Page 106 of The Wolf and Her Shadows

The pirate captain’s gaze drifts over to his beastfolk lovers, each one now carrying a sleeping goblin in their arms. “No, Your Highness. Thank you.”

She gives him a stiff nod, then heads toward the hatch that’ll take us below deck. Halfway there, Kali and Stephan wordlessly fall in behind us, a child cradled protectively in each of their arms as well. When I send the blonde woman a knowing smile over Vannaria’s shoulder, she immediately averts her gaze, clutching the devilkin girl tighter against her chest.

I have a good feeling Stephan and Kali are going to make wonderful parents.

Hooking the toe of her boot into the metal handle, Vannaria pulls the small wooden door open and carefully begins making her way down the stairs. I’m honestly a bit shocked to see that the interior of the ship is brightly lit and I have to blink several times before my vision can adjust. Once I’m able to see again, I realize there are several balls of light hovering in the air.

I wonder if they’re Bolabar’s doing, or if Trick’s other crew members have magic as well?

I’m given an answer when the grumpy old dwarf steps out from behind a large wooden beam at the far end of the space and mutters, “Lemme know when ye ready te sleep and I’ll extinguish de lights. Beds are over dere.” He nods towards a row of decently sized cots to our left, then to several hammocks hanging between more wooden beams to our right. “Hammocks dere. Breakfast is at dawn, but I doubt any o’ ye will be up for et. Lunch is at noon.”

With that, he turns around and falls face first onto the cot he’d been standing next to, instantly beginning to snore softly. We all exchange amused looks with one another, then my friends begin tucking the children into the nearest bed while Vannaria carries me over to one in the center of the row.

“Will this suffice? Or would you sleep in one of the hammocks?” she whispers, gently laying me down on the surprisingly soft cot.

In lieu of a vocal response, I wrap my arms around her neck and use whatever strength I have left to drag her onto the small bed with me. Chuckling softly, she pries my hands off of her so she can remove all of our weapons, placing them neatly on the floor beside us. Once she’s done the same with our boots, she obediently lays back down beside me. I waste no time in resting my head back on her chest and my eyes immediately drift closed as soon as I hear her familiar steady heartbeat.

Right as sleep is about to take me, I feel her place a soft kiss on my forehead and whisper, “Sleep well, Your Majesty.”

Several hours later, Vannaria and I are both jolted awake at the sound of an ear-splitting scream. We instinctually scramble for our weapons, but then Kali says, “Shh, you’re alright. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” Her tone is so gentle that even without looking I know she’s talking to one of the children.

Which means the scream had also come from one of them.

Slowly lowering my swords back to the floor, I glance over my shoulder at Vannaria to ensure she’s put her bow down as well before shifting my gaze to the cot the children had been placed in. They’re both sitting upright now with their arms wrapped tightly around each other and their wide eyes locked on Kali.

“Who are you?” the boy asks, doing his best to sound intimating even as his voice trembles. “What do you want with us?”

“My name is Kali.” Smiling softly, she drops down onto her knees to put herself at eye level with them both before nodding toward Vannaria and I. “My friend saw you sleeping in that cell and thought you might like to go on an adventure with us.”

Two sets of eyes turn toward us, and we both offer them small waves. Considering how young they are, their looks of confusion when they see Vannaria are entirely understandable. Subtly nodding toward the elf, I cup my hand around my mouth and conspiratorially whisper, “She’s a prince.”

The little devilkin girl gasps, turning her wide-eyed gaze on her brother as she excitedly squeals, “Like in the story you told me!”

He nods enthusiastically before narrowing his eyes into an adorable glare and doing his best to be a good protective older brother by asking, “What kind of adventure.” His stern expression falters. “Are we on a ship?”

“We are,” Kali confirms, her smile widening. “As a matter of fact, it’s a pirate ship.”

“A pirate ship!” both children exclaim before scrambling off the end of the bed.

“Can we meet the captain?” the boy asks, at the same time the girl squeals, “I wanna see the water!”

While the children continue bombarding her with questions, Kali stands back up, laughing softly as she allows them to drag her toward the stairs that will lead them to the main deck. I can’t help but to smile as I watch them go. Seems I was right after all.

A tap on my shoulder has my attention returning to the woman in bed beside me. There’s a soft smile on her gorgeous face as well as she asks, “Would it be wildly inappropriate of me if I were to ask if we could go back to sleep for a few more hours?”

I shake my head, leaning over to give her a soft kiss. “Not at all, My Love.” Hearing how scratchy my voice is, I glance toward her enchanted bag on the floor beside the bed. “But, do you happen to have a waterskin in that bag of yours? It seems as though we did a horrible job of staying hydrated yesterday.”

Nodding, she reaches over and pulls the requested waterskin from the satchel, offering it to me with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I should’ve done a better job of tending to your needs on our journey.”

Making sure my fingers sensually caress hers as I take the water, I whisper, “Oh, I’d say you tended to my needs perfectly, my loyal subject.” My eyes widen and whatever other flirtatious nonsense I’d been about to say is forgotten as I blurt out, “Oh my gods we left the horses on the deck of the ship last night!”

Vannaria’s eyes widen as well, and she immediately disappears in a swirl of shadow. I’m about to scramble out of bed and rush to the deck after her before she reappears just as suddenly, the relief evident on her face. “They’re fine. Apparently the hyenafolk, Kovo, took them down into the cargo hold last night. They’re currently enjoying a bit of fresh hay and seemed a bit annoyed at their meal being interrupted.”

“Remind me to thank him later.” I take a long drink from the waterskin before offering it back to her. “I was so exhausted last night all I could think about was finding somewhere to sleep.”

“As was I.” She drinks her fill of water as well, then mutters, “Still am actually.”

“Well, then hurry up and put that away so we can go back to sleep.” I wait for her to do as I said and lay back down before cuddling back up to her. “How long does it take to sail from here to Cyrel?”