"One more push," she said. "Just one more, Claricia. I can see it. The babe’s almost here."
Claricia gathered every last ounce of strength and pushed, crying out again. The baby slid free into Ada's waiting hands, small and slippery and absolutely perfect.
For one terrifying moment, he didn't breathe.
Ada worked quickly, clearing his mouth and nose, rubbing his tiny chest with firm, practiced movements. Behind her, she heard Erik's sharp intake of breath, heard Magnus murmur something in Norse that might have been a prayer.
Then the baby gasped. And wailed. Loud and lusty and furious at being born.
Ada nearly wept with relief. "He's breathin’. He's perfect. Ye have a son, Claricia. A beautiful, healthy son."
She placed the baby on Claricia's chest, watched as her friend's arms came around him with a mother's instinctive protectiveness. Erik crossed the room in three strides, dropping to his knees beside the bed.
"Thor," Claricia whispered, touching her son's tiny face with trembling fingers. "His name is Thor."
Erik's hand covered hers, his expression stripped of all the careful control he usually maintained. "Ye did it," he said hoarsely. "God, Claricia, ye did it."
Ada stepped back, giving them privacy for their first moments as a family. Magnus was there immediately, his arm sliding around her waist.
"Ye were incredible," he murmured against her hair.
"I was terrified," Ada admitted. "I've never delivered a baby in that position before. If something had gone wrong…"
"But it didnae." Magnus turned her to face her, his hazel eyes warm with pride and something deeper. "Ye saved them both. Dae ye understand that? Without ye, we might have lost them."
Ada let herself lean against him for a moment, drawing strength from his solid presence. Three months of marriage had taught her that Magnus was more than the cold, distant man she'd first met.
He was careful with his affections, yes—scarred by his past in ways that still surfaced sometimes.
But he loved her. She knew that with absolute certainty. Felt it in the way he held her, in the way his gaze followed her across a room, in the thousand small kindnesses he showed her every day.
"We should give them time alone," Magnus said quietly. "Let me take ye somewhere ye can rest. Ye've been on yer feet for hours."
They slipped from the chamber, leaving the new family to bond. Magnus led her through Skye's corridors so similar to Barra's yet subtly different in their construction and decoration.
"Where are we going?" Ada asked.
"Somewhere private." Magnus's voice held a note that made heat pool low in her belly. "Where I can show ye properly how proud I am of what ye just did."
He pulled her into a small storage room, closing the door behind them. The space was cramped, filled with linens and supplies for the keep, but Ada barely noticed. Magnus's mouth was on hers, hot and demanding, one hand already working at the laces of her gown.
"Magnus," she gasped against his lips. "We're guests here. We cannae just dae this."
"We can." His teeth scraped along her jaw, down the column of her throat. "And we will. I need ye, Ada. Need to feel ye alive and whole after watchin’ ye fight fer Claricia and her boy’s life."
His urgency sparked her own. Ada's fingers found the fastenings of his belt, worked them free with practiced ease. Three months of marriage had made them familiar with each other's bodies, but the hunger between them never seemed to fade.
Magnus lifted her, pressed her back against the stone wall. Ada wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed up her skirts, his hand finding the heat between her thighs.
"Already wet fer me," he murmured approvingly. "Always so ready."
"Always fer ye," Ada confirmed, then gasped as he pushed inside her in one smooth thrust.
They moved together with desperate urgency, the risk of discovery adding an edge to their pleasure.
Magnus's mouth covered hers, swallowing her moans as he drove deeper, harder. His hand slipped between them, found the sensitive bundle of nerves that made her see stars.
"I want ye pregnant with me child," Magnus said roughly against her ear. "Want tae see ye round with me babe. Want everyone tae ken ye're mine."
