Chapter 492: A Gift

Ella

I go rigid at the idea of this dark god giving my daughter anything.

“No,” I gasp, attempting to push myself away from him – but I struggle to move

“Fear not, moon daughter,” he says, the corner of his lip tilting up. “I do not give curses to those who

are my chosen ones – only gifts.”

And with that shadows begin to swirl in his hand. My eyes go wide as they build and build into an orb of

smoke and shade.

“No!” I protest again, my voice a little breathless this time.

“Careful, girl,” he growls, taking a step closer, bending over me now. “If you anger me, I will not be so

eager to bestow my gift. You would not to incur my ire for your life, instead of a blessing for hers, would

you?”

I cringe away from him, not knowing what to do – not knowing which will be worse-

The God of Darkness stretches out his hand over me and the shadows begin to spill down from his

fingers, surrounding me.

“A blessing,” he murmurs, “for the first granddaughter of the moon from her benefactor. Long may she

live, dwelling in darkness as well as light.”

The shadows, when they touch me, are soft – gentler than I imagined they’d be, like velvet or mist.

When I breathe, they flow into me through my nose and my mouth. I gasp, worried – but the smoke, it

tastes faintly of…of mint, and cool mornings, and it soothes my aching throat…

I look up at the God in wonder, tilting my head at him.

“See?” he says softly. “Not all that dwells in darkness is wicked.”

And then he smiles at me – a wayward, vicious thing – and gives another short bow before

Before he disappears.

And I blink, and the world – my room – it’s real again.

“Ella?” Cora says, abruptly in front of me now, shining a light in my eyes.

“Ella!” Sinclair gasps at my side as I blink rapidly, trying to clear my thoughts. “Are you – “he spins his

head to Cora, “is she all right!?”

“I’m – um I’m fine,” I murmur.

“Your eyes,” Cora says, dropping her flashlight and taking my face in her hands, studying me with

horror on her features. “Ella, they went all black you were frozen in place – ”

I nod, taking a deep breath, the scent of mint still clinging to the back of my mouth. As I exhale I run my

hands over my stomach and check on my bond with my daughter –

It’s still there. She’s just as strong – just as uncomfortable, ready to be born

“It’s okay,” I say, nodding to my sister, to my mate. “It – um – ” I hesitate for a moment, torn between

wanting to explain and the feeling of the next contraction coming steadily on. “It was it was really weird,

all right, but right now?” I shake my head at them, a little frantic, “I think we need to push.”

Cora snaps immediately back into doctor mode, moving down on the bed to position herself between

my knees, nodding. “All right, Ella,” she says, pulling me a little lower so that I’m flatter on my back

now. “When you’re ready, you push.”

“Ella,” Sinclair growls next to me, and even as the contraction takes hold I turn my face to him and

press my eyes shut, passing all of my emotions down our bond – my fear, and my shock, but alongside

it my conviction that…that I’m okay, right now, and so is the baby but we’ve got to concentrate on this.

“All right,” he says, his voice low as he sits up and puts his hands my shoulders. “Let’s do this.”

And, with my mate behind me, and my sister ready to welcome my little girl, I push with all my might.

Half an hour later, our little baby girl is born.

I’m inconsolable as Cora places her in my arms, the tears dripping down my face as I peer at my baby,

reaching out a finger to stroke her teeny tiny fingers, her perfect little nose. She shouts her

unhappiness and shakes her little head, which only makes me laugh as I try to wipe my tears away.

“She’s perfect,” Sinclair breathes, tucked close behind me, peering at our baby over my shoulder.

“She really is,” I say between gasping breaths. “Oh god, she’s so cute – ”

Cora laughs, coming to sit next to me and stroke a hand over her little head. We’re quiet for a long

moment as I press my child against the skin of my chest.

“She’s precious,” Cora murmurs, her voice almost reverent. “And I love her, and I’m going to be her

favorite aunt.”

“Only aunt,” Sinclair murmurs, his voice a little dry.

“Even if she had sixty,” Cora coos, tapping the baby’s little belly with a single finger, “I’d be the best.”

She leans forward, kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll give you two a couple of minute, all right? Go break

the news to the drunk ones in there.”

I turn my face up and kiss my sister as well as she scrunches her nose at me and turns to the door,

taking the team of nurses with her. Everyone did such a wonderful job – I’m so grateful to them

But honestly, as much as I want to shout my thanks out after them, all I can do is stare down at my

perfect little girl.

I lean back against Sinclair as I study her face and he wraps his arms around me, doing the same.

“She looks just like you, Ella,” he breathes, fascinated.

“What!?” I protest, honestly a little shocked. “Dominic, she’s all scrunchy

He laughs at this, and I can feel him shaking his head. “Newborn scrunch aside – her features? And

the shape of her face? Rafe is all me, but Ella…this one is you.”

“Little baby girl,” I murmur, rocking her a little and passing love and comfort down our bond so that she

settles, just a bit. I can feel the tumult of her emotions down our bond – she’s happy to be close to me,

but cold, and a little frightened. She cries the sweetest little mewing sounds, and I cuddle her close,

thinking that it must be so hard, being brand new to the world. I do my best to let her know that she’s all

right, that I’m still right here. I press a kiss to her forehead, loving her so much already that I can hardly

bear it.

Outside the windows of the palace we can hear the crowd start to cheer as the announcement goes out

– their Princess has been born, safe and sound. They started to gather late last night, wanting to be the

first ones to lay eyes on her. And today? I had peeked out the front window earlier as I paced the halls,

trying to ease the bangs of labor, and was shocked to see the masses of people waiting out there,

eager to lay eyes on her.

“I can’t say their enthusiasm is misplaced,” Sinclair sighs. “She’s a really good baby.”

“Hear that, baby?” I murmur, smiling at her. “They’re cheering for you!”

We take a long, quiet moment together before Sinclair reaches a hand out and strokes my hair. “Ella,”

he says quietly, and I hear the worry come back into his voice. “What…what happened? Earlier, when

you -”

But I shake my head, because of course I know precisely the moment he’s talking about. I turn a little

so that I can see him and quickly, briefly, give him the fast version of what happened, because I know

that we only have a few minutes before the doctors come back in, and Rafe comes to meet his sister,

and we have a great deal to do.

My mate goes pale as I tell him how the Dark God took me away into the pocket realm, how he gave

our daughter some kind of gift, how he ensured me it was a blessing and not a curse.

“But from the Dark God,” Sinclair murmurs, shaking his head, his voice heavy with dread, “who knows

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“I know,” I say, my voice soft, a little mournful. “But honestly, Sinclair, as it …came to me, the gift – it

didn’t feel bad. He was angry at mom for keeping secrets from him for all of these years but I did not

get the impression, from the gift itself, that he wanted to hurt the baby or use it as vengeance.”

“Then what did it feel like?” he asks, confused.

“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “It felt…a great deal like an open door.” As the words fall from my

mouth I have no idea where they came from, and that they make absolutely no sense. But, somehow,

they’re right.

But still, as I look down at my baby girl, my stomach twists with anxiety for all the things it can mean for

her future.