Chapter Seven
J ennor wore his formal leather skirt. Reymark and Day-ek were wearing the formal clothing of their races, and Jennel was not wearing Reymark in a visible manner today.
Jennel was wearing her new nose ring, and he swallowed as he wanted to sweep her away to thank her formally.
The members of the XIA who could be here were watching him.
He didn’t ask where the blacksmith was. He could feel the heat approaching behind him.
A low feminine voice said, “Sit, or I will blister the hell out of your back.” Her words only reached his ears.
He took Jennel’s hand and sat on the throne.
“The bands, please, Your Majesty.” The low voice spoke softly.
Jennel released his hand and picked up the wide gold sheets that were going to be wrapped around his horns. The bands were heavy, and Jen handed them to the creature behind him. This part of the day was going to suck.
Cooling air touched the crown of his head at the base of his horns. He felt heat for a count of three on the left horn and then soothing cool rushed through him. The second band went around with the same cool and then hot and then cool.
There was no hammering, no beating the metal onto his horns, but the weight let him know that he was marked as a married man.
The low voice said, “Congratulations, Your Majesty.” Then, the heat moved away from him and disappeared in a wave of magic.
Jennor reached up and touched the metal. They were warm but not hot. He smiled and looked at Jennel. “How do they look?”
“Like mine. Now, let’s have a party.”
“Fine, but I hope someone got that on video because it was nothing like the banding that I have seen before.”
“Well, I happen to have bumped into a fire giant. She does good work.”
“She certainly does. Agony would not have made me appreciate you any less, but this means I can go to the party tonight.”
“Aw, were you going to skip it?”
“I was going to sit on my throne and forget that my horns felt like they were on fire.”
“Well, now we can dance.” She kissed his nose.
He laughed and went to dance with his wife. He really needed to see that video.
* * * *
N ylora rubbed her belly and sighed. “I thought that Amy was going to come back after she did the horn thing.”
Solor rubbed her back and kissed her temple. “Why would she be here?”
“I dunno. I thought after the housewarming that Emmers would have made a move.”
“Well, she started wearing jewellery, and apparently, that means she’s taken.”
“Huh. When I ran into her at the XIA headquarters, she said she was tired of waiting for jewellery and had decided to get her own. She got some at the Night Faire last night.”
Solor paused. “You are joking.”
“I am not.”
“Excuse me for a minute.” He walked across the event where Emmers was flirting with a minotaur family member. She was cute but tall, and as Solor spoke rapidly to Emmers, he stiffened and then excused himself, backing away from the young woman.
He walked to the dance floor where Kairek and Iris were dancing. He spoke to Iris, and she frowned and shook her head. He staggered back and sat down heavily, right in the middle of the dance floor.
Nylora looked to Demuel. “That looks awkward.”
“Yeah. He told her off last night when she ran into them at the taco truck.”
“Oh. Oh no.”
“Oh yeah. This is rough.” She nodded. “This is bad.”
Emmers shook his head and got up, looking around. He began walking toward them and said, “I have to apologize.”
Nylora paused. “Can you drop me by the hospital on the way?”
Demuel said, “Why?”
“Because I think I am in labour.”
“Think?”
“I think something is squeezing my lower back, and my belly is several sizes too small on the outside.”
He murmured, “How long has this been going on?”
“Since before dawn. I wanted to see the ceremony.” She grinned. “We don’t need to go lights and sirens, but I am five minutes apart now, and Isocar, Kaitha, and Dia are going to meet us there.”
“You have been pocket texting?”
She waggled her eyebrows. Solor was coming back to them. Demuel filled him in, and Solor’s expression went blank.
Nylora laughed. “Come on. We are hitching a ride with Emmers. You are in no shape to drive.”
Emmers nodded. “Right. Come on.”
Nylora smiled. “But this isn’t an excuse not to talk to Amy. You have to fix that.”
“She knew what I would think when I saw the earrings.”
“Well, how long had it been since you saw her?”
“Six weeks? Well, I also saw her last night, but she didn’t have the jewellery then.”
Nylora asked as they walked. “Is it such a big deal? I have piercings all over, and it isn’t a big deal.”
“The northern wastes have limited resources. Everything you have, everything you wear, means something.”
Nylora paused while she was squeezed. When it was over, she said, “Fine, but she’s been banished from those traditions. She isn’t allowed to follow them, and no one who does is allowed to seek her as a partner. So, you are giving mixed messages.”
