Page 49 of Triplets for the Dark Elf
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MIOTHRO
She loves me.
Those words repeat over and over in my head as I fall asleep and then again when I wake with her in my arms. With the soft sunlight streaming in through the window next to the bed, it illuminates her in an ethereal glow that I can’t help find ironic considering the nickname I’d given her all those years ago.
I watch her sleep for a while, wanting to bask in this peace for as long as I can.
I’m not sure where we go from here. It seems she’s created a life out here in the lowtowns with the triplets but I feel that it’s much too dangerous for her to be here by herself, even with the help of her friends.
She’s taken care of herself so far, but I can’t help to wonder what will happen once the triplets get older and there’s a possibility of wandering eyes spotting them and trying to take them away.
It isn’t uncommon—unfortunately—for older children to be taken from their mothers in order to be sold at market to the highest bidder. Slave labor has such loose rules in Vhoig, that there might as well not be any at all.
It would kill me to see one of them taken and smuggled to some port that I can’t reach before they’re in someone else’s hands.
The thought makes me shudder. I have to get them out of here before other dangers, like Almu, fall upon them.
Leaning over, I press my lips to Annalise’s forehead. She sighs softly, her eyes slowly blinking awake.
“Mmm… morning…”
I smile at her as she stretches. “Good morning.”
As she relaxes again, she turns to look at me with blurry eyes. “Did you sleep well?”
“Like a baby.”
That pulls a soft laugh out of her. “See, you think that means good but the triplets hardly slept at all when they were babies.”
I roll over top of her, covering her with my body while I pepper her skin with kisses. “They must’ve inherited that from me.”
“I knew it.”
I grin against her neck, sucking a nice little mark into the spot between her neck and shoulder. She wiggles under me, our hips grinding together and making us both groan.
The need to sink deep inside of her and have my way with her again is as bad as if I need water, but the nagging thought of getting my family out of here and into safer quarters is a bigger priority. Annalise and I can roll around in the sheets as much as we want once I have her out of the lowtowns.
“Hey,” I kiss back up to her neck. “Question.”
“Hm,” she lets out a shaky exhale when I run my hand down her side, gripping her hip to keep it from moving and teasing me.
She fills my head with such desire that it’s hard to focus on anything but that.
“I want to move you and the kids back to my place.”
Her eyes snap open. “Why?” It’s a much better answer than when I first broached the topic – especially now that I know what she wasreallyworried about.
I squeeze her hip gently. “I’m worried about you all being down here. It’s not very safe, especially for half-elf children.”
Her teeth gnaw at her bottom lip, my words running through her head. “Will we all fit?”
I shrug. “If we don’t, I’ll build us a new house.”
Her eyes widen. “Miothro!”
She shoves my shoulder, her fingers curling around the muscle as she does. It makes me laugh, the way she thinks I won’t do anything to take care of her when the truth is far from that. If she one day wanted to pick up and move to Orthani, I’d do it in a heartbeat with no questions asked.