A Fey Harvest (16 page)

I finally pulled away, smiling as I wiped tears from her
cheeks. I placed my hands over her scaled stomach and felt the Love magic rise inside me.

“
I give you the blessing of Love, little ones,” I said reverently to the three babies I felt inside her, “that you may feel treasured for all of your lives. That you may walk freely wherever you will, with confidence and grace. That all who meet you shall know you for the miracles you are.” The magic flew down my arms and into her belly, glowing a soft pink before fading.

“
Thank you,” she whispered and I hugged her again.

“
My Queen,” Taog came up and put an arm around the female. “Faerie has told ussssss that it'ssss because of the changes you've brought about in ussss that life ssssstirs within ussss again. Thank you, Queen of Fire. Thank you for Fionnaghal,” he patted the female beside him, “and thank you for bringing Faerie back to usssss.”

My fierce children. I have missed you the most.

Everyone heard her, judging by the reverent quiet that blanketed the room, broken only by the occasional sniffle. Then they all dropped to their knees and Arach came to stand beside me, his eyes shiny with unshed tears.

I wanted to tell them to get up, that I didn't want or deserve their obeisance, but I had to remind myself that these were fey and in Faerie I was a Queen. It was one thing to fight for equal protection for fey subjects but I didn't think the fey were ready for my American views on respect. So I kept my mouth shut as Arach took my hand and kissed it, giving me a knowing look and a smile of gratitude. We turned together and looked out over the gathered mass of fey, who the rest of Faerie called monsters but who we called family. A family that was about to get even larger.

Chapter Seventeen

“So the nursery,” I looked over to where Arach was reading a book in our bed and saw that he'd froze, a page half turned, to stare at me. “Is it done yet?”

“
Almost,” he barely whispered the word, like he was afraid I'd bolt if he spoke too loudly.

“
Did it never occur to you that I might like to have a hand in decorating the place where our children,
if we have any
,” I held up a hand when he started to look excited, “may possibly sleep? That it's a bit highhanded of you to go ahead without me?”

“
You want to decorate the nursery?” He sounded like he wasn't sure if he was horrified or delighted.

“
Well, I think I should have been consulted at the very least.”

“
A Thaisce,” he tossed his book aside and came over to stand in front of me. “I'm sorry about the nursery, we've already been over this, Laise thought she was helping.”

“
No, I know,” I waved away his apology. “It's fine, I just think she should have asked me what kind of things I'd want for my children.”

“
I'll get whatever you want for the babes,” he huffed a disbelieving laugh. “Just tell me and I'll get it for you.”

“
How about drugs?” I smirked.

“
What?”

“
If I'm going to seriously consider this, I think we need to talk about all of my concerns,” I pointed to the chair across from mine and he sat down with a stunned expression. “In the Human
Realm, children are usually born in hospitals. Hospitals are places where our healers work and they help the babies be born, making the mothers as comfortable as possible. There are medicines that can be given to the mothers to help with pain and there are things that can be done if the labor goes badly. I'm not sure if I like the idea of giving birth without those modern conveniences. It could be more painful and more dangerous.”

“
My love,” Arach smiled at me, “you're immortal, how dangerous could it be?”

“
For the child, you nitwit.”

“
Our child will be immortal too.”

“
Are you sure about that?” I watched as his face went slack, his mind working out the possibilities.

“
Yes,” he finally concluded, “I'm certain. The baby will be full dragon-sidhe and therefore immortal.”

“
I concede that the child will
most likely
be immortal,” I paused, not knowing how to explain my fears to him. I'd been thinking about this for awhile and I'd come up with more questions than answers. “But how can you be so certain that it will be dragon-sidhe? You said it yourself, there's no one like me in all the realms. I'm a triple being. So what will that make my child?”

“
Amazing,” he said on a reverent breath, “blessed, loved, treasured. Who cares what race it is? We need a full dragon-sidhe to be our heir but that doesn't mean I wouldn't love a child with a different heritage. Yes, I want to continue our race but if our child is part dragon-sidhe, part human, and part god, I would love it just the same.”

“
But we don't know what it will be,” I frowned. “Magic can do strange things. What if the child is born mortal and there are complications?”

“
We have healers, Vervain,” Arach took my hand and rubbed it gently. “You live at the source of magic, how could you think we'd be unprepared for childbirth? A fey birth is much easier than a human. There's no need for medicines or human hospitals. We have magic to ease the pain, magic to help the child into the world.”

