Page 65 of Mytho Investigations: Side Stories

“I have not forgotten. But I don’t want a repeat either, if that’s what you were planning.”

Edra shook his head. “Once was enough for me, too. But coming here is important.”

Was this another one of those mytho traditions? An unspoken requirement thing that he wasn’t aware of until he tripped over and made a mess? “You have an obligation? You’re not selling this as a suitable location for a date.”

When Edra had said they were having a picnic lunch, he'd expected it to be near the temple and the dragons, or at the building site where Troy and Sean were fixing up what would be their home…though the tree at the end of the yard also had a nymph.

“There’s no obligation. I have been thinking about it since returning from the rookery.” Ever since returning from the rookery to visit his hatchlings for the first time, there had been something different about Edra. He’d been quieter, as if deep in thought. And while the decision to raise the hatchlings themselves was something they didn’t need to decide until the hatchlings were able to shift from dragon to human in another couple of years, Edra only had two more visits before he had to decide because the rookery wanted what was best for the babies.

“I’ll support you, no matter what you decide.” Jordan had told him that more than once. While children had never been part of his plan, and baby dragons hadn’t been something he’d ever considered until becoming Edra’s mate, he liked the idea of raising children with Edra.

“I know, and it’s not that…though I want you to meet them before we make that final decision.”

And Jordan couldn’t meet them until they were bigger and had come down from the mountain, because he couldn’t fly up to where the dragons nested, nor did he want to be carried up by a dragon. Because where lesser dragons nested, there were also the much bigger and more temperamental greater dragons. “You can still fit in another visit before I go with you.”

Edra smiled. “I will. But today is about you, not me or Sky and Snow.”

Jordan glanced at the grove, and his stomach gave an uneasy turn. Nymphs were demigods and needed other kinds to reproduce. And while they liked satyrs, they had demanded a payment of seed from Edra and him after the murder of one of their own.

When they had fucked in the grove, it had been to give the nymphs the seed they had demanded.

“Troy told me there's a new sapling in the grove.”

Jordan’s stomach gave a twist. “By sapling, you mean nymph?”

“You should meet your child, Knight Kells.” Edra only threw around Jordan's mytho title when it was an important mytho matter.

“Is that an official request from them?” Jordan nodded at the grove.

Edra put his hand on Jordan’s thigh. “No, it’s an official request from me.”

Jordan leaned over and kissed him. “You don’t need to make an official request.”

“If I had told you this is where we were going, you would've dug in your heels and refused.”

Edra wasn’t completely wrong. The grove was not his favorite place, even though he had been there since the murders and the payment. However, his next visit to the grove wasn’t much better. A unicorn had been running around the city creating havoc, and Sinner had been injured, and he'd been so bone-tired of it all that he'd gone to sleep and struggled to wake up. “I have very mixed feelings about this place.”

“We don’t have to stay, but I think you should meet the demigod who carries your bloodline.”

“And yours…right?” But from the way Edra was looking at him, Jordan knew it was only his. That Edra had already been there checked out the new sapling meant he'd done the research, and no doubt cleared it with the nymphs as well. Perhaps they were expected.

“They chose your bloodline because you are from this world.”

“And to give me a bigger stake in protecting it.” Because now if anything happened to the grove, it was personal, not just a mytho policing issue. “Again, not selling me on the whole picnic with the demigods.”

“It will be fine…remember Pan blessed us and demigods aren’t going to fuck around with an actual god.”

He tried not to think about Pan’s blessing. Or the poisoning of the wine at their wedding. Even now, that knowledge didn’t trouble him the way it should. He should be furious, or upset, or something, but instead it caused him no more bother than saying the sky was blue. And while he was grateful Pan had dealt with the issue—which in true mytho fashion was not just one issue, but a conflux of several, including an irate ogre, and a reporter with an ax to grind—he was glad he hadn’t seen the vengeful side of the youthful and impish god.

It had been bad enough seeing the vengeful side of the demigods.

Edra got out of the car and grabbed the picnic basket and blanket from off the backseat, leaving Jordan with no choice but to follow him into the grove.

Even though the sun was shining, it was still cold. However, the grove seemed like a tiny piece of summer. The trees had all their leaves, and a few flowers were blooming amongst the plants. Because they were used to cold weather, or because flowering in winter was normal for mytho plants, or because of demigod magic?

Sometimes it was best not to ask.

Edra walked through the area the ogres used for a garden and deeper into the grove. Jordan followed a little more cautiously, half expecting to be snatched up by a tree. But today there was no sign of the nymphs. The only creatures in the grove today were birds and insects.