Chapter 492: A Gift
E
I go rigid at the idea of this dark god giving my daughter anything.
“No,” I gasp, attempting to push myself away from him – but I struggle to move
“Fear not, moon daughter,” he says, the corner of his lip tilting up. “I do not give curses to those who
are my chosen ones – only gifts.”
And with that shadows begin to swirl in his hand. My eyes go wide as they build and build into an orb of
smoke and shade.
“No!” I protest again, my voice a little breathless this time.
“Careful, girl,” he growls, taking a step closer, bending over me now. “If you anger me, I will not be so
eager to bestow my gift. You would not to incur my ire for your life, instead of a blessing for hers, would
you?”
I cringe away from him, not knowing what to do – not knowing which will be worse-
The God of Darkness stretches out his hand over me and the shadows begin to spill down from his
fingers, surrounding me.
“A blessing,” he murmurs, “for the first granddaughter of the moon from her benefactor. Long may she
live, dwelling in darkness as well as light.”
The shadows, when they touch me, are soft – gentler than I imagined they’d be, like velvet or mist.
When I breathe, they flow into me through my nose and my mouth. I gasp, worried – but the smoke, it
tastes faintly of…of mint, and cool mornings, and it soothes my aching throat…
I look up at the God in wonder, tilting my head at him.
“See?” he says softly. “Not all that dwells in darkness is wicked.”
And then he smiles at me – a wayward, vicious thing – and gives another short bow before
Before he disappears.
And I blink, and the world – my room – it’s real again.
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“E?” Cora says, abruptly in front of me now, shining a light in my eyes.
“E!” Sinir gasps at my side as I blink rapidly, trying to clear my thoughts. “Are you – “he spins his
head to Cora, “is she all right!?”
“I’m – um I’m fine,” I murmur.
“Your eyes,” Cora says, dropping her shlight and taking my face in her hands, studying me with
horror on her features. “E, they went all ck you were frozen in ce – ”
I nod, taking a deep breath, the scent of mint still clinging to the back of my mouth. As I exhale I run my
hands over my stomach and check on my bond with my daughter –
It’s still there. She’s just as strong – just as ufortable, ready to be born
“It’s okay,” I say, nodding to my sister, to my mate. “It – um – ” I hesitate for a moment, torn between
wanting to exin and the feeling of the next contractioning steadily on. “It was it was really weird,
all right, but right now?” I shake my head at them, a little frantic, “I think we need to push.”
Cora snaps immediately back into doctor mode, moving down on the bed to position herself between
my knees, nodding. “All right, E,” she says, pulling me a little lower so that I’m tter on my back
now. “When you’re ready, you push.”
“E,” Sinir growls next to me, and even as the contraction takes hold I turn my face to him and
press my eyes shut, passing all of my emotions down our bond – my fear, and my shock, but alongside
it my conviction that…that I’m okay, right now, and so is the baby but we’ve got to concentrate on this.
“All right,” he says, his voice low as he sits up and puts his hands my shoulders. “Let’s do this.”
And, with my mate behind me, and my sister ready to wee my little girl, I push with all my might.
Half an hourter, our little baby girl is born.
I’m inconsble as Cora ces her in my arms, the tears dripping down my face as I peer at my baby,
reaching out a finger to stroke her teeny tiny fingers, her perfect little nose. She shouts her
unhappiness and shakes her little head, which only makes meugh as I try to wipe my tears away.
“She’s perfect,” Sinir breathes, tucked close behind me, peering at our baby over my shoulder.
“She really is,” I say between gasping breaths. “Oh god, she’s so cute – ”
Coraughs,ing to sit next to me and stroke a hand over her little head. We’re quiet for a long
moment as I press my child against the skin of my chest.
“She’s precious,” Cora murmurs, her voice almost reverent. “And I love her, and I’m going to be her
favorite aunt.”
“Only aunt,” Sinir murmurs, his voice a little dry.
“Even if she had sixty,” Cora coos, tapping the baby’s little belly with a single finger, “I’d be the best.”
She leans forward, kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll give you two a couple of minute, all right? Go break
the news to the drunk ones in there.”
I turn my face up and kiss my sister as well as she scrunches her nose at me and turns to the door,
taking the team of nurses with her. Everyone did such a wonderful job – I’m so grateful to them
But honestly, as much as I want to shout my thanks out after them, all I can do is stare down at my
perfect little girl.
I lean back against Sinir as I study her face and he wraps his arms around me, doing the same.
“She looks just like you, E,” he breathes, fascinated.
“What!?” I protest, honestly a little shocked. “Dominic, she’s all scrunchy
Heughs at this, and I can feel him shaking his head. “Newborn scrunch aside – her features? And
the shape of her face? Rafe is all me, but E…this one is you.”
“Little baby girl,” I murmur, rocking her a little and passing love andfort down our bond so that she
settles, just a bit. I can feel the tumult of her emotions down our bond – she’s happy to be close to me,
but cold, and a little frightened. She cries the sweetest little mewing sounds, and I cuddle her close,
thinking that it must be so hard, being brand new to the world. I do my best to let her know that she’s all
right, that I’m still right here. I press a kiss to her forehead, loving her so much already that I can hardly
bear it.
Outside the windows of the pce we can hear the crowd start to cheer as the announcement goes out
– their Princess has been born, safe and sound. They started to gathertest night, wanting to be the
first ones toy eyes on her. And today? I had peeked out the front window earlier as I paced the halls,
trying to ease the bangs ofbor, and was shocked to see the masses of people waiting out there,
eager toy eyes on her.
“I can’t say their enthusiasm is misced,” Sinir sighs. “She’s a really good baby.”
“Hear that, baby?” I murmur, smiling at her. “They’re cheering for you!”
We take a long, quiet moment together before Sinir reaches a hand out and strokes my hair. “E,”
he says quietly, and I hear the worrye back into his voice. “What…what happened? Earlier, when
you -”
But I shake my head, because of course I know precisely the moment he’s talking about. I turn a little
so that I can see him and quickly, briefly, give him the fast version of what happened, because I know
that we only have a few minutes before the doctorse back in, and Rafees to meet his sister,
and we have a great deal to do.
My mate goes pale as I tell him how the Dark God took me away into the pocket realm, how he gave
our daughter some kind of gift, how he ensured me it was a blessing and not a curse.
“But from the Dark God,” Sinir murmurs, shaking his head, his voice heavy with dread, “who knows
what a blessing is to him.”Books Chapters Are Daily Updated Join & Stay Updated For All Books
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“I know,” I say, my voice soft, a little mournful. “But honestly, Sinir, as it …came to me, the gift – it
didn’t feel bad. He was angry at mom for keeping secrets from him for all of these years but I did not
get the impression, from the gift itself, that he wanted to hurt the baby or use it as vengeance.”
“Then what did it feel like?” he asks, confused.
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “It felt…a great deal like an open door.” As the words fall from my
mouth I have no idea where they came from, and that they make absolutely no sense. But, somehow,
they’re right.
But still, as I look down at my baby girl, my stomach twists with anxiety for all the things it can mean for
her future.