Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Mom arrived right when Hope returned, her face a mask of worry when she saw what I was holding. Her gaze snapped right to the bundle in my arms, eyes wide with surprise.
“My gods,” she murmured. “A baby Chimera.” Mom blinked a few times, then shook her head as if to wipe the thoughts whirling through her head away. She came closer and held her arms out for the child.
I let Mom hold her. She swallowed hard as her arms wrapped around the baby, and our eyes met. “How?”
“Someone left her outside the Keep.” My voice caught. “She should be impossible.”
Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “Perhaps a human mother. Or some other fluke of genetics or magic.” Her fingers brushed over the baby’s face, magic making Mom’s eyes glow. “Or maybe you are not the last living female Chimera.”
I’d thought the same thing when I saw the baby, but if there was another female alive, why wouldn’t she announce herself, at least to me?
Why would she leave her child alone and defenseless?
What if someone hadn’t found her and the cold had taken her?
The month was still cold enough to harm a child as young as this one.
“Barrett swears I’m the only one.”
Mom shook her head. “Or he has his own reasons for keeping her secret. Do not trust him until you know for sure. He is an unknown player in this game.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Too bad I don’t know the rules in this damned game.”
The door opened, and Moira walked in, stomping her feet on the rugged mat. “I heard we have a new and adorable visitor.”
She gasped when she saw Mom. “Oh my gods,” she moaned. “Look at those adorable little dumpling cheeks!” Moira bent over the baby and grinned. “Hi!”
The baby let out a gurgling laugh, taking us all by surprise.
Moira’s laugh was the happiest I’d ever heard, bright and sunny. There were few things more innocent than a baby. Soon we were all laughing, which made the baby laugh harder.
Moira reached for the baby. “May I?”
Mom nodded and handed her over.
“Oh my goodness,” Moira breathed. “I haven’t seen a baby in so long. And I’ve never seen a Chimera. She seems like just a regular baby.”
“We all look like regular babies when we’re born,” Mom said dryly. “Unless our main form is an animal. While I’ve never seen a Chimera child, I can only assume they’re the same.” Her face took on a contemplative look. “Though it’s wonderful to know for sure that Chimeras can be both made and born.”
My heart leapt into my throat. The baby was perfect. She had all ten fingers, all ten toes, her laughter was pure and innocent, and her smile was adorable and gummy. This child was everything a baby should be. I could have one, a baby just like this.
Mom took my elbow and led me to a chair. “Sit, honey.”
I sank into a seat and stared blankly ahead.
Moira picked up a chair and set it close to me. She sat and scooted my way until our knees touched. “Hey.” Moira’s dark eyes were warm and edged with sadness.
A sob bubbled from my throat. Rowan’s warm hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed gently. He brushed a kiss against my temple and jerked his head. Hope followed as he left the room.
Moira angled the baby so I could see her sweet face. “Caelan is a shit.”
“Don’t cuss in front of the baby,” Mom said.
My lips twitched.
Moira rolled her eyes. “Caelan is a S-H-I-T.” She stuck her tongue out at Mom.
“He made you doubt who you were at your core. This would be your baby. But better. Not saying she’s not perfect, because she is.
She’s a baby. All babies are perfect. She’s not Evie perfect though.
Add fifty percent of Rowan to that and you’ve got a kid competing for the cuteness crown. ”
A smile wobbled onto my face. “I’m completely off kilter today.
Everything seemed so far away. Children were always one day, or maybe in the future, or I’ll see when I meet someone nice.
And then Caelan and I decided not to take any precautions because shifters had such a low birth rate.
” I let out a ragged breath. “Looking back, that was the moment everything started falling apart. The possibility became real. A new baby Chimera became something that could happen. Caelan couldn’t deal with having a child who might one day outshine him.
He made me think I’d give birth to a—” My voice broke.
“A monster. He made me feel like I was nothing, like anything that came from me would be tainted.”
Tears streamed freely from my face. “It broke something inside me, and I thought I was flawed. When Rowan came along, I resisted for so long because I thought I might bring him down, that I couldn’t give him what he deserved.
I wondered if I could even have children, and if I did, I wondered if they’d be exactly what Caelan said they’d be—monstrous. ”
Moira’s face was stone. Her eyes burned with rage. My lower lip wobbled. I couldn’t stop the hot tears from flowing, all the anger I still felt over everything that happened, spilling over into physical form. I’d gotten my grief out a while ago, but seeing this child brought the fury roaring back.
