Most of all, she has courage the likes of which I haven't witnessed in centuries. I hope with every part of me that you inherit all her best traits and none of my bad ones.
I don't really know what more to say. I just thought you should have something of me in here too.
Love,
Your father
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she read his words. "Oh, Wulf," she breathed, her heart breaking at the things he would never admit to aloud. It was so strange to see herself through his eyes. She never thought of herself as particularly brave. Never thought of herself as strong.
Not until the night she had met a dark champion. As Cassandra folded up the note and resealed it, she realized something. She loved Wulf. Desperately. She wasn't sure when it had happened. It might have been the first time he took her into his arms. Or it might have been when he reluctantly welcomed her into his home.
No, she realized, it was none of those times. She had fallen in love with him the first time he had touched her belly with his strong, capable hand and called her baby his. Dark-Hunter or not, he was a good, wonderful man for an ancient barbarian. The door opened.
"Are you all right?" Wulf rushed forward to the bed.
"I'm fine," she said, clearing her throat. "It's these stupid pregnancy hormones. I cry at the drop of a hat. Ugh!"
He wiped her tears away from her cheeks. "It's okay. I understand. I've been around plenty of pregnant women in my day."
"Your Squires?"
He nodded. "I've even delivered a few of their babies."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah. You have to love the days before modern roads and hospitals when I was up to my elbows in placenta."
She laughed, but then she always did around him. He had an incredible knack for making her feel better.
Wulf helped her put everything away. "You should probably go on to sleep. You didn't rest well last night."
"I know. I'm going, I promise."
He tucked her into bed after she had changed into her nightgown, then turned the lights off and left her alone. Cassandra lay in the dark, her thoughts wandering. Closing her eyes, she imagined her and Wulf in his house, with a passel of children running around them.
Funny how she had never dared dream for a single child and now she wanted more time to have as many as possible. For him. For her. But then, all of her people wished for more time on this earth. Her mother, even her sister. You could go Daimon too.
Maybe, but then the man she loved would be honor bound to kill her. No, she couldn't do that to either one of them. Like all the Apollites here, she would meet her death with the dignity Wulf had written of.
And he would be left behind to weep for her…
Cassandra winced at that. How she wished she dared run so that he would never see her die. Never know when she passed away. It was so cruel to him. But it was too late for that. There was no way to escape him while she needed his protection. All she could do was try to keep him from loving her as much as she loved him.
For the next three days, Cassandra had the distinct feeling that something was up. Whenever she drew near Wulf and Kat when they were together, they would immediately become quiet and act nervous.
Chris had taken up with a group of young female Apollites that Phoebe had introduced him to when she'd taken him shopping to buy electronics that would keep him from being bored. The Apollite girls thought his dark coloring was "exotic" and they adored the fact that he was so into computers and technology.
"I have died and gone to Valhalla !" Chris had exclaimed the night he met them. "These women appreciate a man with a brain and they don't care that I don't tan. None of their people do either. It's great!"
"They're Apollites, Chris," Wulf had warned him.
"Yeah, so? You got an Apollite babe. I want one too. Or two or three or four of them. This is so cool."
Wulf had shaken his head and left Chris to them with one last warning. "If they make a move on your neck, run."
By day five, Cassandra was really starting to worry. Wulf had been nervous since the moment she woke up. What's more, he and Kat had been gone for hours the night before and neither one of them would tell her what they'd been up to.
He reminded her of a skittish colt.
"Is there something I need to know?" Cassandra asked after she cornered him in the living room.
"I'm going to go find Phoebe or something," Kat said, shooting for the door. She made a hasty exit.
"There's just something, I…" Wulf paused.
Cassandra waited.
"Well?" she prompted.
"Wait here." He left her to go to Chris's room.
A few minutes later, he came back with an old Viking sword. She remembered having seen it in a special glass case in his cellar. The two of them must have gone back to his place last night to retrieve it. But why they would take such a chance, she couldn't imagine.
Holding the sword in his hands between them, Wulf took a deep breath. "This isn't something I've thought about doing in more than twelve hundred years and I'm trying to remember everything, so give me a second."