“It’s not a full council meeting, and if I can avoid them, I do.” Amanda rubbed a hand over her rounded belly. “They don’t need me for what they have on the agenda for today. I’d much rather sit out here with you.”
“Yeah, same here. Kian suggested that I join them, but I didn’t want to either.” Syssi put a hand on her belly. “I’m doing my best to stay calm and avoid anything that might trigger a vision.”
“Good for you. What about Mey and Jin? Did you call them?”
“I did. Mey is meeting with Stella to go over her latest designs, and Jin is with Arwel in the keep.”
“I should take a look at Stella’s creations.” Amanda’s lips lifted in a smirk. “Although, given that my taste in fashion is very different from theirs, maybe I shouldn’t.” She tilted her head to look at something behind Syssi. “Jacki is heading this way.”
Syssi turned around, which wasn’t an easy feat with the size of her belly. “Jacki. I’m so glad that you decided to join us.”
“Kalugal is in the meeting with Kian.” Jacki pulled out the chair and sat down. “I didn’t want to sit around the house alone and wait for him. I hate it that he’s turned Saturdays into workdays.”
“Today is an emergency.” Syssi winced as Allegra kicked her from the inside. “They are meeting to talk about the capture of the cult leader, who's turned out to be an immortal.” She rubbed a hand over the spot.
Watching her, Jacki put a hand on her nearly flat belly as well. “Kalugal told me that Emmett is a compeller, and that he compelled a Guardian to go with him. When he was captured and neutralized, the poor Guardian was stuck in the pose Emmett had commanded him to assume. They called Kalugal yesterday and asked him to unfreeze him.”
“That’s not all.” Amanda leaned forward with a conspiratorial smirk on her beautiful face. “Emmett bit Eleanor and sucked on her blood.”
Jacki’s eyes widened. “Kalugal didn’t tell me that.”
“He probably didn’t know.” Syssi winced as another kick pushed against her ribs. “This girl is going to be a soccer player.”
Amanda put a hand on hers. “I’ve just started to feel mine. I can’t wait for her to start kicking.”
Syssi rolled her eyes. It was so like Amanda to ask her to keep it a secret and then blurt it out at the first opportunity.
“When did you find out that you’re having a girl?” Jacki asked. “You said that you didn’t want to know.”
“I was scared to find out. But I told Bridget that she could tell Dalhu, and when she did, he spilled the beans. He knew how much I wanted a girl.” Amanda beamed. “I’ve been praying for that since the day I found out that I was pregnant.”
“I’m happy for you.” Jacki leaned back and heaved a sigh. “Kalugal wants a boy, and he can’t wait to find out what we are having. I told him that it was too early to see in ultrasound, so he wanted to do a genetic test. They can do those now at nine weeks. Thankfully, Bridget persuaded him to forget it. It’s not like we can have our genetic material floating around in some lab.”
“I would think that he would prefer a daughter.” Syssi pushed the tray of pastries toward Jacki. “Isn’t he afraid that his son might be the reincarnation of David’s brother?”
“I think that he forgot about that.” Jacki eyed the pastries. “I wish we didn’t have proof that reincarnation is real.” She chose a danish and unwrapped it. “I’d rather my child receive a new soul and not a recycled one.”
Amanda waved a dismissive hand. “What are the chances of the soul of Noah finding its way to your baby?”
“You never know.” Syssi lifted her coffee cup. “His brother told him that they would meet again soon.”
“Maybe someone else will get pregnant.” Jacki leaned forward. “Carol is meeting Lokan today at an undisclosed location, and from what she’s told me, she wants to start working on a baby.”
“It’s up to the Fates, girls.” Amanda crossed her arms over her chest. “Let’s talk about the wedding.” She smiled triumphantly. “I managed to convince Gerard to cater it.”
That was news to Syssi. “I thought that he couldn’t do it because he had all the weekends booked solid for the next six months.”
“We’ve gotten lucky, or maybe we owe thanks to divine intervention. First, Kian asked to push back the wedding by a week because he needed more time to arrange accommodations for all the clan members that are coming to celebrate with us, and then Gerard had a cancelation for that Saturday, and he also grudgingly agreed to cater Kian’s birthday. Not only that, his people are going to serve both events.”
“How did you get him to do it?” Jacki asked. “He told you that the best he could do was to provide the food and that you would have to take care of everything else.”
Amanda smirked. “Lots and lots of money, with a side dish of guilt.” She uncrossed her arms and crossed her legs instead. “Pregnancy is tough. I’m only entering my twenty-third week, and I already can’t find a comfortable position to sit or lie down.”
“I hear you, sister. But what does that have to do with Gerard?”
Amanda’s lips lifted in a lopsided smile. “I told him that in my current fragile state, I can’t handle the stress of organizing two events one after the other, and that he had to step up and help out. He’s going to handle everything, including the decorations. Not personally, of course, but he’s going to use his subcontractors. All I have to do is pay the bills, and I can come to both events as a guest, not worrying about a thing.”
Syssi laughed. “I didn’t know that Gerard had a weak spot for pregnant ladies.”
Amanda’s smile wilted. “Just this pregnant lady. He was there when my son was thrown off the horse.”
As a long and uncomfortable silence stretched across the table, Syssi scrambled for a quick topic change. “Isn’t it against the rules to bring his human staff into the bowels of the keep?”
Taking a deep breath, Amanda schooled her features. “I cleared it with Kian. He will assign a couple of Guardians to muddle their memories after each event is over. Gerard said that none of them is immune.”
Apparently, the chef wasn’t the only one who had a soft spot for a pregnant Amanda. Kian would never have allowed that under normal circumstances.
“By the way.” Amanda turned to Jacki. “Why is your hubby working on the weekends? Not too long ago, he was complaining about not having enough work for his men, and now he needs them six days a week?”
Jacki shrugged. “He keeps muttering something about giving the Four Horsemen a run for their money. Don’t ask me how he plans to do that, or what his men can do to help him achieve that goal. None of them is a computer expert.”
Syssi shook her head. “What do the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have to do with computers?”
Amanda laughed. “It’s a nickname for big tech.”
“Now it makes sense. So Kalugal wants to challenge all four giants? Isn’t that a bit ambitious even for him?”