Chapter 215 - Birth Sucks

Chapter 215 - Birth Sucks
Rhiannan POV

The sun had barely disappeared below the horizon when something warm rushed between my legs.

I froze. Looked down. Looked back up. “Oh, fuck me sideways.” Every person in the room stopped moving.
“My water just broke.”

Silence. Then absolute fucking bedlam.

“IT'S HAPPENING!” Mo screamed so loudly I nearly went into labor from that alone.

“The babies are COMING! RIVEN, CATCH ME!”

“Why am I catching you?!”

“I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!”

Mela was laughing and crying. Riven caught Mo anyway. Kaleb immediately started asking about towels. Arwen started clearing the room. Sable looked prepared to murder childbirth itself. And Liam? Liam leaned against the wall holding a glass of juice like the smug vampire asshole wasn't internally disintegrating.

“Well,” he said, “I suppose we'll finally discover whether they emerge breathing fire, screaming, or both.”

A contraction hit. Hard. I folded forward. “Motherfucker.”

Azarion was beside me instantly. Then I was airborne.
“Let's get you to the basin, Goddess.”

“I can walk.”

“No.”

“I can!”

Another contraction squeezed through my abdomen like a bitchy tidal wave. I grabbed his arm. “Okay, fuck walking.”

He kissed my forehead. The birthing basin had already been prepared in my chambers, filled with warm enchanted water glowing faintly beneath the surface.
Elisha stayed beside me as Azarion lowered me in.
“Relax, moonfire.”

My head snapped toward him. “If you say relax again, I will personally shove a cactus up both your dragon dicks.”

His mouth closed. Smart man. Sasha appeared above the basin. “She is currently dilated to 6.3 centimeters. Heart rate elevated. Respiration elevated. Stress hormones elevated. I recommend breathing.”

“I AM BREATHING!”

“Should I breathe with you? I am breathing now.”

Her holographic chest started dramatically rising and falling.

“Sasha, shut the fuck up!” Elisha barked.

“Affirmative. Initiating emotional collapse.”

Then she disappeared. Brimma handed me a glittering crystal. “Stress crystal.” I squeezed it. “What does it do?”

“Explodes.”

I stared at her.

“It probably won't kill anyone.”

“Why the fuck would you give this to me right now?”

“Motivation.”

Kaelith confiscated it. Hours blurred together after that. Pain. Water. Hands. Voices. My mates taking turns beside me. At some point Nythera's magic entered the basin. Starlight spread beneath my body.
The water turned silver. Then another contraction tore through me. I screamed. Not dignified. Not goddess-like. I screamed like a woman whose body was trying to push three fucking supernatural bowling balls through one exit.

“You're almost there,” Kaelith promised.

Azarion knelt beside the basin. His face was calm. His hands weren't. They trembled around mine. “You've got this, my moon.”

“I swear to every fucking god…”

“That's it.”

“...if this child doesn't come out…”

“Push.”

“I'M EVICTING ALL THREE!”

Then suddenly...A cry. Sharp. Furious. Alive. Everything stopped. My baby. My fucking baby. Kaelith lifted a tiny slippery body from the glowing water.

Blond hair. Pale little face. My heart exploded. “He's blonde?” Liam made the strangest noise I had ever heard. Something between a gasp and a dying goat.
“Oh, fuck.” He stumbled forward. “Oh fuck, he's mine.”

Then his eyes widened. “Are those fucking fangs?”

Tiny. Barely visible. But there. Liam's entire face crumpled. “Oh gods.” Kaelith put our son into his arms. Liam stopped breathing. My dramatic, ridiculous, vain vampire prince stared down at that tiny face like the entire universe had just rearranged itself.

Tears rolled down his cheeks. “You're perfect.” Our son made a tiny snarling sound. Liam sobbed harder. “You're mine. Holy shit. I made a person.”

I started laughing. Then crying. Then another contraction hit. “FUCK!” One down. Two squatters remaining. The second took another hour. By then I was sweaty, exhausted, furious, and reconsidering every romantic decision I'd ever made. Then Sereth looked down. “She's coming.”

I sobbed. “GOOD.”

