*Lena*
“She’ll never deliver another baby in this territory again,” Dad huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced at the armchair near the window where Xander was on the edge of sleep with a bundle of blankets against his bare chest, our newborn daughter nestled warmly against his skin. Xander’s eyelashes were fluttering, his breath slow and easy as he began to fall asleep.
I nodded at Dad as he caught my eye, and he walked over to Xander, slowly taking Alexis from my mate’s arms so as not to startle either of them. Xander’s head slumped forward, his body relaxing into a deep, likely dreamless, sleep.
We were all exhausted. Three hours ago, I’d looked down over the top of the swell of my belly as Clare and Xander crouched in front of . Mom and Maeve held upright as Clare guided our daughter into the world, and Xander caught her, his hands the first thing Alexis would ever touch.
My healing blood imdiately started to knit together the trauma of the surprise breech birth. That’s why Dad was so angry. The midwife hadn’t called or co back to the castle now that early morning was upon us to check on and Alexis, and she hadn’t said anything about the baby being breech–not once.
She might not have even known, which I tried to explain to Dad as he rocked on heels, patting Alexis lightly on the back. But then, if she hadn’t, she probably wasn’t a very good midwife to begin with.
Mom quietly snuck into the room carrying a breakfast tray. I could sll the heavily sugared tea with milk, and I swallowed against the dryness of my throat in anticipation.
“Oh,” she said, glancing at Xander as she set the tray on the bed. “I brought him so breakfast too. I’ll take it back down to the kitchen to keep it warm–”
“I’ll just eat both,” I said with a smile, my stomach tightening with hunger.
My body was sore and aching with fatigue, and the sll of bacon, oatal, eggs, and toast with plenty of jam and butter was intoxicating as Mom adjusted the tray over my lap and fluffed my pillows to make it more comfortable to sit upright. Dad watched her pour two cups of tea, and he smiled lovingly as she handed him one. He deftly balanced the tea and Alexis at the sa ti, looking so much more at ease than I’d seen him in the last several weeks.
“He used to wake up with you,” Mom said as she sat on the edge of the bed, smiling up at her mate. “He used to drink his coffee while walking you around the castle so I could get a few extra hours of sleep.”
I smiled weakly as I brought my tea to my lips, my hands still a little shaky from the birth.
“Alexis will likely sleep for most of the day, for a ti. We can take her downstairs for a while if you want to try to get so rest,” Dad said, his voice a soft whisper.
I ate a few spoonfuls of oatal, the ache of hunger in my stomach beginning to ease.
I felt oddly empty, and I realized with a pang of sadness that I’d no longer have Alexis’s kicks to keep company. I looked at her, her mouth a perfect O against Dad’s pale blue button-up shirt. She had a full head of thick, jet-black hair that was already starting to curl around her tiny, pink ears.
She was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen in my life.
I felt a tear slide down my cheek as I bent my head to finish eating my breakfast, as well as Xander’s, while Mom and Dad spoke in hushed tones at the end of the bed.
Mom cleared my plate away and poured another cup of tea before she leaned down to kiss on the forehead and smooth away the strands of hair that were sticking to my face, dried with sweat.
“Try to get so rest, alright? Maeve called down to the hospital, and a doctor is coming by later this morning to check on you both.”
I nodded as I rubbed fatigue from my eyes. Xander stirred in the armchair, adjusting himself into a more comfortable position.
“I’ll make sure he has a warm al to look forward to when he wakes up,” Mom whispered, kissing once more before she followed Dad out of the room.
I laid back against the pillows and sipped my second helping of sickeningly sweet tea. I could already feel the effects of the hot al and tea taking hold on my body, giving and my powers the energy they needed to heal.
I had almost fallen asleep when Xander jumped to his feet, his body so tense every single muscle was tight and rigid across his chest and abdon.
“Mom and Dad took her downstairs so we could rest,” I said sleepily, patting the bed. “You should co lay down.”
Xander exhaled deeply, his shoulders relaxing a fraction of an inch as he ran his hands over his face and sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from .
I ran my fingers over his back, just marveling at him for a mont. My mate–he was my mate. And he’d given a daughter.
“Are you feeling alright?” he asked as he turned and slid beneath the covers. I nodded at him, tears welling in my eyes as he opened his arms to .
He wrapped his arms around as we laid side by side, my cheek pressed against his chest. He took a trembling breath, and I glanced up at him through my lashes, noticing the far-off look in his eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, his words whispered against my hair. “I don’t think it’s really hit yet that we just had a baby.”
“Well, it’s only been three hours.”
His chest trembled with a laugh, and he relaxed around , nestling closer.
“You were very brave,” he murmured, and I blinked back a fresh round of tears.
“So were you.”
“Thanks,” he sighed. “Clare was the real hero, though. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if she hadn’t... If she hadn’t known what to do.”
