Lyrica laughed lightly when she glanced at the gift. “That is a mobile of lights. Lynx, my twin brother, and I had one over our crib when we were younglings. May I show you?”
After he nodded, she used a simple spell to lift the mobile out of the box and it instantly burst to life with tiny dancing flames. The mobile was a circular chandelier made of glass balls with different color flames floating in the center. The balls were held in place by thin strands of metal that looked like decorative vines. As the flames swirled and danced inside the glass, both babies laughed and clapped their hands.
“It is very powerful magic, but the flames are completely harmless in this form. It’s spelled so the light will flare and dim when needed. It will take a few days for the mobile to sync with their energy, but soon it will help your sons have peaceful sleep and pleasant dreams each night.”
“Would you hold Zander for a moment?”
Amari held the baby out to a startled Lyrica, who took him into her own arms. She looked down at the adorable baby she was holding, and those glowing green, gold, and black eyes swirled with intelligence as they boldly stared back at her. Far too much intelligence for a baby. Then again, Zander was a Dragon Warrior, so nothing he did should have surprised her.
“This is high praise for both of us,” Gabriel told her through their bond. “Otherwise, Roman and Amari wouldn’t let us anywhere near their babies.”
“I am honored.” She paused before saying, “I wonder if we will have twins.”
Gabriel made a soft choking sound, and Odyn reached up to pat his cheek as if checking to make sure he was okay.
Amari smiled as she studied the mobile. “What a wonderful gift.”
Suddenly, the mobile flew through the air to hover directly over the crib in the back of the hall. Lyrica couldn’t help but notice there were no words spoken or any external motion to indicate that Amari had used magic to move it, which was different from how Xenon magic worked.
Her attention shifted when Zander grabbed hold of the stone necklace she was wearing. He babbled incoherently as he held it out to his mother, almost strangling Lyrica in the process.
“What do you have there?” Amari walked over to get a closer look at it.
“This pendant helps stabilize my magic here on Earth.”
Amari took hold of it and studied the glass pendant that pulsed with green and silver light. After a long pause, she murmured, “What a clever boy you are, my little love. Aye, you are right. Something is missing…”
Lyrica was stunned. “What do you mean?”
“I am not quite sure.” Amari’s brows furrowed as if the very idea of her not knowing something offended her.
Roman reached out and took both Zander and Odyn into his arms. He moved back a few steps as Amari wrapped her fingers around the pendant. A blast of heat and light emanated from her closed fist. When she opened her hand again, the glass pendant had been transformed into a solid emerald with gold and silver light swirling inside the stone.
The moment the pendant touched Lyrica’s skin again, she closed her eyes as a burst of power raced through her body like a jolt of electricity.
Gabriel wanted to tear the damn thing off her neck. “What the hell did you do to her?” He let out a curse when his wings exploded out of his back, but he was too worried about his keeper to be embarrassed by his lack of control in front of his friends. “What just happened?”
Roman’s eyes went wide. “When did you get wings?”
Ignoring him, Lyrica moved straight to her mate and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t worry, Gabriel. I’m fine. Actually, I’m better than fine.”
His tense body relaxed against hers. At least he hadn’t cocooned them with his wings this time. “I thought something bad had happened.”
“The pendant was stabilizing my magic, but it wasn’t completely stopping my energy levels from fluctuating. My energy depletes faster here on Earth than when I’m on Xenthian. I think that’s why I need more sleep than I’m used to. But now, I feel like I’m at full strength again.”
Gabriel tuned back into the conversation. “Sorry about swearing in front of the kids.”
Roman waved that away. “I forget and do it all the time. I think their first word is going to be—”
“It will not,” Amari denied forcefully.
When the Dragon Warriors continued to stare at one another silently, Lyrica figured that they were probably communicating telepathically. She knew she was right when Amari chuckled softly as Roman leaned down to smack a hard kiss on her lips.
Roman’s glowing green eyes were bright with humor as he focused back on Gabriel. “I accidentally gave someone wings once. It was a little weird, but I’ve learned not to do stuff like that anymore.” He amended his statement by adding, “At least, I don’t do it too often.”
“You have done very well learning how to control your magic, mate.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“How did you give someone—you know, what? Never mind.” Magic was some scary shit. Gabriel concentrated on pulling the wings back inside of him and felt like cheering when they immediately cooperated.
Since he wouldn’t let go of her, Lyrica bowed her head to Amari. “Thank you for fixing the pendant. How did you know what to do?”
“I simply gave it what it needed and fed some magic into the stone to make it whole.” Amari smiled. “Shall we eat now?”
Suddenly, the empty table was filled with platters of food. Feeling utterly bewildered by what had happened during the last few minutes, Gabriel pulled a chair out for
