Before Nasha and Amara could collapse into a whirlwind of enthusiasm, I managed to extract an answer from the beagle about her presence. She told me she was at the grumpy couple’s house to help out by feeding and generally taking care of the animals.

  Unfortunately, my interruption was quickly forgotten. Soon Nasha was asking Amara about how cute Alys was as a baby, and my heart quailed at the dangerous gleam in Amara’s eye.

  Our salvation arrived in the form of one very grumpy dwarf tearing open the door to Nelaeryn’s house.

  “What’s going on out here?! Can’t a man spend a peaceful morning with his wife?”

  “Sorry, Hagmar!” Nasha exclaimed, looking admittedly contrite. “Didn’t mean to bother you. Is Nelaeryn okay?!”

  “Of course she’s okay, lass. You just startled us a little, is all.”

  The dwarf’s eyes panned away from the beagle and onto the rest of us.

  “Well now. We’ve got a right bloody party in our yard.” He shook his head, amusement peeking through his expression as he turned towards the door. “Come on in, then. It’ll be a little tight, but we’ll manage.”

  “No it won’t be.” Alys dragged me after Hagmar, likely eager to eliminate any chances of her mother and Nasha picking up steam on their previous topic. “There’s plenty of space. I built the place, so I know that much.”

  The dwarf scoffed. “Aye, but it was empty when you built it. Then Nelaeryn moved in. I swear, she likes to collect everything she comes across.”

  “Oi, are you talking behind my back again?!” his wife shouted from further inside the house.

  The dwarf scowled. “I’ll talk to your face, too! Throw some of this garbage out, elf!”

  “Garbage?! Why you —”

  We stepped fully inside the house just in time to cut off a full shouting match. One look at the place told me that Hagmar had a bit of a point.

  All around, bits and pieces of furniture lay scattered in their own little niches. One part of the space was dedicated to a seating area, with different chairs arrayed around three coffee tables. Another had two somewhat lumpy sofas pushed together. The rest of the room was dedicated to both standing and wall-mounted shelves, all filled with knickknacks and objects I could only assume were decorations, since they certainly didn’t have any practical uses.

  Then again, maybe there was some kind of elf magic that required thirty different shiny rocks of all shapes and sizes? I doubted it, but maybe.

  The clearest space was the area dedicated to cooking and dining. A stove and a cabinet stood next to a large table and four chairs, all of them mismatched. Honestly, every single piece of furniture looked like it came from a different house. I knew for a fact that Alys liked to pick a themed design and then stick to it when crafting items for people’s homes.

  My dragoness had paused upon entering the house, and then experienced something akin to a full-body cringe. An expression flickered over her face that briefly made me fear for the life of the pregnant elf.

  “Oooh, what a unique and interesting home you’ve got!” Amara chirped, sounding genuinely appreciative.

  Alys experienced another of those full-body cringes.

  “Thank you! At least someone appreciates my efforts.” Nelaeryn glared at her husband, who threw his arms skyward as if begging for patience and guidance. “Alys just makes so many fascinating things that I felt like I had to have more than one design around!”

  She had certainly succeeded in that. But after living in Alys’ carefully themed and organized house, the wide variety of chair shapes and decorations was making my brain stutter. I almost felt like I was back at Court again. The homes of some fae were… let us say, those fae would gladly accept and praise Nelaeryn for her genius.

  At least, they would praise the elf before trying to trick or goad her into eternal servitude.

  Amara, meanwhile, was simply preening. “My daughter is very talented, yes.”

  Nelaeryn’s eyebrows shot up. “Your daughter? Oh, where are my manners! Please, come in. Sit. Pull up a chair; we’ve got plenty.”

  “Too dang many,” Hagmar grumbled under his breath, moving past his wife and into the kitchen to lift a steaming kettle. “Tea? And it’s nice to meet all you folks. Name’s Hagmar, and that pain in my neck over there is Nelaeryn.”

  “You weren’t complaining about what I was doing to your neck last night when I —”

  “Ahem!” The dwarf flushed scarlet, then made an effort to pretend his wife hadn’t spoken. “Tea?”

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  “Yes, please!” Amara said cheerfully. Nasha nodded right alongside her. Soren politely accepted, while Alys and I declined with equal politeness.

  It took a moment for us to acquire chairs and seat ourselves around the table. But we did indeed manage, as Alys had claimed we would, and with space to spare.

  “This is excellent! Very earthy, yet with notes of sweetness,” Amara praised after taking a sip of her tea.

  This drew a bright smile from Nelaeryn. “Thank you! It is a family blend. I’d gladly share some with Alys’ mother, if you’d like. However, if you don’t mind me asking… what brought you to us this morning?”

  “A couple of things,” I cut in, extracting the box of carefully packed immune system boosting powder doses. I would have brought along some honey ginger candies also, but I knew she had been added to the list of people receiving those regularly from the town supplies. “To start with, I wanted to deliver these personally.”

  “Ah! Thank you, truly. Those powders have been… well, ‘amazing’ does not quite begin to cover it!” Nelaeryn laughed. “I feel so much stronger and healthier!”

  For a moment, I just took her in. Truthfully, the elf looked radiant. There was not a single trace of exhaustion on her face. Her skin and complexion were both visibly healthy. She’d filled out a little, too. Even with the flowing robe she was currently wearing, the swell of her stomach was noticeable.

