Chapter 73: The Jacks Master

The train was still moving steadily. Its clackety-clack sounds droned on with monotonous repetition.

"Maaaamaaaa…" Talia heard a little murmuring next to her face. "Devin hungry, Maamaaaa."

Talia smiled and opened her eyes.

The day had already begun. The dull glow of a barely visible sun brought much needed visible light into the mostly darkened interior of the railcar.

There was enough light to see a little boy standing next to the sofa with his face mere inches away from hers.

"Hmm. That's not good." She reached out to tousle his hair. "Looks like we need to get some food."

"We've been trying to get him to eat." A voice drawled over by the booth table. "But he won't eat without you."

Talia's eyes crinkled as she turned towards the vampire seated at the table.

"What were you trying to give him?" She sat up, rubbing at her eyes.

"Hot oatmeal." Vander nodded at the small bowl in front of him.

Devin made a face. "Yucky."

"Don't say that about food." She turned back to Devin. "We need to be thankful that we have food to eat."

Devin looked away, grimacing.

"There are many people who are very hungry and would love to eat what you've been given." She admonished the little boy and then turned back to Vander.

"He's been spoiled rotten. Let me see what I can do."

She got up and went to the table. "Hmm. If you eat this entire bowl, you get to play counting jacks with Uncle Van."

Devin looked at his Uncle Van. "Uncle Van play jacks?"

"Jacks?" Vander gave a quizzed stare at Talia who ran over to the bar area and pulled out a handful of wine corks.

"Here we go. Use these as jacks. And here's a ball." She produced one from her pocket, one of the few items that had survived the fire because it was in her pocket when she ran with Devin.

"I don't know how to play this jacks game." Vander scratched his head.

Talia grinned. "Devin will show you how. He's really good at it."

She turned back to Devin. "But first, eat!" She pointed at the bowl.

Devin gave her a cheeky grin and grabbed the bowl, devouring it within seconds, even sticking his tongue out to lick the remaining bits within the bowl, like a little puppy.

Vander shook his head in disbelief at how quick and effective Talia was in getting the boy to eat with such gusto.

He heaved a deep sigh. He needed to learn her witchy wily ways with little boys if he was going to ever be a good uncle.

While Devin taught Vander how to play counting jacks, Talia went to the bathroom and washed up the gunk of the previous day's travails.

She even managed to wash her hair with the limited water that was available on the train because Cecil never used this railcar and the car's water tank was still mostly full.

By the time Talia emerged from the bathroom, two attendants had returned with a couple of bags.

"We are sorry, Milady. All your things have been destroyed in the fire. We only have female attendants clothing that we can offer you at this time."

Talia grinned and took the bags. "Thank you for the clothing. I'll be sure to return them to you in good condition if I get some new clothes."

As she dove back into the bathroom, she heard Vander muttering something. "…what in hell is she talking about? If she gets new clothes? IF—"

Within minutes, she had reemerged wearing her clean attendant's dress with a big smile on her face.

Devin slipped off the chair he was sitting on and ran to her. "Maaamaaa. Devin win." He buried his head into her skirts.

"That's not fair," Vander pretend-scowled. "These corks are so big, it's too easy for him to pick up so he mostly wins. We need to whittle them down a bit so they are harder for him to handle."

Devin laughed. Uncle Van was such a sore loser. He so funny.

While Devin and his Uncle Van played another game of 'Devin wins Jacks', she went over to check on Cedric.

He was still lying on the bed in the same position she had left him, but he seemed to be breathing normally and looked as if he was simply sleeping.

She was about to leave him to rest when he reached out suddenly and grabbed her hand.

"Talia." He murmured deep in his throat.

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She turned back to him. "You're awake. I was trying not to wake you up."

He opened his amber wolf eyes and gazed up at her.

"You didn't. I've been awake since daybreak."

"Are you still in pain?" She began touching his body in various spots where she knew the trauma had occurred.

"It's mostly healed on the outside, although I could use another half a day to completely heal my internal injuries." He reached out and touched her hand.

"That's—" She shook her head. "I've seen you heal yourself before but every time I witness it again, it just blows my mind."

He laughed gently. "What would help me heal faster is if I get a hug from you."

Talia smiled. "It's not going to heal you any faster, but I can give you as much hugs as you want."

She leaned towards him and rested her face on his neck, her arms encircling him gently.

Cedric reached out and embraced his woman's small thin body, grateful for the chance to be able to touch her again.

He had thought that it was the end for him and he would never get the chance to be with her in this lifetime, but he'd been given a reprieve. He was still alive and could still feel her in his arms.

He turned his wolf nose into her hair and kissed her neck. He could smell the fresh scent of orange flowers emanating from her body. It was starting to turn him on.

Talia took a deep breath, inhaling his male scent. Cedric still reeked of alcohol and dried blood, among other funky smells on him.

She had cleaned him as best she could with the three hot water buckets, but it seemed she would have to give him a more thorough bath in a bit.

"Are you hungry? I can have the attendants bring some food for all of us after I clean you up a bit."

Cedric closed his eyes. "I'm not really hungry, but I could use a bit of cleaning."

From the table, Vander spoke up. "Don't change out of wolf form, Cedric. Let your body heal up a bit first."

He got up from the table. "I'll help you into the bathroom."

Talia threw a grateful look at Vander and went to find the attendants to get lunch brought in, along with some warm milk for Devin.

Over hot stew and fresh bread, Cedric and Vander were deep in discussions about complex military strategies that were almost unintelligible for Talia.

She sat staring out the window at the endless stretches of snow covered fields, thinking about the crazy fact that not only was she no longer in New Orleans, she was also no longer on Earth.

This was a strange mystical magical place with werewolves, werebears, dwarves, and vampires and most everything she owned from New Orleans had been destroyed in the fire that took out their entire railcar.

The fields of snow continued mile after endless mile with no end in sight. This deep in midwinter, there was no way to tell what kind of fields those were or what they produced.

There was nothing to break the perfect blanket of snowy fields except for a few small homes scattered about, most likely the farmers and farmhands who worked the fields.

"You're looking at Duke Andre's lands at this point, Talia." Cedric leaned into her, murmuring into her ear.

"Oh? Are we getting closer to Faria?"

"We are approaching the eastern border, which is where the vast majority of Andre Kossova's land holdings are located."

"How close are we to your home?" She asked.

"Close." He sniffed appreciatively into her hair. "OUR home is about a day away. The palace however, is only half a day away. We will stop there to drop Cecil off and refresh ourselves before we continue on towards our home."

"Isn't the palace your home?" Vander spoke up.

Cedric turned sardonic amber eyes at Vander. "Not until I become Alpha. At the moment, I think we can wait a few days."

He turned back to Talia.

"I need to get my mate settled and acclimated to her new environment first before I do what must be done."

Talia smiled and looked down at her leather ring. She had almost forgotten that he had marked her in the manner that she had asked him to do.

For better or worse, she was going to be living with him as his mate. She needed to start thinking of herself as his wife and not simply as Devin's nanny.

"You must be anxious to be coming back to Faria after having been away for so long." She turned back to Cedric.

"In many ways yes. In many ways, no." He responded without going into the reasons.

Talia merely nodded. All those reasons would soon become apparent. There was no reason to worry about them now.. They would show themselves soon enough.

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