by Unknown
There, just to the right of my heart, that's where my human soul needed to be. I commanded it to go there and felt it obediently slide into place, giving me a slice of peace. I inhaled deep, suddenly able to concentrate better, and let my body handle the work of childbirth as I focused mentally on where to put my god soul. It went to the left, where it had always been, evidently. One spot remained, right above my heart, and my fey essence slid into its spot without my urging. Once there, it seemed to rule the other two. Well, it was my original soul after all.
I sighed and opened my eyes.
“Vervain?” Arach cried immediately.
“It's not over yet,” I ground out, “but I'll be okay.”
“Vervain!” He shouted as I closed my eyes again.
“Just take care of our son,” I squeezed his hand and bore down as I focused inward again. “I'm going to be alright.”
Yes, you will, Faerie sounded much calmer. The hardest part is over. Now you must dominate your beasts. Show them who is alpha and who they must obey if they want to live within you.
I sighed. I'd been there before, wrangling magical beasts into submission. It wasn't an easy task but I was at least familiar with it. I didn't mess around this time, trying to cajole them into peace. I roared at them; snarled and growled at them until I felt them roll over and bare their bellies. Then my lioness eased into the space beneath my goddess soul, my dragon went beneath my fey essence, and my wolf slipped under my human soul. That's right, gods damn it! I am the boss of me!
Very good, Faerie sighed. Now there's just your magic to contend with. This is more about conquering yourself than the energy. Just think about each magic and why you want it. You must remind the magic why you hold it and why it should remain with you. Calm yourself and provide a safe place for it.
Calm. Right. I could feel my son emerging into this world and I had to calm myself into welcoming my magic instead of him. Sure. I took a deep breath and pushed back my anger. The alpha approach wouldn't work with magic. Each one needed a different technique. Well, then again...
I snarled the lioness magic into submission before I reminded it of what we'd accomplished for her lions. We had freed them, made them into a family, and chosen one for our lover. We had made the Pride into what it should have been all along. The Intare magic purred inside me and settled into place beside the lioness and my goddess soul.
Next came Love. I wooed it, showing it images of those we loved and those we had helped to find love. I used the magic to join and mend hearts, not conquer them. Together, we did great things and the sub-magics of Lust, Victory, and War were used only in support of Love's mission. A warm glow filled me and my butterflies burst forth, swirling happily inside my chest before going to roost beneath my fey essence. It should have surprised me that the butterflies chose to live beside the dragon but it didn't. It felt right.
Last came the Moon. This was the hardest. I didn't have as much history with the moon magic as I did with the others. It was a magic laced with the memories of another woman and I'd had to box those memories up inside me so they didn't take over my mind. This led to a certain amount of reserve between us. Well, it was time for that to end.
I called to it, urged it to choose me. Not because I held Atahensic's memories but because I was a good home for it. Ata was gone but I could keep it safe, I could use it in new ways; powerful ways that Ata had never thought to employ. Like passing a piece of it on to my werewolf son one day. I could help it grow and flourish instead of simply die out as Ata had.
Magic wants to live, so it wasn't a huge surprise to have it agree and settle with my wolf, beside my human soul. I sighed, at peace again, if not as complete as I once was. When I opened my eyes, it was to find that Arach had slid onto bed behind me, his legs stretched out around mine and his arms over my rounded belly. He was crying, a rare thing indeed, with his face pressed tight to mine.
“Arach,” I whispered. “I told you I'd be alright.”
“I know,” he whispered back and angled my face so that he could kiss me. “But sometimes when you say that, you don't really mean it.”
Well he had me there.
“I'm okay now,” I lifted my hand to his cheek and wiped away the wet trails. “I promise. The attack shattered my star and I had to settle the pieces into new places.”
“Are you sure you're alright?” He asked urgently.
She's fine, Faerie answered. Though our futures are now uncertain.
“Again?” I whined.
