Chapter 10
Archer got Marik and Jeremy settled into the guest room and, with great frustration, left them alone.
He could do nothing to heal his brother’s stripped wings or his wounded soul; all he could do was take the baby so they could have time alone together.
And now here he was, in the living room holding the baby.
She gripped his finger, her eyes wide as she gazed up at him.
Well, this was certainly not anything he imagined he’d be doing.
It was odd…but not unpleasant. That was as surprising as anything else about this.
Despite the fact that his brother was home, he felt empty. Lyra had called to let him know that her twin brother would be meeting them there, so when the doorbell rang and he found two men, one young Dragon and one older Deuce, and a Deuce woman, he assumed the Dragon was Lyra’s twin.
Kirin rushed right past him, scanning the living room. “Where’s Lyra?”
“She should be here any minute. She’s driving here.”
The sight of the baby obviously confused Kirin, but he focused on Archer. “All she told me was that everything was all right ‘but that it’s freaky.’ What does that mean? Who are you?”
The door opened, and the sight of Lyra filled the hollowness Archer had just been feeling. Though Kirin started pelting her with questions, she headed directly to Archer with that singular focus he knew her for. “How is Jeremy?”
He heard her genuine concern, which he appreciated, but her worry pressed on his chest like a cement block. “Since I’ve never known anyone who had their wings stripped, I don’t know what the repercussions are. But for now, he’s all right.”
For now…
She darted back to the open doorway, out into the hallway, and returned with Stein, her arm looped around his to help him. Kirin swooped in to help, guiding the old man to the couch.
“Pop, are you okay?”
The man could only nod as he gingerly walked.
When the baby began to fuss, Lyra’s gaze shot to her. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re safe now.” She took the baby, cradling her like a natural, and she instantly calmed in Lyra’s arms.
“She loves your energy.”
Lyra’s and Archer’s gazes met for a few seconds, electrifying and unsettling at once. Then she glanced toward her twin brother, who was settling their father on the sofa. The woman and older man followed them over. Lyra took Archer’s hand and led him over to them.
Kirin turned to Lyra. “Who’s the Caido? What happened to Pop? Where’d you get the baby?”
Lyra glanced toward Archer. “This is Archer, and he helped me find Pop. I…couldn’t have done it without him.” Pain throbbed as she transmitted how much more there was to their relationship. “We don’t know what happened yet that caused the mess in Pop’s room or understand exactly what happened.”
The man who was with Kirin lifted his hand, his guilt jabbing Archer. “That was my doing, I’m afraid.” When everyone looked at him, he said, “I’m Huff, Ellie’s father.” He nodded to the attractive brunette beside him.
“Ellie is Kirin’s”—Lyra assessed the way they were standing, his posture possessive and protective—”girlfriend.”
Huff pointed at Stein, anger rippling across his face. “When I found Tara’s diary and discovered she was pregnant with your child, I knew you killed her. I created a tulpa to scare you into confessing.” His anger morphed to shame. “But it broke out of my control.”
Stein clutched the arm of the sofa, his face tensing in anger.
“She was pregnant with your child, you idiot. We never so much as kissed!” He wheezed, catching his breath.
“She was terrified of your reaction. Not only because of the surprise late-in-life pregnancy, but also because she’d found out the baby was Dragon. ”
“I saw her diary. She wrote ‘I’m pregnant! Must talk to Stein,’” Huff said.
“She came to me because she had no one else to confide in. She wasn’t going to terminate the pregnancy, but she didn’t want to lose you either.
She’d already given up so much. Tara heard a powerful Caido might be able to change the fetus’s essence from Dragon to Deuce.
The only way it could work was because the baby had Deuce DNA, too.
Your DNA. When she disappeared, I thought she’d taken desperate measures. ”
He gave Kirin and Lyra an apologetic look.
“I swore to Tara that I would tell no one.” He addressed them all again.
“Then last Friday, Jeremy comes to me and says he just did some magick that released locked memories of a meeting he and Tara had with Silva. Because Silva performed the memory lock on him, Jeremy suspected he might have kidnapped Tara. He spied on Silva and discovered a Dragon baby he thought might be Tara’s.
He was going back to investigate, and he wanted me ready in case the baby needed my essence.
That’s when the tulpa appeared. Jeremy fought it, then zapped us to his apartment.
