Page 170 of The Princesses of Ruin
Epilogue: Reina
Water flows across my gills in the shallows. We’re prepared to move the baby either way, depending on what anatomy she comes out with, but Jasper and I both agreed that water birthing would be easier—though more dangerous and certainly less private.
Thirty selkie guards encircle us, facing out, protecting me as I scream into the pain. Jasper’s arms cradle me as we float, and his mother, Ahliyah, holds my legs. I would be embarrassed, but I absolutely do not give a fuck about anything else but getting this thing out of me.
“With the wave, now, push when it pulls,” she says.
The current moves over me and the undertow slides beneath. I push with the water, the rhythmic nature of the waves making it easier to focus on them than me, or on all the blood in the water. Surely something will be coming to investigate soon.
“There, she’s coming,” Ahliyah says, her eyes wide with excitement.
The guards ahead of me position themselves for combat. I keep my pushing rhythmic and my inhales steady until a deep moan from beyond the rocky drop-off shatters my concentration.
A huge shadow moves in the distance, so close to the surface there’s no doubt it’s headed this way.
“Ohksano’amai,” I whimper, terror spilling through me. “We should move to the shore.”
“If she is more selkie, she won’t develop her human transformation for years to come,” he says. “We’ll have to be in the water one way or another.”
“Al’shan’hai’goi!” one of the guards shouts.
The others cheer in excitement, and my heart heaves into my throat.
“The sea god has come to witness her birth,” Ahliyah says. “Push hard now, Reina!”
With the knowledge that my situation is now a godly spectacle, I push harder. The undertow drags through my body and with it, the baby. She slides free and into Ahliyah’s arms where the woman quickly checks her.
“To the surface,” she demands.
Jasper’s tail flicks in time with his mother’s, and we rise, breaching the waves.
She holds our baby aloft and drains the fluid from her lungs. With the second pat on the baby’s bottom, she begins to cry.
Jasper pulls us out of the water and onto the rowboat waiting to carry us. Honestly, I’m relieved she’s more Ki’ah Ohn. Now she can grow up with her cousins, best of friends. And hopefully, her selkie anatomy will emerge around when a selkie’s human shift does.
Ahliyah pushes our baby up into my arms and I settle down, soaking wet and drenched in sunshine, against the soft bedding Jasper prepared for me. He folds me in close to his chest and kisses me thoroughly.
“Can’t believe it. I’m so proud of you. I’m so happy,” he rushes out between kisses.
I giggle. “I’m happy, too.”
Though there is still pain, the aftermath of giving birth feels like such immense relief I can ignore it, for now.
“Our little Maybel,” he says, caressing the girl’s smooth cheek.
I scowl at him. “I thought we agreed on Nerisse?”
He scowls right back. “But she must have a proper princess name.”
“Selkie names are proper princess names,” I say.
His face softens. “All right, then how about both?”
“Perfect,” I say, looking down at the precious gift in my arms. “Just like she is.”
Al’shan’hai’goi breaches the water far out in the Deep, his purple eyes staring into me. We hold her up and shout her name together.
“Nerisse Maybel!”