“
Oh,” I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I guess the thought of children freaked me out a bit. “So what would happen?”

“
Well, here in Fire,” he kept rubbing my hand like he knew I needed the comfort, “we have leanan-sidhe who will aid in the birth.”

“
The vampires are going to help me give birth... bloody, messy birth?” I was horrified.

“
Have you completely forgotten how Ciaran healed little Lissa when you burned her by accident?”

“
Oh, right,” I thought back, “he used his own blood.”

“
Right,” Arach gave a little laugh. “Vervain, there's nothing to worry about. If you decide you're ready to have children with me, it will be safe and virtually painless.”

“
What does
virtually
mean?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

“
The first few contractions may not be caught in time to be subdued,” he shrugged, “but the rest of the labor pains can be transferred into amulets. It's a simple thing and if there is a complication, as you put it, the leanan-sidhe will be handy with their healing blood.”

“
Healing vampire blood,” I sighed, “yeah that's what they say about vamps in the Human Realm too, now that I think about it. They can close the wound they make from feeding with a little of their blood. I don't think it's true though. I don't remember Blue's blood healing me when he bit my lip.”

“
Who bit your lip?” He growled.

“
Oh, it was a long time ago,” I waved my hand and then gave in to the need for a little payback. “It was before I even got together with Trevor. I actually had sex with Blue on top of his pyramid... on an altar.”

“
Excuse me?” His eyes were starting to slant up his face, giving him the dragon look he got when he was riled up.

“
It was in a dream but it was still pretty real,” I shrugged. “I actually woke up with bite marks and I had the scars for quite awhile. Thor covered them with his lightning bolt but then Jesus made me immortal and they both went away.”

“
Vervain,” smoke was coming out of one of his nostrils, “how many men were you with before me?”

“
Oh, I don't know,” I gave him a wicked grin, “hundreds probably.”

There was a deadly silence before he finally figured out that I was messing with him.

“You haven't even been alive for half a century yet,” he huffed. “That was not a fair comparison.”

“
Ah but it got my point across, didn't it?”

“
Agreed,” he sighed. “So you really didn't do all that with all those men?”

“
Of course I did,” I laughed as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “But like I said, that was way before you and I. It shouldn't matter, right?”

“
Right,” he finally acceded.

“
So are you going to show me the nursery, or what?”

Chapter Eighteen

The nursery was right next door to our suite. I have no idea how I'd remained ignorant of its existence for so long. You'd think I would have noticed all the stuff Laise had lugged in there but no, I was oblivious unless she was hugging my man.

She hugged me too when we entered the room, she really was overjoyed at the possibility of a dragon-sidhe baby. Arach smirked at me over her head while I tried to extract myself from her enthusiastic grip. I'd never met such a bubbly leanan-sidhe.

“
The earth pixies made the cradle,” Laise waved toward the center of the room. “I hope you like everything, Queen Vervain.”

“
It's beautiful, Laise,” I stared around me. “Thank you.”

“
I'll leave you to take it all in,” she smiled her way out of the room.

I heard Arach say something to her but I was too busy gawking to focus on the words. The room was nothing close to what I'd been expecting. I had thought a faerie nursery would have lots of flowers and frilly things, maybe little baby fey globes to cast sparkling light about. The cradle would be hand carved wood and would rock beneath a bower of vines and flowers and there would be birds everywhere, like in Snow White. I know, ridiculous, but that's what I had in mind. The reality was way different.

“Laise did a lot of research using the laptop you brought me,” Arach laid a hand on my shoulder. “She wanted it to have everything a human mother would want as well as a fey. Do you truly like it?”

“
I think it's amazing,” I went to the center of the room,
where the cradle was the obvious attraction. It was constructed of two pieces of- “Are these diamonds?” I turned back to Arach with wide eyes.

“
The baby's cradle needs to be fireproof,” he shrugged, “Laise suggested diamonds because they're also the most durable jewel.”

“
What about metal?”

“
Metal melts, A Thaisce.”

“
You're saying our child might be born with the ability to melt metal?”

“
I would hope so,” he frowned. “It's only natural.”

“
Only natural,” I took a deep breath as I stroked my hand over the sparkling cradle.

