Page 108 of Haunted

I don’t regret them, no matter how consuming they are.

So consuming that I lie awake, scanning the light in her body. It flows freely through her as she sleeps, as if it’s as blissed out as she is. Her light is strong, stronger now that she’s been healed from our union.

I never thought that healing her could have been so easy.

Her light swirls from her limbs to her heart-center and circulates back throughout her body, renewing, healing, holding her in her eternal youth and beauty.

I trail my fingers along her arms, her shoulders, down her sternum and to her navel, as if tracing her inner light.

Then a flash, a flicker in her lower pelvis pauses me. A bright beacon that stays lit, something that is separate from her swirling light.

My breath catches.

What is this?

Niawen doesn’t stir. She’s so peaceful. But I’m jarred with confusion, wondering. I dive with my inner light.

The spark of light hovers within a cluster of cells. Compartments that continually multiply and change and evolve.

I’ve seen the healing of cells, the components that come together when a body is healed, but this is different. This is—

Life. New life.

Conception. A child.

A child!

A completeness that I never could have fathomed fills me. I only wanted Niawen. Never thought beyond what we could be together, as a family.

Are we ready for this?

I roll onto my back next to her and keep my sight on the little speck within her. I’m too excited to sleep.

When the sun rises, I can’t wait any longer. I sit on the bed and lean over Niawen, willing her to wake.

She stretches beside me in a morning yawn. Even with her body under the covers, I see our child’s light.

“Do you think the intensity fades?” she asks in a dreamy half-asleep voice. “I’m not sure I can function at this level.”

She’s feeling my elation. I can’t hold it back.

I laugh. “I hope not. But you have to consider. We’ve opened ourselves up because it’s new, and we want to. The bond is like your dragon’s bond; we still have some semblance of privacy if we choose.”

I’m so satisfied. I’ve never been happier. Niawen gets a wave of it, and she murmurs contentedly. But she’s still half asleep, and I’m bursting with news that her dreamy endearing manner won’t distract me from. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake—for three hours.” I smile.

Her eyes round. “What? Why? Why are you grinning like that? Don’t keep me in suspense.”

I whisper into her ear. “You don’t see it, do you?” I straighten and step back from the bed. My body begins to tremble. I cover my mouth to keep from blurting the big secret.

She jumps up and stands on the bed. The light is right there, right in the bowl of her belly. A thrill courses up my spine. I can’t believe she can’t see it. It must be hard to notice right away, especially since she was sleeping through the moment of conception.

“You’re exciting me with terrific joy.” Her eyes are wide as she tries to pry the secret from our mental bond. “You’re thinking about how I’m going to screech and throw myself into your arms because what you have to tell me will blow me away.”

I make my expression blank. I don’t change my emotion.

“You’re killing me!” she squeals. “Just tell me!”

“I think you don’t see it because it’s inside you. Your own light is blocking the tiny speck of brilliance.”

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