He was right. Clare had likely saved my life, as well as Alexis’s, by guiding her into the world. Alexis was born feet first, but it was obvious she was stuck, and likely had been for a while.
My throat tightened around my first mories following her birth. It felt like ages went by before I heard her first cry. The silence had been deafening, broken only by my choking sobs while I begged for soone to tell that she was okay.
Mom, Maeve, and Elaine had laid back against the carpet, tending to with the gentlest words and touches imaginable while Clare, Grandma, and Xander coaxed Alexis to take her first breath.
But she did breathe. Her skin turned a rich pink, and her cries mingled with the thunder ripping the sky in two. It was the most powerful, earth bending mont of my life.
A new White Queen had been born.
And then I’d been cleaned up and tucked into bed with Alexis snuggled against my chest, her little legs tucked up under her belly like she had been in the womb. I didn’t think I’d stopped crying since she’d been born, and my cheeks were tight with dried tears.
Within a few minutes, the room had been cleaned, and Xander and I had been left alone with our daughter, a sense of peace embracing us as if we hadn’t just been on the verge of a tragedy.
“You should rest. I can go downstairs to eat and check in on Alexis,” Xander muttered as he toyed with the strands of hair falling down my back.
“You need to rest too–”
“I slept already–”
“For twenty minutes!”
“It’s only six in the morning, Lena. I’ll co take a nap later, I promise.” He turned to the window, noticing the gray blue light coming through the curtains. A dreary, cloudy day was breaking through the darkness of the storm that had raged all night. “Adrian and Abigail should have been able to disembark their ship by now, if they made it to the port.”
“They’re in for a surprise when they get here,” I smiled as Xander sat up and reached for my tea, draining it in a single swallow.
“Get so sleep,” he whispered as he bent his head. He kissed fully, richly, his tongue running across the length of my lower lip. I felt a surge of desire for him, and was slightly disappointed when he broke away from the kiss and hopped out of bed.
He pulled on an old sweatshirt of his from his days at Morhan and ran his fingers through his hair before leaning over the bed to kiss again.
“I love you, Lena. Thank you–” he added with another kiss. “Thank you for giving a daughter. I’ve never known a stronger woman in my life. I’ll never co close to deserving you.”
“Xander,” I cried, my voice breaking around his na.
He only smiled at , his finger running along my jaw as he backed away and rounded the bed.
I laid snuggled into the pillows, closing my eyes to the sound of the door opening, then shutting as he left the room.
I woke an hour or two later to gray light pouring through the window, and the soft sounds of a crying infant coming closer and closer to the room as whoever was carrying her back to neared.
I turned over and sat up to face the door as Abigail stepped inside, Alexis bundled in a blanket in the crook of her arm.
“Holy shit, Lena,” she bead, looking from to Alexis with a wide, sowhat disbelieving smile on her face. “I can’t believe all of this ca out of your body! She’s huge!”
I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight in the bed, opening my arms to accept a very hungry Alexis to my chest. Abigail watched nurse, her brow furrowed.
Nursing... hurt. It did not feel good at all. Abigail noticed when I winced and her body went a little rigid with concern.
“I’m fine, really. Mom said it gets better after, like, a week.”
Abigail grimaced, shaking her head as she sat down on the edge of the bed, looking around the room.
“So you had her right here, on the carpet?”
I nodded, raising my brows as Abigail looked around in disbelief.
“I missed you,” I breathed, and she turned to with tears welling in her eyes.
“I’d hug you, but I don’t want to squish the baby,” she replied tearfully. Tears of my own were falling again. “Adrian and Xander are giving us a minute, but Adrian really wants to see you, too. He was really worried when we found out about the baby.”
“Oh? When you got here?”
She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders as she folded her hands in her lap. “We made it to the port just after the storm started to wane and stayed in this run-down motel near the water. Everyone was talking about how the Princess of Valoria had her baby, a new White Queen, and there were rumors about the birth. None of them were true, which we just found out. But we set out for the castle just before dawn. It was the slowest train ride of my life.”
“Did you–” I began, switching Alexis to my other breast. “Did you et–”
“Elaine. No, not yet,” she breathed, eting my eyes. “She’s asleep.”
The door to the bedroom, which Abigail had left slightly ajar, opened wide as Xander and Adrian stepped inside. Adrian let out a breath, relief sweeping over his face as he awkwardly held up a bouquet of flowers.
“I hope you’re treating my goddaughter well, Lena,” he teased.
Xander rolled his eyes and stepped forward with a tea tray, setting it over my lap and kissing on the forehead.
“Hi, Adrian,” I smiled, then t Xander’s gaze.
He was glowing with pride as our friends t our daughter.
Our daughter.
Ours.
“I love you,” I whispered as he poured a cup of tea.
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