Soon after, this horrible snake popped out of the wall and took me to Silva’s mansion.
Then Silva used his dark magick to bring Jeremy.
Silva said Tara died trying to escape with the baby right after she was born.
” He turned to Huff, then Ellie. “I’m sorry. ”
Ellie let out a pained gasp, and Kirin pulled her close. Archer took a step away from them.
Lyra filled them in on what had happened on their end. She maneuvered the baby so that she faced Huff. “This is your daughter.”
Huff’s face drained of all color. He made no move to take the baby.
Ellie’s eyes glistened with tears as she stepped forward, took the infant from Lyra, and cuddled her.
She pressed her forehead to the baby’s. “I’m your big sister, and I’m going to keep you safe from now on.
” Then she turned to her father. “Mom lost her life trying to conform to what you wanted. Are you willing to lose your daughter, too?” She leaned close to Kirin.
“You have to accept all of us as we are.” When Huff still looked stunned, she added, “If you can’t, we’ll take her.
” Emotions welled in her voice, poking at Archer.
“She’s got Mom’s eyes and your nose, and she’s my family. ”
Huff reached for the baby at last with trembling arms. He held her aloft, studying her face. She wriggled and started to fuss. Then he pulled her against his chest and squeezed his eyes shut.
All of those wonderful, warm feelings pounded Archer.
He gripped his chest, wishing he could loosen the tightness.
“You should all go now. Jeremy needs quiet. And I need to recover.” Lyra gave him a questioning look.
He had to fight not to reach over and touch her cheek to smooth away the wetness. “Bye, Lyra.”
Her mouth quivered as she no doubt heard the finality of his good-bye.
A wave of her frustration and sorrow smashed into him.
It was she who took several steps back. To protect him.
She turned to the group. “We have to get Pop home. And help set up a nursery. We need to get back to normal.” She gave Archer one last look, filled with affection and pain, before she ushered them out the door.
He stumbled to the living room. He didn’t even make it to the couch.
* * *
The following two weeks dragged for Lyra, despite how busy the bakery got.
Unusually busy. Really unusual, because Caidos started coming in to buy pastries and donuts and gourmet breads.
She had hardly ever seen a Caido in the bakeshop before, and now they were coming in every day.
Oh, yeah, the employees noticed, swooning over the beautiful men with shimmering eyes.
Lyra bit her lip and didn’t say anything.
How could she explain that the most gorgeous man she’d ever met was no doubt sending them her way to boost business when that Caido wasn’t making an appearance himself?
She snarled at the thought. No, she got it. She couldn’t be in his life if she caused him pain. If he’d come in, or called, that would only prolong her agony, and possibly his. So complete separation was good.
She snarled again, making Catalina, one of the employees, give her a wide berth as she headed to ring up a customer.
Lyra jerked an empty tray from the case and stalked into the kitchen to get a fresh tray of angel-wing cookies glittering with fairy dust sugar.
You know, because she now had regular Caido customers, and it was only fair to create a cookie for them.
It hurt to look at those wings that reminded her of Archer.
She emerged from the kitchen and slid the full tray into the case.
“Nice wings.”
His voice washed over her like an ocean wave at the beach, nearly knocking her over.
She jerked up, hitting her head on the top of the case.
She hardly felt the pain as she extricated herself and rose to her full height.
She’d been feeling enough of the emotional type of pain every time she thought about him or took a sip of that wretched absinthe that reminded her of how his mouth tasted.
But looking at him, right there, in a white cotton shirt and jeans, she was feeling no pain.
“I’ll take a dozen,” he said.
Lyra stared at him for a second, until Catalina nudged her. “If you’re not going to help him, I will.”
“I’ve got him. It. The customer, I mean.
” She snapped out of her spell and grabbed a white box.
Her hands were shaking as she set the cookies gently inside.
He was only there to, what, say hello? She fumbled until she got the stupid flaps into the slots, something she’d done a million times, and set the box on the counter.
“On the house. Consider it a referral bonus.”
He smiled. “They’ve been coming? I told them how great the breads were, the cookies…” His gaze slid down to her mouth. “Everything.”
“Yeah, thanks.” She caught herself staring again. The Thrall.
Sure, if that’s what you want to think.
“How’s Jeremy?” See, that was a nice, logical question to ask.