It had a red marble base that flowed up from the floor in the shape of flames. Within those flames a diamond bowl was held, the outside of it faceted but the inside smooth. Nestled perfectly within the outer bowl was another diamond bowl, lined with a little mattress and silky white linens. The diamonds caught the light and sent rainbows dancing across the room. I touched the inner basin and it shifted smoothly back and forth.

“Touch it here,” Arach came up beside me and lightly pushed the rim of the bowl. “And it will move in circles too.” The inner bowl glided in a circular, rocking motion. “It's very calming to fey babies, simulating the shifting movement of the womb.”

“
It's ingenious,” I pushed it again.

“
Once it has the weight of a child in it, it will move continuously without intervention. You stop it by pushing this,” and he flicked a piece of the outer bowl so that it shifted in, locking the inner one in place.

“
Wow,” I shot him an impressed look.

Above the cradle, hanging from a golden chain attached to the ceiling, was a type of mobile. An assortment of fey creatures had been carved from different jewels and hung on a ring of gold. They sparkled and cast their own rainbows about, adding to the diamond's brilliance. I tapped an especially fierce looking creature and it knocked into its neighbors, causing a cascade of tinkling noises.

“The earth pixies made those too,” Arach nodded to the mobile. “Laise said every human cradle she saw had something like this hanging above it.”

“
It's called a mobile. It gives the child something to focus on when he's lying in the crib,” I walked past it to the sturdy dressing table placed against one wall. It was actually made of wood, I guess it wasn't as big a deal if the table got burned. The wood was a deep red color and polished to a glassy finish. It had two drawers near the top and then an open shelf on the bottom. Half of the top was padded to use as a place to change the baby's diapers, the other half was crowded with bottles and jars of who knows what. The shelf on the bottom had stacks of white cloths, I'm assuming diapers, and a large pan of what looked to be some kind of moss.

“
What's all this?” I pointed at the pan.

“
For the swaddling,” Arach frowned. “You put the cloth down first, then a layer of moss, and lay the baby on the top. Pin the sides and you're done.”

“
Moss?”

“
It's very absorbent and keeps down the odors,” he shrugged. “When the child has soiled the moss, you remove the swaddling and empty the moss down the chute,” he waved at a panel in the wall. “It leads to one of the lava streams. The waste will be burned away and help to heat the castle.”

“
Waste not, want not,” I laughed.

“
Indeed.”

“
It sounds very efficient,” I looked around the table. “What do you wipe them off with?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
When you change the diapers, I mean swaddling, what do you clean them with before you put a new one on?”

“
The moss keeps them clean,” Arach shook his head. “There's no need to bathe them after each changing.”

“
Damn,” I eyed the tray, “that's some awesome moss.”

“
It grows fast as well, so one tray is usually enough. In fact, Laise shouldn't have brought it in yet, it'll overflow that pan soon.”

“
What's that?” I pointed to a post set up in a corner. It went from floor to ceiling and was wrapped with thick rope. “It looks like my cat's scratching post.”

“
Well,” Arach made a face, “if you mean your cat likes to scratch poles to keep his claws sharp, then it's exactly what it looks like.”

“
Our children are going to need a scratching post?” I shot him a horrified glance.

“
Either that or they'll ruin all the furniture.”

“
Great,” I sighed and went to sit in the thickly padded chair set near the window. It slid when I sat and glided in a rocking motion similar to the cradle. “Whoa, it's a glider.”

“
Yes,” Arach pulled a lever on the side of the chair and it stopped. “Or not, it's up to you.”

There was a thick rug right in front of the chair and a big chest in front of that, for toys, I'm assuming. Then, near the door was an armoire, in the same red wood as the dressing table, painted with scenes of the Fire Kingdom on its doors. It was a wonderful room, I just didn't know if I was ready to produce its occupant yet.

“You feel pressured,” Arach sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “This is why I didn't want you to know about the nursery.”

“
You could have just told her no.”

“
You did meet her, right?” He huffed a laugh. “It was so much easier to just let her have her way.”

“
Yes, but she's not the one who can truly make life miserable for you.”

“
Maybe,” he smirked at me, “but you're much more reasonable.”

“
Afraid of a leanan-sidhe, are we?” I laughed at him. “You're supposed to be the King of Fire. What kind of example would you be to our children?”

“
A great one. I'd teach them the importance of knowing which battles to fight and which aren't worth your time,” he pulled me out of the chair and kissed me till my toes curled. “I'd much rather be fighting with you than wasting my time with her.”

“
Oh, well played.”