"They are whispering again, Gregori," Savannah said, with a small smile on her face. "In their own language. And I fear they are up to no good."

"They are in incubators, Savannah," Gregori pointed out, glancing toward the twin cubicles his girls were in. "It isn't like they can get into trouble."

Savannah's eyebrow shot up.

Gregori frowned. "What? What could they possibly do?"

"If someone doesn't stay in the room with them every single second, Anastasia finds her way into Anya's incubator."

He whirled around to glare at the infants. "No way is that possible. They fit into my palm. She would have to remove the oxygen leads and float into the incubator and refit the leads. She was born too early and is only a week old. That is impossible."

"And yet, we keep finding her in Anya's incubator," Savannah said.

Gregori took a step toward the small cubicles, halted, and pushed a hand through his dark hair before placing both hands on his hips. "Tell her to stop it."

"I did."

"Forbid her."

"Exactly what do you plan on doing to her if she disobeys?"

"Well, she…" He broke off. "Savannah. You cannot let her get away with that. It could be harmful to her. Just reason with her."

"I tried reasoning with her. Perhaps she needs to hear it from you."

Gregori straightened his shoulders and put on his sternest face.

"Honey," Savannah said. "You can't frighten her. You look like a thundercloud. Perhaps you should be sweet."

"Were you sweet with her?"

"Of course."

"I don't see that it did much good." He stomped across the room, his chest out, his silver eyes glittering dangerously. "Anastasia. You are not allowed, under any circumstances, to float over to your sister's incubator. Do you understand me, young lady? I absolutely forbid it, and you'll be answering to me if you defy me." His voice was low but roared like thunder.

His daughter stared up at him with her huge violet blue eyes, very reminiscent of her mother's. Her face crumpled. Her little heart-shaped bow of a mouth trembled. The lower lip quivered, and then her lips parted. Her face scrunched more. A loud, thin wail came out of her mouth and she began to wail in earnest.

His heart nearly stopped right there in his chest. "Savannah! Get back in here!"

The wail grew louder, sounding even more distressed. Now his heart pounded and his mouth went dry. "Savannah! Veriak ot en Karpatiiak — by the blood of the Prince! Get in here now."

Anya added her wail to her sister's.

Savannah glared at her lifemate. "What is going on? Did you just swear?"

"Do something. She's crying. Get over here. I made her cry. Why is she crying? I just told her to stop doing that. Why would she cry?" He sounded panic-stricken, even to his own ears. Soon he was going to start sweating blood. Nothing sounded worse to him than his own babies crying.

"It isn't the end of the world," Savannah soothed.

He glared at her. In spite of her voice she was obviously amused, definitely not grasping the gravity of the situation. "No you don't understand, those are real tears."

"I wasn't the one to make her cry, Gregori," Savannah pointed out righteously.

Gregori reached into the incubator and lifted his tiny daughter. "Don't, baby. Nothing is so bad we can't fix it. I didn't mean to sound loud and stern, it's just that if you lose your concentration when you're levitating, you could fall and hurt yourself. And you need oxygen."

Anastasia continued the most pitiful sound, but snuggled against his hand as if the contact soothed her in some way.

"She doesn't like being alone," Gregori said, giving Savannah another panicked look. "She needs to be in with Anya." Very gently, he put his daughter beside her sister and leaned down to give each of them a kiss.

Instantly both babies quit crying and looked up at their father with smiles. His heart melted and he smiled back.