I tried hard to fight past Thalia that was trying to come to the surface. I was winning for now, but I could feel her trying.
I kept pushing, every chance I could, and finally one of the heads was crowning. I wanted to cry from relief, but couldn’t let the emotions take over right now. I had to be strong.
“Keep going, Thalia.” I listened to the doctor and did what he said. Everyone in the room was waiting for me to pull through. I felt the pain of one of the babies coming, gritted my teeth, and gave one last hard push.
“You did it!” Aphrodite sang out, and watched as the doctor held a little babe, cutting the cord and placing it in my mother’s arms.
“It’s a girl.” She held the baby like she was the most precious treasure on earth. I looked upon my daughter, and felt my heart swell for her. She had little black waves of hair on her head, and when she looked at me, her eyes were the same brown color as mine. She was perfect.
“Hi, Callista.” I cooed at her, then suddenly I felt myself start to lose all my energy. I looked up at Aphrodite, who handed my daughter off to Lacey with a worried look on her face. Lacey went to work, wrapping her in a blanket and settling in the rocker with her. My fingers and toes were starting to go numb. I could feel my son trying to push down, to make his way to our world, but I couldn’t do anything.
“I’m dying. I’m dying! The underworld won’t let me live any longer.” I could feel it deep in my bones.
“Get my son out!” I cried to the doctor. If I could just hold out for a little longer, they could get him out, and he would be all right. My mind went to Tristan, who was fighting for our family.
He and I had a beautiful story of love, loss, and wonder. I wished so hard that I could see him before the darkness took me again. I would tell him how much I loved him, that what we had was beyond beautiful, and to tell our children our story so that they would know the love we shared, and the love I had for them.
“Thalia.” Tristan’s voice was like a dream in my head. I closed my eyes, and remembered that voice wrapping around me like silk, keeping me safe and loving me without end.
“Thalia, look at me.” My eyes flew open to see him stumbling his way into the room, but starting to sway. He was hurt. Leander grabbed him, and helped him to me.
“You have to push, love. You have to live, and bring our son into this world.” He leaned in to kiss my lips, giving me some of his waning strength. When his hand gripped mine, I felt my energy return, like I was given a shot of espresso directly into my veins. Looking down, I saw his ring was connecting with my skin, helping me stay grounded to him for now. When he realized what it was doing, he gripped me tighter and begged me to bring our son to us.
I felt like Ren was trying to come, so I pushed, and cried out as I felt him free from my body.
“Quick, put the ring back on.” Aphrodite snapped into action, and helped me slip the ring on my finger. Instantly I felt one again.
“A healthy boy.” The doctor handed me our son, and I held him to my chest. He had dark blonde hair, and gray eyes. He was pink and just as perfect as he could be.
“Ren.” Tristan said his name and smiled. The baby smiled, and then his hair changed from blond to pink.
“Looks like he takes after my side,” I laughed. Lacey handed our daughter over to Tristan’s arms and he whispered sweet adorations at her as she looked on, cooing.
“Is everything safe for now?” I asked Tristan, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit me.
“We are safe for now, love.” He kissed the heads of our children, and then mine. His breathing was shaky, and I could tell he was losing the battle of staying awake himself.
“Give them to me.” My mother held out her hands and we placed them inside her sturdy arms. No sooner had we done that, our minds and bodies collapsed, and we drifted off peacefully.
When I finally came back around, I felt refreshed. My hands automatically went to my stomach to feel the babes, like I had so many times before, but it was flat. I started to panic, but then Tristan was there gripping my hands.
“It’s okay, love. It all happened. The babies are safe.” He tried to get me to understand. Then I remembered it all, it wasn’t a dream. The battle, Orion, the babies. Almost dying. Tears started to fall from my eyes, and I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. It was all so much. Tristan held me until my final tears dried.
“ The babies?” I looked around trying to find them.
“They are with your mother and Lacey in the living room. When you’re ready, they would like to see you.”He smiled, and cupped my cheek, looking so vulnerable that it hurt my heart.
“I thought I’d lost you again. I felt your agony, and I couldn’t do anything. Wadjet’s venom had paralyzed me temporarily after I disposed of her. When I saw you leaving, I was willing to follow you into the darkness. I’m just not willing to spend eternity without you. You are my world.” He leaned his forehead against mine and I felt all the emotions he was feeling.
“I’ll never leave you, Tristan; I’m not going to let anything ever separate us again. I swear,” I vowed.
“Forever yours, love.” He whispered and leaned to kiss me passionately. I wound myself around him and continued so meet his kiss, passion for passion.
“The babies, love. We are parents now. We must see them,” Tristan pulled back before we could go any further.
“Oops,” I laughed and then looked down at the bed.
The bed was spotless, and the room was completely clean. Like nothing had happened the night before . The bedspread that had been covered in Orion’s blood was gone. He gave up his life for mine, and my babies.
