Chapter One
“Get the fuck away from me, you fucking no-good son of a bitch, feathered motherfucker!” I screamed at Severriel, my Angel husband. Regardless of my language, he really was an Angel in every way—a wonderful man who loved me dearly.
But the asshole had knocked me up, and now he was paying the price. We both were.
Sever held my hand despite the verbal abuse and didn't even blink at my harsh words. “The midwife is coming, my love. Hold on,” he said.
“Hold on?!” I shrieked as another sharp pain stabbed through me. “Hold on, he says!” I nearly crushed his hand in my death grip. “You fucking men!” I transferred my molten glare to my four other husbands—Raza, Tiernan, Killian, and Daxon—who had gone through this with me before. “All you get is the pleasure while we women have to deal with this!”
“I love you, babe!” Killian yelled as he fled the room.
“Coward,” Daxon called after him.
“Motherfucker, you're the worst!” I pointed at Daxon.
“Me?” Daxon's blue eyes, a few shades lighter than his indigo hair, widened. “Why amIthe worst?”
“Are you seriously trying to reason with her right now?” Raza drawled, his great, glorious Dragon-Djinn wings folded behind him and his thick arms folded before him.
“And you!” I pointed at Raza even as I continued to squeeze Sever's hand. “You and your fucking wings! As if it's not hard enough to push a massive baby out of a tiny hole, but then you add wings to it!” I shrieked as my body forced me to push.
“Seren!” Sever leaned over me. His midnight wings—feathers as opposed to membranes like Raza's—came forward with him, one of them curving over the bed behind me. With his touch, a feeling of peace swept through me. Angel magic.
I was propped on a mountain of pillows on the bed in my tower room in Twilight Castle. My children were with the rest of our family in a room just down the hallway, doubtless cringing through my outbursts. Unless my dad had been smart enough to play some loud music for them. Catriona, my puka bestie, was huddled against the pillows to my right, staring at me mournfully. I looked from her to Sever on my left, his leonine hair as wild as his lavender eyes, the limbal ring of deep purple seeming larger with the expansion of his pupils. His eyes matched the glittering highlights in his wings.
“So beautiful,” I murmured as I stared at Sever. Then I screamed.
Sever jerked back, and Cat shoved her head beneath a pillow just as the midwife ran into the room. Raenasi was half Sylph and half Baobhan-Sith, a Twilight Fairy whose magic had manifested in ways that helped her ease childbirth. There were, of course, many ways to help a woman give birth in Fairy. That being said, none of my men possessed such skill. Sure, they could use the elements, but they didn't know how to employthem to ease my pain without getting in the way of the birth of my fifth child.
Raenasi had the skill.
“Pardon me, Your Majesties,” Raenasi strode across the room, Killian hot on her heels. “Hello, Your Highness.” She stopped at the foot of the bed and bowed to me, but it was fast. Then her hands were on my ankles and her magic rushed up my legs, going straight to my womb, the Baobhan-Sith in her seeking blood while the Sylph in her softened the magic into something more healing. At least, that's what I assumed. You never know with Twilight Fey.
I sighed in relief. “Thank you, Raenasi.”
Cat poked her head out hopefully, and I nodded at her. She made a happy sound, her Twilight Puka brown eyes softening. Goddess-blessed as she was, Cat understood much more than your average dog. Sometimes I think she understood more about the world than I did.
“It's my honor to help you welcome the next Twilight royal into the world.” Raenasi stroked my legs soothingly, then went for the sheet that was covering my lower half. “May I take a look?”
“Of course.” I gave all the men a stern stare and added, “But none of you get to look. I don't need that imagery in your heads.”
“What?” Sever, still a few steps back from the bed, came forward. “But I want to see our daughter's birth.”
“You will. From right here.” I patted the bed.
“Trust me, dude,” Killian said. “You don't want to see your happy place made . . . unhappy.”
I snorted a laugh. “I don't even want to—oh, I need to push.”
“Go on, Your Highness, I've prepared your skin with a salve so it won't tear,” Raenasi said.
“Tear?!” Severriel's face went white.
“What did you think happened during childbirth?” Daxon asked. “Did you imagine your daughter would come out in a cocoon of light, singing hymns?”
Sever grimaced at Dax, well used to his sarcastic nature by now. “No, but with magic, I assumed Seren wouldn't experience what humans do.”
“She won't, Your Highness,” Raenasi said. “Not with me here. Me and my salve.”
