10. Kian

10

KIAN

A s Kian walked over to the playground, the sound of children's laughter made him smile.

Was there a better sound?

But then he saw Allegra and Evie covered in sand and laughed. "What happened? Did they decide to swim in the sand?"

"Something like that." Syssi patted the spot next to her on the bench. "Allegra was building castles, and Evie was watching, but then she decided to put her hands on her head."

"They're going to need hosing down before you even get them into the bathtub." He settled beside Syssi.

"Noted," she said, leaning into him. "Maybe that's why Evie did that. She loves taking baths with Allegra."

"They are so cute together." Amanda looked at the girls with a smile tugging on her lips. "I'm thankful to the Fates for granting us such an incredible boon as daughters who are close in age and will get to grow up together." She chuckled. "I can just imagine all the mischief they will get themselves into, with Allegra being the ringleader, of course. Evie is too sweet for her own good."

Kian couldn't argue with that. He loved Allegra's spunk and her strong personality, but he didn't look forward to her turning into a rebellious teenager who'd taken a page from her grandmother's book.

He wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

"What did Eleanor and Emmett want?" Amanda asked. "I bet they didn't request a meeting just to chat."

"No, they didn't." He smiled at Allegra, who'd just noticed that he was there, and pointed at her castle.

"Daddy, look!"

"It's beautiful, sweetheart. Daddy is so proud of you."

She beamed happily and went back to work.

"The government is terminating the paranormal program at Safe Haven," he said.

Amanda's head snapped up. "Are they moving it somewhere else?"

"No, they are terminating it. They are paying the participants part of their contract as severance pay and sending them home. "

"Did they specify a reason?" Syssi asked.

"Budget cuts."

To his surprise, Syssi relaxed against him. "That's actually good news."

"How do you figure?"

"The less interest the government has in paranormal abilities, the better," she said. "Besides, these people deserve more out of their lives than spending them in near isolation and participating in experiments."

There was truth to that. He didn't think about the paranormal program often, but when he did, he felt sorry for the small group of people who were living in limbo. "What do you think we should do with them?"

"It's quite simple. First, we need to test them for dormancy like we should have done a long time ago." She lifted her head to look at him. "Those who aren't Dormants should be released to live their lives as free citizens, and those who transition will be welcomed into our community."

"It's not as simple as you make it sound," he said. "They're all paired up into couples. We can't exactly suggest the women have sex with random immortals in hopes of inducing their transitions."

Amanda snorted. "Why not?"

"Amanda!" Syssi looked scandalized.

"What? Human couples aren't as exclusive as immortals. Some of them might be perfectly okay with it once we explain the situation. "

Kian rubbed his temples. "We can start with the males, who are easier to induce, but when they start transitioning, we will need a way to get them to a clan doctor as quickly as possible. That means either bringing them here, taking them to the keep, or sending part of our medical staff to Safe Haven."

"It was always the plan to test people at Safe Haven eventually," Amanda pointed out. "Maybe Merlin and Ronja wouldn't mind relocating there for a few weeks."

"Or we could bring just the males to the keep for testing," Syssi suggested.

Amanda shook her head. "That's not fair to the women. They should at least have the option. Explain the situation to them and let them decide. Those who refuse to have sex with anyone other than their partner will have their memories thralled away, and those who agree will be compelled to keep quiet."

"That's actually not a bad plan." Kian pulled out his phone. "Although, I hate to put them in that position. Imagine if someone told you that you had to choose between being unfaithful to your husband and losing your chance at becoming immortal."

Amanda cast him a hard look. "I would be much angrier if that someone decided that he wasn't going to tell me in order to save me the heartache and deprive me of my chance. In fact, I would be so livid that I could resort to violence. "

He shifted his gaze to Syssi, but to his surprise, she nodded. "Amanda is right."

"Well, if you both agree, who am I to argue." He typed a message to Eleanor, outlining the suggestion.

"Mama!" Allegra called. "Castle broke!"

"That's okay, sweetheart," Syssi called back. "You can build another one."

The response from Eleanor came back quickly: Will discuss options with participants after government contracts are dissolved and proceed from there.

"Eleanor is on board," Kian reported.

"Of course she is," Amanda said. "It's the most practical solution."

Kian watched as Allegra determinedly began piling up sand for a new castle, and Evie tried to help her by digging out sand and adding a few grains to the pile while losing most of it by just lifting her toy shovel.

"Some of them have interesting abilities," he said. "One of them had a weak telekinetic ability, so she could be useful for your research into Morelle's talent."

"Speaking of Morelle," Syssi said, "did you notice how exhausted she seemed?"

"It was an intense situation," Kian pointed out.

"It was more than that." Syssi pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "The expenditure of energy cost her." She turned to Amanda. "When you test her, be careful. I have a feeling that she might burn herself out by trying too hard. Don't push her, and don't let her push herself."

"I'll be careful," Amanda promised. "Having another telekinetic to compare her to will be very useful. I can measure the energy expenditure on the other female."

Kian watched his daughter abandon her castle-building efforts to help Evie dig a hole. "Sofia's ability is much weaker than Morelle's, but studying it might still provide insights."

"If Sofia transitions successfully," Amanda pointed out, "her ability might get stronger." She grinned. "It will be fun to have two strong telekinetic talents work together. They could throw a ball to each other without using their hands."

Kian laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Sofia might choose to stay faithful to her boyfriend. Besides, we need to focus on getting through this weekend's events first."

"Speaking of events," Amanda said with a sly glance at Syssi, "we were just discussing Allegra's upcoming birthday party."

Kian recognized the gleam in his sister's eyes. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing too extravagant," Amanda assured him. "Just...special."

"Special is good," he said, watching his daughter laugh as she played. "A special girl deserves a special party."

Syssi squeezed his hand. "Amanda thinks we should throw a grand party and invite Sari and David and anyone else from Scotland and the Sanctuary who wants to share in the celebration."

"Of course we should," he agreed eagerly. "The more excuses I have for dragging our stubborn sister to come visit, the better."

"That's what I said!" Amanda looked triumphant.

Syssi rolled her eyes. "I knew you'd both gang up on me about this."

"Because we're right," Amanda said. "Right, Kian?"

"Always," he agreed solemnly, then laughed when Syssi elbowed him in the ribs.

Their laughter was interrupted by a squeal from the sandbox. Evie had managed to dump a handful of sand down her shirt, and this time, she wasn't as happy about it as when she'd dumped it on her head.

Her little face was twisted in a prelude to crying, and then the tears came.

"Bath time." Amanda gathered up her daughter and lifted her shirt to dust off some of the sand, which made Evie cry even louder.

"It irritates her skin," Syssi said. "The sand sticks to her sweat and brushing it off hurts her."

"Right." Amanda just whipped the shirt off, leaving Evie bare-chested, and then blew air on her chest and tummy. "Better?" she asked .

Evie nodded and arched her little belly for more air blowing.

"Adorable," Syssi cooed.

Kian scooped Allegra into his arms and kissed her cheeks as Syssi collected the sand toys and dumped them onto the bottom shelf of the stroller.

"Daddy." Allegra cupped his cheeks.

"Yes, sweetie?"

She just smiled and planted a slobbery kiss on his cheek.