"Me too." Kamila said, making him choke on his relief. "That"s why I took my time before making my decision. I needed to calm down and remind myself of all the good and bad things we"ve been through together first.
"I had to remind myself that when I proposed to you, I was aware of the s.h.i.+tstorm I was getting myself into. I took a calculated risk, but G.o.ds if I"m bad at math." She said with a chuckle.
"I"m not going to pretend that this doesn"t change anything between us. This was a revelation as big as Solus" existence, if not even worse, but we"ll work it through together."
"Not that I"m complaining, but the last time it took you months to wrap your head around my latest secret. What"s different this time?" Lith asked.
"Are you kidding me? Back then I was your girlfriend and I had every right to be upset. Now, instead, I"m your wife and marriage is about respect, duty, and solving together problems that you wouldn"t have alone.
"Especially when there are kids involved." She replied. "I"m still upset, but our daughter needs you, you need me, and I"m not going to let down either of you."
"Thanks, Kami. Just tell me what I can do to deserve your forgiveness and I will." Lith hugged her, feeling that even though she didn"t reject his touch she still tensed up.
"You can start by telling me that this was your last secret. Because it was, right?"
"Correct." Lith nodded, letting her go. "That was it. Pandora"s box is finally empty."
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"Who"s Pandora?" A quick mind link and a lesson about Greek mythology answered her question.
"Speaking of secrets, since when do you know about the gender of the baby and how can you do that?" Lith pointed at her shadow hands and face.
"At work, at the Desert, and at home, everyone kept nagging at me about the baby"s name, but I couldn"t pick one blind so I asked Elina to share Salaark"s readings with me. As for the shapes.h.i.+fting, I just wanted to learn how to use the baby"s abilities.
"This way, once she"s born, I"ll be able to help you teach her about controlling her different forms. Also, I was curious to see if we could exploit my current state to give some action to your Abomination side as well." Kamila had avoided turning back into a human because otherwise she would"ve been blus.h.i.+ng up to her ears.
"G.o.ds, you really are a pervert." Lith said with a chuckle.
"It takes one to know one." She shrugged.
"By the way, I hope you are not mad at me because I spoke about this with Kalla and her children."
"Are you kidding me? I"m glad you did. If she didn"t recommend you pick the Kellar region for your tour as a Ranger, we would have never met." She replied.
"Which means that without my meddling, Jakra wouldn"t have escaped Huryole, Thrud wouldn"t have returned to the Griffon Kingdom, and you wouldn"t be in this mess." Lith said.
"No, it just means that another Ranger would have let Jakra escape and that the Odi would have secretly invaded the Kingdom way before Thrud returned." Kamila shook her head.
"On top of that, my sister would be still blind if not dead at Fallmug"s hand, and I would be alone, fighting this war as an army Lieutenant instead of a Constable and a Captain."
"I like your version of the story better."
"Me too." She stood up, shapes.h.i.+fting back into a human before offering him her hand. "I hope you are hungry because I prepared a small feast."
"You did?" He asked in surprise.
"Technically, Elina did most of the job, but I helped her with a few dishes and bought a lot more from your favorite restaurants." Kamila cleared her throat in embarra.s.sment.
"With my job and everything I don"t have that much free time, but I still wanted to throw you a surprise party the moment Solus and I decided to reveal to you our dream house. Especially if you needed to be cheered up." She waved as the shapes.h.i.+fted tower"s room.
"I guess this qualifies big time." Lith dressed up before turning back into human form. Much to his surprise, now his Abomination side was stable enough to have no adverse effect on the Voidwalker armor.
"Yeah, too bad that I need cheering up too. Thank the G.o.ds for dimensional amulets. Without them, I couldn"t have prepared everything weeks in advance and kept the food in the "fresh out the oven" state. I"m not in the mood for dried food."
"By the way, have you talked to Solus about the mission?" Kamila asked, trying to sound casual.
She understood that if he died in the Golden Griffon Solus" fate would"ve been sealed, but Kamila also knew that without Solus, the probabilities of Lith coming back dropped dramatically.
"Yeah, we had a long talk during your absence." Lith avoided mentioning the fusion and its possible consequences because his relations.h.i.+p with Kamila was already strained at the moment. Any more weight and it would collapse.
"She scolded me, well the other me, big time for making the decision for her instead of asking what she wanted. Against my better judgment, she has decided to come along to watch my back."
"Good." Kamila sighed in relief. "Let"s get her and go straight to dinner. I"m starving."
She took his hand, appreciating its warmth as well as the rough patches of skin due to his training with the sword. The memories of all the good times spent together flooded her mind, just to be crushed by the latest revelation about Lith"s past.
Kamila"s first instinct was to let go and take a step aside, but she held his hand tighter instead. She had no idea how their relations.h.i.+p would change and her mind was a total mess.
The only thing she was certain about was that she wanted to have enough time with him to discover what the future held for them. She was willing to risk Solus" freedom if it meant increasing Lith"s chances of returning to her.
For the same reason, she was ignoring her own inner turmoil and pretending everything was alright in order to give him something to come back to.
***
Griffon Kingdom, Essar Region, Golden Griffon academy.
Leegaain landed right in front of the main gate before shapes.h.i.+fting into his human form and stepping forward.
He looked like an albino man in his mid-thirties, 1,75 meters (5"9") tall, with pitch-black hair and a couple of days old stubble. His bright red eyes had a vertical pupil and the contrast with his skin made them look like burning torches.
He was wearing an elegant midnight-blue evening suit and carried a mixed bouquet of flowers. Half of it were blue bellflowers and the other half dandelions. The former was the traditional gift to a couple who had a baby boy and the latter meant to congratulate the father.
Tradition also required to bring red lilies for the mother, but Leegaain didn"t feel like praising Thrud either as a wife or a mother. He knew how her relations.h.i.+p with his son Jormun had started and of the deep scars that it had left him with.