"Mm." She let her head drop back against his shoulder, sinking into him even as some dry corner of her wanted to note how badly she was outnumbered in this house full of possessive men. "I do know it."
His arms drew tighter, just a fraction, before he eased back enough to study her face, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw. "I checked on the babies. Every one of them, perfect.
We’ve worked out a schedule so you don’t run yourself into the ground. Feeds, cuddles, nothing past that unless you ask for it. And we’re still tracking Lucan." He waited a little bit, his throat working. "We can still catch him; the trail hasn’t gone cold."
His name dropped into her chest like a stone into still water, ripples spreading wide. Her nose prickled before she could brace against it, and she pressed the back of her wrist to it, humiliated by how quickly the tears arrived these days.
"I’m sorry," Dimitri said at once, his tone dipping low and rough. "I’m so sorry, Bug, I shouldn’t have..."
"No." She shook her head, blinking fast. "No, it’s alright, Dimitri, I just—I want him home. That’s all."
He drew her in, chin settling against her hair, and she felt the long, measured breath he released, as though he were coaxing his own body into calm for her sake.
"We’ll bring him back," he said. "You have my word on that."
She nodded against his chest, unwilling to test her own steadiness just yet. Then, needing the distraction as much as the comfort, she asked, "Thank you. For all of it. The schedule, the checking. How are Frost and Luna?"
The tension slid out of his shoulders, like he’d been waiting for her to circle around to them. "They’re alright. They miss you. They want to see you after breakfast."
She got out a damp laugh. "Good. I miss them too."
He fed her the last of the eggs himself, so patient about it that it came apart something inside her, holding the fork just so, waiting for her to open her mouth like she was a treasure and not a grown woman perfectly able to feed herself. When she finished, he dressed her with that same careful attention, easing the summer dress over her head, smoothing the fabric down her sides, his knuckles grazing her ribs until her breath hitched.
His gaze caught on the curve of her waist beneath the pale cotton, on the way the hem drank in the morning light, and a spark flared behind the red before he wrestled it down and folded it away with obvious effort.
"You are dangerous in that dress, Bug," he muttered, mostly to the floor. "The tailor should be arrested."
A startled laugh burst out of her, wet and undignified. "There is no tailor. Voss found it in a shop."
"Then Voss should be arrested." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, mouth curving against her skin. "Later," he added, softer, and helped her to her feet.
The stairs down to the cubs’ wing stretched longer than she remembered, her legs still not quite convinced they could be trusted after everything her body had weathered. But the second she reached the bottom, she heard it, small feet slapping the wood, fast and frantic.
"Mummy!" Frost hit her first, arms clamping around her legs hard enough to knock the air clean out of her, and Luna came right behind, curls flying, her face already blotched and streaked.
"You won’t leave us now you have the babies, will you?" Frost’s words cracked apart, muffled against her dress. "Like, like our mother left us?"
Luna didn’t manage any words at all, just great heaving sobs, her fists knotted in the fabric at Felicity’s hip. Her chest split wide open. She sank down despite the pull in her back, despite how much bigger they’d grown in the year since she’d found them, and folded both of them into her arms, kissing each wet cheek in turn.
"Shhh, shhh, my loves." She held them tight, breathing them in, clean and cold mint and that ache of a smell that meant home. "You will always be my firsts. Always. I love you both more than the whole sky, do you hear me?"
Frost hiccuped, peering up at her with those pale, too-solemn features. "Really?"
"Really." She swept his hair back off his forehead. "And do you know what else? You two are going to be the finest big brother and big sister the world has ever seen. Those babies are lucky beyond measure to have you. Teddy will think you hung the moon; he will toddle after you everywhere, the exact way you both trailed after me down in the vault. Remember?"
That coaxed a giggle out of Luna, small and watery, and Frost’s shoulders inched down from around his ears.
"We’ll mind them," Luna declared, suddenly ferocious, dragging the back of her hand across her face. "We’ll be the best big sister and big brother that ever lived. Better than anyone."
"I know you will." Felicity kissed them both once more, then gathered their hands, small and toasty in hers, and let them tow her the rest of the way down the hall, toward the tangle of giggles, toward the thin, hungry cries of the babies waiting for her.
Felicity reached the door at the end of the hall and paused, her hand hovering over the handle, her heart doing something strange and fluttery against her ribs. Frost and Luna crowded in close on either side of her, still gripping her fingers, and she gave them each a small squeeze before she pushed the door open.
The nursery unfolded in front of her—five cribs in a neat row along the far wall, sunlight slanting through gauzy curtains, dust motes drifting lazily through the warm air. Ivan sat cross-legged on the floor, absurdly large against the small scatter of wooden blocks, and Teddy sat in front of him, chubby fists smacking at a tower he’d clearly just knocked down.
Voss occupied the rocking chair in the corner, Lottie cradled against one massive forearm, a bottle tipped with careful precision between her lips.
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