Page 46 of Made

“Our baby?” he asked like he hadn’t known one was coming. As his eyes began clearing, he looked around the room, but stopped when he saw I wasn’t alone. He popped to his feet and was in front of me in an instant.

“Here you go, pops,” I said. I started to hand her over, but when he took an anxious step backward, I realized he didn’t know what to do. “Look. Cradle her with your forearm like this, and be sure you support her head like this.”

He mimicked my instructions perfectly and accepted his daughter for the first time. “Is she…?”

“Perfect?” I asked. “More than.”

Rhiannon awakened during the transfer and stared up at Diarmuid with big blue intelligent eyes like she was determining whether or not he would do. Then her perfect little cherub mouth formed an “o”.

All the people who’d crowded round to witness the event laughed. She was already a charmer.

“She’s so…” Diarmuid began, but words failed him.

“Perfect?” I asked again.

“Aye. She’s so perfect.” It was a word in danger of overuse, but no other description was as perfect. Diarmuid’s smile said nothing about being king could ever hold a candle to being a dad.

I walked around to the king’s front so that I could show him how to put Rhiannon safely on his shoulder. Once she was safely balanced, conforming to his body as only newborns can,he started to relax and soon looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Evie. Are you alright?” he asked.

She was already asleep again. I looked at the midwife for confirmation.

“Yes, Your Highness,” she told him. “The queen is well.” After buttoning her jacket, she closed the last clasp on her bag. “You’ll get my bill,” she said, and then she was gone, leaving no trace that she’d ever been there.

“I guess we should tell my mother,” Diarmuid said.

I’d hoped for a little longer without the Maeve show, but it wasn’t my call. With a sigh, I left the room, taking Keir with me.

“Now then,” I said. “About John David.”

“I guess you want me to go get him?”

“That would be nice. We can talk about how he got to Bulgaria on the way home.”

“Okay.”

All the guests who’d been milling about the first-floor rooms, waiting for the advent of the next generation of Irish royalty, were wondering what to do next.

“HEY EVERYBODY!” When I was sure I had the attention of all the party goers, I said, “The king and queen have a perfectly beautiful daughter named Rhiannon. And. I’m afraid the party’s over. Please make your way to the exit and commend your thanks to our host at another time.”

As I was heading toward the stairs, I thought I heard the phrase “dark princess”. Not liking the sound of that one bit, I turned around, sought out Esme, and pulled her aside. “What is this about a dark princess?”

“Dark princess?” When she looked at me, I saw understanding on her face and braced myself for some kind of bad news. “No. It’s not what you’re thinking, Rita. They’rereferring to the Solstice birth. It’s a sacred portent of things to come. From fae perspective, it’s not a bad thing. More like a prophecy. The good kind.”

“Oh.” Did this meanI was going to worry about my grandchild as much as I always had about Evie? I guess grandparenthood comes with downsides, too. “Alright.”

I climbed to the second story and found the band waiting.

“Well,” I told the conductor, “things didn’t go the way we’d planned, but look at it this way. You’ll still get paid.” With a glance at the other musicians, I said, “Pack up and head out.”

They didn’t need to be told twice. They’d done so many gigs that breaking down fast was second nature. Getting paid without working was like getting a bonus.

By the time I’d returned to the first level, I knew Maeve had arrived. There was a level of excitement, for good or bad, that followed her like a shadow.

After a big, fortifying breath, I returned to the drawing room. Maeve spared me a glance, but not a hello.

“I brought Riannon’s present with me,” she announced. After loosening the laces on the opulent tapestry bag she carried, the queen mum reached in and pulled out a teal blue egg the size of an American football. It had a high-gloss sheen that created an optical illusion, like a 3D effect. “If all goes well, someday this will be my granddaughter’s dragon.”

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