Adira's Mate (23 page)

“
I couldn’t reply immediately,”
Petr told her. He stroked a hand over her hair lightly. He looked past her to
Fintan
as he walked up to take her hand in his, lacing
their fingers together. “The general and I have met, on more than one occasion.
Though this is the closest we’ve been,” he said.

Fintan
cocked a brow up,
then
looked around. “Clear the deck,” he ordered. All the
men hesitated a moment, but soon they were alone in the landing bay. “We’re
running short on time,
Adira
. He needs to get back
across the border before the satellites sweep back around and see that
Bracken’s destroyer hasn’t moved.”

Adira
nodded and licked her lips. “I’m
so happy that you’re here,” she said softly and hugged her brother once more.
“Petr.
I love you so much. I miss you,” she said with tears
in her eyes. “Please tell me that you will somehow, someway keep in touch? How
can we? I don’t want you to miss at least knowing that your niece and nephew
are born.” She put his hand on her belly and grinned. “Two. Can you believe it?
Two babies.”

He shook his head before giving
Fintan
a dirty look. “I thought multiples were a myth,” he
said. “I am pleased you are doing well,
Adira
. When I
got your message I was shocked, to say the least. When the facility told me you
had been forced to help a dangerous patient I was frantic, searching for you
everywhere I could, all to no avail. Your message at least let me know why I
couldn’t find you anywhere.” He caught her hand in his and pulled her in for
another hug. “I’ve missed you, little sister. And while I’m not thrilled by
your choice in husbands, you appear happy, healthy, and rather radiant
…
so I will attempt not to give in to my baser
instincts to strangle him.”

“
I’m very happy,” she assured her
brother. “He is everything that I could possibly ever want and need in my other
half. The spirits are the ones that put our paths together. I know now that I
had been created for him and him alone. I love him, Petr. I miss you, though.
Gods, I miss you so much.” She had never gone this long without at least
talking to her brother via video conference and it was hard on her.

“
We’re working on a way to hide
the transmissions if we’re close enough to one another to talk. It’s going to
take a little time, though,
Adira
. The conversations
will have to be short, but in time we might be able to work something out to
make them longer. The biggest concern is our security network systems, and
getting around them so the communications aren’t logged with command.” He gave
her another hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “For now, though, I have to
leave. I love you, little sister, and think of you often. I will send word to
you as soon as I’m able, but try not to worry if it’s not for a time. It’s not
like we do this all the time, after all.”

She nodded and hugged him once
more. “I love you too, Petr.
So much.”
She sighed and
closed her eyes. “I miss you so much. I look forward to being able to see you
again. Look forward to being able to have talks with you. Perhaps one day you
will be able to come and see the children when they are born? I hope?” She
wanted her brother there when her children were born, prayed that they would be
able to reconnect then.

“
I’ll see what we can do,” he said
softly. He took a step back, moving a hand to cup her cheek, and smiled at her.
“I love you, poppet. Be good, and try to cause as much havoc as I know you can
for this
Craegin
pain in my ass. Had I thought of it
sooner, I’d have bloody well introduced the two of you.” Leaning in, he pressed
a kiss to her hair. “Keep her safe, General, or the next time we meet I won’t
pull any punches.”

Fintan
snorted, but kept his mouth
shut.
Likely a good thing, given how emotional
Adira
was.

Adira
nodded and when Petr moved her
from his arms and into her husband’s, she turned and sobbed her heart out. She
looked back over her shoulder at her brother, she said, “Please send word often?
Either with Bracken or Fin?
Please?” she begged. “I
just want to know that you are okay. Please?” she whispered to him and hugged
her husband again.

“
I’ll send messages whenever I
can,” he promised. Then he disappeared around the crawler.

Fintan
gave her a squeeze. “Come, we
need to get out of here before he starts the engines up. And we definitely
can’t be in here when he takes off.” Keeping his arms around her, Fin led her
slowly out of the landing bay. He stopped once they were outside the doors and
turned on a display so she could watch as Petr left the destroyer.

She watched as her brother took
off, her fingers touching the display, and she looked up at Fin once more.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him.
“For giving that to me.
Thank you so much. I can’t believe you did that for me.”

“
Of course I did that for you,” he
said. He kissed her lips gently. “I knew you were missing him, and since the
communications aren’t secure enough for ship-to-ship transmissions across the
borders this was the only way. It took us this long to plan it down to the last
detail, and to get our schedules to work well enough for the plan to actually
be useful. He’s right, though. We are working on figuring out a way to
communicate. It’s a giant headache right now, but we’re getting close. Soon
you’ll be able to have talks with him in real time. They won’t be long, but at
least you can see and hear him now and again.”

“
If anyone can do it I know that
you are the one,” she assured him and nodded. “I know that if anyone will be
able to get through this it’s you,” she whispered and hugged him tightly.
“Whatever it takes, I know that we will be able to do this. I’m just thankful
to have whatever time that I can get with him. He’s my brother. He’s the only
family that I have, or rather, had. I have you and our babies now,” she said
with a grin.

“
Such
faith in me, little wife.
While I’m humbled by it you should know this is still going to be a risk. Our
people haven’t had open communication for a long time. Too much anger on both
sides, I’m afraid.” Taking her hand in his, he led her toward the lifts. “I’ll
make sure you get as much time to talk to him as I can manage. But those times
will be few and far between for a long time.”

