novelraw Chapter 366: My heart needs a vacation inside a vacation
Chapter 366: My heart needs a vacation inside a vacation
My eyes widened.
What was Fenric’s sister, the snow tiger who should be in her tribe in the snow mountain peaks, doing here?
Solin was just as I remembered her. I did tell her I’d come visit, but did she find it troublesome to wait any longer and come to find me instead?
"How did you find this place?" I asked, and Fenric answered,
"Damar said he found her staying with the Rabbit’s tribe," he said.
"Really? That’s... a long way from home, Solin."
"I ran away," she said, simply, coming closer, but then she paused, her eyes looking ahead at the slope.
What was she looking at?
I turned my head and gasped. For the love of... how could I forget my babies?
The three of them were on top of the slope, and I yelled,
"Stay right there," but too late. They had other plans.
These three, and yes, including Lyra, thought it would be fun to roll down a slope like little furballs, and they did.
I immediately got out of Damar’s hand, planning to go rescue my babies, before they touched down on this rocky ground, but Damar’s tail moved faster, halting all of them to a break halfway, and my heart nearly flew out of my chest.
This... was dangerous.
What was even more dangerous was the daring son of mine. Raiden.
He climbed over Damar’s tail as soon as they were caught, as if he had predicted, and tumbled once again.
"That boy!" I yelled and ran forward, but someone else ran past me. Solin.
She rushed to catch the boy, and he flew right into her arms.
"This..." she exclaimed, looking at the child with green grass sticking out of every corner of his body, and then brushed her finger over his cheek. "So adorable," she blushed.
My heart.
I think I need a new one ASAP.
I fell back, and Fenric caught me. These children could give me a heart attack and still smile about it.
"Damar," I called, "...help me bring the girls down. Slowly."
He nodded and coiled his tail around them, bringing them forward until he came face to face with his replica.
Lyra looked into her father’s eyes, and he into hers. He took in the sight of his daughter, the silver hair, the yellow patches from my gene, the way her emerald eyes glowed with a serpent’s sharpness.
And how adorable she was, of course.
This... was his daughter.
Then, she gave one of her rarely seen smiles and stretched her hand forward, fisting her hands and releasing them continuously, as if asking him to come closer.
Damar almost didn’t know what to do. This... was a first for him, but he brought his face closer to hers, and she held his cheeks, sniffing her cute, fat cheek on his.
Fenric, Noah, and I were beyond stunned.
This was a rare phenomenon, I tell you. Lyra being friendly and acting cute? They’d have to die and be reborn as Damar’s lookalike to get this treatment. Not even Thalor gets her to smile and act like that.
Not even me.
She sometimes sees it as a nuisance when I snuggle my face against hers and tell her to smile, but this time she was doing it of her own will. As if she were welcoming her father home.
Ah, I wish I had a camera.
Damar suddenly had tears in his eyes, and he closed them, feeling the warmth of his daughter’s cheek sink into hers.
"Sorry," he whispered. "I should have come faster, right?"
"Papa," she spoke, and this time, I truly fainted. My heart couldn’t take it. "Papa, papa, babba,"
Just what was my daughter up to that I didn’t know? Who was teaching her that I was not aware of? No, the more important thing here was, how is it that she can pick up the words so quickly?
I meant it when I said Raiden and Phina will have a hard time if they choose to compete for the throne with Lyra once she sets her mind to it. They’ll have a really, really hard time.
Noah took Phina and started picking out the grass from his little tanned baby. Laughing.
"What a happy reunion." He mumbled, and I closed my eyes.
"Yeah, so happy."
I took a deep, shaky breath, forcing my heart to slow down from its ’Lyra-just-spoke-and-Damar-is-crying’ rhythm.
There was no time to stay fainted; I had a literal migration of rabbits currently staring at me like I was the only thing standing between them and a nap.
I clapped my hands together, the sharp smack echoing off the new limestone walls and snapping everyone out of their emotional daze.
"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" I called out, my voice regained its Architect-slash-Queen authority. "You’ve all had a long journey, and the West Way doesn’t let its guests—or its returning family—go hungry. A feast has been prepared for tonight, and it’s going to be the biggest one this valley has ever seen!"
I turned toward the sea of twitching ears and smaller bodies.
"Dani, Gram, thank you for coming," I said with a warm smile on my lips, and they looked at me with that familiar light.
"We trust our Savior," Gram said.
"Ah, I would like to hear all the stories from after we left your tribe, but before then, follow me. I’ll take all of you to your new homes. Your neighbors are the Sheep tribe."
"Ah, that reassures me," Gram said.
Of course, rabbits would not feel comfortable if their neighbors were wolves and hyenas. I’m sure Damar filled them all in on it, but I’ll go over it again with them so they don’t worry.
I looked at Damar as he held Lyra like she was made of spun glass.
"Damar, you look like you’ve been dragged through a rock slide. Go to our tent and rest for now. We’ll catch up tonight."
Damar didn’t even blink. He adjusted Lyra in his arms—she was currently fascinated by the silver locks on his hair, and I was sure she was trying to pull them out of his scalp.
A child is still a child in the end.
Damar shook his head. "I don’t need to rest. I have missed too many sunrises with you, Ari. I will go where you go."
I bit back a smile.
"Fine, you stubborn snake. But you’re carrying her the whole way."
I turned to my other two husbands, who were watching the scene with a mix of exhaustion and amusement.
"Noah, stop preening and show the wolf warriors who escorted the party back inside. They deserve a drink and a nice meal. And yes, that’s an order, King."