"Don't you dare finish that," Mera interrupted, this time calling flames to her hands. "You and your damn human sayings. I will fry your ass. Don't push me."
Lucien's smirk never faded as he backed up a few steps. "Okay, preggo. Calm down."
Well, fuck.This idiot was getting fried.
At least zero universes existed where telling a pissed off woman to calm down actually resulted in her getting calmer.
The flames grew higher as Mera abandoned the clothing and focused her attention on Lucien. "You’re already on my shit list," she snarled stepping closer, the flames nearly engulfing her. "I don't know what happened between you and Simone, but you broke my friend and that’s enough for me to break you. Do you understand?"
Lucien lost all joviality, as he often did when Simone was mentioned. "I promise I did not dishonor her," he said softly but also quickly, as if he needed to get the words out. "She just... didn't fit into my world, and it wasn’t ideal having her exist within the vampire community. Her safety was compromised there."
From my experience with Valdor, I couldn’t imagine a situation where Simone would fit in. She was from Earth, a shifter, and to the proud upper echelons of Lucien’s kingdom, she would be considered cattle.Food.Nothing more.
Lucien was powerful enough to protect her, and clearly he had or she’d be dead, but knowing how willful Simone was at times… if she’d fought against his rules or restrictions, it would not have been pretty.
One day the truth would come out, but it wasn't going to be today.
Lucien took off in a flash, so fast that even I struggled to track his movements. Once he was gone from the room, Mera calmed down. "I need to birth this child before I murder all of our friends," she told me with a huff.
Compressing my lips, I worked valiantly to stop the mirth from showing on my face, but it wasn’t to be. As soon as Mera saw me, a burst of laughter escaped her, and then we were both losing it.
"He took off so fast," she spluttered.
"Like his ass was on fire," I managed to say.
She laughed harder, half bent over. "It almost was on fire. My control is gone at the moment." With a shake of her head, she plopped herself down on a cushion, hands resting on her front. “I’m a fucking hot mess with this pregnancy. What is up with that?"
I didn’t sit because we really had to get dressed or we'd be late, but I did crouch down to her level. "The combination of two godlike powers into one child was never going to be easy," I reminded her. "You’re creating life. A being of pure power. Be easy on yourself and your body because, as far as I'm concerned, it's a damn miracle."
Transcendents were dying out as a race because we rarely produced young. At least, not anymore. As I’d told Mera, the process was difficult, and at times it felt as if the worlds had decided we were no longer relevant.
Mera’s frustrated expression eased, lines smoothing around her forehead and eyes. "Yeah, if I think of it that way, I guess I'm doing okay." She waved me off. "Now get dressed so I can see how gorgeous you look."
With a chuckle, I straightened and made my way back to the scattered pieces of clothing. It had been a long time since I'd worn the Rohami traditional dress, but I remembered every piece. Pieces that were remnants of the past about to become beacons of the future.
Tonight was the first step to a new life.
18
In the deserts, most of the clothing was made from a combination of different plant materials. A few pieces had to be imported from other worlds, but for the most part they’d figured out how to use their resources to create soft and durable materials.
The formal outfit for this event consisted of tight red pants, stretchy and thick, hugging my thighs and calves. Over the top was a knee-length, short-sleeved red tunic. It was also made of thick and heavy material, with gold stitching and a huge black jackan across the back. The front had a diamond-shaped cutout, exposing some cleavage. Unlike Mera, after years of honing my warrior body to limit its softness, I wasn’t overly blessed in the boob department. But in this particular outfit, my size was perfect.
It was all finished off with a pair of black boots, which zipped up over my ankle and gave me another few inches of height.
"So, that tunic is literally never getting over my stomach," Mera said, holding up the pieces of her set. "And what are the rest of theseitemsfor?"
Grabbing a bracelet with thick gold links, I said, "This goes on your right wrist to show that you’re unmated or left for those with a bond.” Dropping it I moved to the solid band with a cut-out piece. “And this cuff is for your biceps. It doesn’t matter which one since it’s purely decorative.”
"And this?" Mera asked, lifting some wispy red material.
"For our hair." I demonstrated how to curl it over my crown like a headband, then loop it through the long strands of my ponytail, allowing the rest to trail down my back.
Mera watched it all with wide-eyed fascination, and when I was done, twirling on the spot to give her the full picture, she let out a sigh. "With your new fiery coloring, you look just like an—"
"Angel," I interrupted with a laugh, since it was her favorite descriptor of me.
She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at me. "No, smartass. I was going to say you look like a goddess of fire and light—different than Shadow and me with our darker powers." She clasped her hands, eyes shiny. “You’re so beautiful, Angel. Any male would be lucky to have a chance with you.”
