Chapter 42
42
A massive group of the senior Tower crew, including Elena and Raphael, crowded into Venom’s office to look at the three-dimensional images Dmitri had sent through of the newborn cubs. The images were so lifelike that it was tempting to reach across and try to gather up a tiny newborn in the hand.
“They look about the size of beans,” Illium said with a worried frown. “Is that normal?”
Aodhan spread his wing partially over his lover’s—only partially because there were too many people around the desk for any further movement. “They’re not quite that small. And yes, it’s normal—Indri was bigger, but he was full term and a single baby.”
“To have more than one child in a single pregnancy is rare among our kind,” Raphael added, “but I watched over one such pair during my time standing guard in the angelic nursery, and they were much smaller than the single births.”
Aodhan could well see the sire holding watch over their most vulnerable. Even during the period when he’d turned cold and heartless, he’d never once been anything but kind to children.
“Their wings.” Elena pressed her hand to her heart. “They’re so fine, almost invisible.”
“They’ll fill in,” Nisia reassured her. “I ministered to another child born with wings that undeveloped.” The healer glanced over at Illium. “Doesn’t seem to have stopped him.”
No, Aodhan thought, nothing could stop their Bluebell. “Is the Refuge in an uproar?”
“Complete chaos,” Venom confirmed, while Holly stood next to his chair with her hand on his nape and her face glowing with utter happiness; she and Naasir were tight. Not the same way Naasir was with the rest of the Seven. They had their own—very sibling-like—relationship.
“Dmitri called earlier,” Venom continued, “and he says that while people are being very good and giving mother and babes the peace they need, everyone’s bursting out of their skin and the gifts are piling up. One old one has declared it a harbinger of good luck for the next eon.”
“I wouldn’t argue with that,” Raphael said. “Children are a gift, and today we’ve been gifted three bright new lives.”
The archangel glanced at Ashwini. “What say you, Ash?”
The hunter with a gift for prophecy tucked her long dark hair behind her ear to reveal a dangling earring in reds and oranges. “That they’re babies,” she said sternly, hands on her hips. “No one should be dooming them with portents.”
Instead of laughing, they all stayed silent, because she was still looking at the images and there’d been a tone in her voice they’d heard before. Ashwini was no seer, not in the angelic sense, her ability a wholly mortal thing that she’d brought with her into vampirism, but when she picked up a glimmer of the future, it came true more often than not.
Her lips kicked up. “Don’t assign them rooms too high up in the Tower when they start to visit—even though they will be able to fly, they’ll climb down the walls just because.”
Janvier chuckled, his hand on his Ashblade’s lower back. “That sounds like exactly how I’d expect our Naasir’s cubs to behave, cher .”
Aodhan had the feeling the hunter had seen far more from the way she was staring at the images, but since her smile had only deepened, it was nothing bad, and that was all he needed to know.
“Have they chosen names?” Vivek asked from his spot beside Nisia; he, no doubt, was wearing an invisible earbud to stay on top of his intelligence network, but his eyes were on the infants.
“No news yet.” Venom wrapped his arm around Holly’s waist. “With a librarian and Naasir for parents, I can’t even imagine what they’ll choose.”
The answer came the next day at nightfall: Misha, Nasien, and Izar.
“Nasien and Izar, I understand,” Illium said at the news. “Izar means ‘star’ in the old language of Euskara, and Nasien is close to Naasir’s name while being different enough that it won’t cause confusion.” He flared out his wings as they walked onto a Tower balcony, closed them back in. “Why Misha, though?”
Aodhan thought of a time long ago, a time of pain and shadow. And of a grief shared. “Naasir would’ve wanted Dmitri to name his firstborn and so, I think, would Andromeda.” It was as close as he could get to telling Illium without breaching that confidence.
Dmitri wouldn’t mind, but it wasn’t Aodhan’s place to decide that.
And Illium’s heart, it was big enough that he understood at once. “It’s a great name. All of them are. Links to their past and to love while giving them futures of their own.” He glanced at Aodhan, the moonlight a caress of silver that outlined his profile. “Shall we gift them a Naasir-appropriate item?” Because first general though he might be, he remained Aodhan’s wicked Blue down to the bone.
Aodhan laughed, his universe as dazzling as the lights of Manhattan. “Let’s save that for when they’re toddlers and can drive their parents crazy with their toys.”