You need to find a way to reunite your star, Vervain, Faerie said solemnly. It was your greatest strength and you'll need it back before someone attempts to take advantage of your weakness.
“We'll worry about that later,” Arach growled.
“My Queen,” Laise called to me from the end of the bed.
She was holding a swaddled baby who was way to quiet for my comfort but Laise was smiling when she held him out to us, so I relaxed. I thought that babies were supposed to come screaming into the world. Not my son. After all the chaos that had preceded his birth, he had emerged quiet and calm.
Arach shifted out from behind me and took the little bundle from Laise. He smiled brilliantly as he held our child like he was the most precious thing in the world. Arach angled the baby so I could see him and there he was, my son with Ull's beautiful blue eyes looking back at me. I instantly started to cry, holding my arms out to take him, but before Arach could bring him within my reach, my stomach tensed and Laise's hands clenched on my ankles.
“There's another child!” She exclaimed as she reached forward. “Bear down again, Queen Vervain.”
Another child? Faerie was back to being worried.
I shot an astonished look at Arach and he gaped back at me. Then my body took control and I began the process all over again, with my deliriously happy husband standing at my side cradling our first born. This second birth was much faster and soon, Laise was cleaning off yet another baby boy in a silver basin at her feet.
“A second prince!” Laise held him aloft and as soon as she did, the baby began to scream.
I gasped in shock, startled after the first calm delivery. This baby cried violently and shook his tiny fists as if he would take on the world. His cheeks were red and his eyes shut in squished up fury but then they suddenly shot open and he saw me. I know, I know, babies aren't supposed to be able to see you, not like that and definitely not right away. But my second-born son did. He focused on me as if he'd sensed where I'd be and his vivid, emerald, dragon eyes seemed to know exactly who I was.
“Bring him to me,” I demanded before Arach could claim him.
Laise smiled and wrapped the newly calmed baby in a blanket before easing him into my arms. I stared at the child in fascination and he stared back at me. There were tiny green scales on his pink cheeks and a tuft of soft crimson hair on his head. Arach reached out with his free hand and stroked that hair.
“How?” Arach whispered.
“The scepter,” I laid my forehead briefly to this surprise son of mine and felt the truth of it rock through me. “I felt the magic splitting me apart, tearing my three souls away from each other,” I looked up at Arach and his eyes widened. “Rian took that magic from me.”
And because he wasn't yet born, he was able to allow himself to be split, Faerie said with wonder. Split into his two souls... and then he instinctively used magic to form two bodies out of one.
“One faerie body and one god,” I looked from the obviously dragon-sidhe baby in my arms to the little god baby Arach held. “It looks as if our first born son needs a name, because I don't believe it should be Rian.”
“You're holding Rian,” Arach whispered and looked down at the solemn baby in his arms. “So who do we have here?”
“Ull,” I started to cry as I touched the hint of blonde hair, barely visible on his soft head. “It's Ull.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“You know we can't name him Ull,” Arach said gently as we lay in bed lat
er with the twins. “It would be too hard on people. Plus, I don't like the name. It's more like the description of a sound than a name.”
“You think that's bad?” I chuckled. “Thor's daughter is named Thrud.”
“Ugh, damn Vikings,” Arach made a disgusted face.
He had Rian now and I could tell that he would favor him. He wouldn't be able to help it. Rian was truly his son, his full dragon-sidhe heir. While I suspected that the baby which held Ull's soul was created from my body alone. A god soul inside a body formed instantly from a triple souled being. He was even more miraculous than the long awaited heir to the fire throne.
“You know that he's probably not yours,” I whispered.
“If not mine, then whose?” Arach narrowed his eyes on me.
He's hers, you stupid lizard, Faerie huffed. The fey essence had your genetic material to use but the god soul did not. He made due with what he had; namely, Vervain.
“Oh,” Arach blinked down at the quiet baby in my arms. “He doesn't have your coloring though.”
“Actually, I had blonde hair and green eyes when I was born,” I smiled down at my son. “They both darkened as I got older.”
