Page 117 of A Crown Splendid and Shattered
I hurried to the settee and held my arms out, eager for this first chance to get to know my nephew.
Pharis placed the baby gently into the cradle of my arms.
“You’ve got this,” he assured me. “You won’t break him.”
The baby stirred a bit, twisting his neck and making a funny little purse-lipped pout.
“He looks like you when you’re losing to me and Stells at cards,” I teased my brother, and he laughed.
Reacting to the noise, the baby stuck one tiny arm out of the blanket before settling again. His hand was an absolute marvel, the miniature fingers tipped with impossibly small fingernails.
I stroked them one by one then looked up at Pharis, who was watching our interaction intently.
“He really does look like you, you know.”
He grinned. “I know. Poor chap.”
Raewyn giggled. “Oh yes, poor unfortunate child. He’ll have to start running from all the girls by the time he’s four.”
“Three,” Pharis corrected. “But I’m going to advise him to hold out for just the right one… his perfect match.”
He and Raewyn made eye contact so tender and intimate, I felt my cheeks color.
I looked back down at the baby, studying the details of his dark eyelashes and wispy brows and the thick crop of black hair, so reminiscent of Pharis’.
“Looks like you’re going to need one of those for yourself,” Raewyn said, smiling.
“I agree. Unfortunately, I can’t do it on my own.”
“Well, you have no lack of suitors, I can tell you that,” Pharis said. “They nag me constantly, asking for permission to court my beautiful sister.”
I rolled my eyes. “As you know, I already have a beau, but our love is a forbidden one. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to be with him.”
Pharis’ brow furrowed, and his tone darkened.
“Of course you can. You can have anyone you want,” he said. “I’m King now, and I’d never stop you from being with whomever you love, regardless of rank—or whether he’s Elven obviously.”
I knew both my brothers assumed the mystery man in my life was human. They were wrong.
“I know it’s not forbidden forme. It’shispeople who won’t allow it,” I clarified.
“Why?” Both my brothers asked the question simultaneously.
Stellon and Kem had come into the receiving room to join us without my noticing.
“Is he aSatyr?” Stellon asked, a horrified look on his face.
I laughed. “No. Worse.”
“What could possibly be worse than a Satyr?” Pharis asked.
“You’ll find out… one day,” I said. “That is, if and when things work out for us, and I get the chance to bring him home to meet the family.”
“Until then, I’ll content myself being the most willing babysitter any couple ever had. If that’s not enough…”
I looked up at Stellon and Kem, “I’ll start bugging you two to get busy and give me another nephew or niece.”
Stellon scoffed. “If we were to get any busier?—”
Kem cut him off with a fingertip pressed to his lips, and the two of them vanished.
All of us laughed. She’d evanesced them out of there before her new husband could embarrass her any further.
“I think all of us should stay clear of the sleeping chambers for a while,” Pharis said, tipping his head toward the stairs.
“Stellon’s either getting an earful up there or working on your request for more babies in your life, Mareth.”
Everyone laughed again, and the room brightened as the clouds on the other side of the wall of windows parted, letting the sun shine in on our family gathering.
At least for this moment in time, the shadows had lifted from House Randalin.
