34
Alarie
Iwoke up early the next morning after my fight with Jay to the feel of his weight pressing onto the side of my bed. I wasn’t surprised to wake to his presence after he’d stayed away the night before. Lying next to me, on top of the covers, he twirled a piece of my long hair around his finger into a curl before letting it drop.
“Alarie, I have to leave the manor for a couple of days,” Jay said, his tone not matching the gentleness of his caress.
I’d been expecting an apology, not a goodbye.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To the northern border. Yesterday, after I received your report,” he continued, deftly avoiding the topic of what happened immediately thereafter between us, “I received several other reports.”
“Something to do with Cole?” I interjected.
He shook his head. “Still working on that. But we have more immediate problems. Alarie, you know all of these trips I have been taking up north?”
“Yeah. What about them? I assumed it had something to do with the lesser fae.”
“That’s not it,” he said, shaking his head.
“There’s something that only Grey and I—well, and Nik—know. Something we’ve been preparing for.”
I looked at him, tight-lipped and waiting.
“We’re preparing for the possibility of war with the north again, love. With Alancia.”
“What does that mean? What are you talking about, Jay? And what does that have to do with your trips?” I asked frantically.
My heart fluttered, the thought of a conflict immediately driving a million questions through my mind.
“We’ve been making trips to examine the wall. The barrier between Valencia and Alancia is weakening. And every time we go to fix it, more failure points just keep popping up. We may not be able to keep it in place and keep Rex out much longer.”
I couldn’t stand the thought of Jay at war. I knew that he was much more than the King’s eyes and ears. I’d read about the legions he’d commanded during the war. I knew he would be on the front line of any battle, and the thought made me feel ill. I grabbed his hand, but he did not soften his high-lord semblance.
I didn’t want him to leave with our fight hanging between us.
“You’re still mad about yesterday?” I asked at the same time I strategically dropped the sheet covering my nakedness.
A smirk glinted across Jay’s handsome face before quickly retreating.
“It’s not that, love,” he said, at last softening. “It’s that I have no desire to repeat our exchange from yesterday, but I fear the next bout is just moments away,” he said begrudgingly.
I dropped his hand as I moved to instinctively cover myself back up, my mood no longer matching the tone of our exchange. “Just say it, Jay,” I said, thinking I knew what he was going to say.
He had said that his obligations to Lady Vitruvian would not come up again for some time, but he was going north. He would probably see her and…
“Elizabeth’s pregnant,” Jay replied, assuming his stoic facade again.
That was not what I’d thought he would say.
“I…” I spluttered. “Congratulations?” I finished awkwardly.
In any other circumstance, it really would be a cause for congratulations. The fae had been unable to conceive for decades. I was among the last generation of fae born.
“Alarie, this doesn’t change anything,” he admonished.
“How can you say that, Jay? You’re going to be a father. Elizabeth is going to be the mother of your child. The first fae child to be born in, what, twenty years?”
“But that doesn’t change us, Alarie,” he reassured me. “The baby is going to love you as much as I do,” he said, already showing a tenderness I’d not seen before at the prospect of being a father.
“And this will be my last trip without you,” he promised fiercely, grabbing my hand and pulling it to his chest. “Elizabeth’s pregnancy will be announced at the Spring Ball. But after the Ball, we can announce you as consort to House Vitruvian, and we will end this charade. Then you can be by my side always.”
And with this all-consuming, life-altering declaration, he raised my hand to his lips with a kiss.
I was speechless, so I just nodded my head and leaned in, accepting his kiss. Jay grasped my shoulders with his strong hands and pulled my bare breasts into his body, kissing me possessively. Then my gallant high lord, who had already given too much to the last war, left my room to prevent another.