A Court of Stars and Memories

44. All in Fun

Mitsi breathed a sigh of relief when Lysander reported the Peregryn training grounds were in sight. She craned her head over her shoulder as much as possible, but couldn't quite see far enough. She tightened her hold on Lysander when they banked towards the ground. Her stomach dipped and Mitsi squeezed her eyes shut.

She really didn't like this part of flying, especially when she couldn't see what was happening below her. Her fingers dug into the ends of Lysander's hair and she hid her face in the crook of his neck. She sensed his concerned gaze, though he said nothing.

Mitsi drew a deep breath of Lysander's warm scent and some of her anxiety abated, but she didn't open her eyes until her feet touched solid ground. She lowered her gaze and backed away the moment she released Lysander. An apology sat at the tip of her tongue, but before she could speak it, a female's voice rang out.

"Finally!" Estelle sprinted over to them and pulled her brother into a crushing hug. "If I have to spend one more minute alone with Mikael and Calden, I'll ask the shadows to strangle me." Mitsi bit her lip, stamping down the possessive instincts that rushed through her veins.

Lysander laughed and returned his sister's embrace. "Why? What's going on?" Mitsi shifted closer to him as soon as he released her, hardly aware of doing so.

Estelle's amber gaze slid to her, then back to Lysander. "Calden is in a good mood. A very good mood. And you know how he gets when he's like that."

"Oh?" Lysander arched a brow. "Why is he in such a good mood?"

"I think it has something to do with a certain dark-haired Peregryn." The siblings exchanged knowing looks and laughed again.

Mitsi averted her eyes, almost wishing she'd gone off in search of Eira already. She couldn't help but feel like she was intruding, and these possessive urges were becoming worrisome. Estelle was Lysander's sister. What right did she have to feel so...jealous? And why was that jealousy becoming much more common these days?

"Welcome here, Mitsi," Estelle said, breaking her from her thoughts. The female took her by the hand and linked their arms together, then set off across the grounds without giving her a chance to protest.

Mitsi shivered as a few of Estelle's shadows crept onto her arms. "I'm glad you and Eira will be staying at the palace while you're here. I'm so tired of being the only female living amongst four males."

"I'm glad to be of service," Mitsi replied. She glanced at Lysander and a smile tugged at her lips. "But there are probably other ways you could fix that problem too."

"If you're insinuating I should have a daughter, believe me, I've considered it, but there's no guarantee I'd have a girl and childbirth is too painful to risk when the odds are I could just have another son."

"You're too particular," Lysander teased. "Mikael would be happy either way, and I think it'd be good for Aramis to have a sibling. Maybe then he'd lose that only child attitude."

"Mikael wouldn't be the one giving birth, would he?" Estelle retorted. "You weren't even in the room the first time. I almost killed him and Dad offered to cut off his dick more than once. I was very tempted to accept the offer."

"The only reason you didn't is because you like it too much."

Mitsi couldn't stop her snort of laughter and Estelle faced her. "You know, Lysander couldn't stand feeling my stomach when I was pregnant with Aramis. The one time Mikael and I convinced him to, Aramis kicked and Lys fell over and nearly pissed himself."

"I did not!"

"You did too. You tripped over your own feet and landed flat on your ass. You swore you would never do anything like that again."