“This child just showed up a few hours ago, and everything I thought I could never have suddenly became a real possibility.” I wiped my tears away. “I’m not a monster. I’ve never been one. I’ve allowed other people to dictate my thoughts about myself, and I have no idea why.”
I pressed the spot in my chest where the bond between Rowan and I grew every single day. “I almost mated with Rowan today.”
Mom sucked in a shocked gasp. “Evie. That’s—” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “So wonderful. He is a good male. A very good one.”
Moira nodded. “You deserve the best of everything, Evie. Never let someone tell you what you are. You define your fate. Not me, not your mother, not Rowan or Caelan. No one can dictate your life.” She brushed a kiss over the top of the baby’s head.
“She was brought into your life for a reason. Her mother or whoever brought her wants her safe, and she trusted you and Rowan to keep her that way. A mother would never trust their baby with a monster.”
Mom smiled. “We can be monsters when it comes to protecting the people we love, but there is a difference between us and those who care for nothing but their own power.”
Something tight loosened in my chest, a knot that had been there for years finally withering away and dissolving into nothingness. “Thank you. Both of you. I promise I’m done spiraling.”
Moira’s smile was sad. “You, of all people, deserve the occasional spiral.” She tapped the baby’s nose gently. “Now, how about you stay with Auntie Moira tonight?”
I blinked in surprise. “Moira, she might not be sleeping through the night. Are you sure?”
Moira snorted. “I’m a vampire. We don’t need to sleep all that much. It will be nice to have some company. Ash and Tess are in their own little world right now.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I haven’t seen either one of them in days.”
At my look of alarm, Moira laughed. “They’re fine. I can hear them sometimes when I’m passing by. But I think they’re very busy.” She winked.
“Eww,” was all I could say.
“Yeah. Crazy kids. I don’t know if they’re gonna make it, but they’re sure having fun trying.”
“Aaagh. Gross.” I shook the images away and adjusted the baby’s blanket. “If you want to take her tonight, you can. But you might have to bring her by the other dorms. All the other shifters are dying to meet her.”
“No problem.” Moira brushed the baby’s bangs to the side. “We’ll need formula and a few other things, but we’ll be just fine.”
The baby cooed.
“Should we call her something?” Mom said.
My mind was blank, and Moira was too busy cooing back to respond.
“How about Missy? Short for misneach, a word that means courage.”
She pronounced it like mish nah. “Beautiful. Misty is pretty, too,” I said.
“I like Misty better. It’s an older name. Now everyone is Ashley or Kristen or Maddy.” Moira rolled her eyes. “Misty is both descriptive and pretty.”
“Misty it is,” Mom said. “Hope bought a few things for the baby. There’s formula and—” she dug through the bags, “lots of adorable clothing and binkies and bibs.”
“Ooh,” Moira cooed to Misty. “We get to play dress up tonight!” She rose and snapped the baby into the car seat.
“Let’s leave Aunt Evie and Miss Cliona alone.
They have grownup business to talk about.
” Moira winked and picked the seat up. “I’ll keep you updated on any cute things she does and bring her back over tomorrow sometime. ”
With a wink and a wave, she slung the bag Hope had brought over her shoulder and breezed away.
When she was gone, Mom shook her head. “If that baby is around for any length of time, she’s going to be spoiled as all get out.”
“I hope so,” I murmured. “Her mother is gone, and she’s been abandoned in a place full of strangers.”
Mom’s face sobered. “She is lucky to have you and everyone here as caretakers. Her circumstances might be unfortunate, but love saturates this land and Keep. Such will find its way to her.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Mom smiled, but her eyes were filled with unfathomable sadness. “Every choice I made was to keep you safe. If I could go back and keep you with me, I would. I missed you every single day when we were separated, and every day I woke up without you, I lost another piece of my heart.”
She brushed my hair away from my eyes. “She is not old enough to remember any of this. If her mother does not come back, and she is fated to stay here, she will be raised with love and kindness because you and everyone else here knows no other way.”
I brought Mom in for a tight hug. She froze in surprise, and it took her a moment to soften.
A shuddering breath rattled her chest, and her arms tightened around me.
“I will never be able to make up for what your father and I did, even if we did it out of love, but I hope you will allow me to spend the rest of my days trying.”