“Really?” Arach asked in surprise.
“Everyone thought I was a boy because my hair was so pale, it was virtually invisible,” I stroked the wispy strands on the baby's head. “So my mother used to tape bows to my head.”
“She'd tape them on?” Arach laughed as he looked back to the son he held.
“I didn't have enough hair to hold them,” I shrugged.
Rian was growling at his father and every once in awhile, he'd get a hand free from his swaddling and bat at anything he could reach. He was a feisty one, no doubt. Which I guess wasn't all that surprising.
This one is definitely Fey, Faerie said smugly. You have your heir, Fire King.
“I can take Ull back to the God Realm with me,” I offered.
“No!” Arach said immediately and clutched at the baby with his free hand. “He's our first-born. My first-born son... and his name is not Ull.”
“But I don't think he's a dragon-sidhe,” I laid my hand over Arach's and he let his away. “He can't rule, you know that. Rian will be in line for the throne.”
“But he's still mine,” Arach looked so confused.
Dragons, Faerie huffed. So possessive.
“If you'd like to be a father to him, I'd be very happy with that,” I snuggled the baby to my face and breathed in his sweet amber scent. “But he will have others who will gladly fill that role for him, if you change your mind.”
“He's still part fey,” Arach asserted. “If you're his mother, then he's part dragon-sidhe.”
“Perhaps,” I shrugged. “But I don't think so.”
“Why not?” Both Arach and Rian were staring at me with confused and slightly angry expressions.
“I think all the fey blood went to Rian, while this baby got only god DNA.”
For once, I agree with you, Faerie sighed. I sense no faerie essence in this baby.
“Does that mean that Rian doesn't have any god blood in him and so he won't be born again if he ever dies?” Arach's jaw clenched.
“Yes, I think so,” I whispered. “But neither will you. So we'll just have to make sure that we protect you both.”
“Yes, we shall,” he said determinedly. “My son will be guarded by his parents,” then he looked over to the baby I was holding. “Both of my sons.”
“Arach,” I started again but he cut me off.
“Fey or not, he is my son,” Arach said firmly. “He is brother to Rian and of your body. He has no other father and so I am his father. We have been blessed with twin boys, A Thaisce, and I rejoice in it... in both of them.”
“I love you,” I said as he hugged us together, all three of us pressed to his chest.
“You stop my world,” he whispered but I wasn't sure who he was speaking to; me or our sons. Maybe he said it to all of us.
There you go, focusing on all the happy stuff when doom looms, Faerie grumbled.
“Faerie, can you shut the hell up for this one day please?” I snapped.
Yeah, alright, she huffed.
“So what shall we name him?” I looked down at our first-born son and he reached a tiny palm out to touch my cheek. “What is your name?”
“I'll let you have the honor of naming him,” Arach kissed my forehead. “As long as it's not Ull.”
I considered the baby's sweet face and just waited for something to come to me.
Might I suggest Alaric? A voice slid into my head and I looked up in surprise. Not that it mattered, he wouldn't be there, not in a physical form anyway. Alaric was more of an incorporeal being since he was the Consciousness of the Void.
“Al?” I chuckled. “Faerie let you through?”
Not unaccompanied of course, she huffed. We were on our way here, to give you our congratulations, when I felt your star burst, Vervain. So... congratulations. And to you too, Arach.
“Thanks for including me,” Arach rolled his eyes.
Did you push those babies out? Faerie snapped
“You tell him,” I laughed.
“Must my role in this be eternally dismissed as inconsequential?” Arach huffed. “I am the father, after all.”
For one child, Faerie said snidely. Vervain made that other baby all by herself.
Oh, that was rough. Tell the guy, I feel for him, Al said to me, since Arach couldn't hear Al, only Faerie and I could.
“Al sympathizes with you,” I said to Arach.
“Thank you, Alaric,” Arach said stiffly.
