Page 169 of The Princesses of Ruin
“I accept!”
I hug Reina, and pat Vek’ihr, fighting the urge to rip him apart as I do.
Hopeful I didn’t just fuck everything up.
Epilogue: Alyse
Her thoughts are disjointed. From discomfort to confusion to happiness in a blink. I hold her against my breast and sob, my body high on the euphoria of freedom from pain. Kazimir wraps us in his arms, and I feel complete. My reaper, and my little golden wheat.
I brush my fingers across her scalp. Her hair is so light, so soft. If it weren’t for Kazimir’s white-blond, I would’ve wondered just where this came from…certainly not me. It’s good then that my bits were left out. She’ll be better served as a stronger woman. Stronger than me.
I lean up and kiss him. He kisses me back.
“What’s her name?” he asks.
I look down at our beautiful baby, and only one name comes to mind.
“Belinda.”
Epilogue: Lily
“Deep breathing, my queen,” the midwife says.
“You breathe!” I shout.
My comebacks are not on point because it feels like my bones are on fire. I could’ve just augmented my body with magic to deliver the baby, but the midwife insisted that if I interfered with the process, I could hurt the child.
Fuck me.
“Push, now!”
I tighten my muscles and crunch forward despite everything in my body telling me that’s bad. My back feels like it’s snapping in half from the biggest shit I’ve ever taken.
Except it’s a baby.
“I can’t do this,” I cry as I fall back to the bed.
Alastair leans in close and whispers in my ear, “Yes, you fucking can.”
“Almost there. I see the head.”
I pant as he wipes the sweat from my brow.
Fine. I can do this.
I gulp in a big lungful of air and bear down on my guts. Movement, finally, and then immense relief. Alastair catches me before I fall all the way back. The baby comes out wailing and bloody.
And perfect.
Her skin is soft bronze, and she already has a full head of deep brown hair. The tip of her little tongue is forked, like Alastair’s is in his demon form. What other things of the demons did she adopt, I wonder?
No matter what they are, she’s beautiful.
The midwife clips the umbilical and hands her to me. “You’ll need to push out the placenta soon, my queen.”
I shoot her a nasty glare and she backs away, leaving me with my gorgeous baby and my loving husband.
I kiss her gooey head and whisper in her ear, “Hello, Thaleia.”
