Page 51 of The Surrender

I flinch at Kyan’s familiar voice, flushing even more. My vision is blurry, but I can make out his and Merikh’s figures as they advance toward the bed.

“I beg your pardon,” objects Mayce, lowering his mouth to kiss my brow while showing his fully clothed robes. “You’ll need to address any grievances you have with Drago. One of us is at least made of stronger stuff to keep a clear head.”

Drago snorts and jerks out of me while rubbing his thumb along my parched lips. “Given the tight grip of that sweet cunt, not even the strongest man could keep a clear head.”

A giggle ripples through me, but I close my eyes with a sleepy sigh. When a heavy shadow falls over me, I recognize Kyan’s wings lifting and curving toward me.

“Any luck?” asks the alpha behind me.

“No,” Merikh says. “No sign of any more rocs or nests anywhere in the territory.”

“She is safe. That’s all that matters,” adds Kyan before his voice lowers to a sharp octave, “I fully expect you two to clean up your mess while I command fresh sheets and blankets for her. I won’t have her sleeping in such a state,” he says in that authoritative Lord of the Court of Storms voice. “And you will not engage in such behavior at the grand ball we will host this weekend. I won’t have you exhausting our honored guest.”

“What has gotten into all of you?” I manage to gasp out, finding some strength to lift my head.

"More like what's gotten into you," chuckles Drago.

Swiveling my gaze between all four, I meet their blinks, set jaws, and…proud, knowing press of their lips. I thrust my chin toward Mayce and glance at him and Drago, fitting pieces together as that prickling apprehension grows.

“Serving me food...” I bring up first, remembering how I’ve been hungrier, consuming more helpings than usual.

“You didn’t let me have the wine...” I add, gesturing to Drago, scrunching my brows.

I nod to Mayce whose knowing smile complements the liquid hazel warmth of his eyes. “The massage, all this attention...” Turning again to the dragon shifter, I hurl him an accusatory look, “And you have never fucked me so gently. Not ever.”

A frenzied rush of breaths leaves my throat. I gather the closest blanket I can around myself and cup my forehead as the revelation washes over me and fills me with unspeakable warmth. Emotions storm to the surface—fear and disbelief and enthusiasm and a raw and profound madness—and I’m suddenly crying and laughing and crying again. Breaking down as all four of my monsters surround me in their own ways...

Drago with his rough, grunting hold while Mayce slides a cunning hand around my waist to rub my belly. Kyan lowers himself to the bed next to me with his feathers tickling the one side of my body, and Merikh...grips my neck to command my eyes to his.

They are my beautiful monsters. And while someone might look into their souls and see nothing but rot, I look into those darkest parts, those most depraved parts, and I want them. I feel them. And now, I share them in a deeper way than I ever believed possible.

Because someone like me is not supposed to—shouldn’t be able to—doesn’t bear the right type of womb to—

“Yes, little dove,” Merikh commands my eyes to his. “Say the words. For yourself. And know when you do, you may surrender the part of your past that defined you as nothing more than a half-ghost and never-feeling gray girl of scars and ink.”

I touch my belly, touch the bit of plumpness that was not there before. Through never-ending tears, I suck in the deepest inhale I’ve ever needed to fill my lungs and say, “There’s a baby inside me! I. Am. Pregnant.”

I promptly pass out.

34

“It’s not an egg, right?”

QUINTESSA

“I look like a princess, Ama,” I gush at my reflection and catch the twist of a smile on Eyn-Amaru’s macabre features. The feathers on one side of her face ruffle from my affectionate nickname.

“A queen,” she corrects while fluffing the skirts around me.

The beauty of the court gown is enough to melt my heart. Even grander than the last. While the bodice is a partial one, comprised of saint patches in the finest gold and silver sealed over my breasts, it cuts off in a delicate V at the edge of my navel to expose the new swell of my belly.

I shiver when Eyn-Amaru traces the outline of my swirling tattoos in a delicate gold scrawl of my skin. The quill feathers sprout tingles along the barest space on the side swells of my breasts, my belly, the upper curves of my arms, and even my bare feet,

My belly flutters from her touch. Kyan said angel pregnancies don’t take as much time as human ones. Whether it’s his child or Drago’s or Merikh’s, none of their supernatural births do. The deep-seated knowledge of how I will hold my child in less than a couple of months is enough to unravel all my heartstrings so the fickle muscle can freely dance in its cage.

Eyn-Amaru interrupts my thoughts with the object in her fingers. The royal jewels catch the lantern light, their gleam winking at me. My breath staggers at the thought of the violet gems signifying protection with the cleansing gold setting.

After pinning the broach to the center of the bodice between my breasts, the Stewardess adheres a second broach-like seal just above my navel. Warmth engulfing me head to toe, I stand taller as the gems dangle in a gentle cascade over my belly. I smile at the moonstones of fertility.

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