Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (63 page)

As it was the dead of night and no footmen
were around, it took a bit of effort to get the front doors of the
Keep opened and then closed again but when I did, I turned and saw
Frey was waiting for me at the foot of the steps with Thad, Orion
and Ruben.

I rushed down the steps straight to Frey
with only quick smiles at the guys and the moment I was close
enough, he bent to the side in the saddle, his arm curved around me
and he lifted me up in front of him. I settled my ass in his groin
as his arm tightened around my ribs, he leaned us both forward,
touched his heels to Tyr’s flanks and shouted, “
Yah!
”

And off we went to visit the elves.

* * * * *

We rode well out of Snowdon and well into a
forest because Frey told me the elfin messengers would come to him
but whatever message there was to be delivered would be delivered
at an adela tree.

So, bonus, I was going to get to see an
adela tree.

As we raced through the forest, I was seeing
I needed way more practice on Caspia as Frey and his men snaked at
a full gallop through the trees, sometimes coming so close I could
feel the wind as we whizzed by them and all the boys, as far as I
could tell, did this without hesitation using nothing but
instinct.

It was super cool.

I saw it before we hit it, the opaque mist
that looked like dense, glittering fog that shrouded the dark trees
and I noticed we were heading right to it. But as we got close,
Ruben, Thad and Orion pulled back and the minute we penetrated the
mist, the men were left behind.

“What –?” I started, twisting and looking
around Frey to see the hazy figures of the men on their mounts
quickly receding.

“The mist is created by the elves, wee one,”
Frey told me and I looked up at him. “Only I can penetrate it… and
you as you’re with me.”

Wow. Cool.

I looked forward, my heart beating that
familiar excited beat, my blood singing through my veins and this
only increased when I saw the beginnings of a golden glow that
pierced the fog. It increased as we rode into the glow, becoming
brighter and more intense until we were suddenly there.

The adela tree.

And it was
magnificent
.

Not tall, it’s thin, twirly-ended branches
rising direct from the earth for the tree had no trunk. Even though
it wasn’t tall, it was wide; its thousands of thin branches growing
up and out. And its bark glittered bright and golden, lighting the
large clearing around it almost like it was daylight, except it was
cooler, more fan-freaking-tastic daylight.

And if that wasn’t awesome enough, with an
ice blue flash and a bright white spark, mini elves were appearing
from what seemed like straight out of the earth at the base of the
tree’s stump. Once they formed, they immediately turned, touched a
glittering branch and grew to the size of a normal human right… in
front…
of my
eyes.

Unbelievably
cool.

As I watched, Frey halted Tyr at the outer
edge of the clearing and dismounted, pulling me down and setting me
on my feet beside Tyr.

“Stay here, Finnie, yes?” he said quietly, I
tore my eyes away from the elves, now numbering six with more
flashes and sparks coming from the tree, all of the elves regarding
us with ice blue eyes filled with curiosity under their feathered
caps and I looked up at him and nodded mutely.

He grinned at me and turned to Tyr.

“Stay with Finnie,” he ordered, Tyr’s
strong, sleek jaw rose up and he whinnied softly.

Frey moved into the clearing and directly to
a male elf who gave Frey the elfin salute of chin bent to the side
of his neck. Once he lifted his head, they started talking quietly
so I couldn’t hear what they were saying and the flashes and sparks
stopped coming. I counted nine elves and none except the male
talking to Frey was looking at Frey. They were all looking at
me.

I smiled and waved.

When I did, there seemed to be a low,
cheerful twitter that filled the air although none of them spoke
nor did their lips move. They looked amongst each other and then
back at me. That was when I got smiles.

Through this, Frey continued to speak with
the male elf and I saw that the discussion was intense but I wasn’t
reading bad vibes from Frey. This reading proved accurate when
suddenly they stopped speaking and both Frey and the elf turned to
look at me.

And when they did Frey smiled, broad and
white and my heart stuttered at the sight.

