Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4)(62)

Oh boy.

So far this date wasn’t much for the easy conversation.

“Okay,” I said slowly.

“Last night was just you and me,” he declared.

I felt my brows draw together in confusion but agreed to the obvious. “Yes.”

“What I’m saying is, considering what you shared with me was the length of time since you were last active before last night, I would doubt you’re taking pennyrium and not once did I wear a sheath.”

I shook my head, still confused. “I don’t—”

“To protect against conception.”

Holy shit.

My entire body grew still.

Apollo obviously didn’t notice because he kept talking.

“Prior to leaving Vasterhague, we will procure you some pennyrium and tonight, I’ll wear a sheath.”

I had no idea what pennyrium was. I could guess what a sheath was. And that last was nice and all, but my heart was racing and my mind was reeling.

I tried to count the times he came inside me the night before and I couldn’t. There were too many. At least five. Maybe more.

Shit!

I hadn’t thought of that. Upon waking, I’d only thought about him being hurt and angry. Then I’d, of course, fallen asleep. After that, it was all about him being sweet and affectionate and getting ready for our date.

Shit.

Shit!

“Maddie,” he called and I forced myself to focus on him.

“Um…I would say that all this is good, Apollo. Nice. I like it.” I indicated him, me and the table with a circling hand and when I was done, I dropped that hand to rest on the table. “But pregnancy at this point is definitely taking things too freaking quickly,” I shared.

“Agreed,” he said slowly, reaching out a hand, capturing mine and holding it tight. “And I’ll share that pennyrium didn’t agree with Ilsa and we wished time together after we were wed before Christophe was born. The sheath gave us that time as well as time between Christophe and Élan. It is often used and quite dependable. If you can take pennyrium, it’s even better.”

“What’s pennyrium?” I asked.

“A powder you take once a day that protects you from conceiving. One must be careful using it for if you wish to conceive, even if you cease consuming the powder, it can take some time to leave the system and long-term usage can make conception difficult. But it’s effective.”

“Okay, let’s get me some of that,” I said swiftly.

His hand tightened around mine and his lips twitched. “I’ll see to that without delay.”

I nodded enthusiastically.

He pressed his lips together, his eyes lit with humor then he pulled our hands to his mouth and touched my knuckles to his lips.

I quit freaking about all the unprotected sex we had last night and my heart flipped.

He kept my hand to his lips and his voice was so quiet, so gentle, I had to lean further forward to hear him when he asked a very big question with two simple words, “Your children?”

“Can we not talk about that now?” I whispered.

“Of course, poppy,” he replied.

I thanked him with my eyes as I tried to force my body to relax.

“Ulfr!”

His name called jovially made me jump and turn my head to see a man in much the same clothing as Apollo (but with a neck cloth and his shirt was blue) coming to our table. He was also stout, had a bit of white at the temples of his black hair and my guess was he was shorter than Apollo by about three inches and older than Apollo by about ten years.

He was smiling at Apollo but his smile went weird when his eyes hit me.

“Danforth,” Apollo said, giving my fingers a squeeze and letting them go.

He stood and offered his hand, the man taking it and gripping hard at the same time he clapped Apollo on the shoulder a half a dozen times in a way that a lesser man would fall to his knee.

Apollo didn’t budge, if you didn’t count his jaw going hard.

I took this as him not liking the greeting much, and/or the man.

Then suddenly, he let Apollo go and turned to me with a sharp movement and something a creepy bit more than curiosity in his eyes.

“And who might this be?” he asked.

It was then I remembered who I looked like and my insides froze.

“This is Madeleine, Lady Ulfr,” Apollo said and the man’s eyes cut immediately back to him as his body gave a visible start.

“Lady Ulfr?” he said in a weighty tone that I didn’t quite understand but I also didn’t think boded well. And I didn’t think this boded well not because I looked exactly like the no-longer-with-us Lady Ulfr but for another reason. I just didn’t know what that reason was.

“Lady Ulfr,” Apollo repeated in a firm way that brooked no return questioning.

“I had…well,”—the man threw both hands out—“I’d heard that a cousin of Ilsa’s was journeying to Karsvall from the Vale but…but…” His eyes came back to me. They were wide and assessing in a way that made me feel uncomfortable even as he finished, “This is indeed good news.”

Good news?

“It is,” Apollo agreed and the man looked back at him.

“For you, my man.” He looked again at me. “And for you, madam.” He then lifted his hand in a flourish toward his head and gave me a short bow.