Page 61 of Barbarian Brothers

Cynthia checks my temperature again, then moves to kneel between my legs while Alicia and Jewel make sure my knees are high up to give my pelvis a good angle. We’ve talked about this so many times. I was supposed to know about everything unfolding, yet I’m as blank as a sheet of paper, covered in cold sweat and riddled with doubts. Every single person in this room is rooting for me, but I am legitimately scared.

“You’ve got to unclench, Amber. This baby is coming out, whether you like it or not.”

“I’m not clenching!”

“Yes, you are. Come on, Amber. Start pushing. It’ll get easier, I promise. I gave you enough ash willow essence to knock down a herd of black-tailed antelopes, so you should be able to do this without passing out.”

It’s amazing how much she’s learned in the months we’ve been here as far as medical care is concerned. The local fauna andflora are bountiful for anyone who knows which compound does what for the body, and Cynthia has learned to navigate the entire landscape while also developing cures and pomades of her own. She might have created better medicines than the Sunnaites themselves had previously, according to Kai and Maur. I should trust her more.

Another contraction has my knees bucking as I scream from the bottom of my lungs. The pain is unbearable, the fear freezing the blood in my veins, but the loving words of my men keep pouring into my ears like sweet honey.

“You’ve got this, Amber,” Binzen says.

“I love you. You can do this,” Izzo adds. “You’re not alone.”

“One more push!” Cynthia shouts.

This is it. I have to do this. I can’t shove the horned genie back into the bottle.

My warriors hold me tight as I push. My scream tears through the very fabric of time and space, but it’s followed by a sudden release of unbelievable tension. I exhale deeply as my whole body relaxes, and I hear the first wheezing cries of a baby. My baby.

“He’s here!” Cynthia announces, laughing and bursting into tears at the same time. “He’s… Oh, my gosh, he’s perfect!”

I can barely keep my eyes open, exhaustion washing over me in waves of hot and cold. My muscles dissolve, and my breathing slows as I realize I did it. My baby is here. Izzo stays close, but his gaze is fixed on the baby. Binzen plants a kiss on my temple, then rushes around the bed to see our little miracle up close.

“Amber, we have a son,” he says, his breath short and his soul beaming with joy. “And Cynthia’s right, he’s perfect!”

“Let me see,” I manage.

He brings our son over, and I’m stunned and hopelessly in love with this tiny giant. His skin is bright red, and tiny horns protrude from his forehead. But he seems only slightly bigger than a human baby, his tail not showing yet. He cries and has his little fists clutched tightly as Cynthia helps clean him up with a wet towel before they give him to me.

As soon as he is in my arms, his eyes still closed and a tuft of black hair curling just between his horns, I am hopelessly in love and forever devoted to him. I understand now. A mother’s love and devotion. A mother’s determination to keep her child safe and happy, to see him become a better man than those who came before him.

“Oh, wow,” I mumble, his heart beckoning mine. “He is perfect.”

“I’ll need to check his vitals and run some tests over the next couple of days,” Cynthia says, breathing a sigh of relief. “But he seems okay. More than okay, actually.”

“He’s got quite the grip on him,” Izzo chuckles, our baby’s fingers clutching his index finger firmly. “He will be as strong as a Sunnaite.”

“But probably not as tall,” Jewel laughs as she and Alicia get closer to look at him. “Damn, he’s a handsome little tyke.”

“He’s got heartbreaker written all over him,” Alicia giggles.

I give my friends a tired smile, then look at my husbands as previous concerns returning to haunt me. “We cannot set this precedent, though,” I tell them. “We’ve proven it’s possible, andif Cynthia has the data right, his female descendants will likely be immune to the plague like us.”

“I know,” Binzen says. “We’ll have to tread carefully from now on. The Fire Tribe could still be swayed in the wrong direction.”

“Desperation can make people do stupid things,” Cynthia grumbles.

Izzo shakes his head. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll forge ahead just like we discussed,” he says. “We’ll destroy every single Sky Tribe starship. It’s the first thing we have to do, and we’ve gotten remarkably close to their hangars lately. We’ll manage. We’ll teach our people there are better ways to save our species. More ethical ways.”

“We will retake the cities, too,” Binzen adds with confidence. “We only need one to get a research center for Cynthia to do her work at a higher level.”

“The Sky Tribe will likely wish to take our son, to study him,” I warn them. “They’ll reach the same conclusion, and when they do, they’ll have even stronger incentives to send more starships to Earth.”

My husbands nod in unison, their brows furrowed as their gazes bounce across the room. I can feel the gloom thickening the air around us. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, a celebration of life and evolution. Yet we’re living with heavy clouds hanging over our shoulders as we brace for the uncertainty of a future on Sunna.

“Whatever happens, we’ve made it this far,” Jewel says. “I have faith in our ability to pull through.”

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