  That did cause a moment of concern to flare up in me. She shouldn’t have been showing that noticeably so early in her pregnancy. Still, she looked so generally healthy that my worry didn’t last long.

  “That is a relief. Would you mind if I examine you again?” I asked. Better to be safe than sorry, and I had promised to keep her and her child healthy. “It will be no more invasive than last time.”

  “Of course! Please, go ahead. You have already helped so much.”

  Nelaeryn’s instant agreement made me feel odd. As a fae, to have so much trust extended to me by someone outside of my immediate family was… unexpected, to say the least. Then again, they didn’t exactly know I was a full-blooded fae, did they?

  “Thank you,” is what I settled on saying. I extended my hand, and she placed hers in my grasp with no hesitation.

  I took a moment to steady and focus myself. Then I unleashed my diagnostic spells, this time prepared for the resonance that welled up from deep within Nelaeryn’s body. Since I knew what to expect, I managed to avoid letting my mana interact with the curse, which allowed me to focus fully on her body’s condition.

  For the most part, everything was as it should have been. Nelaeryn was healthy, and only growing healthier. The damage the curse had managed to do was already reversed. And while I wouldn’t let my guard down around something wrought by Autumn himself, I was satisfied with what I’d achieved.

  What surprised me wasn’t exactly bad news, either. Simply… surprising.

  “Well, congratulations.” I released Nelaeryn’s hand and leaned back into my chair, my dragoness pressing herself into my side immediately. “You are perfectly healthy, from what I can tell. The curse is fully suppressed. Though, I have some interesting news for you.”

  “Hmm? What’s wrong?” Hagmar demanded immediately, having kept a careful eye on me and his wife as he gripped his hands together on the table.

  How the man had ever thought he could hide his affection for the elf was beyond me.

  “Oh, nothing is wrong. But you are going to have twins.”

  For a moment, Nelaeryn looked like she was about to pass out. Hagmar had frozen too, eyes going wide in shock.

  “Twins?” Nelaeryn repeated.

  I couldn’t help but grin. “Indeed.”

  Amara and Nasha both exploded into a flurry of congratulations. The stunned parents-to-be weathered it with the detached serenity of people unable to wrap their minds around something in the slightest.

  Soren just looked amused as he stood up and clapped the dwarf on the shoulder. “You look like you need something stronger than tea, my friend. Want me to fetch it for you?”

  “Aye… thanks. You’ll find some in the cupboard, top shelf,” the dwarf muttered, much to my amusement and his wife’s disapproving glare.

  “You’re going to drink while I can’t join you?!”

  Hagmar looked sheepish for all of a few seconds before he made up his mind. “For this? Aye, I will. Didn’t expect two little ones when we thought we’d be getting one. Don’t think I’m upset or anything, just…” He looked at me. “Ya sure?”

  I nodded. “Very much so, yes. There are two additional mana signatures tangled with your wife’s. You are most definitely having twins.”

  “Well… yeah, I’m drinking to that!”

  Soren placed cups and a bottle of some clear liquid on the table. My nose wrinkled just from the dwarf opening the bottle. When he started pouring, my expression graduated to a mild grimace. The stuff smelled like some of the pure alcohol I used in my lab on occasion.

  In spite of that, both Soren and Amara happily accepted a cup each. Amara, in particular, looked thrilled to have a cup of spirits potentially lethal to some mortal races. Nasha quickly backed out of having any when Hagmar offered, as did I.

  Amusingly, he started pouring a cup for Alys without even asking before my dragoness intervened.

  “I won’t be having any either, Hagmar.”

  “Ya sure?” He shook the bottle lightly. “I remember you like this stuff.”

  “Yes. I’ll refrain, in solidarity with Nelaeryn,” my dragoness reassured him.

  “Thank you! See, husband? That’s how you show care,” the elf groused, drawing giggles from Amara and an eye roll from her husband.

  “I just feel it’s only right.” Alys spoke casually, but I could hear the mischief in her voice immediately. “I mean, if you’re not going to drink while pregnant, it seems right that I abstain as well, even if alcohol doesn’t really affect pregnant draconians the way it does most mortal races.”

  There was a hum of solidarity from Nelaeryn, who was looking longingly at the alcohol. Then she, Nasha, and Hagmar all paused.

  The elf’s wide eyes slowly panned over to my very smug-looking dragoness.

  “Wait. Are you saying that you are…?”

  “Pregnant? Yes, I am.” Alys grinned toothily and even sent Nelaeryn a little wink. “I guess my kid is going to have one extra friend to play with, hrrrmm?”

  The eruption of Nasha-noises was expected, but I had not anticipated Nelaeryn’s squeal of excitement, followed by a suspiciously sob-like sound of relief as she lunged from her chair to smother my dragoness in a hug. Nasha was vibrating next to her, somehow having failed to reach my dragoness before the elf and thereby left with no clear angle of attack.

  Amara and Soren were watching us with warm smiles on their faces. I could not speak for my father-in-law, but I thought I could interpret Amara’s expression. Her face shone with happiness and relief, both coming from the same source: the fact that her daughter already had friends to surround herself with, instead of isolating herself in her grandmother’s lair.

  I had already resolved to fulfill the promise I gave Amara, of course, but seeing her like that only strengthened my determination.

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