by Alisa Woods
“But that’s not what you want, right?” Arabella asked. “You want True Love as well.”
His voice dropped. “I knew my lady would understand.”
Arabella grimaced, and the small hairs on the back of her neck rose. Because what did she know about love, really? And Rachel knew even less. The two of them loved each other like sisters—but neither one had ever truly loved a man. Not until Lucian came along. Arabella thought she had before, but that had been a mistake. She supposed there was no objective proof of Lucian’s love for her, but there was no real doubt in her mind. Any fool could see the man lived for her. But for Rachel… “Cinaed, you have to know I want that—I want Rachel to have what I have with Lucian. I just don’t know if… well, if she can. She just really doesn’t trust guys at all. I told her you’re different, but… I don’t know. I’m sorry, does that help at all?”
“Yes, my lady,” he said, dipping his head, looking disappointed. He turned to leave, but she caught him by the shoulder and then threw her arms around his neck to hug him.
He seemed startled, but he lightly patted her back in return.
“It’s all going to work out, Cinaed. I promise,” she whispered then released him.
He gave her a sharp nod and turned to the door to open it.
Lucian was hovering literally in the doorway. It was annoying and adorable at the same time, and she fervently hoped that Cinaed and Rachel could figure out a way to have this thing she had with Lucian. She may not really understand love, but she knew it when she saw it in Lucian’s eyes. And felt it in her own heart.
“Okay, caveman,” Arabella said with a grin. “You can haul me back to your lair now and have your way with me.”
The way Lucian’s eyes lit up sent a shiver of excitement through her. Carrying a dragonling for a prince of the House of Smoke might yet kill her… but she’d be damned if the ride wasn’t worth the price of admission.
Arabella had reached the end of her second week, and Lucian couldn’t be more relieved.
Traditionally, the most dangerous times were the sealing, the first fortnight, and then the birth of the dragonling. In that order. Arabella had survived the first two danger points, and now the true recognition of the dragonling’s presence could be made. Formality would ensue. They were expected to come out of seclusion, but Lucian would still rather keep Arabella safely squirreled away with him alone.
He’d struck a compromise with his brothers, given the unique circumstances of the pregnancy, to bring some of the formal proceedings to his lair. The problem, in truth, wasn’t his brothers—it was his mother, the queen. After not too long, she would insist that they make a public appearance. But for now, he and Arabella could remain in the lair, albeit with clothes on and receiving guests. It was an unsettling change of pace after a rather satisfying two days of him providing pleasure and food for her nearly around the clock.
Arabella stood in front of the bedroom mirror, looking stunning in the white-and-gold brocaded dress he had conjured for her. It was a fashionable style from the days of his upbringing in France—five hundred years out of date, but somehow that made it suitably old-fashioned and fittingly formal for the occasion.
Arabella tugged at the tight fit of the bodice over her growing belly. “Are you sure this is how it’s supposed to fit?”
He came up from behind her and slid his hands around to cup the small rise. “Stop complaining, or I will need to take it off you one more time before our guests arrive.”
She scowled, then she shoved his hands away and straightened her shoulders. “I know I’m tremendously irresistible,” she said with one arched eyebrow that truly made him want to disrobe her immediately. “But this baby doesn’t just belong to us, does it? It belongs to your family as well.”
“Truer words have rarely been spoken.” He gave her a smirk. “They’ll have gifts, you know. I hope you’ll accept them.”
She gave him a look like he was slightly crazed. “Why wouldn’t I?”
He grimaced slightly. “Well, I have no idea what the gifts may be, but I imagine they’re not your traditional baby shower items.”
“Well, this is not your traditional baby.” She lifted her chin and seemed proud of that fact. Yet another reason for him to love her. “It’s not like I’ve ever been to a baby shower anyway. I’ll hardly know the difference.”
He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her softly. “Stop making me want you, woman.”
“You don’t mean that at all, Lucian Smoke,” she taunted, daring him with her eyes.
