clapping my hands to clear the food mess off everything but Ryder. “Darynda, fetch Eliran. Olivia, go rest, sweetheart. The rest of you, come with me,” I ordered, offering Ciara my arm. “I got you.”
We slowly moved through the castle, knowing that it was too dangerous to sift while Ciara was in pain. The fact that her babe was a dragon instead of fae put a kibosh on that option. Every few minutes, Ciara would slow down and bend over, gradually breathing through each contraction while an army of apprehensive men followed behind us.
“In through your nose, out through your mouth slowly,” I instructed. “When the contraction is over, we’ll walk again.”
“Let me pick her up,” Ryder offered.
“No, we’re women. We’re not helpless beings that need your fucking assistance in delivering what you’ve all planted within us. We can handle it ourselves. Plus, walking will help hurry the labor along. Let her be; if she needs help, she will say so,” I replied softly.
“I want to walk,” Ciara announced as Blane moved in beside her. “I don’t want to walk with you!”
“What the hell did I do?” Blane asked crossly.
“You want to lock me in a tower like some weak-ass bitch. I am not weak. I am not Baby, and no one puts Baby in the corner.” She groaned as another contraction started.
“Who the fuck is Baby, and who the hell said anything about putting you in a corner? It’s for your protection and that of our children who need their mother.” Blane ducked when Ciara spun around on him, and everyone paused in the hallway as they argued.
“No, it’s so you can push me into hiding, just like my brothers did. I am not weak!” Ciara growled through the contraction, making her sound demon-possessed. Her grip on my arm tightened, and we stopped walking as Eliran ran down the hall to catch up with us.
“How far apart are the contractions?” he asked in a calming tone.
“Three minutes, if that.” Eliran took Ciara’s other hand, helping her down the long hallway. “Her water broke, clear and clean like Icelyn’s. Pain is manageable, and I’m only adding a little power to numb it for her, so we’re aware of when she is contracting.”
“Good, that’s great, Synthia. What were you doing when it broke?” he asked, and Ciara snorted and started giggling. Laughter sounded in a line down the hallway, and I flinched, smiling at Eliran as he glanced at the other women, and then back at me.
“Oh, you know, having a food fight?” I offered hesitantly.
“Only you girls could induce labor with a food fight. Gods, I would have paid to have seen that. Good to know you’re all holding it together instead of falling apart up here.”
“We’re stronger together,” I stated, turning to glare scathingly at Ryder, who watched silently as we made our way to the room Ciara shared with Blane. “Darynda?” I called over my shoulder, noting Zahruk’s gaze as he studied me. When she answered, she looked sheepish. “Take baby Fury to the tower with you for the night. Blane will come for him once the babe is born.”
“Yes, My Queen.”
An hour later, Phoenix was born. She was smaller than her brother had been at birth, and a little more wrinkled. She was quick to wail her displeasure at being evicted from her mother’s womb. Thick, tiny, midnight curls covered her head, and her violet eyes, lined with a deep electric-blue, surveyed the room warily.
“She’s absolutely perfect, Ciara,” I muttered with thickness clouding my words. Unshed tears burned my eyes as I took in the child Eliran had forced me to deliver and bring into the world. My fingers reached up, stroking the babe’s forehead as I pushed her tiny curls aside. A glowing blue trail covered the skin I had touched. “Blessed be, little firebird. You will give your uncles grey hair, along with your daddy, won’t you?” I asked, and her tiny hand curled around mine, causing her long, slender fingers to glow blue.