Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I had maybe spent a fair amount of time wondering what little demigod demon babies might be like. Horned, for sure. But would they be masters at hide-and-seek? Would they grow to be rebellious teens who had handy dandy shadow cloaks to use to sneak out of the house?
We weren’t there yet.
We were still enjoying the hell out of our alone time together.
But we both talked about another generation, about the qualities we hoped the babies would inherit from us.
“Speaking of,” she said, looking up at the ceiling as one of her kids let out a sound that was a bit more demonic than human. “Someone is awake. I’ll see you in the woods in a few!”
With that, I made my way upstairs, ready to throw myself together.
The world wasn’t anywhere near having stores to go and shop in anymore. So getting a fancy new dress for the ceremony hadn’t been an option. But with some help from Lenore and the other girls, I’d thrown together a pretty enough outfit.
“There you are,” a voice called as soon as I opened our bedroom door.
But it wasn’t Daemon inside. He’d been dragged with Lucy and Bael to comb the woods to make sure there would be no threats to our ceremony later.
It was my mother.
“Hey! What are you doing here?”
“I heard this is an important day for you,” she said, turning in that way she always did, her shadows dancing around her like a skirt.
“It is,” I agreed, not sure how she got that news, but definitely not disappointed that she’d shown up.
Nyx wasn’t exactly… maternal. I guess you couldn’t expect that from a primordial being. But she was there for me. She never missed a month to bring me more ambrosia. And when she visited, we always sat and chatted. She even got on with Daemon.
The point was, she hung around. She showed up.
“I’ll be glad to know I will have eternity with you,” she told me. “I brought you something to celebrate,” she said, waving toward the closet door.
Turning, I found a dress hanging on the back of the door.
No.
Not just a dress.
The dress.
The one I had dreamed about.
It was made in shades of gray and black with some sort of shimmer to it that made it seem alive. I bet when I put it on, it would have so much movement that it would seem to be dancing around me, much like the shadows around my mother.
“Oh, it’s perfect,” I said, running my fingers over the silky material. “Where did you find something like this?”
“I have my ways,” she said. “You needed a proper gown for this day.”
Tears pricked my eyes as I turned to give her a smile.
“Thank you so much. Are you staying for the ceremony?”
“I am.”
And she did.
She stayed with me as I changed, helping me style my hair and apply my makeup—things I never knew I’d been missing all my life.
Then, arm in arm, we followed the girls out into the woods.
“You will be giving me some of these, correct?” Nyx asked, jiggling one of the club babies on her hip, getting belly laughs out of the baby that had my mother’s face softening.
“Oh, yes.”
“I think I will enjoy being a…”
“Grandmother,” I told her, watching her nose scrunch up.
“Surely we can come up with another name than that.”
“Nana? Meme? Gigi?”
“Nene,” Lenore suggested.
“That might do,” Nyx decided, nodding. “I think I will be a good Nene.”
“Weekend trips to visit Nene in the Underworld,” Charlotte mused.
“If Hades isn’t still holding a grudge about the poppies,” I said.
“Perhaps he would have gotten over it by now,” Nyx said as the baby reached up and tugged her long, dark hair. “But Momus has been goading him about it. No worries; another hundred years or so, all should be well.”
“You’ll give my daughter many of these,” Nyx said, jiggling the baby when we made it to the clearing where the men were waiting for us.
“As many as she wants,” Daemon agreed, his eyes roaming over me in my new dress, the heat clear in his eyes.
Nyx held onto Lenore’s baby as she began the spell that would chip off a little piece of my soul as I bound myself to Daemon for eternity.
It wasn’t exactly a wedding ceremony. But it wasn’t not one either.
So once it was done, we did seal it with a kiss. Long, lingering.
By the time we came up for air, the woods were cleared.
I remembered the girls telling me how the ceremony made them all need some alone time.
Even as I thought it, the heat bloomed through me.
When I turned back to Daemon, I saw the redness in his eyes, the horns poking out of his skull.
Which only managed to ratchet up my own need.
Hands roamed then, slipping up under my dress, sparking little fires that spread until they consumed me—and us—entirely.