He growled and gave her a swat on the bottom, lightly, but enough to draw small shriek out of her. She beat on his shoulder with a fist, then he caught it and drew her back against the door of the bedroom. He went in to kiss her, but she turned her head.
“Lucian! Stop it!” She was laughing, and truthfully, it was difficult for him to pull back.
But a sound at the door downstairs beckoned them.
He sighed and released her. “I fervently hope my brothers don’t plan to stay long.” And he meant every word of that.
He escorted her downstairs, and the two of them went to the door together to greet their guests. When he magicked open the door, it was only Leksander and Erelah. Leonidas had apparently decided not to be on time, which didn’t terribly surprise Lucian, but he hoped that would mean his visit would be brief when it happened. And it would give Lucian an excuse to kick him out sooner.
“Leksander. Erelah. May I introduce my mate, Arabella,” Lucian said with a properly official tone. Leksander had met Arabella before, but Lucian was surprised to see Erelah at his door. He gave a quick frowning and questioning look to his brother, who just shook his head.
Erelah gasped as she took in Arabella’s gown. “You are a vision!” she cried. The angeling moved quickly forward to embrace Arabella. “Oh, you are a wonder! A true beauty!”
Leksander stood behind her, looking awkward.
Lucian grimaced.
Angels had a love for humans that bordered on unseemly. That was how half-human, half-angel beings like Erelah were made after all. Although the resulting product—angelings—seemed more unearthly to Lucian than human-like.
For her part, Arabella seemed startled, but accepting. She managed to get her arms around Erelah just as she was pulling back, adding even more awkwardness. The only person who seemed not to sense the strangeness of this gushing love was Erelah herself. Like their angel fathers, angelings’ love for humans knew no bounds—their understanding of etiquette and human social norms was a little more stunted.
Erelah clasped her hands together, joy lighting up her face.
“Please come in.” Lucian invited them with a sweep of his arm. Erelah hooked her arm around Arabella’s and dragged her towards the great room. Arabella had a smile on her face, Erelah’s enthusiasm clearly infectious. Lucian watched them go and waited for his brother to step in.
Leksander tipped his head toward Lucian and dropped his voice. “She insisted on coming. I’m sorry.”
“Worry not, my brother,” Lucian said with a smile. “I’m sure she means well enough.”
“You know she effusively loves any human,” Leksander said, still keeping his voice hushed as they walked towards the great room where the two women had already found a spot by the windows together. “But when she heard Arabella was with child, she just about lost her damn mind.”
“Because the baby fulfills the treaty?” Lucian asked. “Or is there some other angel strangeness I should be aware of?” Angelings were almost as unfathomable as the fae—even though they were immortal enemies, they shared a certain inscrutability. The angelings at least had a fundamentally good nature, even though their true angel parentage was mixed with human failings as well as DNA. Their strangeness made Lucian wonder why Leksander was so drawn to Erelah’s kind, but one look at the beautiful angeling, and it was easy to see why he had lost his heart to her. Long, ethereally blonde hair. Thin, elegant arms and legs that went on foreve
r. Erelah was more beautiful than any human, a divine beauty visited upon her by her father’s angel nature. She was obtuse to it as well, along with its effect on his brother. But once smitten, Lucian doubted Leksander, or any man, could ever love a mere human again.
Leksander’s gaze was already trained on her. “I’m fairly certain her enthusiasm is simply because your son will be the next prince of the House of Smoke, protector of humanity, fulfiller of the treaty, and all around fantastic guy.” He smiled. “If there’s one thing an angeling likes more than humans, it’s someone who can save all of humanity.” He looked chagrined at this.
Perhaps if his brother were the crown prince—if he had been born before Lucian and fate had delivered him to that role—he could win his angeling’s love after all. Although Lucian wondered if an angel was even capable of something like the True Love that humans and dragons could share.
He clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Perhaps her love for the baby prince will give her cause to come around the keep more often.”
