“Yes, it was a long time ago.” Eugenie blinked away tears. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“No, I can tell that. You loved him.” Rand withdrew his hand and settled on the floor. “My son will have a life worthy of a prince. He will be the heir to the Tan chieftain title and powers as my eldest son—unless, of course, Dru and I have one within the next year or two who might rival him for power as a legitimate heir.”
He looked at me, took my gaping mouth as an assent, and nodded. Alex, who’d returned with a cup of steaming something-or-other, poked me again on his way to hand the cup to Rand.
Alex needed to find a new way to express himself; I’d have bruises.
“And of course you’ll have the very best medical care in Elfheim,” Rand continued. “Our clan midwife is excellent, I’m told.”
“Uhhh…” Eugenie gave me a panicked look.
“Rand, would it be possible for your midwife or doctor to see Eugenie either here or at your house across the street? It would be a lot less stressful for her and the baby than traveling to Elfheim.”
I was going to change my name to DJ Kissinger.
Rand frowned a moment as he considered it, then nodded. “I don’t see why not. The midwife probably won’t agree to come until the weather warms up, but that’s okay because I can tell the baby is healthy. He’s strong.”
Good news, then. “What else does Eugenie need to know, in the meantime?” I’d see if Adrian’s book-learning matched reality.
“Yeah.” Eugenie cleared her throat. “Are there things I need to be eating or doing?’
Rand considered this. “Just the usual things, I think, but I’ll find out. Plenty of rest, fresh air, no caffeine, lots of smoked meat.”
Alex coughed and cleared his throat, probably swallowing some inappropriate comment. I moved farther away from him on the sofa lest he decide to poke me again.
I pretended this was a surprise. “Smoked meat?”
“Sure. Protein, cooked on an open fire or smoked. We are the fire clan. She’ll crave it.”
Eugenie put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. I ate a whole package of smoked salmon this morning. I thought I was going nuts. I couldn’t get enough of it.”
Great. I saw lots of steakhouse dinners over the next … “Do elven pregnancies last nine months?”
“Oh, right. Forgot about that.” Rand pulled out his phone. “Our gestational period is seven months. I can tell you’re four weeks along, plus averaging out human and elven times…” He punched the screen a few times. “My son should be here in the middle of July, give or take a couple of weeks.”
“No,” Eugenie said, frowning. “Not your son. You’ve said that three times now. Our son. Yours, but also mine. Ours.”
He studied her with his eyes narrowed, and I sighed. I knew that look of challenge, where his eyes focused like a laser and his mouth curved up just at the edges. He was going to say something horrendous. Something that would undo all the goodwill he’d built up in the last half hour.
In my head, I yelled, Rand, whatever you’re about to say, don’t!
He flinched, but didn’t look away from Eugenie. “Well, of course you can see him,” said Mr. Reasonable. “I’d like for Dru and myself to raise him in Elfheim, but I know she’ll want to stay here in New Orleans at least part of the time until I can convince her to quit her job and raise our own family. We can have a tutor that travels with us and can—”
Oh holy mother of God. This elf was worse than delusional; he was insane.
Alex growled, sounding an awful lot like his canine entity, a pony-size dog I called Gandalf. Eugenie jumped to her feet and kicked Rand in the kneecap, eliciting a hiss. “You and DJ are not raising my baby. Not there. Not here. Not at all.”
She turned to make a dramatic exit, but Rand snaked out a hand and caught her ankle in his grip. She twisted around, probably to wallop him, but stopped when she saw his face.
Rand’s eyes had narrowed, his frown etching deep grooves between his eyebrows. Not to mention he was glowing again. “I’ll have you restrained.” His voice was low, and vicious. I’d never heard this tone from him before.
“Don’t test me, Eugenie. I won’t allow you to harm this child.” He let go of her ankle and got to his feet, looming over her. Eugenie’s eyes had widened in fear and she scrambled away from him, pressing her back against the living room wall.
He turned from Eugenie to me. “Dru, she’s thinking she’ll kill my child before she lets me raise him, but I warn you all now. My son is elf. He will not be reared by a common human. I won’t allow her to destroy him, no matter what it takes.”