He sighed. “Yeah. I am understanding that particular thing. I didn’t mean to call her that. It just came out.”
Nylora filled with dread. “What?”
Solor said, “He called her a whore who betrayed her people. Her face just went blank.”
“Oh. Wow. Emmers, you have a lot of begging to do.”
“I know. She said if I wanted to know about her, to ask the guys in vice. Normally, that means she was a party girl, but since she is working in evidence, I think I was wrong about that guess.”
He went quiet as they got into his huge vehicle. Nylora was carefully tucked into the back, and a quiet text to her niece reaped a lot of information.
She felt another squeeze and then asked, “Emmers, do you know what a bait human is?”
They wobbled, but he straightened the car. “Yes. The vice department uses them to get predators in a controlled environment. Why?”
“Amy was bait for two years, and then the wave struck, and she entered the administration to get out of the public eye. There were a lot of scum bags who knew what she looked like, but then the wave turned her hair from blonde to silver and her eyes went from hazel to ice blue. Fresh start, but now she looked like her family members, so that was ironic. Emily says she didn’t go back because she couldn’t.
Apparently, it is a one-and-done sort of situation. She couldn’t go back if she wanted to.”
Emmers asked, “Where did you learn that?”
“Emily. She’s one of Amy’s neighbours. Amy is babysitting for Iris if you are curious. Jerrik and she are having an outdoor movie night, projecting cartoons against the back of the house.”
“I don’t think I will be welcome.”
Demuel said, “If you are waiting to be welcome, you should go back to the party and go back to that young lady.”
He sighed. “I was doing that for my ego.”
Everyone in the car said, “We know.”
Nylora clung to Solor’s hand while Dia made sure she was comfortable, and Kaitha checked on her stats and kept them recorded for the medical staff of the hospital. Nylora was being watched like a hawk, and it was thirty hours into her active labour with very little progress.
Kaitha said, “We might need to consider a C-section.”
Nylora groaned. “No. It got in this way, and it’s getting out this way. My body is holding on; I can feel it.”
There was a knock at the door, and Dia went and answered it. She came back looking wary. “Uh, Nylora, there is someone here to talk to you.”
“Sure. I am not doing anything else. Send them in.”
A woman came in, looking entirely human. “Hello, Nylora. I am here to help. Your elder sister contacted me when she learned about you seeking outside energies. You are missing some of the genome, so I have come to offer my blood to assist.”
Nylora looked at her. “I don’t think you are in the right place.”
The woman flashed to navy blue with stars moving under her skin. “Is this better?”
She lifted a hand, and everyone froze. Everyone by Nylora.
“What did you do?”
“Froze time in this hospital for a moment. My name is Renatta. I am a djinn, and I live locally. Your sister called me and told me who you were. You were right to run. My half-brother would have sold you over and over. He tried it with me, but I blasted his ass into next week. Magical lightning for the win.” She smiled.
“I am here to offer you energy or blood or whatever you need. No strings, no obligation. If you want to have tea while you are on mat leave, that would be nice but not necessary. I do own a teahouse.” She winked.
“Right. Um, what help can you give?”
“I can help your baby meet the world.” She moved to Nylora’s side. “If I may?”
“Please.”
Everyone started moving again. Renatta took her hand and put one hand on her belly. “Ah, the same issue that caused my father’s first wife a problem. Easy fix.”
There was a shift inside her and a slight twinge, but all of a sudden, Nylora could feel some motion. “Ohmygod.”
Renatta stepped away, and Dia moved in, and the race was on.
Kaitha kept checking on the progress, and her eyes went wide. “The head is here.”
Nylora grunted. “I know!”
A chuckling Renatta left the room and smiled at those gathered outside in the waiting room. “Less than ten minutes.”
Eight minutes later, Solor was holding his son. He stroked the slimy baby and then passed it to her so she could hold him again. Solor cut the cord, and Nylora looked at her little grey-and-gold baby. He was going to be a dark hern and be just as pretty as his daddy.
Nylora sighed, stroked the tiny back, and examined the little fingers.
Demuel asked, “Who was that woman?”
“My aunt on my father’s side. She knew what was going wrong and fixed it.”
Dia said, “I thought that was why you needed the marks?”
“Apparently, you telling your mother about the marks led her to contact Renatta, and she came to me. Now.”
Dia smiled. “Good. So, that was the version of things that made you seek the marks, because I would mention them to Mom, and she would seek out any missing pieces.”