Kevin’s POV
After I was sure that Ella had gone to bed and was with the kids, I moved out of the tent the moment I noticed that she was deeply asleep and her breathing had evened out.
Liam was already out by the time I got out of the tent and he bowed to me.
I made a gesture to him to move forward and walk towards me.
“Is there a problem, my lord?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry for keeping you away from your sleep.” I had made a signal to him earlier when Ella was with me that I would like to see him.
“It’s no problem, your highness.” He replied again with a bow.
I raised a finger up and arched my eyebrows at him. “This has to stop.”
“What?” He asked, looking genuinely confused.
I smiled, not blaming him. I knew this was going to happen. That was why I had to call him out here for us to be alone because he might be embarrassed to do this if Ella is here. We needed time to practice for him to get used to it and I also needed time to get used to it. I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t sound strange to me at first if I hear him say it so I needed to get used to it so I wouldn’t cringe when it happened and give myself away.
“We need a story and we need to practice.” I said to him. “We would get to the human world soon and I can’t have you bowing to me in public and calling me your lord.’
His face brightened up slowly as the confusion cleared from it. “Oh!” He said slowly and refused to say anything else.
“Our story is that we are a new couple and you are a friend traveling with us. Friends don’t bow to each other now, do they?”
He smiled. “I know what you mean, my lord, but it’s awkward.”
I smiled at his mistake. He was still not used to what he had to do. I couldn’t believe he still made the mistake when I just told him that we had to stop the formality between us.
“You shouldn’t call me lord. It’s awkward.’
He chuckled. “I guess it is.”
“Let’s try practicing.” I said to him, squaring my shoulders to let him know that I was ready.
“How are you, Kevin?” He jumped.
I jumped at the sound of my name on his lips. “Okay, Liam.”
We practiced some more before we decided to call it a night. It was getting closer to dawn and I didn’t want Ella to notice that I had not slept a wink all through the night.
“What should we say we work as when we get to the human world?” He asked as we were going back to the tent.
“We are a family on a vacation and you are a family friend.” I smiled as an idea burst into my head. “Or would you like to be my brother? My kids call you uncle so I think that makes the story more believable.”
“No problem. I can be your elder brother.” He teased.
I chuckled, loving that he had gotten warmed up in the role and could play with me. “You can’t be serious.”
“You can be my elder brother then, my lord.” He said.
“Not your lord.” I reminded him, chuckling.
“Yes, my brother. Goodnight.” He said as he moved towards his tent to sleep.
I got to my tent to sleep as well, sliding beside Ella as if I hadn’t been out all night, practising with my beta on how to be comfortable with not treating me as an alpha.
Ella’s POV
“How long are we going to go, mum, before getting to where we are going?” Nathan asked, leaning his head into the crook of my neck.
I patted his back and ran my hand through his hair, hoping that he would sleep soon. The boys were tired and had been complaining of pains in their legs so the adults had to intervene. I had picked Nathan up and carried him in my hands while Liam and Kevin had Nick and Neo respectively.
“We would soon get there.” I said to him.
“I’m tired.” He yawned.
“Sleep.” I nodded.
I checked the other boys and saw that they were asleep. I turned to Nathan and told him to look at his brothers. “See? Your brothers are asleep so you should do the same. I will wake you up when we get to where we are going.”
“This adventure is getting boring.” He yawned and nudged his head deeper into my neck.
I loved how sweet he smelled and smiled as I patted his back with my hand, caressing him to sleep.
Within minutes, he was already asleep and was snoring gently into my neck.
“Is that Nathan?” Liam asked, chuckling as he turned to my side.
“Yes. He is the one.” I replied, chuckling.
“He must be really tired.” Kevin chuckled.
“How far are we though?” Liam asked, looking between the two of us. “I don’t have a map with me.”
“I have the map with me but I can’t check for it while I have Nathan in my hands.” I said. Maybe when we get somewhere close enough that we can rest, I could find the map and check it.
“I have the map in my head.” Kevin said.
“Oooh, my mate, the intelligent guy.” I drawled, teasing him.
He blushed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Can’t I tease you?” I said.
“About the map?” Liam asked, breaking into the teasing that we were doing.
Both Kevin and I turned to Liam, giving him a knowing look. “You don’t have to be jealous, brother.”
“I’m not. I’m only curious about the map.”
“I will ask about the map too when you have your own mate.” I teased.
He huffed out an exasperated sigh. “This is not about me getting jealous of you teasing your mate. I’m only curious about the map. How can I get the two of you to believe me?”
“Maybe we never will.” Kevin chuckled.
“I wonder how I can survive throughout the whole stay in the human world if the two of you won’t stop teasing me.”
“You will survive it. It’s an adventure after all.”
He snorted. “Even your kids don’t believe that anymore.”
I felt Nathan stir in my arms and patted him back to sleep.
“We have a bend to take and then we would cross the bridge into the border that separates our world from the human world.” Kevin said.
I smiled as I looked at him, grateful for his intervention at that moment. I was already feeling bad at what Liam said even though I knew he didn’t say it to make me feel bad. I was already wondering and feeling bad about the journey, hoping that I wouldn’t regret this journey and bringing my sons with me on a quest of getting back Kevin’s ten years when he had said that I shouldn’t bother about it.
Ever since the kids started complaining consistently about being tired, I had found myself wondering if I was making the right choice.
I would remember the little girl that the red witch had said was going to die unless we save her and feel justified about what we were doing here and then stop feeling guilty.
If I hadn’t decided to get Kevin’s ten years back for him, I wouldn’t have found the red witch and she wouldn’t have told me about the little girl and we wouldn’t be out on our way to save her.
Yes, that was it. That made it worth it. That made this journey something I couldn’t regret. I just needed to keep reminding myself that and I could make it through this journey, regardless of the circumstances that we might face. We hadn’t dealt with any strange creatures or fight any battle while we had been on this journey and I hoped that we were able to keep it that way. I didn’t want my kids exposed to creatures and ghastly sight that might give them nightmares for years. I would feel much worse as a mother if I watch them for days dealing with scary dreams.
I remembered what Jennie had said about being protected from the strange creatures here because she was a witch’s assistant and I couldn’t help but wonder if the same thing was what was happening here.
I wouldn’t find it hard to believe if the maps Eliza had given us had been doused in spells and the smell of it was what was keeping the strange creatures away from us.
I almost felt like I could forgive her for taking ten years of my mate’s life.
“Here we go.” Kevin said as we got to the bend.
“Here we go.” I said as I took the bend after Kevin and hoped that we get to the human world soon.