Justin left Fireholt a few days later, with plans to return at the start of autumn, after the baby was born. It would not do to have an unrelated guest underfoot during the birth. Both Wisteria’s parents and Nikola’s planned to be about for that event, and likely for weeks afterwards. In fact, Justin’s intentions for the next visit were less ‘see his family’ and more ‘distract the in-laws so they do not stretch the patience of the new parents past the breaking point.’ It was unlikely to be the most enjoyable of trips, but if all he’d wanted from their relationship was pleasure he ought not have spoken the marriage vows. Justin had no expertise with nor interest in children, but he was a master at the fine art of managing adults, and there was little enough else he’d be able to do for his wife and husband.

The baby was born on the first day of autumn. News of the birth reached Justin the next day. A healthy little girl, exactly as the Blessed had said she’d be. They named her Astraia, after Nikola’s great grandmother. Justin felt they ought to have saved the name for Nikola’s natural daughter, but Nikola disagreed and he’d no other objections.

Justin set out for Fireholt as planned, with a stop in Brickwall on the way up to settle some matters of business. He arrived at Fireholt a day later, and so long after nightfall that he almost stopped at an inn instead of pressing on.

The local community was still celebrating the birth. As his carriage made its way through the countryside, they rolled past groups of drunk humans and catnipped greatcats. In the distance Justin heard cheers and whoops for the ‘new little Lady of Fireholt’, which thoroughly overstated the baby’s rank but was the sort of mistake that commoners, especially greatcats, were prone to make.

When he reached the Fireholt manor, Justin was surprised to see the first-floor windows still lit as if for a party. The muffled sounds of lively conversation were audible even from the drive. But when he stepped down from the carriage, the footman that greeted him informed him, “Lord Nikola is in the gazebo, m’lord, should you wish to see him before you go in.”

Justin dismissed his greatcats and bid his servants take in the luggage, then went around to the back of the manor. He followed the gaslit path that cut across the lawn to the stone-and-wicker gazebo.

As he approached, Justin saw Nikola seated on a padded bench inside the structure, a well-wrapped bundle cradled in his arms. The blond lord glanced up as Justin’s shadow fell across the entrance and smiled, but did not rise. “Glad you made it at last.” He beckoned with his chin. “Come, sit. I think the woman of the hour has finally gotten back to sleep.”

Justin stepped inside. “Good evening, Striker. What are you doing out here at this hour? And where’s her nurse?”

“I am hiding, and her nurse is trying to go back to sleep. As is Wisteria. Rae woke a half-hour ago and Wisteria was feeding her when I came in to check on them. Then Rae wouldn’t go back to sleep. I sent the nurse and Wisteria back to bed and took Rae outside because it was easier than getting the rest of the house to be quiet. Or sending them all outside. Tempting as that is at times. Besides, I wanted to see you when you arrived, and without a hundred other people around in the unlikely event such a thing was possible.” Nikola smiled up at Justin, who’d stopped at the enclosure’s center, coming no closer. “It’s all right, Comfrey. She won’t bite you. Also, she has no teeth, so even if she did it wouldn’t hurt. Come meet our daughter.”

Swallowing against a trepidation wholly unlike him, Justin crossed the gazebo’s polished stone floor and sat beside his husband.

Nikola tilted the infant slightly towards him. “Lord Justin Comfrey, allow me to introduce Lady Astraia Striker. Lady Astraia, this is your father, Lord Comfrey. You may coo at him if you wake up, but please don’t feel obliged to wake.” The babe yawned, her face scrunched up, and wriggled in Nikola’s arms. She waved one tiny fist and opened her eyes to blink at Justin. “Whoops. I think I woke her. Sorry, Rae.” Nikola kissed her forehead. “Do you want to hold her?”

Justin stared at the tiny creature. “No. No thank you.”

Astraia made a peculiar noise somewhere between a coo and a squawk, and Nikola laughed. “You won’t break her, Justin, I promise. Go on. Just hold one arm so your hand supports her head and – here—” The Haventure man slid the child into Justin’s arms. “There. See? Easy.”

Justin cradled her in both arms, still staring. She seemed impossibly small and fragile, a wrinkled little creature. She squirmed one hand loose and patted his arm with it. Her skin was the same golden-brown as his own – darker than either Nikola’s or Wisteria’s. Her wispy tufts of hair were straight and black, her eyes deep brown. Like his. Her tiny features were the same as every other baby’s tiny features, surely, but even her lips seemed narrow and her nose a little crooked – “Savior, Nikola,” Justin breathed out, horrified.

Nikola leaned into him, beaming down at the babe. “Isn’t she perfect?”

“Savior, no – she looks just like me. No one is ever going to believe this creature is your daughter.” Justin had known the babe could not take after Nikola, but he’d not been prepared for such a close resemblance to himself.

Nikola laughed. “Don’t be absurd. No one is going to suspect.”

“But – look at her! How could they not – we haven’t been discreet enough, the whole world knows how often I am in Wisteria’s company, Nikola—”

But Nikola only grinned at him. “No one could doubt, not after – wait, have you not yet heard? Weren’t you listening when I introduced you?”

“Hear what?”

“Lady Astraia, Justin. She has my Blessing. She’s a mind-healer!” He laughed again, putting an arm around Justin to hug both him and the babe.

“What?”

“I tested her myself during petitioning hours, just this morning! Mere formality, I thought, but no, not at all. I saw her cast out a demon. I was so surprised I had her heal two more petitioners to be sure. The Savior’s touch is upon her. Fireholt has an heir.”

“But – how – is she – how is that even possible? Is she yours in truth?” Justin’s grip slackened from shock. Astraia gave a little squawk in protest, and he shifted to hold her more snugly, gazing at an infant face that still seemed too much like his own.

Nikola shook his head. “She’s almost certainly from your seed, given the timing. Not to mention her looks, as you noted. I have no idea how it’s possible. But there she is. My perfect little miracle girl.” He reached across Justin to stroke her nose, and she bapped his finger with her tiny hand.

Justin couldn’t stop looking at the infant. Blessed. There were no Blessings in Wisteria’s line nor in his mother’s, and theology held that a bastard could not inherit a Blessing in any event. This simply wasn’t possible. Yet there she is. A hesitant smile crept onto his lips, until he chuckled himself, and shook his head. “A miracle indeed,” he said, and leaned back against his husband. “What’s one more impossibility, in a life so full of them?”