Birth of a King
Page 17
She couldn’t imagine she would ever have found anyone on Earth who even began to compare, who loved her just the way she was—awkward, inverted, not especially pretty—just ordinary.
And almost the best part was that they hadn’t made her choose between them. Because she would’ve been unhappy if she’d had to no matter who she chose.
Epilogue
Kadin kissed his way up and over the mound of Emma’s belly and up between her swollen breasts, finally burrowing his face against her neck. “I am more glad than I can say that you decided not to hate me,” he murmured.
A shock wave went through Emma that brought some focus to her scrambled wits. Not enough to prompt the incident he was referring to, but enough to make her somewhat alert. “What?”
He pulled away and met her gaze. “That day when I … first made love to you.”
Emma smiled at him. That she remembered. “Made love? Not bred?”
“Made love,” he said firmly.
She patted his cheek. “You are so smart! How could I hate you when I adore you?”
Chuckling, he rolled off of her and collapsed on the bed beside her. For several moments they both lay staring at the ceiling, hot and winded and delightfully expended, waiting for their hearts to stop hammering and their lungs to cease laboring. Finally, almost in sync, they rolled toward one another and moved closer.
Well, Emma mentally amended, as close as they could get with the mountain between them.
Kadin settled his hand on her belly, stroking it lightly.
“You afraid it’ll explode?” Emma asked jokingly.
Kadin jerked a quick look at her face and grinned a little sheepishly. “I was commanding him to stay put for a little longer.”
Emma rolled away. “He’ll come when he’s ready,” she murmured, trying not to think that his fathers might be making war before he made his entrance.
They’d arrived on Ack just weeks before the first snows. For reasons no one had ever figured out, the Sheloni rarely made raids during the winter—possibly because the Hirachi tended to stay inside through the long winter, making it difficult to impossible to gather up a shipload. But spring was not far off. The Hirachi had spent all winter preparing for all out war with the Sheloni—which had included many visits between the council of lords and various chieftains, who had surprised almost everyone by uniting behind the High King without resistance.
This, they discovered, was because the episode on the beach had had one very unexpected consequence.
It had made little Nye a legend.
He was wise far beyond his years and merciful because he had only used his awesome powers to smack the warrior down for the threat to his mother instead of actually harming her.
He was predicted to be the most powerful High King in the history of Ach and the Hirachi people.
He would lead them to victory against their oppressors.
Emma was happy with all of that except the last, but she’d been assured that Nye would lead from the castle. He would never be exposed to the battles that were expected.
Their first was just on the horizon—and their baby still hadn’t made his appearance.
She hadn’t argued when the guys had insisted the baby was ‘theirs’ plural. Maybe they knew what they were talking about, however farfetched it seemed to her, but since the end result was that they each felt ‘mated’ and she was the happy recipient of that, she wasn’t inclined to argue.
But she felt like it was essential to her happiness that they get the chance to see their baby before they left.
She couldn’t allow herself to think they might not come back, but it tormented the fringes of her mind.
Struggling to push those thoughts away, Emma rolled from the bed with an effort and headed into Nye’s room to check on him and then to the bathroom Valee hadn’t told her about.
It was her favorite room since she’d moved in because she’d spent a lot of time worshipping at the porcelain altar with morning sickness and then in the hot shower to soothe her after a long, restless night.
She’d barely cleared the threshold when she had her first contraction.
And there was no doubt that it was ‘real’ labor.
It was a hard contraction, hard enough she gasped out loud and sank to the floor.
Kadin was with her in a matter of seconds. “Is it …?”
“Yes,” Emma groaned.
He scooped her off the floor.
“I have to pee!” Emma complained.
“Wet the bed,” he ground out. “More likely pressure from the infant.”
She would’ve argued, but she had another contraction before he could get her back to the bed.
He made her as comfortable as he could, climbed into his breeches, and left. By the time he got back with Gaelen, Hauk and a doctor, Emma hardly knew where she was.
Gaelen settled beside her and began to stroke her and make a sort of humming noise, almost like he was humming a tune—except it didn’t seem particularly tuneful.
Amazingly, the pain began to lessen.
Enough that Emma started to worry. “It doesn’t hurt so much now. That isn’t good, is it?”
The doctor examined her. “Dis good.” He looked at Gaelen. “She ready. Bath not.”
“I do not think she can wait,” Gaelen said. “The child is coming now.”
They stripped her together and wrapped her in a large towel and then Gaelen lifted her from the bed.
“Where are we going?” Emma asked a little drunkenly, discovering she felt a weird sort of floating sensation.
They carried her into the room where the tank was and Gaelen passed her to Hauk and got into the pool. Kadin followed him. Then Hauk lifted her up and passed her to Gaelen and Hauk.
Thankfully, the water was warm—not hot, just not frigid—most closely body temperature, and low in the tank and still filling.
As huge as the tank was, it was damn crowded when the doctor joined them.
Hauk climbed to the rim and settled there.
“You’re not coming in, too?” Emma asked hazily.
Hauk’s eyes gleamed. “I will greet our son from here, dear heart.”
He was being born in the water, Emma thought in confusion. But they were water people, she reminded herself while she could still think straight.
Gaelen eased her pain. She wasn’t certain of how he did it, but he rubbed her and hummed and it eased the pain every time she began to get uncomfortable.
It seemed to go on forever and then, abruptly, she felt … she felt the baby slip from her body. Horrified, she looked down, struggling to reach for him, but she saw he had already begun to paddle his legs and arms.
Kadin caught him as he surfaced and lifted him out of the water.
Everyone examined him and admired him and then Kadin and Gaelen climbed out, took the baby and left while the doctor delivered the after birth and, when she’d recovered enough to feel up to it, lifted her from the birthing tank. Hauk, who’d waited for her, wrapped her up snuggly in a thick towel and then carried her back to the bedroom where Kadin and Gaelen were making faces at the newborn.
Hauk rolled his eyes, but as soon as he picked the child up, he made a face at him, too.
Emma shook her head, but she smiled.
Reluctantly, they handed him back when he started to fuss and watched while she put him to her breast. They left her to rest then.
Right! Like she was going to get any rest!
But she did. She discovered that they took their parenting very seriously and they not only helped her with the newborn son, they helped with Nye and pampered her until she felt like a princess.
But not like Princess Bitch.
The End.
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