Leksander’s smile was almost pained. “One can hope.”
Lucian felt the sadness of it like a strike on his heart. They approached the two women standing by the two-story window. Erelah still hadn’t let go of Arabella’s hands, clasping them and gazing in wonder at her face.
“You among all women are blessed, Arabella Sharp,” Erelah gushed.
“Um… yeah. Suppose that’s true.” Arabella’s sprinkling of freckles became more pronounced under her embarrassment.
Lucian wanted to interject something, but Erelah wasn’t finished. “Your son will save the world!” She grasped harder onto Arabella’s hands. “That does not happen very often.” She gave Arabella a wink.
Leksander looked stricken. Lucian just shook his head.
Then Erelah dropped to one knee in front of Arabella. His mate frowned, and even Lucian was wondering what in the world Erelah was doing. She swept her hands wide then brought them close to hover over Arabella’s belly. She was staring intently as if she could peer inside the womb. For a flash instant, Lucian wondered if she actually could. His own fae senses could taste the small beginnings of the child that was inside Arabella’s belly. He’d already fallen in love with his own son, already knew him in a way that he wondered if even Arabella did. Full of new life. Bursting with innocence. It was said that unborn children were closer to heaven than even True Angels because of the newness of their being. And this being was half human, so perhaps Erelah, who was half angel, could reach his son in a way that others might not. Either way, an awkward, breath-held moment slowly passed.
Then Erelah asked Arabella, “May I give him a kiss?”
What? Lucian threw a look to Leksander, who was fighting a smile. His brother gave him a short nod, reassuring him, but Lucian still wasn’t quite sure what the angeling meant.
“Um… I guess.” Arabella was looking to him for reassurance as well.
Lucian gave her a nod. Reluctantly.
Erelah took hold of Arabella’s hips and drew her belly closer to her lips. Lucian wasn’t alarmed, but it was one of the stranger things he’d seen an angeling do.
Arabella’s face contorted. “Oh, um, okay…”
But Erelah wasn’t paying attention—she was entirely focused on Arabella’s belly. A fierce look crossed her face, a kind of rapturous, intense love. Then she closed the final gap and pressed an open mouth kiss to the white brocaded cloth that covered Arabella’s skin. Erelah exhaled low and deep, and Lucian finally realized what she was doing.
Giving his son a life kiss.
Tears pricked the back of Lucian’s eyes, and emotion suddenly choked him. It was a divine kiss, a life-giving kiss, the breathing of life energy into his unborn son, strengthening him with a magic even more powerful than the dragon and fae magic that were mixed in the patronage of his House of Smoke bloodline.
“Oh! Wow,” Arabella breathed. There was awe in her voice, and Lucian could only imagine how it must feel to be on the receiving end of an angel kiss. Erelah, for all her awkwardness, gained an esteem in Lucian’s eyes that would never be diminished—she was bestowing a blessing, a very real and tangible blessing, that might enable his son to live through the difficult pregnancy and birth ahead.
It took three long seconds, but Erelah finally finished and rose up again, her face flushed with the glory of bestowing her gift. It reminded Lucian of when she brought the demon-infected human back to life in the alley—that same fervent, almost sexual rush of pleasure that seemed to set her face alight. Angelings were generally very chaste, but some of their strange acts seemed rife with the kind of pleasure Lucian normally associated with the bedroom.
“Thank you, angeling,” Lucian managed to get out past the lump in his throat.
Erelah beamed, her face radiating joy. “I have yet another gift, but this one is for your mate.”
Lucian nodded his permission, not that she needed it. He was still overcome with what she had just done. But when she whipped out an angel blade and held it up high, panic surged through him. Before he could choke out words or even move, Erelah turned the blade around and held it out handle-first to Arabella.
She was equally stunned and just stared at the blade for a moment.