“He redeemed himself, and can finally rest after so long.” Tristan could feel my pain, and I could tell he was feeling some of it himself. He owed Orion everything. We both did.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I know this may not be the best time for you to think about this, but the babies need a place to sleep.” I looked at him in confusion, and the he snapped his fingers, and the two cribs that I’d let Orion work on appeared in their appointed corner. My fingers flew to my mouth. He had turned them into pure art. Intricate carvings of flowers, and symbols of Greek and Egyptian, combining both of the babies’ heritages into the wood. It was beautiful. Even though I wouldn’t have thought I had any left, tears sprung from the corners of my eyes once again. These were happy tears.
Tristan and I looked at the cribs, speechless. Tristan
“Ready?” I held my hand out for her, hoping she would be stable enough to walk. Her body seemed to have healed completely from all that occurred yesterday. We had both passed out from the pure exhaustion of fighting our own battles. I was only out for a few hours, but Thalia had slept uninterrupted for almost twelve hours. Her eyes left the cribs and looked at me. She nodded.
“Yep. Let’s see our babies.” She grasped my hand and I helped her stand. She was sturdy on her legs, and I let out a little sigh of relief that she was indeed perfectly fine.
Aphrodite was cooing to our little girl when we arrived. Lacey was sitting on the couch with a snoozing Ren in her arms.
“She lives!” Leander joked, but Thalia flinched a little. She almost died. I saw Lacey reach out and smack Leander on the arm, while not waking the baby.
“What? Too soon?” He laughed and got up to hug Thalia, whispering to her how glad he was that she was all right. They were bonded forever. He would be devastated, had he lost her. She reassured him that she was fine before they pulled apart, and her eyes zeroed in on Callista.
“She’s been wanting you,” Aphrodite said, still in a cooing voice.
“How do you know?” Thalia asked, and held her hands out for our daughter.
“She is like you in that way, with emotions. Her emotions are saying she wants her mother. Quite loudly.” She faked wincing, then winked as she handed the little bundle over.
“Hi, Callista.” Thalia greeted the child, and the baby smiled. Male pride grew inside me, seeing my wi
fe with our daughter. I walked over to the couch and sat next to Lacey, but tried not to wake Ren. Callista had just woken from her rest, while Ren had just closed his eyes.
He looked peaceful, with his pouty pink lips puffed out. His hair had changed back to its dark blond color, much like Thalia’s. Both of our children looked like us. It was still fantastical to believe that we had children. I had a son and a daughter. When Thalia sat down next to me and held out Callista to get a look at both of us together, I smiled greater than I had ever smiled before.
The little princess smiled, and her chubby cheeks had a sweet dimple in each side. She squealed, and I was instantly wrapped around her little finger.
“See your mommy and daddy?”
“We love you, baby Callista. We’re so happy to see you, all cute, pudgy, and with your daddy’s hair.” Thalia looked like she was going to eat her. Not that I could blame her. Ren woke up, startled hearing his mother’s voice. Lacey handed him over, and we sat there, finally holding our children in our arms together.
“It’s real. It’s not a dream.” She was full of so much love, it looked like she could glow from happiness.
“They are very real.” Ren was watching me, and then cried out for his mother. We switched babes, and I got to hold my little girl. Her emotions were flowing into me— she was happy. These two were going to be a handful, I could tell. Leaning in, I pressed my lips to her squishy cheeks, then ran my fingers through her dark hair.
“They are very healthy babies. Their size and weight are those of a two month old, so they are still growing rapidly. All things staying the same, by my calculations they should be full grown around eight years of age. Very smart children.” Dr. Geoffrey came strolling in, carrying two bottles of formula for us to feed them. At the sight of the bottle, Ren started to get excited, wiggling everywhere.
“Seems like he takes after his uncle in appetite.” She giggled while sneaking a glance at Leander. He shrugged, and went back to holding Lacey. Thalia grabbed the bottle, and then looked down at her breasts. Yeah, I was sort of bummed about that. I was very much looking forward to seeing her feed our babes from her breasts. They were back to their normal pre-pregnancy size. The doctor noticed her glance, and explained to her that since she was no longer pregnant, the rings healed her completely, not feeling a need for her to breastfeed since there were no longer babies in her body. She looked a little sad about that at first, but then she moved on. The babies were being fed, and that was all that mattered. We both fed them, and then burped them. Callista was a lady and sucked daintily at the bottle, while Ren scarfed down his bottle as quickly as he could. The doctor was packing up his bag, and announced he was ready to leave. The babes were fine, and he wasn’t needed for now. He told us to come to his office in a month and we would check their progress.
He flipped his coin and disappeared after that. Aphrodite was lounging in a chaise lounge that she materialized, lost in her own thoughts. Lacey and Leander were settling in their own little bubble as well. I looked at Thalia, watching her as she marveled over our babies. Feeling my gaze, she looked into my eyes. This was worth everything.
“I love them,” She said, smiling, and I nodded.
“Me too.”
“I love you,” she continued, and I leaned in to kiss her.
“And I love you.” When we separated, both babies were no longer drinking but watching us. I winked at Ren.
“That’s how it’s done, son.” Thalia was quick to respond to my bragging.
