Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The screeching seven- and four-year-old girls at the gates of Stadely House, the stronghold of Ceron, were enough to make Lyv jump from her horse and bolt for them just as the guardsmen had them open. The girls launched themselves for her as she dropped to her knees, only to knock them all to the ground.

"What took you so long, Auntie Lyv?" Avice asked when she popped her blonde head up above hers.

"You do know it takes a little more than a week to get here from home, right? And that's with not stopping except at night to rest," she laughed, hauling the girls upright while still sitting in the dirt. "We can't just magically appear whenever you want us to."

"Mommy's had our baby brother!" Elia exclaimed. "You have to come see him!"

"Now, just a moment, my darling girls," Bence said just as he got off his own horse. "Where are the hugs for your grandfather?"

The girls shrieked again, jumping from Lyv's arms and into his. The king laughed, picked them up, and kissed both of their cheeks as they told him, too, about their new baby brother. Queen Guinevere's carriage finally arrived and the girls were toted to it as the door opened and their grandmother's smiling face appeared. As she got out, Bence put them on their feet and helped his wife.

"Hello, my sweet babies," she laughed as the girls hugged her, trying to get around her skirts and laughing. "Oh, it seems like forever since I've seen you! And it looks like you've tackled your Auntie Lyv to the ground. Don't you want to go help her up?"

Avice and Elia skipped to Lyv's side, each of them holding a hand, and helped haul her up from the dirt. She brushed off her leather pants and boots as the girls swatted at her shirt.

"Why are you dressed like a man?" Elia asked without even as much as a second thought.

"Well, I can't really ride a horse in a dress, now, can I? I mean, I could, but it would be rather uncomfortable after a while."

"Mommy says I'm to start riding lessons in a few months. Daddy's getting me my own pony!" Avice grinned.

"Only because she's been asking to be just like her aunt ever since you came riding up on one of those beasts before Rhea's wedding."

Lyv grinned at her brother-in-law, Gyver, who was striding forward from the gates to greet them, only to have been beaten by his daughters.

"Lyv," Gyver greeted with a smile, kissing her cheek. "You set high expectations for my rambunctious girls."

"What else is an aunt who loves spoiling her nieces to do?" she asked innocently.

He laughed, shaking his head as Bence and Guinevere came up to them. He greeted them both and his daughters wrapped their arms around his legs as the three talked about the journey. Lyv was busy making funny faces at her nieces, making them giggle, and she caught Balian looking on with amusement as he directed the other guardsmen to guide the horses and carriage through the stronghold gates.

He'd come along last minute, though she suspected for her sake...and his own. She'd known what he was thinking the moment his horse strode from the palace grounds and joined their caravan. The look he'd given her...well, images of what they'd done on their last trip to Stadely House replayed in her mind and she had to lift the hood of her cloak just to hide her heated cheeks.

But none of that was going to happen on this trip. She'd come for one man and one man only – her newest nephew.

Gyver placed his hands on his daughters' heads. "Girls, why don't you show your grandmother and aunt inside while I help get these horses inside and talk with your grandfather?"