Another push. Another scream. And suddenly the basin exploded with golden-white light. A baby's cry filled the room. Softer than her brother's. Sweet. Bright. Kaelith lifted her. My daughter was glowing.
Actually fucking glowing. Tiny golden-white sparks danced across her skin. Her eyes opened. Galaxies.
Elisha stopped moving. I watched realization cross his face. “She…”

His voice broke. “She is mine.”

Brimma wrapped her gently before placing her into his arms. Elisha stared down at her. The Dragon King looked completely destroyed. “Stars above.” He kissed her tiny forehead. “My little light.”

I was openly sobbing now. “She is so beautiful.”

Elisha leaned over and kissed me. “So are you.”

“I'm covered in sweat and threatening murder.”

“Radiant.”

“Liar.”

Two. Two babies. One left. And apparently the third had decided she was paying rent and staying forever.
Midnight came. Then the double moons rose. My entire body trembled. “Come on, baby,” I whispered.
Then the worst contraction yet hit. I couldn't even scream. My back arched. Power erupted from me. The basin overflowed with light. One final push.

Then...Silence. No cry. My heart stopped. “Why isn't she crying?” Nobody answered. “Why isn't my baby crying?”

Kaelith lifted her. Tiny. Dark reddish-black curls. Two little horns. A tail curled against her leg. Shadowy wings fluttered weakly behind her shoulders. Then she opened her eyes. Black. Endless. Beautiful. She cooed. The entire room exhaled. And Sable walked through the doorway. He stopped. “I can feel her.”

His voice broke. I'd never heard Sable's voice break.
Kaelith carried her toward him. Sable fell to his knees before she even reached him. Then our daughter was in his arms. This terrifying demon who threatened to peel people's skin off because they breathed too loudly around me was holding something smaller than his forearm. And crying. Actually crying. “She is mine.”

My chest hurt. “Yeah,” I whispered. “She is.”

Our daughter wrapped her tail around one of his fingers. Sable completely fucking lost it. Then the room filled with starlight. Nythera appeared beside the basin. Her hands touched my belly. Then my chest.
Ancient words whispered through the room. Warmth rushed through me. The pain vanished. All of it. I blinked. “Holy shit.”

Nythera smiled. “I took the pain, not the memory.”
I stared down at myself. My body felt whole. Healed.
Although my boobs had apparently decided to become their own celestial bodies. Nythera moved toward my children. She kissed Liam's son first.

“A divine vampire king reborn. A child of shadow and sun.”

Liam started crying again. She kissed Elisha's daughter. “A goddess incarnate. Destiny's pulse lives within your veins.”

Then she reached Sable. Even he bowed his head.
Nythera kissed our tiny demon daughter's forehead.
“A divine demon of love and ruin.”

The room seemed to tremble.“The first of her kind.”

My breath caught. Nythera looked at all of us. “Raise them with love, and they will usher in peace for centuries.”

Her expression darkened. “Raise them with fear, and they will burn the world.”

Well. No pressure. “They are the most powerful fae born of Andopeer.”

Then she vanished. Just...Gone. I stared after her.
“Could've ended with congratulations.”

Liam laughed wetly. Eventually, all three babies came to me. My son first. Then my glowing little goddess.
Then my tiny horned demon. I fed them one at a time, memorizing everything. Tiny fingers. Tiny noises. The way my vampire boy curled toward warmth. The faint glow beneath my goddess daughter's skin. The way my demon baby's tail wrapped around my wrist and apparently decided I belonged to her.

I did. Completely. When they were finally full, I curled around all three. My babies. My children. The future we'd been fighting so fucking hard to build.

Then Sasha appeared.

“FaeNet currently contains approximately seventeen million requests for confirmation that you survived.”

I looked like hell. My hair was destroyed. My face was swollen from crying. My boobs were enormous. There were three supernatural newborns piled against me.
Perfect. “Put me live.”

Every mate in the room spoke simultaneously. “No.”

I smiled. “Do it, Sasha.”

The viewing crystal illuminated. My face appeared across the realms. For once, FaeNet went completely silent. I looked down at the three tiny creatures sleeping against me.

A vampire.

A goddess.

A demon.

Three little pieces of impossible.

Three reasons I would burn the fucking universe before letting anyone destroy what we'd built for them.

I looked into the crystal. “World?”

My voice cracked. I didn't care. I smiled.

“Meet the future.”

FaeNet lost its goddamn mind.