“Does making a child work the same for us as it does humans?”
His lips curled under my thumb. “I wouldn’t put you in such a position. It only happens with fae if you will it to.”
“Magic?”
“Magic that would take days and two tomes to explain.”
I chuffed. “Old Jo in the Dip would have shanked someone for that kind of magic.”
“She wished for children?”
“She wished for none.”
He grinned. “Though there is a saying…”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Between Seelie and Unseelie, we forget our oaths in the dark.”
“I guess that explains my parentage.” I paused; my pulse quickened. “Dorian…”
He pressed his lips to mine. Slow, soft. When he pulled back, his eyes were as gentle as I’d ever seen them. “Yes, Eurydice. I would will it to, if you wished.”
If I wished. What heart wouldn’t rise to that kind of proclamation? With Dorian, I would will it. Only with him. And yet…
The wide world closed in. The courts conspired. Queens sat their thrones with their chins on their hands and considered how best to end me.
Children meant vulnerability. Theywerevulnerable by nature.
“Eury.” Dorian’s nose touched mine. “The future isn’t with us. It isn’t real. Only we are.”
He was right. I had to stay tethered; he kept me here in the present. And the present was an enormous bouquet offered to me.
“Hold me,” I said.
His arm tightened on me. “I am.”
“Every night.”
“And every day, if you like.”
“Do you swear it?”
His brows drew together. He seemed to sense my feeling, and his forehead touched mine. “Always, rabbit. I swear it.”
CHAPTER SIXTY
Eurydice
I stoodnaked on the balcony under a softly rising sun. Tree by tree caught light, and the birds came to life. Here in the autumn court, I’d begun to understand we were always in early autumn—that space between summer and deep fall when the leaves were still at their greenest and the air didn’t bite.
My fingers tightened on the rail. All of this my domain, truly now; for the first time, I felt like its queen.
“That’s a sight to wake to,” came a rumble behind me. Then arms around my exposed chest and Dorian’s warm body pressed against the back of mine. “Imagine a servant catching sight of you.”
I leaned back. “And if they did?”
“It would be the talk of the scullery.” His head came to rest atop mine. “But they wouldn’t dare say a word in the presence of the Courtbreaker.”