My husband didn’t hide his smiles from me
but I’d never seen one like that. Never like that.

Ever.

It was gorgeous.

He tipped his chin at me and gave me a flick
of his hand which told me I could approach. Without delay, I did,
quickly, making it to his side with Tyr at mine in a second.

When I arrived, Frey’s arm curled round my
waist and he pulled me close to his side before he said softly, “My
wee Finnie, it is my honor to present you to Nillen, Speaker of the
Elves.”

I looked from Frey to Nillen, who was my
height, and I smiled before whispering, “And it is my honor to meet
you, Nillen, Speaker of the Elves.”

Nillen smiled back and replied, “The honor
is mine, Seoafin of the other world, bride of our Frey.”

I inclined my head like Mother would and
told him softly, “Thank you for allowing me to come.”

“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.

Which meant I was staying.

I already knew this, what with him loving
me, and the way he did, but it was way nice having this
confirmed.

Which led me to five and that was that if
this made Frey this happy, even though it was too early for me; I
couldn’t help but share his joy.

So we were going to start a family early.
Who cared? We were going to start a family, I hadn’t had a family
in fifteen years and now I had one and not only that, it was
apparently getting bigger.

And I was staying. It was clear that I was
going nowhere and if I’d thought about it logically, I knew that
already not only with the way Frey was with me but also Aurora and
Atticus. The decision had been made by The Drakkar, this was my
family, this was my life, my world and looking up at my husband’s
handsome, ecstatically happy face, I knew I’d shot passed bliss and
was exploring new heights on that end of the happy scale.

I slid a hand around his neck to his jaw
where I glided a thumb out to touch his smiling lips as my eyes
watched.

Then I moved my gaze to his and I whispered,
“I’ve never seen you this happy.”

Instantly, Frey whispered back, “This is
because I’ve never been this happy.”

My body melted into his and I kept
whispering. “Really?”

His arms gave me another squeeze and he,
too, kept whispering. “Really, my wee Finnie. These past months
with you, I have thought there is nothing more beautiful than my
wife. Now, I know this is wrong. There is. And that is my wife
carrying our child, a child which will herald the beginning of our
family.”

Family.

Oh yeah.
Family.

I liked that.

I pressed my lips together to bite back the
sting of tears in my eyes and then I pressed my cheek to his chest
and my body to his. When I did, Frey held me closer and I felt his
jaw against the top of my knit cap.

“Love you, baby,” I said against his chest,
got another squeeze of his arms and he replied, “And I you, my
Finnie.”

I pulled in a breath and tipped my head back
again to look at him.

Then I asked haltingly, “Do you think, um…
that Mother and Father will, uh… be happy about this too?”

He smiled that gorgeous smile again, dipped
his head to touch his lips to my nose and then pulled back an inch
before he answered, “Just today Aurora asked how we were getting on
with creating the heir to the throne. She awaits good news and
tomorrow, we will delay our departure so we can have a celebratory
breakfast with them before we go.” He gave me another squeeze as I
felt my brows draw together and he finished, “She and Atticus will
be delighted.”

Okay, the good news about that was, I was
right. Atticus and Aurora were also obviously already on board with
me taking their daughter’s place.

The bad-ish news was that I didn’t think
Frey and I had been trying to create the heir to the throne, not
yet. But his words would indicate
he
did.

Or maybe just Aurora did.

I had no opportunity to think on this as
Frey gave me another squeeze and his head dipped, his lips touched
mine then slid down my cheek to my ear where he murmured, “It is
now time to get my wife and child home and warm. I could stand in
the glow of the adela and the brighter glow of this news for a
decade, my wee one, but I must take care of my family.”

My belly somersaulted again and I twisted my
neck to look at him and when I caught his eyes, I smiled.

Then I said, “Living in Lunwyn, he or she is
going to have to get used to the cold, husband.”

To which Frey returned, “As they’ll have to
get used to their parents’ loving care, wife.”

Okay, there it was again, another belly
somersault and I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread on my
face.