Lucian cursed under his breath and glared at Leksander. His brother’s eyes were squeezed shut momentarily. He opened them and wordlessly gave Lucian an apology for his angeling brandishing the one thing besides dragon talons that could pierce Arabella’s skin and take the life of both her and his dragonling.
“It’s beautiful,” Arabella said, tentative, and still staring at the blade without taking it. “Are you sure you want to part with it?”
“I’ve fashioned this one especially for you,” Erelah gushed. “It has been imbued with a blessing just for you and your child. It’s meant to protect you and him throughout both of your very long lives and bring you many blessings.”
The tension seemed to go out of Arabella’s body. She took the blade and held it up. It truly was beautiful, like everything made from angel magic. It glinted in the early morning sun, its white blade glowing with pure angel energy and the carved handle gleaming ebony.
“Thank you.” Arabella gave her a slight bow. “It’s the perfect gift. Both of them.” She leaned forward and embraced the angeling, a move that seemed to light Erelah up from within. A humming sound, high in pitch and booming in nature welled up from somewhere inside the angeling’s body. It was only an echo of an angelsong, but the power of it vibrated through Lucian’s body. Leksander was struck by it, too, given the way his eyes filled with longing and desire. Even Arabella seemed struck by it, and their hug went on and on.
Lucian was ready to break it up when the door toned.
“That must be Leonidas,” Lucian said.
Leksander was transfixed by his angeling.
Arabella and Erelah were still locked in their embrace.
“I guess I’ll go let him in.” Lucian just shook his head and went to the door.
Once it opened, Leonidas asked without preamble, “Where is our princess?”
Lucian gestured him in. “Receiving her gifts from the angeling.”
“Nothing horrifying, I hope?” He strode inside, peering down the entranceway toward the great room, looking for Arabella.
“Only slightly,” Lucian said. “Thank you for coming.” He managed to keep most of the sarcasm out of his voice, given that Leonidas was only a few minutes past the appointed time.
“I had trouble selecting the proper gift,” he said tightly, striding into the great room.
Lucian caught up to him just as Leksander and Erelah were turning to leave.
Leksander gave Leonidas a nod of hello, which Leonidas barely acknowledged, his gaze already locked on Arabella. Lucian didn’t like the intense look on his face. Erelah was still floating on her high of interaction with Lucian’s mate and unborn son. The giddy look on her face was carrying her toward the front door without notici
ng the fact that Leonidas was even in the room. Leonidas broke away from them and headed towards Arabella.
Lucian was about to go after him, but Leksander caught his arm and said quietly, “I figured it was time for us to leave.” He flicked a look at Erelah floating toward the door on light angel steps. Her angelsong had shifted to a frequency so high that most humans wouldn’t be able to hear it.
“Thank you, my brother.” He looked to the angeling. “And to Erelah. Thanks doesn’t seem… enough.”
Leksander nodded and straggled after her.
Lucian turned back to find Leonidas already holding Arabella’s hands while talking quietly to her next to the window. Lucian was struck by a strange jealousy—he knew his brother would never threaten his treasure in any way, but the primal part of him that wanted to protect her from anything and everything still surged at the sight of another man’s hands on her.
He strode over to the window to join them.
Leonidas dropped her hands and stepped back as Lucian approached, his head deferentially dipping to acknowledge Lucian’s primacy in the situation. Just for extra measure, Lucian slid his arm around Arabella’s waist, claiming her with his touch.
Leonidas’s smile was genuine but sad. Lucian felt a strike of shame for his possessiveness, given the curse that his brother carried that would never allow him the same pleasure Lucian had with Arabella.
“Leonidas was just telling me how happy he was for us,” Arabella said, her gaze flicking between the two of them. She seemed to sense the tension.
Lucian tipped his head to his brother, his grimace hopefully seen for the apology it was. “Uncle Leonidas does have a certain ring to it.”
His brother sprouted a smile, then averted his gaze out the window. Lucian just prayed to all the forces of the universe that Leonidas would actually be able to claim that title.
