“I was surprised to find you here,” Mahl says softly, his heavy arm still wrapped around my shoulder as we walk back to the palace. “I had heard Auden ordered horses to be brought and assumed he was selecting for the Betas. I hadn’t expected the children, but your presence was the true surprise.”
“I met them in the hall in the children’s wing,” I say casually, which was not a lie. I don’t bother to mention that I went to the children’s wing looking for them. “Vivianna mentioned they were choosing horses; Auden invited me along.”
“You know,” Mahl says, pitching his voice low and raising a hand to hook a finger beneath my chin. “If you like children that much, we can give you one of your own.”
I blush then, genuinely. Because the last thing I want, honestly, is to give Vivi and Niall a ne
