The Raven's Source

Chapter 25 - Game Plan

"Twins having twins? How amazing is that?" Ilyana asked in awe, rejoining them.

"I couldn't believe it either," Shej replied, setting his hand down on his brother-in-law's shoulder. "So no, we will have two before you do," he chuckled.

"There are an awful lot of twins in this town," Ily teased.

"A twin married to a twin and having twins. Crazy," Twyn said in disbelief.

"And unfortunately, your nightmares weren't too far off either," Shej said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Twyn asked curiously.

"When Leena got sick, we did almost lose them," Shej admitted, a pain and sadness in his voice, leaning over and resting his head against Leena's. He smiled softly as she leaned her head back into his. "I would have never forgiven myself if she had."

"We would have just started over and tried again," Leena reassured Shej, turning her head and kissing his cheek.

"Why would it have been your fault to take any blame?" Twyn asked. "Miscarriages happen more than people realize and we know that firsthand ourselves too, remember?" He smiled softly as Ily came and sat down on his lap, wrapping one arm around Twyn's shoulders. He smirked, "Practice makes perfect though and damn if practicing ain't fun."

"Because it would have been my fault," Shej admitted again as the others laughed. The laughter quickly stopped as he stood up straight, excusing himself to the kitchen. "Drinks anyone? Peach cobbler?"

Leena sighed, feeling Twyn and Ily's gazes shift back to her. "He blames himself because he vanished for several days out of fear. He and Cerno got into a verbal altercation in the car on the way back to Saorsa and as soon as we reached the gates, Shej jumped out of the car. Vanished in a flash." She gave her precious baby bump a gentle rub. "It's my fault for being so determined to try find him. I'm the one that carelessly went out in the rainstorm. I was soaked and cold to the core, I exhausted my source trying to use my fire to stay warm. Cerno caught up to me finally and forced me back inside but I had already done the damage. He and Rosalie stayed with me all night, and it was Cerno who realized how quickly I had gotten sick from it."

"Severe pneumonia or something like that," Shej said softly, bringing back drinks and four servings of peach cobbler. "She was so cold and so weak, her body could barely support itself and something took advantage of it." He sat across from the couch, setting his cobbler down on the table and suddenly not looking very interested in it.

Twyn studied Shej for a moment. "You got drunk and tried to numb all the fear away."

Shej nodded.

"How did you know?" Leena asked, a little surprised that her brother didn't sound angry at all.

"Shej did it when we were around 15, so he was about 17," Twyn spoke calmly. "You thought he went with his parents on vacation when in fact he was to be staying with us and I was helping him hide. I didn't know how he kept getting the alcohol, but we were dumb and I kept encouraging him as long as he felt the booze worked."

"My parents were talking about leaving Sundres, and their 'vacation' was them out searching for a new village to move to. I was afraid of having to leave you both and what a new village would mean."

"But they didn't leave until after we built our house together," Leena noted.

"I sobered up the night before they returned and while they gleamed about the new village they found, I asked them if they could wait a few months. It's why I posed the idea of the three of us building our home immediately once you two turned 16 and were old enough to move out too."