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“Wild wolf, please… leave us be…”
Nina smiled as she leaned against the doorframe, watching as her husband tucked their youngest into bed as he hummed the lullaby. All four girls were going to grow up on those old Fjerdan lullabies, that was for sure.
“Goodnight helbreder ,” Matthias whispered, then leaned down and kissed Viveca on the forehead, brushing some of her blonde bangs out of the way. Vivi was the only one whose blonde hair was actually really that color, and if it hadn’t made her a daddy’s girl already, the fact she was the sole healer in their mass of powerhouse grisha certainly did.
“Goodnight papa,” Vivi whispered. “Goodnight mama,”
“Goodnight dear one,” Nina said. “Go to sleep now, your sisters will be in soon,”
Like she’d summoned them, Soren, Jena, and Nora came twirling through the door, giggling and trying in vain to stay quiet.
“Go to sleep little demjins!” Nina laughed, giving Nora a lighthearted shove. Matthias caught her and swept her into her bed, pulling the quilts up in one fell swoop.
“Goodnight my jenters ,” He smiled. “Now don’t bother your mother or I until tomorrow or we’ll send you back to Kaz for the summer,”
There was a unanimous groan (minus Soren, who seems scarily okay with becoming one of the Dregs) and the girls flopped back into bed. Matthias picked up the candle and gave each of them a kiss before leaving, swinging Nina around to go with him.
The two made their way down to the kitchen, where two mugs of steaming hot tea were already waiting. Sitting down at the table, Nina grinned at Matthias as he took one last glance at the stairs.
“They won’t just disappear you know,”
“They’re growing up,” Matthias grumbled. “If we didn’t see Zoya and Kuwei so often, we’d have already sent Soren to the Little Palace.”
Nina almost stopped smiling. She hadn’t forgotten that the grisha liked to train young, but hadn’t put the pieces together that her oldest was already eight. Or that the twins were six. And Vivi was four. Oh saints , where had the time gone?
“D-do you think we need to send her to the little palace?” She ventured carefully. “Just for the school years,”
Mia Soren Helvar had taken after both parents, but Nina couldn’t recall a time she’d been prouder than when they’d realized Soren was a heartrender. Or when Vivi was a healer, or that Nora was an Inferni and Jena a Squaller.
For a man who’d start out hating Grisha down to his core, it would have seemed like a cruel twist of fate for him to end up with four grisha daughters.
“You’re teaching her everything you know,” Matthias said. “And there's not a war anymore, so there's no need to steal children to make into soldiers,”
Thank the saints for that. Nina thought. And thank them we got out of Ketterdam too.
Their original plan was to escape to the Wandering Isles, but Kaz had been adamant they stay in Kerch. He’d rented them the ‘mysteriously procured’ farmhouse out in the country, but they weren’t stupid. There was still a door frame marked ‘Kaz’ and ‘Jordie’ out by the back door, which the couple had just wholly ignored and started their own on the other side.
It would probably be only a few more years before the Helvars left the little farm and moved back to Ketterdam. As bad as the Barrel was, their kids were smart enough that it would only make them more aware.
But in the meantime, they had the chance to sit back and experience life like neither had expected. Four beautiful, talented girls who were their parents entire lives. No druskelle threatening to find and kill them just for living, and no war that would take them anyways.
Nina breathed in her tea and adjusted her sweater. It wasn’t quite as ugly as the Fjerdan disguise she’d once worn, but to Matthias it had the same charm. He smiled and reached across the table, tangling a loose strand of her hair between his fingers.
“It's nice to have you, little red bird,” He smiled. “You and the jenters, ”
“What would you do without us?” She grinned.
“Well, probably not work on a farm, or in Ketterdam,”
“Oh no, is it too warm here for you?”
Matthias chuckled. Kerch was still anything but warm.
“Jesper was right…” He mused. “I’ve got my own little Grisha army,”
“Don’t ever let Kaz hear you say that.” Nina warned. “Oh saints, don’t let Zoya hear that, we’ll be put on so many missions you won’t even have time to think about this farm,”
“It might be… fun,” Matthias said, almost unsure if that was the right word. “Take the girls to Fjerda, let them see the snow… free a few dozen prisoners,”
Nina grinned wider, then glanced towards the stairs and back at her husband.
“Let's wait until they're a little older,” She suggested. “I’d prefer a fully trained healer when we do that,”