“It was our pleasure, Seoafin, Ice Bride,” he returned just as softly and went on. “And we do hope you are present when there are future joyful messages we will share with our lord Frey.”
Joyful messages.
Cool.
It was good news. This pleased me. With all that was going on, we could use good news.
“I do too,” I agreed not knowing what the message was but not caring. Anything that made Frey smile like that was totally okay with me.
He inclined his head to me then looked to Frey and stated, “We return to our realm now in order that you can celebrate with your Ice Bride.”
Celebrate?
Apparently whatever the news was, it was joyful.
Awesome.
“Of course,” Frey murmured, Nillen gave him another elfin salute, Frey lifted his chin to him then looked around at the other elves all of whom gave him a salute then they all smiled happily at me then they all slowly drifted back to the tree, bent low to touch its bark where it met the earth and then disappeared with an ice blue flash and a white spark.
When the last disappeared, I stared at the glowing tree and whispered, “That is so cool.”
Then I suddenly moved and it wasn’t me who moved me. One of Frey’s strong arms came tight around my waist dragging me up his body just like he did during our wedding kiss but this time higher so I was head and shoulders over him, his other arm closing around my thighs just below my bottom. Automatically, I grabbed onto his shoulders and looked down as he twirled us around twice, his head back, his eyes on mine, that broad, gorgeous smile on his face.
“Frey,” I said softly, mesmerized by that smile, I moved one hand to his cheek, “what on –?”
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.