by Janet Woods
“You can see me?”
“Of course. Everyone can.”
Santo grinned cheekily at him. “It was that silver stuff that landed on your beard.”
The alchemist looked thoughtfully down at him. “I think you’ve got it, lad. The silver crystophlatzer, when applied to a mixture of burned lapazine and phizophase, must have had the effect of –”
Kavan grinned. It was fascinating, but he could not leave his woman waiting. He took his leave of them and hurried to the birthing chamber. There, he dismissed the attendants and gazed down at Tiana. He couldn’t imagine what life had been like without her. They were one mind. One body. One love.
He took her hand in his and bore it to his lips. “You didn’t suffer too much, my love?”
The child was squalling with lusty indignation after his passage into the world. He was of good weight, and strong, his legs kicking against the restraining blanket.
Kavan exchanged a glance with Tiana, sharing the sense of achievement in her smile and the glow of maternal love as she glanced at the miracle of her infant.
The boy had his mother’s moonlight hair, jade eyes and the roar of a young bull. Kavan felt himself swell with pride. He was a man amongst men. No other could have sired such a handsome son.
He grinned when Tiana’s eyes gently mocked him. Taking their son from her arms he carried him towards the window, saying softly. “Come, my little princeling. We must announce your arrival.”
In the square below, the crowd waited in hushed expectancy. They stretched as far as the eyes could see – Truarc and Cabrilan united in a quest for survival. No one took any notice of the old man and his young companion – all eyes were directed towards the window.
A lump filled Kavan’s throat as he held his son on high and offered him to the people.
“A son is born,” he cried out. “Let there be rejoicing.”
Copyright © 2000 by Janet Woods
Originally published by New Concepts
Electronically published in 2013 by Belgrave House
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.