Oh, you see? Al asked me. He calls me Alaric. How difficult was that? Just two more syllables.
“But I like Al,” I laughed. “It's brief and to the point.”
“We are not naming the child Al,” Arach said. “I don't care that I said you could name him. I take it back.”
“I wasn't going to,” I shook my head. “I was just talking to Al about his name.”
“Well, alright then,” Arach huffed.
“I would like something brief though,” I mused. “Something without origin, something new for a child born in a new way.”
Something brief and new, Faerie sighed. What ridiculous guidelines for a name.
Brevity is the soul of wit, Alaric defended me.
“Shakespeare, nice,” I nodded. “Thanks, Al.”
Oh, why did I just give you more reasons to call me that? He grumbled.
“Okay,” I sighed dramatically. “If you hate it so much, I will endeavor to call you Alaric.”
My goodness but you are feeling joyous today, little mother, Al, I mean Alaric, sounded pleased.
“Brevity,” I mused. “I like the sound of it. How about Brevyn?”
“I actually don't hate that,” Arach said with some surprise.
Neither do I, Faerie sounded even more shocked than my husband.
I like it! Alaric declared.
“Well, a king and the Consciousnesses of two realms have all given their approval,” I looked down at the little face with Ull's eyes. “What do you think? Do you like Brevyn?”
The baby cooed and gave me the gift of his first smile.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Two months later, Arach and I had begun to get comfortable in our role as parents. We were of course lucky enough to have lots of help looking after the babies and I would have even been able to sleep in, if it wasn't for having to nurse them. Not that I minded. In fact, I think I enjoyed these early mornings the best; sitting in my rocking chair at the nursery window as I held either Rian or Brevyn and fed them while the sun rose over Faerie.
I admit that I thought a lot about Re during these vivid sunrises. I didn't know what to do for him, to help ease his pain. I didn't know what to do for my pain either but I at least had an abundance of love to console myself with. I hated to think of him alone in that golden bed. Or even worse... with numerous women who I'm sure could satisfy his body but woul
d never satisfy his heart.
Then there was my heart, and I don't mean love. I had no idea how to mend the broken pieces of my star and Faerie was getting more and more frantic. I understood her fear, there was a lump of it growing inside me too. Not because I missed the power but because I'd felt more real when the star was whole. I felt more complete and alive. It was this completion that had allowed my wolf to truly come forth and I'd developed the ability to shift into wolf form.
Being a wolf with Trevor had been so sublime. It had been the one thing we'd been missing, something that had filled a void for him. As a Froekn, he'd expected to bind himself to another wolf and have all the wonderful perks that such a union included. One of the basic perks was being able to run beneath the moon with his mate. How was I going to tell him that we couldn't do that anymore?
And then there was Fenrir. The Froekn went on bi-monthly runs in Fenrir's territory and the first time Trevor had brought me with him, Fenrir had looked brokenhearted when he approached me to tell me that I couldn't join them, since I didn't have a wolf form.
I had shifted into my white wolf and Fenrir had just gawked at me, his mouth hanging open and his arms dangling loose at his sides. The Froekn had rushed forward, howling and yipping, rubbing against me to let me feel their love and delight. I had truly become one of them. Then Fenrir let out a jubilant howl and shifted into a massive wolf. I still remember the way he pressed into my side and rubbed his face along mine. My heart had been as happy as his when I followed Fenrir into the forest with the rest of the Froekn.
I wouldn't have that now. But at least everything was calm inside me, settled into the proper places. I'd have time to figure out how to fix my star. And I'd get my wolf back. I'd run beneath the moon with my family again.
I sighed and put Brevyn back into his crib. We'd been prepared for only one baby, so there was only one glittering diamond crib (fireproof). A second crib had been hastily constructed but it was more traditional; carved from wood instead of gemstone and made in a rectangular shape instead of circular like Rian's bowl shaped bed. Still, it was made by faeries, so it couldn't help but have at least one unusual feature.