I turned the envelope over and saw a bright green wax seal, pressed with a scrolled, looped, double L.
Lavinia.
I smiled, ran my nail under the seal, opened the envelope and pulled out the thick, cream paper inside, opening it and reading.
My Winter Princess,
The adela takes root!
I cannot tell you how pleased I am. As you know, I planted three branches and all three have begun to glow. They send shoots into the earth, reaching to the elfin realm. It is very exciting to have this early success.
I am away to move through my beautiful Lunwyn and plant branches before the frost sets in. It will take decades for the trees to spread but our great land will be graced by the glow of the adela once again, I will see to it.
I have received your letter and it is good to know your pregnancy does not cause you trouble as other women endure. I wish this for you for the entirety of it and I will be at your side when it is time for you to deliver our next king or our next Winter Princess to this world.
And I await stories of your next adventure, my princess.
Yours always,
Lavinia
I smiled at the paper then, folding it and sliding it back into its envelope, I moved to my mother’s old office, a smaller room, more feminine and now unused.
The door was open and I stopped in it to take in Skylar behind the desk, Penelope lying on top of it. He was bent over it with pencil in hand. She was sending her tail in wide sweeps, catching his papers.
“Stop it, cat,” he muttered.
Penelope swept her tail away, then back over his papers.
He turned his head and glared at the feline. “Stop it, cat!”
She executed two more sweeps.
Skylar emitted a little boy growl that was alarmingly like the ones I’d heard from Frey’s men on occasion and punished my cat by picking her up from the desk, cuddling her in his arms and torturing her with scratches behind her ears.
I could hear Penelope’s purrs all the way across the room.
When I heard them, I smiled.
* * * * *
Two weeks later…
Houllebec.
I sat in Frey’s lap shuffling the cards, my eyes on the occupants of the table.
Esther sat in Oleg’s lap and I was unsurprised to see, for I’d seen it before, that he was as gentle when he was with her as Frey was with me.
But, even so, he still didn’t talk much and when he did it was mostly grunts.
Jocelyn sat beaming in Thad’s lap and although Esther and Oleg were testing the waters, clearly enjoyed each other and were becoming close; it didn’t take a love doctor to see Jocelyn had fallen and when I say that, I mean deep.
Thad had too. It wasn’t so much him showing it, though he, also like Frey, was not afraid of showing affection and he often teased her in a way I thought was super sweet. It was that Thad told Frey and Frey told me so I had the inside scoop that Thad had fallen, and hard, for my Jocelyn.
Thad was also recovered, or as much as he ever would be. He’d sustained an injury to his leg which would mean he’d always walk with a hint of a limp. But I had noticed he wasn’t letting that slow him down and I also noticed that none of the other men said a thing about it, called attention to it or treated Thad any differently.
Ruben was with us too, his woman not there, as were Laurel, Ulysses and Frederick.
I stopped shuffling and smiled and chatted while I dealt the cards, every card I threw on my husband’s pile I dealt from the bottom of the deck.
Then I set the deck down, picked up my cards and started to fiddle with them in my hand but didn’t get very far.
Frey threw his hand down on the table face up and announced, “Finnie cheats.”
I looked to the table at the fantastic hand I dealt him then lifted a hand up to touch my chest and my eyes moved to my husband’s.
“Me?” I asked with sham innocence.
Frey grinned. “You,” he answered.
“Well, I never,” I muttered.
“Yes, you do, Finnie, every single time,” Thad stated.
He was not wrong.
“Finnie?” I heard a voice that was familiar, a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time, a voice I thought I’d never hear again and I turned slowly in Frey’s lap and looked at the woman standing behind him and my heart leapt into my throat.
“Claudia?” I whispered, taking in my friend wearing a Lunwynian style gown, her hair pulled back, a redhead, also in a Lunwynian gown, standing behind her, her lips tipped up in a cat’s smile.
“Claudia!” I shrieked, jumped out of Frey’s lap, rounded him and threw myself in my friend’s arms. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God, God, God!” I chanted, holding on tight and swinging her side to side.
“Oh Finnie, honey, oh God,” Claudia muttered in my ear then burst out crying, her arms spasming around me.