Sword in the Stars (Once & Future #2) - Cori McCarthy Page 0,69

horse and spread it around Gwen’s shoulders, building the fire higher and higher.

“Ari, that’s enough. Come here.” Gwen’s face was gray, but not as deathly as it had been when she was shivering. Ari sat beside Gwen and put her arm around her, pulling Gwen’s hair back so that she could kiss her neck. “That was absolutely worse than I ever imagined,” Gwen whispered. “I feel like a shell that’s been cracked open and left behind.”

Ari swallowed back strong emotion. “Give it a day. Maybe three. I felt that way when my moms found me. Alive, but also somewhat… gone.” It hadn’t been time that brought her back, though. It had been Kay. Somehow his persistence and attention had eclipsed her hurt. Well, Ari would have to do the same for Gwen.

Gwen snuggled closer to Ari.

“How are they?” Ari asked after a thick moment of not being able to think about anything else. Gwen shook her head, her hair brushing Ari’s face. “What? Is something wrong? Did the lake water do something to them?”

“No. I mean, they’re perfect, but I checked. They definitely have a penis.”

“The baby is assigned male?” Ari understood the problem like a thunderclap, although that didn’t mean she agreed with it. “But that doesn’t actually mean they’re going to be…”

“I feel like I can’t be surprised, but I am. And I’m scared. I’ve felt this coming all along. That’s why I wished for them to be at least assigned female,” Gwen said, voice desperate. “Maybe it’s wrong to want certain things, but I couldn’t help it.”

Ari couldn’t help but part the blanket in Gwen’s arms. The sleeping baby was perfect… and so still… as if they might open their tiny pink lips and cry smoke.

Mordred.

The name was death. No wonder Merlin was terrified of it.

“Maybe they’re trans? Or fluid?” Gwen said hopefully.

“Boys aren’t so bad,” Ari tried, one hand straying toward the baby’s head all on its own. “Val’s a demiboy. And Kay… was Kay.”

“You’re not helping your case, Ara.”

Ari drew closer. Closer. “They need a name. That will help.”

Gwen chewed on a piece of her hair while she stared. “It should begin with K. For Kay. Something gender-neutral so they can make their own choices.”

Ari smiled softly, remembering an old joke. “Keith?”

Gwen gasped with disgust. “Oh gods, no. That’s worse than Mordred.”

Ari wanted to touch the little bundle, the soft skin. “Jordan called Kay ‘Keith’ this one time. Still funny to me, I guess.” She smiled hopefully, looking up at Gwen’s nervous expression. “We’re going to be okay, Gwen. All three of us. I can feel it.”

“What’s that word Merlin keeps going on about? His magic word? The answer of once and future?”

“The marriage of once and future,” Ari said. “Kairos.”

“Since when do you feel so passionate about marriage?” And now Gwen was baiting Ari. Gwen was baiting Ari directly after having a baby. Gods, she loved the grit on this girl.

“I care a hell of a lot about our marriage, thanks for asking. Which is still real, and you better bet I’m going to be picking up where we left off when we get home.”

“And what are you going to do until then?”

“Stare at you. Longingly.”

Gwen finally looked happy, smiling and also biting her lip. “Oh! Kai for short.”

“It fits. Kairos is whoever they need to be when the time comes. It’s built into the name.” Ari brushed the baby’s round cheek and their eyes shot open. Big darkly gray eyes as gorgeous as Gwen’s. Ari was holding the baby before she’d even thought to take them up from Gwen, pressing them against her chest. “I love them,” she found herself saying. She closed her eyes, talking with a blush, pushing the truth out. “Gwen, they’re made from us. They are our family.”

“Stop it. That’s too much,” Gwen said, scrubbing away tears with the heel of her palm. She held her arms out, and Ari handed over the baby. Gwen held them differently. Where Ari had slung them along her chest, Gwen held the tight bundle upright, looking them in the eye as though they were a trader who’d skimped on a shipment to Lionel.

“Listen, little protégé, we’re in something terrible here. And back where we came from is also… terrible. You’re going to help. You understand? And if you turn evil and try to kill any parental figures, I’ll be really, really pissed at you.”

The baby yawned.

“Excellent. We understand each other,” Gwen said, snuggling Kai to her chest as if the effort of