“Get off of her!” A strange man he’d never seen before was suddenly pulling Lumi away.
The woman slammed the door shut, and a lock clicked. “Oh, Elira! Get him away from me! Call the guards!”
Lumi shoved at the new guy, remembered he had his magic now without his collar, and raised a hand as he summoned his fire. “Let me go! I need my daughter!”
“It’s me!” hissed the man. "Jaki." He took Lumi’s right wrist. “Please put the fire out.”
Jaki had said something about having a glamor. Lumi still tried to push him away. “You’re not keeping me from her!”
“I’m not trying to. Is your child here in the Castle?”
“She has to be…” Lumi started to sob. He needed to see her and make sure she was safe. What if she was scared or hungry because the servant hadn’t fed her? How could he trust a stranger with her?
Jaki took off his coat. “Let me take you back upstairs, and I’ll come look.”
“No! I need her now!”
The glamor must have been good to change the Prince’s eyes. Something about the way he looked at Lumi made him still seem like Jaki. He put the coat around Lumi and knocked on the door. “Miss, I’m sorry about that. He’s hurt, and it’s a long story. Do you know where his baby is?”
“I don’t have any babies!” the woman shrieked through the door. “Go away, or I’ll call the guards.”
“Nobody’s going to hear you from behind a locked door, and I need to find his child. We…” Jaki paused. “We moved her for a bit because her Father was ill. There was a big issue, and His Majesty was trying to help. I’m not sure who took the baby.”
That barely made sense to Lumi as he held onto the wall and tried to ignore the pain everywhere in his body. The woman must have felt safer with a lord because she opened the door a crack. “Lydia downstairs has two. One’s hers, and King Tivargave her the other. He said he took pity on a homeless woman, and Lydia has milk for two.”
“You mean a homeless man?” Jaki asked as if she’d heard wrong. “He won’t rest and recuperate without his child. You know how a new parent is. I didn't expect him to get out of bed in such a panic.”
The woman glanced at Lumi. “Er, yes. First floor, second door on the right.”
“Thank you. Keep quiet about this, okay? Don’t embarrass him.”
Lumi started heading down the next flight, and his legs buckled. Jaki was at his side in an instant to scoop him up.
“I need Jacqueline. I’m not going upstairs.”
“We’re getting her, okay? We won’t go back up until she’s in your arms. I promise.”
Lumi sniffled as he studied Jaki’s face in this new form. His jaw was tight, but his arms were gentle as he carried Lumi down. Maybe none of this was real because he’d figured out a long time ago that no one would ever come for him. Even though he’d convinced himself that his freedom at the Ice Court would last forever, he knew that once he returned, he’d never leave because Tivar wouldn’t allow it.
What if his mind had finally cracked? What would happen to Jacqueline?
“You’re really here? I'm not dreaming?”
“Yes, I’m here. I’m Lord Smith like this, so remember that.”
Jaki only put him down when they reached the right door, and he knocked. “Lydia?”
“Er, yes?” came a hesitant voice.
“It’s Lord Smith. I’m supposed to get the baby you were given by King Tivar to watch.”
Lydia opened the door enough to look through. “And just what do you need the baby fo-” She noticed Lumi in the coat thatwas too big for him and not properly done up, with his bare legs sticking out from the bottom. “Good Elira!”
“This is her Father.”
“His Majesty said he took her from a homeless woman because she begged him, and he felt sorry for the poor girl.”
Jaki tilted his head. “I think you must have gotten mixed up. Her Father gave birth to her. He was seriously hurt. Crime has gotten quite bad lately. Gav won’t rest until his kid is next to him now that he’s awake. I’m sure you can understand. It's his first child, and while he needs to rest, he's getting too worked up without his daughter by him.”
