“He’s right, Mimi,” Kiran agreed.
I was satisfied that so many other people had her best interest in mind, but a little unsettled that Amelia actually seemed put out by it. She wasn’t really considering joining us, was she? Besides the fact that the mission was dangerous, from a director’s point of view she had absolutely no experience.
“I’m glad you’re all in agreement on how I should spend my time,” Amelia huffed, pushing her plate forward.
“It is dangerous, Amelia,” I reminded her gently. “Look at what just happened to Titus. We were lucky Eden was so close.”
“Not you too, Avalon,” Amelia groaned. “I am not Lucan’s spoiled niece, and I would greatly appreciate it if you all stopped treating me like her.” She gave each male at the table a nasty glare in turned.
I shot her a charming smile, believing we had collectively made our point when a violent surge of nausea threatened to bring my breakfast back up. I leaned against the table, resting my face in my hands as I tried to get the sickness under control. My magic could not work strong enough and I had no idea where it was coming from until I caught the feint smell of eggs in the air.
Eggs?
Before I could examine why eggs would make me feel ill, just the thought of them had me reeling again.
“Are you alright?” I heard Kiran ask.
“Ugh, I’m fine, I’m just pretty sure those eggs were spoiled,” I mumbled through my hands.
A pause before, “I’m glad to hear that Avalon, but I was actually asking Eden.”
I didn’t have to see Kiran’s face to hear the irritation in his voice. I should have known Eden would be feeling sick if I felt sick. We had gone through the King’s Curse and enough battles together to prove that physical pain affected us both. But we weren’t really supposed to get sick outside of the King’s Curse.
Especially not with something as asinine as food poisoning. And this was two days in a row.
Of nausea.
When we’re around food.
Wait a minute.
Eden? I demanded in our heads.
Not now Avalon! She pleaded just as she reigned in control of the sick feelings and her magic. Please!
“I’m fine,” she smiled brightly at Kiran. “Um, Avalon wasn’t feeling well, it must have affected me as well.” And then in our heads, Just let me figure this out first, please.
Uh, huh. I agreed, in a bit of a daze.
“I, uh, I need to prepare to leave. Thank you for breakfast,” I nodded to the Cartiers and then got the hell out of there as fast as I could.
That better not have been morning sickness.
I was going to kill Eden if that was true. Well, first I would probably hug her until it was dangerous for her unborn baby, but then I was going to kill her.
There was probably nothing more emasculating than going through three trimesters of something only women should be blessed with.
On the other hand…. I would probably be awesome at being an uncle.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You wanker, how dare you keep something like that from me!” Kiran accused as I was packing up the last of my overnight bag in the fancy guest room of the Cartiers.
Kiran and Eden had burst into my room all swirling magic and radiance. She confirmed my suspicions. Or probably her suspicions….
“It’s true?” I ignored Kiran who looked decidedly more at ease today. I hadn’t realized how disheveled and run down he had been over the last twenty four hours.
Eden nodded shyly, her eyes brimming with tears.
“You’re pregnant?” I clarified, knowing she was but needing to hear the words out loud.
“Yes,” she whispered, a tear of joy slipping from the corner of her eye.
I crossed the room in three steps and swept her up into a tight hug. “I’m going to be an uncle,” I laughed.
“Of course you would only be thinking about yourself,” she mumbled. I could tell that she was overwhelmed. Actually, I could feel the hundreds of emotions going through her and it was a bit disconcerting. She was excited and happy, completely thrilled and filled with joy, but at the same time terrified and unsure, she was nervous, anxious, sick…. She was too many things.
I separated our connection, hoping she wouldn’t notice. But honestly, there were too many feelings for me. I was happy and that’s all I wanted to feel.
“Not true,” I defended myself. “I’m so happy for you.”
“I know,” Eden agreed softly.
“I would like to say though, that next time you feel her morning sickness you clue me in,” Kiran lectured. “You have no idea what I’ve been going through the last few days. I was sure you picked up something weird on your mission and Eden was going to die by default.”
I laughed. Loudly. “You would blame me for something like that.”
“You’re damned right,” Kiran nodded enthusiastically. “You’re a liability to my happily ever after.”
“To be fair, I obviously didn’t recognize it as morning sickness until this morning and even then if Eden wouldn’t have figured it out on her own I’m not sure I would ever have gotten it. It’s not like I really thought I would ever get pregnancy symptoms. I mean…. ever.” I reiterated. Suddenly I was panicking. “Oh no, what else do I have to go through?”
Eden laughed at me. “Nothing, I have it figured out. I just didn’t understand what was happening before and it kept sneaking up on me. I promise, now that I know I will not let you feel sick anymore.”