Book Review The Nest Novels & Stories

To respect his privacy and maintain appropriate boundaries, I had never once visited the apartment. Until today. I sat on the couch and stared fixedly at the remark. Love nest? Who could my wife possibly have a love nest with? I looked into Violet's bank records. At the start of every month, she would transfer a fixed amount of three thousand dollars to a man named Howard Sutton. The payments started two years ago, and she had never missed a single month. Over the course of two years, that added up to a staggering total of 72 thousand dollars. Tightening my grip around my phone, I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.

“Okay, little one. I know you’re running out of room in there.” The aisle was bright and colorful, rows of bottles, tiny socks, and mittens stacked neatly on shelves. Pastel blues, soft yellows, gentle creams. I pushed the small cart slowly, humming under my breath as I picked up a pack of onesies. Emma had wanted to come with me, but she was stuck at work. She’d argued repeatedly that I should wait until her shift ended. But waiting hadn’t been an option. Nesting, they called it. The sudden urge to prepare. To clean. To organize. To make everything perfect before the baby came.

" I asked, feeling very concerned now. I watched as he looked away from me, his eyes roamed around our surrounding. I looked away from him and felt even more confused than ever. "What in the world?... What is this.." I started to say but my words were cut off when the door opened. I quickly looked toward the door. "Oh my gosh!.. Look at it Maddy!" She said as she walked in after shutting the door. She walked toward the bed, her eyes locked on the nest. She sat down next to us, her eye still locked on the nest. "Wow, I love your nest!"

"Contains everything from where they live to their hierarchy to their strengths and weaknesses." "It is like studying them and their behavior. And I want you to read this, remember everything by heart and get ready for your next journey, making preparations according to the information in this. If you're agreeing to this, of course." He said, tilting his head. Why wouldn't I agree? This proposition was like going on a hunt to find a new eagle's nest, when I was younger. "Of course, I agree. When can I depart?" I asked, eyeing the book, my hands itching to just hold it and spend the coming nights reading it.

I don’t realize Cole is watching me until he clears his throat gently from the doorway. “You look serious,” he says. I glance up and smile. “I am. This child is going to need a place to put their things.” He laughs softly and comes closer, leaning over the back of my chair to kiss the crown of my head. “You’re nesting.” “I am not nesting,” I say automatically. He raises an eyebrow, and I sigh. “Fine. I’m nesting.” The notebook is full of lists and half-sketched ideas, colors, furniture, notes about light and storage and how everything should feel calm without being boring. It’s the second nursery, but it feels different this time. Less desperate. Less protective. More… intentional.

I say, making them both nod. King Maliki opens the book in his hand. “Do you know where the other nests are?” He asks. “I know you have one, demons, and faeries,” I answer. “The oldest is the demons. Their nest is not in Hell, well not in what humans consider Hell. The demon nest is in the desert,” he hands me a book with a map. “So, we passed it coming here,” I roll my eyes. “Well, you could have called,” Queen Camilia answers.

"We’ll see what it’s like. Then we'll make a decision." Harlan grinned, clearly pleased with my answer. "Smart girl," he said, nodding to his men. "Let's move." Eagle’s Nest wasn't what I expected. It wasn’t some grand fortress, or a sprawling, guarded compound. It was a collection of old buildings, perched high on a ridge, surrounded by makeshift walls and barbed wire. There were people—more than I’d seen in months—moving about, some tending to gardens, others fixing up broken-down vehicles. It looked like a functioning, albeit rough, community.

“Teach me how to move without being seen, how to speak without being heard, how to make a room be honest when it wants to lie. Teach me how to kill what needs killing and bury it so it doesn’t come back.” Nestore’s jaw worked. He should have said no. He should have barked at me to go home, to take the villa his father would make into a gilded cell. Instead he nodded once, slow and heavy. “We’ll start where it hurts least. Small things. Watching. Reading people. Listening. You won’t be alone.”

Pausing at the entrance, she peered inside. A large wooden desk sat at the back of a beautiful room with pale butter-colored walls painted with creeping vines and blossoming flowers. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves loomed behind the desk, filled with hundreds of books. Various curious objects were used as bookends, such as a saber-tooth tiger's skull, a hadrosaur's leg bone, and a cast model nest of oviraptor eggs. The nest would have been the most valuable piece in his collection if it hadn't been a replica. She'd heard real nest fossils went for a several million dollars at auctions. Everyone loved the idea of baby dinosaurs. And finding intact eggs was rare. Eggs were fragile and rarely surv

Blankets in deep, rich colors, not the tactical beige Zaide would have surely chosen. She reached for the laptop, a giddy sense of freedom making her fingers tremble, ready to build her first ever safe space. And then the realization hit her like a physical blow. A nest wasn't just about new things. It was about surrounding yourself with items of comfort, with the familiar scents of your pack, your family, your life. She had nothing.