Copper Ravens(4)

And the orchards! The gardens were surrounded by trees bearing every sort of fruit, from standard apples and pears to fruits that I hadn’t even known grew on trees, such as mangoes and star fruit. I’d never even known that something called star fruit existed, which is further evidence of the Peacekeepers’ stellar nutrition policies.

We’d been walking through one of the orchards—plum, I think—when I asked, “When do you think it will be safe for me to go home?”

Micah’s brows quirked. “Love, you are home.”

I stared at him for a moment, wondering where my voice had gone. “You want me to live here? With you?” I whispered at last.

“Of course. You are my consort.” He brushed his warm fingers across my cheek, neck, shoulders, his hands coming to rest at the small of my back. “Do you not wish to stay?”

“I do,” I whispered, leaving off the part about this all being so sudden.

“Good,” he murmured, kissing me lightly. “I’d be lost without you.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, happy and content and more than a bit elated about my new home. Then, to my utter horror, he brought up babies.

“I hope that you’ll soon be with child,” he said, his fingers coming around to caress my belly.

“Your heir,” I murmured, pressing my face to his chest so he couldn’t see its bloodless state. “An heir is very important to you, isn’t it?”

“Heirs are important to every house, but more so here. I am the last Silverstrand.”

I hadn’t even considered this. I knew that Micah didn’t have any siblings (and thus will never know the joys of an elder brother covering him with shaving cream while he slept, or a younger sister crawling into bed with him when she’s sick, only to puke on his favorite pillow), but I’d thought there were more Silverstrands somewhere. Maybe a few cousins, or a wacky aunt, even. But no, it was just Micah, lording over all the silver, all alone.

“And, you want me to produce this heir?” I pressed. Micah laughed and tightened his arms about me.

“I can think of no one better than the woman I love,” he said. I couldn’t really argue with that—not that I’d wanted to, anyway—and we’d left it for a time. Then there had been the business of rescuing Max, bringing Mom and Sadie safely out of the Mundane realm, and dealing with the Iron Queen. Life had been moving at a pretty fast pace, and we hadn’t had time to discuss such details as babies and inheritance.

Then Oriana was rescued from the Iron Queen’s oubliette, and as she struggled with her long recovery, the Heavies began discussing things like succession. You see, if childless Oriana were to perish, the rulership of metal would be passed to Micah, but he was also childless. Couple that with the lingering animosity between those of metal and those of stone, and it was a most precarious situation indeed.

Naturally, Micah and I had resumed our discussions about children. No, discussion was too strong a word; Micah had gushed about how much he loved me, and how happy he would be once we had our first child. First, as in he expected me to do this multiple times. Me, I just sat there, smiling and nodding, hoping he didn’t notice my sweaty palms. It seemed that, as long as I was a part of Micah’s life, the threat of babies was a part of mine as well.

I glanced at Sadie and sighed again. “Heirs. That’s what he wants.”

“Is that what you want?” she pressed.

“I guess.” Sadie raised her eyebrows; if she had been wearing glasses, it would have been the perfect “quiet, this is a library” look. “I mean, he needs an heir. And I don’t want him having them with anybody else. Besides, once I’m pregnant, I get to be Lady Silverstrand.”

Sadie pursed her lips and asked, “You’re already his consort, and you keep saying that you don’t want anything to do with politics. Do you really need to be Lady Silverstrand?”

Leave it to the little one to ask the tough questions. “I want to be his wife.”

“You mean you have to pop out a kid first?” Sadie demanded.

“No, I just have to be pregnant. Then, poof,” I flicked out my fingers, miming a small explosion, “we’re married.”

“That’s ridiculous. What if you were pregnant with someone else’s baby?” I glared at her, so she amended, “I know you wouldn’t do that. But still, this custom doesn’t seem very well thought out.”

“Tell me about it.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Stupid customs or not, it’s what’s done around here. And, since I want to be his wife, babies are definitely in my future.”