“
I know.” She took a deep breath
and nodded. “I know that they will, and that will make it all the more
precious.” Resting her hand on her belly, she leaned into him. “Do you think
that perhaps he will be able to one day see our babies? To hold them and spend
more than five minutes with us?”

“
Hopefully,
Adira
.
I’ll see what I can do to find a way for him to come for a longer visit. I know
some of the moon outposts need visits, and with them so far out there’s little
to no satellite coverage on them. That’s why we have the patrols on the
borders, to protect the outposts as much as we can. Perhaps it’s time we take a
journey that way. If your brother can do the same on his side of the border we
might be able to time it right for him to come over for a few hours instead of
just a couple of minutes. Let me talk to Bracken about it once he joins up with
us, and get his thoughts on the matter as well.”

That had her nodding. “Thank you.
That would work wonderfully. Anything at all that we could do.” She closed her
eyes and leaned heavily against
Fintan
. “I’m hungry.
Can we eat and then go for a nap?” She was emotionally drained. She had gone
from an exceptional high to a deep low with the knowledge that her brother
likely wouldn’t see her children.

“
Of course we can. We’re heading
for food right now. We’ll get a tray and take it back to our rooms so you can
snack on it before having a nap, and then have something after you wake up.” He
began to rub a hand up and down her back gently. “I wish I had an easy solution
for all of this,
Adira
. I hate seeing you so
unhappy.”

“
You are doing all that you can in
order to ensure that a solution is found. That’s all I can ask for. Somehow and
someway this will all work out, I just know it,” she told him with a
half smile
. “That feels good, when you rub my back like
that.”

“
I’ll give you a massage when we
get back to our quarters. It will help you to sleep, I’m sure,” he said softly.
He moved his hand up to her neck and gently squeezed. “For now, food, and then
your massage, and then a nice long nap.” When the lift doors opened he walked
with her to the dining hall, where they quickly filled a tray with all of her
favorites, plus a few additional dishes for
Fintan
to
eat.

“
I love how you take care of me.”
She finally smiled. She heard the whispers then and laughed.
“Didn’t
last until we made the dining hall.
That’s too funny,” she was saying as
she giggled. “Seems as if the doctors couldn’t wait to tell, or the guards that
were on deck when I told my brother?” It wasn’t her brother that they were
whispering about, but the Little General and his sister. She then laughed out
loud when she heard one of the men asking how long it would be before
Fintan
was wrapped as tightly around the little girl’s
fingers as he was around
Adira’s
.

Fintan
shot the man a look and hustled
her along to their rooms. “Ignore them. I will be firm with both our children,
but loving. You know that, right? Though they are correct about the fact I am
wrapped around your finger. I’ve known that from the moment you tried to take
care of me on your crawler. I’ve only wound around tighter with every passing
moment since then.” He let them into their rooms, closing and locking the doors
at their backs.

That had her grinning and she
shrugged. “I know that. I also know that you would do whatever was necessary in
order to ensure our safety and that of our children. I know that you will be
fair but firm with both of our children, just as I will be. I think that they
are trying to tease you.” She moved as close to him as she could get. “It’s
good that they didn’t see that you nearly passed out when you learned that
there were two. I think that they would have been even more amused.”

“
You dropped the data pad when you
got the news, and were at least as pale as I was. I may have been beyond
stunned, but I noticed that detail, little wife.” Helping her to sit down in a
chair, he pulled another close to hers and sat at their table. He set the tray
down before wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Not every day a man finds
out he’s having two children, especially since for the entire pregnancy they
were pretty clear it was only one.”

“
I was stunned, to say the least.
As Petr said, we thought multiple births were a myth.
To find
out suddenly that we have two.”
She shook her head.

“
I definitely understand that,” he
said. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he gave her a squeeze. “Now eat some of
this food. You look ready to fall over from exhaustion, but we both know you
won’t sleep worth anything if you’re hungry.”

“
No, I won’t.” She piled her plate
with food and smiled at him. “I’m happy.
Even more now.
I can’t believe that you were able to do that for me.” She was still stuck on
the fact that he had done all that he had for her, to get her to see her
brother. It amazed her. “For now, food, and then we will figure out everything
else.
Right?”

“
One
item at a time, yes.
Eat before I feel the need to toss you into the bed and insist you sleep. Even
if it’s only a few bites,
Adira
, you have to get
something in there. You are, after all, eating for three.”
Fintan
actually managed to deliver that line with a straight expression, and
surprisingly without her smacking him for pointing out that she was pregnant
with twins. Not that it lasted all that long before he was snickering.

She just looked at him when he
delivered that line, then dissolved into laughter with him.
“Oh
heavens.
One day, very soon, I venture to guess, you’re so going to be
sorry for that. When I’m in the last stages of this pregnancy and big as a
house, you are going to just about kill someone because of how cranky I am and
we both know it.” He was temperamental now when it came to her. When she got to
the end of the pregnancy she knew that it would grow even more.

“
You are much too nice to actually
kill anyone, little wife. Everyone knows that. What they also know from the
last time they didn’t have enough of your favorite cheese around is you’re not
above ordering me to kill someone, though. Why do you think we haven’t run out
of a single one of your favorite dishes since that time?”

That had her laughing; she
couldn’t help it. She bent over because of how much she was giggling. “Yes, I
noticed that they hadn’t
ran
out of either the honey
tea I love, or the cheese.
Amazing.
You are too good
to me and so is your crew. We need to do something special for them for putting
up with me and my emotional self.”