“She’s teething,” Mikhail said, joining us in watching her gnaw. “Let her chew it. It feels good on her little gums.”
Feather looked up at him through muck-encrusted eyes. “I’d kiss you, Growly, but I’m afraid I’d get you dirty.”
“If you don’t kiss me, I’ll be spanking my way through that smut later on.” He narrowed his eyes when she shivered. I was pretty sure he was kidding. Ugh, I hoped so. Even thinking about High Angelus Mikhail that way made me feel nauseous.
Perception must have been on the same wavelength, since he started coughing, and excused himself. “I’ll go check on Gavriel, and make sure he knows that our friends are in the cells below. I’m sure he’ll have me release them immediately.”
Hope gently took the baby and the sword from my hands and passed them to Feather, before turning back to me, grabbing myupper arms in her hands. “If you ever do anything that stupid, thatrecklessagain, I won’t survive it.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and lifted me off the floor, pulling me into a hard hug. I loved how strong she was, both physically and spiritually, and I let her see that love in my eyes when I pulled away.
“I can’t make any promises,” I choked out. “Feather is my best friend.”
“Fair,” Hope agreed, and then she was kissing me, her lips soft on mine, her tongue tasting me. Blessing me. Every kiss with Hope was like being reborn into perfection. The world went quiet and pure, like clear water running in a stream. Like infinite possibilities, each more wonderful than the next, could be found in her lips, in her arms. “I love you, Sunny,” she said after a long moment, taking my hands in hers. “And I will make you my soulmate as soon as Gavriel allows it.”
“Allows it?” Mikhail grumbled. “What fresh hell is this?”
“A very fresh one,” Hope snarked back. “I’m sure Feather will catch you up.” She pulled away. “I need to go find Heart and Glory and make sure they have whatever they need to keep healing.” The hall shook the tiniest bit. “And then I’ll go sing at the gate. Gavriel will have his hands full with everything else. The last thing we need is the Abyss breaking through.”
And none of us trusted Tradition to sing for Sanctuary. Even though he’d seemed ignorant of so much of what had happened here, I still wasn’t sure I bought it. There was an Earth saying about one bad apple, and we had far more than that. If Tradition was the only good apple in the Guides’ rotten bushel, I would be surprised indeed.
“Right, time to take care of this little demon baby.” I tickled her under her chin, and she stared up at me, gurgling in a language that made my ears itch inside. “Where did you come from, little cutie? What’s your name?”
“A very good question indeed,” Mikhail said, crossing his burly arms over his chest. “I wonder if anyone here might know something about that.”
“Precious,” Feather muttered. “I’m glad that’s the part that stuck.” She stood, and adjusted her ripped toga around her, not making eye contact with anyone. “So, you know she called me Mama?” We all nodded. Righteous smiled up at Feather from where he sat near her feet, but backed away a few inches when Mikhail curled his lip at him. “The thing is, when Gavriel made Growly go down to Las Vegas, and I was left in the maker space?—”
“Maker Hall,” Mikhail corrected.
“Yeah.” She grabbed a cloth, rubbing it over her skin roughly. Glitter flew up in clouds as the smut hit the ground. Righteous sneezed, as did the toddler.
Singer bless her, that was the cutest sound I’d ever heard. I jogged her on my hip, and gave her the edge of my toga to play with.
“Anyway, I was not touching anything—and I swear I did not touch her Novice jelly ball, not on purpose!” We all groaned, and Feather’s chin jutted out. “But there was glitter in there, and it had gotten on her. I used the tweezers to get it off, honestly, but there was this one stubborn piece, and I might have rubbed at it a tiny bit.”
Mikhail made a disbelieving sound. “Were you singing when you did this?”
“Yeah, probably?” Feather said, batting her clumpy eyelashes. She wiped the cloth over her face, and what looked like half the smut came away. “One of Rumple’s songs, most likely. They’re my go-to for cleaning.”
Mikhail’s eyes goggled, like someone had smacked him on the side of the head. “You hum those songs when you’re doinghousework?”
Feather shrugged. “Yeah, they’re catchy. This one is great for dishes.” She took a breath and began to sing a melody that made me feel like I’d just slammed fourteen shots of espresso.
Mikhail pressed a massive hand gently over her mouth. “That’s a very potent song, sweet soul. Best not to throw that power about at present, hm?” She gave a thumbs up, and he pulled his hand away. “And the naming? What did you name her?”
“I didn’t know Iwasnaming her,” she insisted, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing as she squirmed. No one got into trouble better and deeper and faster than my best birch. “I just talked to it. Let me think. I thought I was talking to the glitter. I called it little glitter. Then I called it perfectly shiny and lovely, and stubborn... um, and glitter baby.”
“And?” Mikhail lifted one eyebrow.
Feather’s shoulders slumped, and more clay went flopping off her wings to the floor. “I called her a little devil, and my precious.”
“The last words were your ‘precious.’” His brow furrowed. “She answers to Precious. That part of her name should have a stronger pull on her nature. She should be more… baby-ish. Sweet and gentle.”
I snatched the sword back out of Precious’s mouth when he shot me an exasperated look. I wasn’t sure he was worried about the baby, though. The sword had some weird, pitted marks. I had been taught a Celestial sword was unbreakable. Was her drool rusting it? I broke the decorative knob off the top of a chair and handed it to her instead. She reached for it with an avid, mostly toothless smile.
Mentally, I smacked myself, suddenly understanding what had happened. “I think I can explain, Mikhail. There is a series of books, written by an English author named Tolkien.”
Mikhail perked up. “Ronald? I loved his books. We spoke of them on one of my trips to Earth.”
I frowned. It sounded like Mikhail’s trips to Earth were vacations. Why didn’t any of the rest of us get that?
