But I didn’t get the rest out. His arm at my thighs disappeared, he dropped me down a foot and his hand cupped the back of my head, pulling it toward him, crushing my mouth to his and he kissed me, hard, deep, wet, long and, last but oh so not least… wonderful.

When he was done, he moved my head to shove my face in his neck and held me against him, feet dangling in the air, arms tight and he did this for awhile.

My arms had curled around his shoulders, my heart was still beating hard from the kiss, my breath coming harder but I turned my head so my lips were at his ear and I asked, “Frey, what’s going on?”

His head turned too so his mouth was at my ear and he answered, “The message of the elves, my winter bride, is that you carry my child.”

I blinked at his neck as I felt my belly drop.

What?

“What?” I whispered.

The pressure of his hand at my head lightened, I lifted it up and looked at him to see he was still smiling that beautiful, joyous smile.

“You carry my child, Finnie,” he whispered back, pressing my head to his again for a soft touch of lips then he slid me down his body to my feet but he didn’t remove his arms. In fact, they squeezed me hard as I saw by the glow of the adela tree his eyes were warm, soft and lit with a blissful light that, no other way to put it, was utterly enthralling. “You carry my child and the elves did not tell me but I know down to my blood that if he is boy, we will teach him to be a strong, fair ruler and if she is girl, she has no hope to have anything other than the tremendous beauty of her mother.”

At his words, my belly did a somersault then melted.

Okay, well. Shit.

A lot was happening here. A lot.

One was that it was coming to me that I hadn’t had a period since Hawkvale and, until that moment, I hadn’t even noticed. Now, obviously, I did. So, weirdly, elfin pregnancy detection, it would seem, was accurate.

Two was that powder the girls had given me wasn’t as full proof as they said it was. That was now abundantly clear.

Three was that I did not want to have a baby, not now. Yes, I wanted to have Frey’s child, absolutely, in fact, I wanted us to have more than one. But I also wanted to wait awhile, say, after I knew that my future in Lunwyn was secured, I’d travelled back to take care of business at home and after I’d had a few adventures with Frey and his boys.

Obviously this wasn’t going to happen.

Four was, equally obviously, Frey was freaking ecstatic about this news. This meant that he not only loved me, he was happy as all get out I was carrying his child and he couldn’t possibly wish to let me go in six months. No way.

Which meant I was staying.

I already knew this, what with him loving me, and the way he did, but it was way nice having this confirmed.

Which led me to five and that was that if this made Frey this happy, even though it was too early for me; I couldn’t help but share his joy.

So we were going to start a family early. Who cared? We were going to start a family, I hadn’t had a family in fifteen years and now I had one and not only that, it was apparently getting bigger.

And I was staying. It was clear that I was going nowhere and if I’d thought about it logically, I knew that already not only with the way Frey was with me but also Aurora and Atticus. The decision had been made by The Drakkar, this was my family, this was my life, my world and looking up at my husband’s handsome, ecstatically happy face, I knew I’d shot passed bliss and was exploring new heights on that end of the happy scale.

I slid a hand around his neck to his jaw where I glided a thumb out to touch his smiling lips as my eyes watched.

Then I moved my gaze to his and I whispered, “I’ve never seen you this happy.”

Instantly, Frey whispered back, “This is because I’ve never been this happy.”

My body melted into his and I kept whispering. “Really?”

His arms gave me another squeeze and he, too, kept whispering. “Really, my wee Finnie. These past months with you, I have thought there is nothing more beautiful than my wife. Now, I know this is wrong. There is. And that is my wife carrying our child, a child which will herald the beginning of our family.”

Family.

Oh yeah. Family.

I liked that.

I pressed my lips together to bite back the sting of tears in my eyes and then I pressed my cheek to his chest and my body to his. When I did, Frey held me closer and I felt his jaw against the top of my knit cap.

“Love you, baby,” I said against his chest, got another squeeze of his arms and he replied, “And I you, my Finnie.”

I pulled in a breath and tipped my head back again to look at him.

Then I asked haltingly, “Do you think, um… that Mother and Father will, uh… be happy about this too?”

He smiled that gorgeous smile again, dipped his head to touch his lips to my nose and then pulled back an inch before he answered, “Just today Aurora asked how we were getting on with creating the heir to the throne. She awaits good news and tomorrow, we will delay our departure so we can have a celebratory breakfast with them before we go.” He gave me another squeeze as I felt my brows draw together and he finished, “She and Atticus will be delighted.”

Okay, the good news about that was, I was right. Atticus and Aurora were also obviously already on board with me taking their daughter’s place.

The bad-ish news was that I didn’t think Frey and I had been trying to create the heir to the throne, not yet. But his words would indicate he did.

Or maybe just Aurora did.

I had no opportunity to think on this as Frey gave me another squeeze and his head dipped, his lips touched mine then slid down my cheek to my ear where he murmured, “It is now time to get my wife and child home and warm. I could stand in the glow of the adela and the brighter glow of this news for a decade, my wee one, but I must take care of my family.”

My belly somersaulted again and I twisted my neck to look at him and when I caught his eyes, I smiled.

Then I said, “Living in Lunwyn, he or she is going to have to get used to the cold, husband.”

To which Frey returned, “As they’ll have to get used to their parents’ loving care, wife.”

Okay, there it was again, another belly somersault and I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread on my face.

When Frey saw it, his hand cupped the back of my head again and he pressed my face in his throat and his other arm held tight for a moment before he let me go, took my hand and walked me the three feet to Tyr.

I was up on Tyr, Frey behind me and wheeling his steed around when I asked dreamily, “I wonder if she’ll be an adventurer like her Mom and Dad.”