Next to Selene, her cousin Bella burbles and rolls over onto her stomach on the play mat, looking equally adorable.
Across the room, slumped on the couch looking exhausted as only a new parent can, Kratos chuckles and rakes a tattooed hand through his messy hair.
“Poor kid seems to have gotten all her genes from me, though,” he sighs, nodding at his daughter, Selene, and then turning to wink at Bianca. “Guess we’ll just have to have a couple more so the world gets more of your good looks.”
Bianca used to dance with us at the Zakharova before she took a leave of absence after getting pregnant with little Selene. I’ve known her since long before that, though: her bothers Carmine and Nico were buddies of Roman’s at Knightsblood. Carmine now runs the Barone Mafia family and is married to our friend and fellow dancer, Lyra. And Nico is married toanotherof our “ballet bitches” crew, Naomi. It's all rather…incestuous.
Bianca snorts a sharp, sleep-deprived laugh as she eyes her giant of a husband. “You want to have another one?”
“Just one?”
She rolls her eyes and jabs him in his firm chest with her finger. “Listen, buddy, ifyouwant to be the one waking up three times a night trying to get a kid to fucking latch onto a chapped nipple, be my fucking guest.”
Milena and I crack up from the floor where we’re both ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the babies. Kratos lets out another rumbly laugh as he wraps an arm around his wife and pulls her close.
“Babygirl, I’d get boobies surgically attached if it would make your life easier.”
Milena makes a puppy-dog face. “Aww, that's so fucking cute.”
Bianca shoots her a look. “It’s really not.” She grins as she twists her face to look up at Kratos. “Please don’t. I like your chest just the way it is,sansboobies.”
He grins. “And I just so happen to like your chest the way it is, too.Withboobies.”
“Ugh. You mean the ones that are sore, gnawed on, and not nearly as perky as they used to be before our darling daughter came along?” Bianca pouts.
Kratos just smiles, touching her chin with two fingers and lifting her gaze back to his. “I wouldn’t change a fucking thing, babygirl,” he murmurs. “Believe me, you’ve never been hotter.”
She blushes. “You’re just saying that.”
“Come into the other room and I’ll show you how much more than ’just saying it’ I am.”
“Hi, we’reright here?” I groan.
Bianca giggles and buries her face in her hands as Kratos roars with laughter.
“Seriously!” Milena adds. “There are children present!” She turns and sticks out her tongue at me. “Plus Evie! I mean, delicate ears?Hello?”
“Ha ha ha,” I retort, giving her a dramatic scrunched-up face.
“So how’re all my ballet bitches doing?” Bianca sighs. “I feel like I’ve been in an underground bunker cut off from the world for the last few months.”
I shrug. “I mean, nothing much new to report. Everyone’s waiting on Kir to pop the question to Brooklyn any day now.”
Bianca grins. “And how’s Bane and Dove’s world tour going? God, that’ssofreaking cool that they could just take six months off of life like that.”
Milana sighs. “Dude,for real.I don’t think I would have the balls to ask Kuzmina for half a fuckingyearoff from the company with a guarantee of coming back.”
Bianca laughs. “I mean it helps that she’sincredible.
“True,” Milena nods. “Oh, and don’t forget, she’s not going by Dove anymore.”
“Right, right,” Bianca nods. Then she giggles. “I feel like I need a cheat sheet to keep up with all the changes and drama you all get up to at the Zakharova without me.”
We all laugh. Then I turn back to the two adorable babies rolling around on the play mat. “I feel bad,” I sigh, looking at Selene and then at Bella, Kratos’ brother Hades’ infant daughter that Kratos and Bianca are watching today while Hades and Elsa are out of town. “I should have brought another stuffy for Selene's cousin.”
Kratos laughs. “Trust me, that kid isgoodin the stuffy department. Hades spoils the shit out of her.”
Milena coos at baby Bella as she leans over and tickles her toes. “She looksjust likeHades.” She grins and glances betweenSelene and Kratos. “Do the kids in your family ever getanyDNA from the parent who isn’t a Drakos?”
