Page 30 of Rejected By the Fae King (Kings of the Fae Islands 3)

Asher instantly shook his head but did not prevent his mother from dragging him out the door. "I can't leave her!"

"You can and you must. You men only ever get in the way in such matters," his mother insisted, and the door was quickly closed behind the midwives. "It will be over before you know it."

Asher could only hope his mother was right. Another scream sounded from the bedroom, and it took all Asher's self-control not to barge back into the room.

Dawn couldn't come quick enough, but when it finally did, Rayne's screaming ceased. For one gut-wrenching moment, Asher held his breath, praying his worst nightmares would not be realized. Everything was suddenly silent. Too silent. He’d been pacing up and down the antechamber for what felt like hours, unable to stop even when his calves were burning, but now he did, and his gaze met with his mother's.

"Asher! Wait!" she ordered, as if she saw the intention in his gaze. But he didn’t listen, darting for the bedroom, unable to hold himself back any longer.

Just as he entered, the sound of a babe crying hit his ears, and such sweet relief overwhelmed him that he almost dropped to his knees.

Laid upon the bed, among a mountain of pillows, was his wife. She appeared more beautiful than ever before, practically glowing with iridescence as a midwife slipped a small bundle of silks into her arms. She seemed not to notice him standing at the end of the bed as she gazed down at the bundle, her face broadening into the most radiant smile.

"All is well, Your Majesty," he heard one of the midwives say, though he wasn't sure if it was to him or his mother, who had appeared in the doorway behind him.

As if she finally sensed him standing there, Rayne's tired eyes lifted from the babe in her arms, and she smiled at him. "Come and meet your daughter."

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder before his mother followed the midwives from the room. Unable to take his eyes off his wife, he moved around the bed and tentatively sat down on the edge at her side.

"A…. a daughter?" he stammered, unable to believe it. He gazed down at the tiny bundle in his wife's arms, already able to see how alike she was to her sister. A small mass of dark hair sat in a tuft atop her little pink head.

"You aren't disappointed, are you?" Rayne asked, her voice fearful.

"How could I ever be disappointed? You have given us a healthy child, and she’s as beautiful as her mother!" Asher exclaimed, leaning forward to kiss Rayne upon the head before he reached out to stroke his daughter's cheek. "Though Elia might be a little disappointed. She did have her heart set on a little brother."

"Then I suppose we’ll just have to try again," Rayne said playfully, and Asher couldn't help but laugh.

"Let's give you some time to recover from this one first, shall we?" he responded, though he was all too ready to give her exactly what she wanted.

"What should we name her?" Rayne asked, still smiling teasingly.

"Butterfly!" The exclamation came from the doorway behind Asher, and he quickly turned to remind his eldest daughter to be quiet. Her face dropped only a little at his scolding. She looked much too excited to mind as she hurried across the room and bounced up onto the bed.

"Careful now," Asher warned, but Rayne offered him a look that said everything was fine.

"I'm not sure Butterfly would really suit her," she chuckled and reached out with her free hand to hold Elia's little fingers. "What about Flutter?"

"Princess Flutter," Elia mused over the name for a few moments, her face screwed up with scrutiny. Then she began to nod excitedly. "I love it!"

"Princess Flutter it is then." Asher smirked when he saw the happiness on both his wife and daughter's faces.

Seeing them like this together, Asher could almost forget they hadn't always been this way. The blood that now tied them together forever might not have flowed through Elia's veins, but nobody could’ve guessed it just from looking at them. The love and happiness that filled the room was almost enough to choke him, and he sat back on the bed watching his eldest daughter fuss over her new sibling, knowing, finally, all was right in the world.

"I love you," he mouthed over his daughter's head to his wife, his heart soaring when she returned the gesture.

Elia seemed utterly oblivious to the exchange, which she would usually have said was 'yucky'. Instead, she was stroking the rosy pink cheek of her sister, a bond forming between them that Asher knew from his own experience with his brothers could never be broken.

Fate has a funny way of pulling us all together, Asher thought with a smile, remembering how he’d been such a fool to have ever rejected this beautiful woman. He would spend every day of the rest of his life proving to Rayne he was sorry for it.

*****

THE END

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