He’d already had the men take his childhood bed out and put it into storage in the undercroft. While there, they would clean the cradles and bring them up. There were four cradles altogether. One defender, he believed it was his great-great grandfather, had sired a set of quadruplets. Not one of his ancestors since had a multiple birth. While the infants Elle carried would not be defenders, they would still be his children in every sense of the word. Already, he could feel his heart reaching for the little ones inside Elle’s womb. His chest ached with the knowledge that he could have been too late when the Fates sent him to her world. What would he have done if he’d arrived and found her dead? Would he have known she was the one with whom destiny decreed he would spend his life or would he have mourned her loss the same as any other human? He looked around the room and wondered if he would ever grow used to the idea that he had a family now.
