Page 8

Celestia

Our sweet Hazel is all eyes as Melodia ushers her into the room, a smile on her lips when she sees how happy Dane and I are with our second little girl resting on my chest. Ten months ago, none of us thought this was a possibility, not until our twenty-ninth birthday when Melodia said she was pregnant, and we didn’t quite believe it. Not until Aphrodite showed up, telling us that sirens weren’t limited to one child apiece as we’d been led to believe, but one man with which we could have babies.

It wasn’t a huge shock then when Serenia announced she was pregnant about a month later, and no one was really shocked when Dane and I announced we were having another shortly after that. I do think we were all still surprised when Melodia had their baby and rather than a girl, it really was a boy as Aphrodite teased us was a possibility thanks to her chat with fate.

It was still such a joy just to have a second baby. Our girls just turned eight, each of them little beauties with their own gifts. Hazel has an energizing ability that occasionally hits when she’s happiest and it makes one forget the need to sleep. It can leave our poor men exhausted if it happens when she’s around them, but they never complain.

Not with her or with Jasmine, Serenia and Duncan’s little girl who has the gift to turn the air around you into the sweetest scent ever. Or with Madeleine, Melodia and Dylan’s little girl whose powers occasionally seep through her cooking making everything taste like heaven even if it’s not fully edible.

We’ve adored all of them, and now, we each have at least one more little one in our lives. Melodia and Dylan’s little boy, Ashton, is about eight weeks old now, a near copy of Dylan except for the reddish hair. Serenia and Duncan had another shock when Hera showed up, using Nina as a vessel, and let them know they were having twins. They’re a month old now, born a couple weeks early, a boy they’ve named Lucas after Serenia’s father, and a sweet little girl that takes a bit more after Duncan in looks but with Serenia’s hair for sure, that they named Rose.

We haven’t been able to figure out just yet if the boys have gifts, but Rose certainly seems to. Serenia put a flower headband on her for some pictures last week. Lucas was in the other room with Duncan, so it couldn’t have been him who turned the slightly wilted flowers into fresh blooms.

As for our baby girl, I can already feel the soothing comfort washing over us that’s coming from her. I felt it while I was carrying her, knew she was a little girl, and we decided to name her Illa. It’s a play off of vanilla which I swear I could smell the entire time I was pregnant and now, seems to come from our little girl’s sweet skin.

“Would you like to come say hi to Illa, sweet girl,” Dane asks Hazel, lifting her up onto the bed to snuggle between us and I adore him for that. That he wants to ensure our older girl doesn’t feel left out as we snuggle with our new baby.

“She’s so little,” Hazel says softly. “Mmm, she smells like love.”

“Sweet comfort,” I agree, kissing Hazel then Illa. “It’s hard to believe you were this little once, isn’t it, sweetheart?” I add to her, and she nods, her eyes widening when Illa wakes up, her eyes fully alert and I press another kiss to Illa’s little head before turning one onto Hazel who looks at us in surprise.

“It’s okay, we know you’re just excited to be a big sister. Illa will be fine,” I assure her, and Dane echoes the sentiment calming our oldest girl, so she knows we’re not upset that her powers seemed to have woken Illa. It’s bound to happen, just as I’m certain that Illa’s powers will catch Hazel unexpectedly one day as well.

“I kept hoping for a little sister, but I didn’t want to say it,” Hazel admits as her hand rests on Illa’s back. “I’m going to look after you, make sure no one ever hurts you,” she whispers to our baby, and I can barely stop the tears from bursting free.

They’re not from sadness, the complete opposite really, but combined with the emotions from labor, I know if they start, they won’t stop anytime soon. It’s only Illa’s soothing ability that keeps them at bay, and I press kisses to both my girls, loving this life we’ve come to find.

None of us have had to worry about our mothers or the rest of the Lycophron in years. They tried to put our men under their spells when we went to the beach, Dane grumbling about the sand and ocean the whole way there, but no one could begin to lure them closer. Our mothers argued, saying we’d regret staying with them, that they’d one day betray us, but we all know there’s no possibility of that happening—not ever. They belong to us as much as we belong to them, and we went home, more confident about where we stood, even if we did make the men promise to not go near the water until after we knew they were entirely safe.

Dane had no issues with it and told me why he hated the beach, then added the girl that’d mocked him for not wanting her looked an awful lot like one of the other sirens that was there to attempt to help kill our men if they got close enough to the water. When he mentioned the vacation was in the Maldives, I knew he wasn’t just thinking it. It was one of the spots that Alara would sneak off to even though it was well outside our normal territory. She loved fooling people into thinking they truly had spotted a mermaid or siren in tropical areas, because if something did come of it, they would go after those that lived closest to the Maldives rather than us.

I reassured him he wasn’t just trying to lump that girl in with the meanness of sirens. That the girl was as awful of a being as he’d been thinking all those years. Then promised I wouldn’t mind if we avoided the ocean even after we knew he was safe. I’ve had plenty of time spent on them over the years. Being home with him and our family was far more appealing than a swim in the ocean—especially with having the lake at Duncan and Serenia’s that we can go to and swim with our girls, and the trips to the lagoon with just them to teach them how to use and control their powers without it affecting our men.

Dane wraps me up in his arms that night after Illa is out and I look up into his gorgeous face, smiling, my heart about to burst. “I love you, more and more each day, baby.”

“And just think, we have an eternity more of them with our little girls—and maybe a little boy one day down the road,” I add sending his brow upward. “I could feel how much you wanted another little girl when we started discussing having one. I wanted her too, more than anything, even a little boy right now,” I promise as his eyes widen a hint. “She’s incredible and I love our girls just as much as I love you, Dane. I just think it would be incredible to see you teach a little boy how to be as amazing as you are, so he can find a girl and love and cherish her the way I am by you.”

“Keep talking and I’ll forget you just had our little girl, and I really need to hold off from trying to breed you again, baby,” Dane grunted into my ear, his arms holding me tightly to him.

I grin as I fell into a quick rest, certain I can entice him to have a little boy in our life sooner rather than later, and that seems perfect to me.