“Father.”
The silence that stretched between us was suffocating.
He only stared at me, as thought I’d told a joke, and he was still trying to figure out the punchline.
“This is the part where you say something, Belial,” I said with a nervous chuckle.
Suddenly, he was laughing too. He shook his head, his antler charms creating a chaotic tune with the movement. “My sweet treasure, we’ve been over this. I can’t create life from nothing. That includes, first and foremost, procreation.”
His denial was precious, and I knew he believed the words he said. For all he knew, that was the truth, but he was wrong. So very wrong.
I’d known for the last month, guarding the secret and my heart in case I was mistaken. The thought of a demon child at face value was terrifying. How could I possibly be a decent mother when I didn’t have any clue what I was doing most of the time? How could I take care of a half-demon infant?
But underneath the fear and panic, there were other emotions.Hope, excitement, joy.
I might not have ever considered being a mother on Earth, but the thought of creating something so impossibly sacred with Belial—a life forged from darkness and twisted adoration—made my pulse race with the possibilities.
I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand, reveling in the way he immediately leaned into the touch. He was cute when he brought the whole terrifying demon king thing down a few pegs.
“But you did,” I whispered carefully. “I’m pregnant.”
The shock that rippled over his expression was immediate and gone just as quickly. For a long moment, he just stared down at me without saying a word, like he was trying to process what I’d said.
“That’s… impossible,” he said, but doubt crept into his voice. “I can’t— Are yousure?”
Slowly, I nodded.
He opened his mouth, closed it again. Blinked, opened his mouth again, like his brain was short-circuiting. I was fairly certain I’d broken him with the truth, especially when he sank to his knees in front of me and pressed his ear carefully to my stomach.
I stood still as he listened, my hands instinctively falling to stroke his hair between his antlers. Would he be able to detect the tiny heartbeat the way he so easily heard mine? His sharp inhale of breath was my answer, and his eyes shot up to meet mine. Suddenly, he was paler than normal—chalk white and trembling.
The Lord of Bones never trembled. But he did now, clinging to me as he shook with happiness, just like a mortal man learning he was to be a father.
“Rayven…” He gazed up at me with the disbelief I’d felt when I found out. “There’s a baby inside you.”
I giggled and playfully flicked one of his antler bells. “I know, and you put it there. So, you can’t say you don’t create life, because you do.Wedo.”
In a blink, he shot to his feet and snatched me up off the floor, swinging me around in a circle. The way he clung to me with desperation and relief had my eyes stinging with tears, and I didn’t bother holding them back. A weight had disappeared from my shoulders the second I uttered the words, and there would be no more secrets. No more tiptoeing around the truth, no more keeping things from Belial.
Nothing but bliss and future planning and wondering how the hell we’d keep a toddler from getting lost in the ever-changing castle corridors.
When my feet touched the floor again, Belial’s lips crashed into mine in a heart-stopping kiss, and when he pulled back, I could have sworn his eyes were glassy with emotion
Suddenly, he took hold of my shoulders, his scrutinous gaze inspecting me all over as he turned me this way and that.
My brows scrunched together. “What are you doing?”
“Rayven.” He froze abruptly, his gaze locking with mine. “You should have told me. The blood oak? The knife, in the graveyard when the skeletons held you down—” His voice wavered under the brunt of guilt that was clearly sending him into a spiral.
“Hey, I’m fine,” I cooed, my arms wrapping around his waist to draw us close again. “I’m immortal, remember? And your baby is half demon. Besides, I won’t be making any more trips to the human world until after the birth. I don’t see myself taking any strolls in the courtyard anytime soon either.”
“You’re right,” he conceded with a sigh, and his shoulders visibly relaxed. “I’m sorry. I’m just?—”
“Protective?” My brows hiked with a smile. “Obsessive? Violence prone when anything you hold dear is so much as breathed on wrong? Don’t worry. I’ve come to love these things about you.”
His thumb rubbed affectionately along my jaw. I thought he was going for a kiss, but his eyes flicked up and I followed his line of sight to the space over us. In a small spark of magic, mistletoe—or, at least, something similar that was native to Limbo—appeared overhead.
Tingling warmth spread through me, and I kissed my demon lord like I’d never kissed him before.
