Page 44 of Magpies & Mayhem
I flopped over the side of the bed and stuck my head under to verify what I already knew—there was no dragon in the room. I hauled myself up and pulled my new leathers out of the backpack I’d left on the floor, dressing quickly with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t like this. Poking around in Jordan’s office during the day felt like poking around in a crypt, which I liked even less. The common rooms were empty, so I decided to head into Seattle. At least I could keep my mind busy at the shop, since it wasn’t like Jordan or his boss would come rolling in during daylight hours.
Was this who I was now? Was I obsessing over some boy and a tiny-tot dragon?Arg!I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration, took several deep, calming breaths, shook myself out like a dog, and jerked open the front door to the shop. “Why are you here?” I asked Elara. It was Sunday, and not only that—it wasthe dayafter her wedding.
“One could ask you the same question,” Elara responded distractedly, her focus directed at whatever she was working on.I should probably know what that is.
I stalked over to her desk—giving her annoyingly sexy husband a secret handshake on the way—and grabbed the planner to catch myself up to speed. “I’m distracting myself, so I don’t turn into a pathetic wretch or do something violent.”
Elara set her tools down and turned to face me fully, her eyes narrowed and full of concern. “What’s wrong?”
I rolled my eyes at myself and dropped heavily into my chair. “Nothing. Jordan just didn’t come back to his office last night, and I’m feeling some kind of way about it, I guess. He’s probably just at his apartment or tucked away in some bolt hole somewhere, but it makes me angry that he wouldn’t justtalk to meabout it if something is wrong. I want to yell at him, but he’s not around to yell at.”
Levi’s chair squeaked, and I slid my gaze over to find him leaning forward intently. “You never caught him last night?” he asked, a spark of humor in his eye and his magic buffeting me with every word.Was I really that obvious?I frowned at him, annoyed that I’d forgotten my enchantment ward and unwilling to explain that I had caught him, and then have to rehash that Jordan had overheard my brothers recognizing him. “He won’t answer a text this time of day even if he’s here in the Void, but I can go see if he’s at the apartment,” Levi offered quickly. I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or suspicious, but he was out the door before I could shake off the enchantment of his words.
“I need to start leaving my enchantment ward here,” I grumbled. “Now, why are you working? Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon or something? Your wedding wasyesterday,for Pete’s sake. Is this my fault? Have I been slacking so much that you need to work overtime? I thought we had your schedule worked out.”
“We do. It’s fine.” Elara seemed flustered as she returned to tinkering with—I checked the notes again—a necklace embedded with a power well. “We had a few days at the Bed and Breakfast we rented in Whitewave after our courthouse wedding. That counts as a honeymoon. I don’t need a second one just because we had another ceremony for my family. I’mnotworking too much. This is fine. I’m fine. I just want some sense of normalcy right now.”
Allof my alarm bells went off at her little speech. I swung my chair around so I could glare at the side of her head without having to move more than my foot. She did her best to ignore me, but I continued staring lasers at her head until she finally acknowledged me, setting her tools down gently and swallowing thickly.
She heaved a huge breath before announcing, “I’m pregnant.”
I rocketed up out of my chair so fast it slammed into the desk behind me with a crash. “Youwhat?”
“Grim gave me a baby gift last night and told me I was pregnant, and when I got home, I took a test and confirmed it.” She covered her face with her hands.
I was so conflicted my brain couldn’t even process a thought. On the one hand, I wanted to scoop her up and jump up and down while squealing. On the other… “How?”
Now it was her turn to glare at me. “You know very wellhow,” she said stubbornly.
I held my finger out at her. “I’m not asking fordetails. But I know dang well I put a bulk pack of condoms in your camping equipment. If you already ran out, I could have just made another Costco run!”
Elara covered her face with both hands again. “I didn’t feel like it was worth using them. We were already married. We figured we wanted childreneventually.Elvish and mer people both have notoriously low birth rates, so it didn’t seem like it would make that much of a difference if we let whatever was going to happen…happen.”
I erupted in laughter as I collapsed back into my chair. “But you’re notjust elvish,Elara! He’s not just mer! You’re both half human!” Elara was one of the smartest people I knew, and yet…and yet. My laughter was uncontrollable. I laughed so hard that Elara eventually lowered her hands and began to smile with me despite herself. I launched forward—quick as a cat—and snatched her against me, smushing her face to my bosom. “We’re going to have a baby!” I squealed. I could already picture it. A little squishy baby with a mop of her pretty dark hair, or a tuft of Levi’s blonde.
“We?” Her voice was muffled against my chest, so I released her so that she could breathe.
“Yes,we,” I emphasized. “I’m going to be the best wine-aunt that ever lived. This child will want fornothing. I’m going to spoil them rotten.”
She laughed at me, and I squinted at her.
“Are you a little bit excited?” I asked, trying to gauge her emotions.
“I am,” she confirmed. “I’m also nervous. I really hadn’t expected it to happen so fast. It’s just one more thing that’s changing, you know?”
Biting down on my lip as I nodded kept me from telling her under no uncertain terms that we were closing the shop and moving her permanently back into the Boundlands with a dozen guards. “So… what are your thoughts moving forward?” I asked as diplomatically as I was capable of.
“I think we’re going to have to figure out another way to do this,” she said with a sigh, glancing around the shop.
Oh, thank goodness.“That does seem wise,” I answered as evenly as possible. “Especially if you’re going to be moving towards focusing on building emitters for the government instead of this stuff, anyway, right?” I asked, gesturing toward the necklace on her desk.
She gave it a rueful glance that told me everything I needed to know about how she felt—she didn’t want to give up making jewelry completely, but removing customers from most of the equation would be nice and the emitters were more important overall—but before we could discuss it, she perked up and turned toward the door.
It didn’t take long for Levi to walk in with a concerned look on his face, and I braced myself for his enchantment. “Jordan isn’t at the apartment.”
Chapter 31
IassuredLevithatI didn’t need his help and that I’d prefer he stay with Elara. I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, and the last thing I wanted was her getting involved in something shady if it came to that. Maybe Jordan had a bolt hole somewhere—some quiet, safe space he went to when he was stressed, where he was tucked away, out of the daylight. Maybe he just needed some time to himself. I hoped that was all it was, even if I didn’t like it. But a creeping sense of dread crawled up my spine as I made my goodbyes and headed to the Gate in the late afternoon sunshine.
