Eli hesitated, but then he took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, but then, you know, the Apocalypse happened, and, well…”
Danilynn walked over and took Eli’s hands in hers. “Elias Sorivar, are you trying to ask me on a date?”
“No,” the half-corlyps said with a shake of his head, surprising both of the women before him. “Dates are for people who don’t know each other yet. I don’t need to court you, Danilynn: I want to know if you’ll be my mate. I want to know if you can live with the fact that I’m a half-corlyps, and if you might want to have kids with me.”
Danilynn ran her fingers along Eli’s jaw. “I’ve waited for so long for you to tell me how you feel,” she said quietly, and she gave his hands a tender squeeze. “Let’s get reacquainted, and see to the rescue of Se’sasha, and then we’ll take things as they come.”
Eli nodded, his expression one of anxiety mixed with relief. “Can… can I kiss you?”
“I’ve been waiting twelve years for you to kiss me,” Danilynn said. “Don’t keep me waiting too much longer.”
Kari smiled and left the room. She made her way back to the temple’s main chamber to give the two a couple of minutes alone. She sighed wistfully in the quiet chapel of Garra Ktarra and glanced up at the glowing green eyes that stared at her impassively, and she thought of her mate and child. Grakin wouldn’t be happy with any plan that involved Kari going to the underworld, and neither would any of the rest of her family. It was an inherently risky proposition, but the fact that they would be relying on information from a demon if they decided to go made it so much worse.
As she thought about it more, though, Kari looked at it from a different perspective. Se’ceria had given her life to protect the people of Citaria and asked one small favor in return. To ignore or refuse that favor would be an insult to the woman’s sacrifice and memory. Kari thought of her own child, and what she would want others to do for her son if the worst ever happened to her. She would want someone to protect her child from further harm and make sure that her sacrifice made her son’s life better, not worse.
Before they had even left Sarchelete, let alone spoken with Amastri, Kari made her decision. She didn’t tell Eli and Danilynn, though. She wanted to make sure they were thorough in finding out all they could from Amastri and whatever other sources they had.
They flew the griffons back to DarkWind, Danilynn riding with Eli in a specially crafted double saddle. The high priest hadn’t been happy to see Danilynn go, but he was surprisingly supportive of her decision, and had blessed their journey. The trip was long, but not terribly so, as the speed of the griffons coupled with avoiding ground obstacles and wild creatures saved them a lot of time. It took a couple of weeks to return to DarkWind even on the griffons, but it would’ve taken months had they traveled on foot or by horse.
Kari tried to give Danilynn and Eli what privacy she could during the trip back, letting them romance each other as much as possible while on the road. At times it seemed they had never been apart, and Kari wondered exactly why Eli had never gone to see Danilynn in the three years since the Apocalypse. She thought it was at least partially on account of his race, as he still seemed a bit unsure of himself where the priestess was concerned.
Day by day, though, Kari could see his self-confidence growing, and the love that Danilynn felt for him was obvious. Kari was glad the two were still relatively young, and that their love might blossom with children if they so desired—Eli had already said he did.
Once they arrived in DarkWind, they set the griffons free outside of the city. Muireann and Dougal were hesitant to leave, and though Kari tried to “remember” how to say farewell in that avian tongue, the words wouldn’t come to her. Kari dismissed them with a bow of her head and a gesture to take wing. With the majestic creatures on their way home, Kari led her friends into DarkWind and toward her home.
“Kari!” Grakin called as he rose from his rocking chair. He dashed along the porch and down the stairs before Kari could even start to ascend. He nearly bowled her over wrapping her in a hug. She returned the embrace in full and held him for a few minutes. She basked in his love and the warmth of his half-guardian body, and she sniffed at his shoulder and neck, taking in his masculine scent mixed with that of their child. As she smelled their son upon Grakin, Kari could already imagine the child’s hands upon her, his playful laughter in her ears.
“Where’s Little Gray?” she whispered.
“He is upstairs, taking his nap,” Grakin said. “Who are your friends?”
Kari introduced Eli and Danilynn, and the two priests bowed to each other graciously. “Eli helped me find and kill the succubus in Barcon, and Danilynn came back with us to look into another matter,” Kari told her mate. She could see he was staring at the scar that ran down her chin, so she gave him a look to let him know not to get too worked up or ask any questions just now. “Is everyone else home? Did Erik get back from Topo yet?”
“Yes, Erik has returned home, but he is at the campus with Typhonix,” Grakin answered. “Mother is at the temple, Aeligos is out… somewhere, Serenjols is with his lady friend, and Sonja is still at her studies with Gareth Maelstrom. I have not seen her for nearly a week.”
Kari sighed. “Well, I need to check in at the campus, and then I need to go meet with someone with Eli and Danilynn.” She turned to her two friends and asked, “Will you two excuse me? I want to go up and see my son.”
“Yeah, sure, go right ahead,” Eli said, and Danilynn agreed.
“Your friends may join me inside for some lemonade,” Grakin said. Eli and Danilynn followed the priest in behind Kari, who wasted no time in rushing up the stairs.
Little Gray sat right up when Kari approached down the hallway. “Mama!” he squealed, and Kari dashed in and picked him up, holding him tight to her. She squeezed him for a couple of minutes and danced silently around the room with him in her arms. She separated from him enough to rub her nose against his, and he giggled before asking her in the rir tongue, “Did you kill the monsters, Mama?”
“Yes, I did,” she replied in the rir tongue. “The monster is all gone now.”
Kari heard someone enter the house downstairs. She hoped it was Sonja. She hadn’t seen her sister-in-law in over a month. She’d be just as happy if it turned out to be any of her other in-laws, especially Erik, who she’d also not seen for over a month. Absently, Kari walked over and nudged the reading chair back into the corner. Who kept moving it so that it partially blocked the doorway? After she did so, the footsteps coming up the staircase revealed Irressa, the young shakna-rir demonhunter.
“Good afternoon, Initiate,” Kari greeted her. “What brings you here?”
“Greetings, Lady Vanador,” Irressa said with a salute. “I apologize for bothering you at home, but there were some things I discovered while you were gone, regarding that gnoll in the ducal army. I thought it might have some bearing on the mission you’ve just returned from, so I wanted to come see you when I heard you had returned to the city.”
Kari chuckled. “I guess flying in on a griffon does attract attention. Let me just put my son back down for his nap, and we can go downstairs and speak.”