. She was suddenly very aware of her own heartbeat, especially as Killian pulled her closer to him.
“You don’t need any excuse for that,” she purred as she tilted her head toward him. She looked at him through lowered lashes, the way she knew he liked.
He responded with a growl that reverberated against her back. Then he was whisking her away, but not toward the door. Instead, he pulled her onto the dance floor.
“There will be plenty of time for that later,” he said as he slid one hand around her waist. “For now, let’s enjoy the party.”
He guided their bodies in a smooth sway, and Elyse let him. He was right. They could disappear to their room later, but they would never get another chance to celebrate their friends’ love surrounded by their favorite people.
So Elyse danced, and let herself be happy.