“Raenasi can hold the baby later,” Raza said. “She's right. This is time for family.”
“Raza, she just helped me give birth to our daughter without pain. Bad pain. Pain you couldn't understand. Unless you'd like to come a little closer, and I could wrench your man bits. Then you'd get a hint at what it feels like to give birth.”
Raza eased back a little. “Shall I fetch her, mo shíorghrá?”
I snorted a laugh. “No. It's all right.” I looked back at my daughter. Her mouth had gone slack, and she sighed, seeming to meet my stare. “I know you can't see me yet, sweetheart, but I'm your mommy. And this is your daddy.” I eased her out of my arms and into Sever's.
Sever's expression went from resplendent to . . . well, whatever it is that's even more blissful than resplendent. His entire being lit up and tears came to his eyes as he nestled our daughter into his arm. The arm that had been holding me slid out to settle her, but he pressed close to me.
“My daughter,” Sever whispered. “My child. I have a child. I'm a father.”
“Congratulations, man!” Killian slapped Sever's shoulder. “And she's gorgeous. Look at that face,” he said the last bit in a baby voice. “A true Angel.”
That's when I realized that she didn't have wings.
“Where's her wings?!” I asked in a panic. “Is she an Angel? Or did my feyness and humaness take away her—”
“Easy, sweetheart.” Sever kissed my forehead, then went back to staring at our baby. “We talked about this, remember? An Angel's wings don't emerge until after birth. Usually, it takes a month for the nubs to show up and then a year for the wings to fully form.”
“Oh.” I relaxed with a huff.
“Yeah, you forgot about that during your insanity,” Kill said.
I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Let me see her too,” Daxon whined as he leaned across me. “Are her eyes blue?”
“They're deep purple,” Sever said. “Though that could change, I imagine. And she has Seren's nose, I think. Don't you, little girl? You have your mommy's nose and my eyes.”
“And the blackest hair I've ever seen on a baby,” Raza said as he carefully drew a claw through the tuft of hair on the baby's head. “As dark as mine, I'd wager.”
“Or mine,” I said pointedly.
“Yes, mo shíorghrá, of course.” Raza cleared his throat.
“Sorry, babe,” I said gently. “I know you're looking for pieces of yourself in her too, even though you know they're not there.”
“You will put pieces of yourself in her heart, Brother,” Sever said, looking up to meet Raza's gaze. “And she will see herself in you. That's what love does.”
Raza, never at a loss for words, gaped at Sever.
I started to speak for him, “That was—”
“Generous and kind,” Raza took over. “Thank you.”
“It was also the truth.” Sever smiled at my other husbands. “We're a family. I'm so grateful that my daughter will be raised here by all of us instead of in some stuffy castle with stuffy people expecting her to do a stuffy job.”
“Hey!” a voice came from the foot of the bed. Then Henry, in his four-winged lion cub body, jumped onto the bed. “We're not all stuffy.” Then his golden eyes landed on the baby. “Oh. Wow.” He padded across the bed, up between me and Sever, and then bowed, his wings folding back. “All hail the Princess of Heaven.”
Before either I or Sever could dispute that, a brilliant glow encased my daughter. It brightened and extended into a halo over four feet across, then settled into her skin. She let out a happy coo. It was glorious, beautiful, and shocking, rendering most of us silent. Most but not all.
“That motherfucker,” Sever snarled.
Chapter Two
After Henry's loud gasp over Sever's exclamation, we fell back into a heavy silence. It was broken by the rest of my family streaming into the room.
“Where's my sister?” Shahzadi demanded as she pulled ahead of the pack, running for her father.
