46. Stella

46

STELLA

As the days pass, we find a comfortable pattern together. Pressures from the territory plague us, and pregnancy symptoms still suck, but we fall together like puzzle pieces.

Stoneheart has to go out to meetings with people in the territory but always comes home early enough to force me not to overwork and to find food items that at least sound appetizing.

His hand on my stomach while we fall asleep helps the worst of my anxiety.

And feeling gross is easier to handle when a growly gargoyle is holding you. It doesn’t make the ache for Ben hurt less, but I can at least focus on getting more charms done, and Stoneheart doesn’t even make too much of a fuss about me delivering them.

I munch on my cereal, figures that sugary cereal is what settles best right now, and frown at my phone.

Stoneheart makes a sound and finishes chewing his omelet that I can’t look too closely at, or I won’t be able to finish my breakfast.

“What’s bothering you?” he asks.

“My mom wants to meet up. She’ll even venture into the territory for it.” Which is a surprise because I’ve never known her to pass the border here after leaving when she was cast out.

“And you don’t want to?” he asks. “She’s probably heard about the pregnancy.”

I’d be shocked if she hadn’t. The official news of the pregnancy and Stoneheart naming the baby his heir had spread through the territory like wildfire.

Despite my worries that the parentage would cause upset, I’ve received very warm congratulations any time I go out.

“It’s not that I don’t want to see her,” I say. Mom was the first one I wanted to ask for advice when I found out I was pregnant. “But she made me doubt. I don’t want to go on that emotional rollercoaster again.”

It’s why I haven’t called to tell her the news myself. Her caustic words about an heir linger.

But she’s making the effort.

Stoneheart rubs my back. “Do you still have the same doubts?”

“No.” I’m doing the things I set out to do. The sentiment in the territory already feels better than just a few days ago. The voting is in about a week, and I’m hopeful it will work out no matter who tries to interfere.

“It’s your choice,” Stoneheart says. “But I don’t want you to feel lacking for anything, including your mother. Even if she doesn’t like me.”

I bite my lip, deciding. “It would be good to touch base with her.”

“I’ll send Fiona to tail you.”

Silas, who is on the other side of the dining table working on his phone stiffens.

“Three bodyguards are a bit much,” I say. “I’ll already have Andrew and Connors.”

Fiona has let me rest up since getting pregnant but threatens that it’s only a matter of time before we’re back to training in the mornings. I’m positive she’s a sadist.

Stoneheart makes a noncommittal noise, and I roll my eyes.

“I’m sure there’s a better job she could be doing.

“Perhaps, but it’s been too quiet.” He shrugs.

“That’s not a reason to be paranoid,” I say. “We can’t just keep expecting the worst of everyone here.”

I spin my wedding ring the whole way to the coffee shop Mom and I selected to meet at. The metals hum at me in comfort and loyalty. Stoneheart did select the perfect gift to me. Even the ring he placed on my thumb to protect against long-range attacks hums sweetly in time. That one still gives me hints of obsession and want.

I have to keep from messing with that one too much unless I want to get horny.

We haven’t had sex since Ben left. I’d be worried, but with how awful I feel all the time, it’s hardly a sign of a broken relationship.

We’ll find our way back to each other eventually. I’m planning my own courtship gift.

I’ve slowly been working on a project after finishing with charms each day. I justify the energy expenditure because it’s really not that much to craft a charm in the beginning stages. I’ll wait until after the voting to really layer on some of the intentions I’m wanting.

I feel guilty about breaking apart the labradorite. The least I can do is use one of the pieces to give Stoneheart a replacement for the ring he gave me with some more protections interwoven in. I pass the time thinking about metal mixtures and what would look best with his other rings to distract myself from nerves.

When the car stops, I’m out in a blur and ducking into the building. The café is cozy with plush armchairs and little nooks for privacy.

I see her near the window, and my steps quicken without me meaning to. She stands and hugs me tightly. The doubts and ugly feelings from before wash away under her embrace.

“I’m so sorry,” she says into my hair. “I let my anger and fear run the show.”

My throat swells as I breathe in her green scent. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“You already apologized.” She continues, “I didn’t mean to imply you were a bad leader. You can always do anything you put your mind to.”

I pull back, hesitant to let go.

“Do you mean it?” The question slips out of me no matter that I just assured Stoneheart this morning that I’d quieted those doubts.

Her smile is all wry pride. “You don’t need me to answer that. Your choices aren’t what I would have chosen, but that’s what makes you unstoppable. You’ve already been quite busy from what I hear.”

I blush.

“Here, sit. I got you a chai. The ginger will help your stomach.”

I sit awkwardly, but the spices wafting from the hot cup in front of me are welcome. “It’s not like you didn’t predict that an heir would be an issue.”

