Broken Dove (Fantasyland 4)

“Explain this,” he ordered.

I lifted my chin from my palms and did just that.

“In my world, men and women go on dates before marriage. It’s a kind of wooing, I guess. Courtship. A getting to know each other period. Sometimes, this leads to a union, marriage or the like. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out and you move on. Also in my world, there are drugs that are used to make women—they’re mostly used on women—unconscious or unable to defend themselves so the men they’re dating can take advantage. They’re called date rape drugs because, when it all boils down, even if there’s no violence or struggle, that’s only because the woman has been incapacitated. So it’s still rape. Using adela tea like that is not the same, but it kind of is.”

He nodded once, sharply, and concurred, “It is.”

I sat back, reached for my wineglass and took a sip, replacing it to the table, mumbling, “So I guess that’s the second time she drugged me without my knowledge.”

“Your first night in our world,” he stated and I looked at him again.

“Yes.”

He looked away but did it appearing annoyed and I’d know why when he murmured, “I’d wondered why you slipped into sleep so easily after your trauma.”

“That was why,” I affirmed.

He looked back to me. “This, poppy, is precisely why I wish for you to inform me if she comes to you. In word and deed she seems to have your best interests at heart. But it all depends on the person and their actions if their best interests are also yours, no?”

He was so right.

I nodded my agreement.

He again leaned toward me and gentled his tone when he requested, “And please, from now on, don’t touch, accept or consume anything unless you’re certain it was provided to you by me. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” I said softly.

His lips curved up and he whispered, “Thank you, poppy.”

Okay.

Totally.

This guy kept getting so much better I was beginning to wonder if he was even real.

“We must discuss something else sensitive before our food is served so it can have both our attention and then we can go on to enjoy the evening unhindered by such discourse.”

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.