Page 34 of The Child of Rue Royale
Together we sobbed and surveyed him, the fear that he wasn’t human taking over, but everything looked perfect.
I wet my mouth to speak, my lips cracked and broken, my throat so dry I could hardly swallow. “He’s okay?”
“He’s perfect,” Chantal said, nodding, reassuring me.
“Does he have teeth?” I said through the delirium, and the midwife laughed and shook her head as she took him from my arms. “No teeth.”
Chantal blubbered as she cut the cord, something I had envisioned my mother doing, but now, it felt right.
My eyes closed just for a moment as I heard his cries, and my heart collapsed into a million folds. My child, my son. Bastian’s son. The son he always longed for, he was here.
“Here, Mama,” the nurse Teresa said, placing my swaddled baby in my arms, and Chantal took one picture after another, the tears onour faces shimmering in the dark room, and when he was on my skin, a bolt of electricity ran through my veins, a zap hitting my heart, taking the breath right out of me.
“Those are some eyes,” Teresa said, and I looked down to my baby, and what I saw looking back at me were two of the deepest green eyes I had ever seen.
“Is that normal?” I asked, panic ensuing as my eyes darted to Chantal’s.
“I’ve never seen any that green before, but it’s normal. They will most likely change.”
Two mirrors of Bastian’s eyes, but almost darker, and the realization of the life that we created humbled me in the most choking of ways. The miracle that he was consumed me, and I had never felt the ferocity of protection like I felt in that moment. I would kill for this child. I was a mother.
All those nights ago, when Bastian had joked about having a daughter and naming her Aventurine simply because it was what I called the color of his eyes. I had contemplated naming her that when I thought she was a girl. But in that moment, it all came to me so clearly, the boy I held in my arms with the deepest green eyes. His name was Aven. Aven Luc Wildes.
My eyes flit open after what feels like a short nap. Chantal is holding Aven, and my eyes adjust to Cassius sitting in the corner of the room, legs stretched out in front of him, his head back on the chair as if he’s sleeping. But once he hears the slightest change in my breathing, he stands and approaches me.
“Seems you did it,” he whispers, and my mouth splits into a grin, his hand filled with rings pressed against his chin.
“Seems I did,” I say, exhaustion hovering over my bones like a blanket. “Do you see anything worrisome? Vampiric?”
Crossing his arms over his wide chest, he tilts his head in contemplation, a tight grin on his face. “Nothing. I don’t feel him longing for blood. He looks so much like Bastian. How is that possible? A baby that looks like every other baby, looks just like his father?”
“You think so?” I bite my lip, my heart racing with all the realities blooming in my life. I had Bastian’s son. We meet each other’s gaze and both say, “The eyes.”
Chantal rocks between us, holding Aven up to Cassius. “You ready yet?”
A look of longing overcomes Cassius, and he shakes his head, clearing his throat. “Maybe when he’s not so fragile. I’ve never held an infant in my entire life.” He reaches up to wipe a red tear from his cheek, one I didn’t notice had sprung loose.
“You are being transferred home tomorrow evening,” he says to change the subject. “It will be dark enough for him to be transported, and then we’ll take it each day at a time…figuring out if he can withstand the sun.”
Fear emerges like a spike to my chest, but the baby fusses, and my eyes go to Chantal.
“He hears mommy,” she says, walking toward me like a professional baby handler.
“Cassius. I’m going to need some of Aven’s blood. Just a drop. I know they do blood tests here. Is there any way—”
His eyes look around the room, and he raises a hand to stop me. “Say no more. I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks.”
“We will figure this all out together.” Cassius nods and turns toward the door. “I’ll meet you at the house.”
And just before he walks out, he turns and says, “Oh, and Aster.” I look up to him, Aven’s body fitting perfectly in my arms. “Great name.”
WE’RE TRANSFERRED HOME ONCE THEsun sets, all arranged by Cassius. I walk into the house just as the buzzer for the dryer goes off.
“Hello?” Chantal calls out.
“In here,” Cassius responds from Bastian’s room. I slowly make my way down the hall until I see Cassius on the floor, eyes alight until they reach mine. He jumps up quickly, and I realize he’s not alone.
