Twenty-nine – 06

[This post is from Neve’s point of view.]

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, getting up to check on the sleeping infants in her care. Nestled together in one basket, neither Anne nor Artorius showed any sign of waking. Lin, asleep in another basket next to theirs, was also still fast asleep, though as she watched him, Neve could have sworn that he was dreaming something.

She couldn’t say how she knew, she just did.

“Neve?”

She glanced back over her shoulder at Seamus, smiling weakly. “Just checking on them.”

“The twins?”

“And Lin. Stasia has Tala’s twins right now. Said she wasn’t going to make me look after five of them.” She shrugged. “I could have.”

“Maybe,” Seamus said, watching her. He wrapped one of his blankets around his shoulders, as if he was cold. “Six might have been pushing it.”

“Six?” Her brow arched. Her brother smiled.

Gods and monsters, he means himself. Daft bugger. Neve rolled her eyes. “Maybe.”

He broke into a grin and that only made her roll her eyes again.

“You’re impossible.”

“Not as impossible as our brother.”

That gave her pause. “Why bring Teague into this? He’s a thousand miles away.”

Seamus’s grin faded. There was a distance to his gaze as he stared off into nothing, his voice growing quieter. “No matter how far we are from each other, we’re always linked,” he said. “Doesn’t matter how far or how long it’s been since we saw each other’s faces. It’s always there. The bond.” The ghost of a smile curved his lips. “There’s a part of me that’s still shocked that you all believed I was dead.”

“In the face of all evidence, what else were we supposed to think?” Neve sighed. “You buried yourself well, Seamus. I don’t know how you did it, but you did.”

“Not easily,” he murmured. “And I always felt you two even if you couldn’t feel me.”

Neve winced. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “I was glad of it. So, so glad.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew that something would survive even if I didn’t, and that was the most important thing.”

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