“Ignore daddy. He thinks he’s some hotshot god or something.” She looked at me teasingly. I mouthed to her, “Later.” She was going to get it—pink handprints on her ass for hours. We quieted down after that and just enjoyed the moment with these two babes that we had risked everything to have. They were always meant to be ours. Aphrodite said she had to go, but would be back soon. Lacey and Leander only had about a day left on their coins, so they wanted to spend every last minute they could with us and the babies. Thalia promised that we would be visiting a lot, and Lacey offered to babysit if we needed some “us” time. I would be taking her up on that.
When it was time for us to finally head to bed, we laid the already sleeping babies in their cribs. Thalia and I took a shower, and settled into bed feeling almost overwhelmed by our new life.
“They’re going to come back for them,” she whispered into the quiet room. I knew we would have to talk about this soon. It was a conversation I wasn’t exactly ready for.
“Yeah, they are.” It was inevitable. The gods were going to make their last stand. The babies were alive, and posed the biggest threat to them, in their eyes. Obviously, Isis’s plea went unheard. They would be coming themselves. And no amount of demigods that had survived would live through their attack.
“What are we gonna do?” She was so frightened for our children, it was practically flowing out her head and settling over us.
“We fight.” She rolled over and looked at me.
“We can’t exactly fight with the babies on our backs.” This was true. I had time to think on this before she had woken up, and only one thought seemed like the best course of action.
“We give them to your mother, until it ends.” I watched many emotions cross her face. I knew when she finally understood what I meant, saying that. She took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.
“You’re right. It’s the only way.” It was. I’d considered every option possible. Running, holing up, everything I could think of. And there was no stopping the gods. They would come, and we would fight.
“We will do whatever we must. For them.” She looked over to the sleeping babes. I went on to tell her that I mentioned this plan to Aphrodite, and she accepted responsibility for the babies, promising to watch over them until we came to get them again. However long that would be.
I looked into my wife’s eyes, and knew we would not be able to stay away from them long.
“We’ll win. There’s no other option,” she declared, while coming into my arms. I kissed her forehead.
“We will.” We couldn’t say anything else. There were no heated touches that night, just the weight of what was to come sitting on us. When the babes woke in the night to be fed and changed, we took care of them, snuggled them in close, and kissed their cheeks.
We both came to the decision that we would love our little family, and live for the moment. Make memories and enjoy our life for now. And when the gods came, we would call for Aphrodite, who would take the children and go. We’d try to get them to see reason, and fight if we must. It was the only plan we had, which made us feel calm enough to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms until our babes needed us again.
Chapter Twenty Three
Thalia
“Oh gods, Ren! You are a super pooper!” I held him out as he kept on letting it out. His face was one of satisfaction after he grunted out his last bit of poop in his diaper. Tristan was sitting on the couch with Callista, while I was playing with Ren on the floor when he decided to let his bowels loose.
Tristan materialized a fresh diaper and wipes next to me. I rolled my eyes. He probably could change it with his powers, but wouldn’t. I cleaned up Ren and then went back to playing with him—kissing his toes, blowing raspberries on his tummy. Callista was watching us, happily snuggled against her daddy. Right now life was fantastic.
It had been just three days since they were born. Lacey and Leander left to go home. Aphrodite was aware of our plan, and we were doing what we had agreed to do —enjoy our family, and face whatever happens when it comes. No need in dreading the future and losing the present.
“I think it’s time for lunch. What do you guys think?” I looked at my babies, then at Tristan, who winked. He was so sexy when he did that. I handed Ren to him and then went to work on making us some food.
Bottles for the babes, and a grilled cheese for Tristan and me. Today had been a nice, relaxing day so far. The underworld was still uneasy about the battle that had passed. We lost q
uite a few people, but thankfully not as many as our enemies. As sad as it made me to think that any life was lost at all, It had to be this way. We were at war, and it was still us against them.
“ What do you want to do after we eat?” I handed him a bottle and set his sandwich down next to his leg. He handed me Callista, and we both fed the babies as we ate our food.
“Well, these two are going to pass out soon. So once they’re out, I think I want some time with my wife. It’s been too long.” He got that look in his eyes. I loved that look. It was a look that said, “prepare love, because I am going to rock your world. I was so down for that. We hadn’t been intimate since the night before we had the babies. We have been so caught up in being new parents: taking care of them, feeding, cleaning, and snuggling them, that at the end of the day we were passing out. But this little nap-time would be a perfect time for us to have some fun. I bit my lip, and Tristan had his answer. We both anxiously waited as the babies’ eyelids started to slowly close. It made me laugh how they would fall asleep as soon as they finished a bottle, mouths open and everything. We kissed their cheeks, then laid them in their cribs. When I turned to Tristan, ready for our alone time, he wasn’t there. I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere.
“Uh, Tristan?” I called out into the empty room. I pursed my lips, then went to sit on the bed, confused. Just as I was starting to worry, something very light fell on my head. And then something grazed my arm. My fingers searched for the object on my head and felt something soft and paper thin. I pulled it back and saw a red rose petal.
Battle of the Heart Page 11