“Hush. It was wrong of me to assume so many things about your situation.”

“I understand why you did.”

She swallows and puts a hand to her chest. “Thank you. It did hit a little close to home for me, but I want us to be past that. I don’t want that history to haunt this new future.”

A tightness in my chest releases. I want that too. A lot.

“So…” she starts. “I’ve heard the news.”

“What have you heard?” I ask more to establish what the gossip is saying rather than to hide the truth from her.

Mom laughs. “Well, there are a few rumors going around, but the loudest is that you’re pregnant by someone in your clan and that Stoneheart claims the child as his heir.”

I nod. Ben’s scent is mostly unknown since he’d been wearing the charm nearly the whole time he was here. It would make sense that they don’t quite know who fathered the baby.

“It’s not quite so clean cut…” I trail off.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

My lower lip trembles for a moment, and I shake my head. I don’t want to talk about Ben. Maybe someday it will be easier to talk about, and I’ll go over the whole story, but he’s out of the picture now, and every day he stays gone emphasizes that.

“Were you scared of becoming a mom?” I ask.

“Oh, honey.” Her face softens. “Of course I was, but then you were here, and you were…everything. Just like this baby is going to be everything.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. You’re in the process of wrangling a whole territory. You can do this part. You have help.” She squeezes my hand in comfort.

“Sometimes I feel like if I didn’t have Stoneheart supporting me that I’d spiral out of control,” I confess, but feel better. This was the side of my mom I’ve missed the most.

Mom’s lips curve. “He’s an interesting fellow. A little cold, but it was reassuring when he visited me.”

I frown. “He visited you? When?”

“A few days ago. It gave me quite a fright in my garden at first.” Her mouth thins. “Carl must have been nearby because he made a show like he was going to protect me from his boss.”

She shakes her head. “But Stoneheart apologized for not meeting me before the nuptials and made promises that you would have everything you ever needed.”

Her mouth quirks, and I hang on every word. “He implored me to forgive that you hid so much from me, said that it all came about so quickly. It was a short visit.”

I blink. “I didn’t know.”

A few days ago, we weren’t speaking. While I’d closed myself off in my workshop, he’d reached out to her. We’d just lost Ben, and he’d thought to make sure I had all the other support I needed.

I’m touched.

Mom nods. “I already knew I needed to apologize, but meeting him, knowing that history wasn’t repeating itself, made it all easier. Now if only he’d do something about his watchdog.”

There’s a twist to her mouth that isn’t for Stoneheart.

“You know,” I start. “Carl went against Stoneheart’s orders when he didn’t tell him you were coming home early. He’s obviously very into you.”

She rolls her eyes. “He followed me here.”

I raise my brows and look around, finding him in the back of the café, reading a paper. I feel better that someone is watching out for her, but if she’s uncomfortable around him…

“Do you want Stoneheart to recall him?”

She blows out a breath in frustration, conflict marring her features before they smooth. “No. I…I like him around.”

I tilt my head. “I’ve always liked him. I’m sorry he lied and is Stoneheart’s man.”

She shrugs. “Stoneheart says he’s my man now. I was a little afraid to ask him what he means.”

“Probably that his loyalty is to you before Stoneheart.” Which makes sense with how he moved to protect her from Stoneheart.

She changes the subject to ask about where I’m living now, and I talk about the penthouse and all Stoneheart’s people who are now mine that I live with.

Eventually our cups are empty, and we hug each other goodbye. I have to get back to delivering charms, and she has her emotions about a certain wolf shifter to figure out.

I feel lighter when I climb into the car.

The disturbance in my middle hums against my magic, and I move to soothe it without thinking.

“Grandma loves you,” I say and inhale, letting the worst of my expectations disintegrate. For all that I lectured Stoneheart about expecting the worst from people, I’m not much better. “And one of your dads is ready to go to war to protect you. We aren’t alone.”

I can do this.

I look out on the streets as they pass. The paranormal beings who notice the car tilt their heads in acknowledgment.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I say more to myself than the barely-there baby.

I frown. It takes a full minute to clock what feels off.

The car is going the wrong way.

I press the intercom button. “Hey, Andrew, the charm delivery is nearer to the Firefly, not farther away.”

Connors isn’t in the passenger seat. How did I miss that?

The hair on the back of my neck raises.

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” Andrew says. It sounds like him, but the tone of his voice sounds wrong. There’s a cruel mockery to it when he’s usually painfully respectful.

I keep my breathing even and check my phone. No service. There’s probably something blocking the signal.

No calling for help.

Now that I’m not distracted, the protective magic that usually intertwines around the car is off. The charms instead of just keeping people out are now tightened to keep me in.

I’ve stepped into a trap.