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"Come!" Talin called.
The door eased open, and Maela stepped in with her son on her hip. "Hey, I was hoping..." Her words died as her eyes landed on Wraythe's bare chest. "Oh!" And she turned around quickly.
Wraythe chuckled. "You're fine, Maela. I'm just changing shirts."
"I didn't mean to intrude," she mumbled.
Wraythe headed over to her, reaching around her shoulder to lift Haryth from her arms. "I'm a priest. It's my chest. Now come in and sit down, and let me play with my nephew."
She looked up at him with the sweetest smile I'd ever seen on that woman. Hearing Wraythe claim Haryth as family seemed to touch something inside her. Probably because none of us saw him as their heir. We saw him as a boy, and one who deserved to have more affection than any of us had received as kids.
"He likes to play with the little horsey," Maela admitted, pointing to the mantle.
Talin immediately grabbed it. "Ela, get Wraythe a shirt, would ya? Wraythe? Let him push this around the floor." Talin offered it to Haryth. "And if you break the other ear, you'll be just like your uncle Talin, right?"
"Ta!" Haryth said.
Talin's mouth opened. "Did he just..."
"He's trying to learn all the words," Maela admitted. "He has Mama down, but he tries to call most men Papa. Tath refuses to respond to it, saying he should be called 'Father' instead."
"Just like our old man," Talin grumbled. "It sounds more proper, he'd always say."
Wraythe set the boy and the toy on the ground, then squatted down to show him how to roll it. Haryth giggled in the way of year-and-a-half-old boys, then took over. Wraythe just rumpled the kid's dark hair. Maela, however, reached down to trace the dark lines that ran across Wraythe's shoulders.
"Which Path is this?" she asked.
"Obligation is my arms," Wraythe said, "but it ties into Protection. Zeal says that protection is my obligation, so it makes sense." Then he turned his front toward her. "And I got Word at the end of last semester. Never thought I'd have Word, but he wants us all to be on Temptation with Nari."
"It's beautiful," she told him just as I made it over to hand him a shirt. "I've only ever seen a priest's hands. I wasn't sure how the rest worked."
"Back for Protection," I explained. "Hips and groin for Body. Action is on our legs. Other temples have slightly different locations, but they're all distinct so the markings we're given make our purpose in our temples clear."
"And having all of them means he wants you to do what is necessary to further his goals, right?" she asked.
I nodded, catching her by the shoulders to steer her towards one of the chairs. "Maela, ignore his chest. What's on your mind?"
She blew out a breath. "I don't want Nari to sleep with Tath. Not because of what any of you are thinking, but because it's not fair to her."
"I'm fine," Nari assured her. "I promise I've had worse partners."
"It's still not right for him to use his title to make this happen," she insisted. "I also wanted to make sure that you know I don't care. I'm so tired of his lies and his crap. I fell in love with a man who was spontaneous and a little dangerous. He wanted to sneak out at night to take me on a ride under the stars. He would laugh about so many things. Now, I can't remember the last time he laughed with me. He constantly cuts me down, trying to remind me that my job is to make him more babies - forgetting that he has to help with that." Then she touched her stomach.
Nari's lips curled into a smile. "Maela, are you pregnant?"
"I am," she admitted. "Barely, but I am. Zeal agreed to make it happen, and the one night I got him to share my bed, it did."
"How far along?" I asked.
Her mouth opened, but no words came out. It was like she was trying to figure out how to politely explain that to me.
So I knelt down before her. "How long since you missed your monthly cycle? Trust me, I know about these things, I'm not bothered by them, and I've had it drilled into me how very normal it is to talk about. Shalsa wouldn't tolerate anything else, you know."
That seemed to be all she needed to hear. "I'm two weeks late," she said. "I haven't told anyone, but the maids are starting to notice. I think I can avoid admitting it until after the holidays, though."
"So you have the spare," I said. "I know it's not guaranteed, but Zeal is involved. I think that's as close to certain as you can be." Then I reached up for her hand, holding it between us. "I'm also here for you. I know you think we're just friends, but I promise I'm not opposed to taking that further. It is, and always will be, your call. Just know that Nari and I will giggle about it later, how I ended up in bed with a beautiful woman, and that she'll probably laugh with you about me."
"That seems wrong somehow," Maela admitted. "Like I'm breaking both of your trust."
