Twilight's Dawn

want the short version or all the details?”
    “Oh, I want all the details, Prick. I do want the details.”
    “All right.” Lucivar huffed out a breath and told him.

    Lucivar rested in the small pool that was one of his favorite places in Ebon Rih, lulled by the twitter of birds, the easy fall of water, and the voices of young girls doing happy girl things. He’d checked the area before setting up a perimeter shield that allowed Titian and Jaenelle Saetien to have a feeling of independence while never being beyond his awareness.
    After a quick dip to cool off from the summer heat, they’d said they wanted to pick wildflowers so that Marian could teach them . . . something. Since he and Daemonar had the pool to themselves, they stripped completely and settled into water he considered sun-warmed to perfection, since it was still first-gasp cool.
    Through half-closed eyes, he watched his son trying to act relaxed and lazy, but the boy was too focused on the sound of the girls’ voices to be either.
    No. Daemonar still acted like a boy at times, but he was well into the adolescent stage, both physically and emotionally, and the aggressive temper of a Warlord Prince was now added to the possessive, protective side of their caste.
    Daemonar sighed and ducked under the water. When he surfaced, he sighed again. “They giggle a lot. Especially when they’re together. Why do they giggle like that?”
    “Because they’re girls.”
    “That’s not much of an answer.”
    “It’s the only one I’ve got, boyo. Young females are still females, and their minds are wondrous, strange, and confusing.”
    Daemonar rolled his eyes. “It makes Titian and Jaenelle sound dumb, like some of the older girls in school. Except Jillian. She wouldn’t act dumb.”
    Quick to defend, Lucivar thought. “Anything I need to know about?”
    “No, sir.”
    And a little too quick with that answer. Might be nothing, but Lucivar wouldn’t dismiss it until he’d had a chat with Jillian and knew it was nothing. Daemonar saw Jillian as an older sister, which meant she was his to protect and defend. So the boy would never admit to an adult that she was doing something dumb even if he thought she was doing something dumb.
    Looked like it was time for a reminder talk about the difference between doing something dumb but not dangerous and doing something that put one of them in the position of needing the intervention of an adult—namely, him.
    “They’re going to pick all the flowers,” Daemonar said.
    Lucivar studied his son. “If you want to do something for your mother, you can help her weed the garden this evening. Then you can have some time alone with her. She’ll like that just as much as picked flowers.”
    Big sigh. “The girls will push in.”
    “I’ll keep the girls out of the way.”
    “Yeah?” Daemonar climbed out of the pool, looking happier.
    “Hey.” Lucivar waited until Daemonar met his eyes. “Do not start teasing them.”
    “I won’t.”
    Lucivar stared at him. “They’re having a good time. Let them be.”
    “I’m not going to do anything. Not with Jaenelle here.”
    “Because she’s younger than you and Titian?”
    Daemonar grinned. “No, because she hits a lot harder than Titian.”
    His sigh turned into a chuckle. “Go on, then.”
    Daemonar grabbed his clothes and darted over to the bushes where he would have privacy dressing.
    Lucivar pushed away from the edge of the pool and floated on his back, his wings spread.
    Didn’t get much quiet time these days, not since Marian had given birth to their third child, a boy they named Andulvar in honor of the Demon Prince. A hard birthing, and it was taking Marian longer to recover. Because she needed more rest and her time and strength were being given to the baby, he made sure Daemonar and Titian had a little time alone with her each day. And he made sure she had a little time for herself. Like today when he took the children for an afternoon at the pool and Jillian was at the eyrie to help out and watch the baby so that Marian could have a couple of hours to sleep or read in peace.
    With all the children nearby but occupied, he could have a few minutes of peace himself.
    The girls’ shrieks had him snapping upright, but he stayed in the pool, listening while he sent out psychic probes to search for the problem. They weren’t yelling for help, and those shrieks weren’t telling him much. The sound could be for anything—bug, snake, weird