Page 99 of Which Witch is Willing?
Aerin reveled in the lash of the wind as she blew toward the mansion. She fixated on the spires visible above the rest of the town, knowing exactly which balcony was her sister’s.
The French doors were flung wide open as if in anticipation of their arrival. Aerin did a less-than-dexterous dismount onto the deck, nearly crashing into the fresh-water aquarium Moira kept for the rehabilitation of cracked-shelled turtles.
Though it’d been less than an hour since Moira had escaped, she’d done the impossible.
“Holy fucking shit balls.” Aerin breathed. “It’s a girl.”
Looking resplendent from where she reclined in the bed as deep and comfortable as seafoam, Moira speared her with an aquamarine gaze just as censoring as it was sparkling. “Aw man, now those are the first words little Seraphine Morgana de Moray ever heard from the aunt who save her life.”
Had Aerin not been so awe-struck and speechless, she would have pointed out that the kid had almost certainly already heard worse from her father in her blissfully short life.
The man in question stood next to the bed, cradling a tiny bundle wrapped in a cobalt blanket.
He stared down at the child with more grace and love than any depiction of a saint, virgin, or deity Aerin had ever seen. He was a man lost in love and beaming with a heart she hadn’t known he possessed.
Justine had been standing beside Nick in a smart pink house frock, allowing Violet to look down into the bundle containing her cousin.
When Killian and Tierra landed, Justine returned the baby to her parents’ care. “My soul stayed right where it ought to be the entire time,” she said proudly. “And she only sprouted her wings the one time.”
Tierra kissed Violet as they all gathered around Moira’s bed taking a silent moment to stare in wonder at the being who brought them all full circle.
TheCeannDorcha. The Dark One.
“You should be the first to hold her,” Moira said, nodding to Nick to hand her over.
Aerin balked, holding out her hands in protest only to have them filled with a baby.
“Don’t drop this one,” Tierra snarked. “I doubt she can fly.”
Aerin looked down and, for a moment, the entire word receded. She thought she distantly heard Moira and Tierra remarking about how, though being a de Moray witch came with a great deal of pain and responsibility, one perk was near instantaneous labor.
At least when immortal babies were involved.
Two little eyes the color of black sapphires gazed up at her from a tiny face. She knew babies at this age weren’t supposed to be able to focus very easily, but their eyes connected instantaneously, and Aerin read from within them a soul as ancient as the cosmos.
And a heart as good as it was dark.
“Don’t hide from your darkness little one,” she crooned, touching the tiny nose with her fingertip. “We’ll help you nurture it into something good.”
First, they would have to defeat the devil who was, even now, gathering her strength. Then they would need to save the planet from their own prophecy. But they’d find a way. Because they had to. For Violet and Seraphine.
Tiny fingers wrapped around her extended one with a surprisingly strong grip.
And with that one motion, she stole Aerin’s heart.
47
Julian Roarke was not an immortal prone to pacing, yet here he was, wearing a tread in the plush arabesque rug in front of Aerin’s white marble fireplace. His heart would not slow, his veins constricted, and his thoughts raced with all the pounding, churning speed of his midnight stallion, Archimedes, at full gallop. Feeling confined by his own skin, he ripped his suitcoat off and flung it on a chair before yanking on the knot of his tie, jerking it from his neck.
Freeing a few buttons, he pulled air into lungs that technically required none, wondering if this was what it felt like to drown.
Because it was bloody awful.
The door whooshed open on a fragrant breeze. “Oh my God, Julian, you should see those Kentucky Fried fogeys with the babies. It is hysterical.”
The voice from the doorframe planted his shoes to the ground. He was facing away from her and for that he was glad. Because the teasing nonchalance in her voice threatened to drive him certifiably mad.
Aerin.
