Two years later…
I was being shaken awake. Blinking in the darkness, a tiny cry ringing in my ears.
“Piper,” Zane murmured, “Wake up.” He was sitting on the edge of the bed, blue eyes sparkling through the shadows.
Exhaustion pulled at me. Sleep made my eyes heavy, and I was more tired than I imagined I would be. Being woken multiple times a night made my thoughts swirl muddily.
He slipped a hand onto my waist. “Your daughter is hungry.”
“Why is it she is my daughter when she is either wet or hungry, but your daughter when she is smiling or cooing?” I asked, my voice still muffled from sleep. Being a mother was hard work, sometimes harder than being the White Raven.
He chuckled lowly. “She’s perfect, isn’t she?”
I opened an eye and glanced at the clock. “At four in the morning? Adorable, I’ll give her that. When she sleeps through the night, that will be perfect.”
There wasn’t a more heartwarming sight than seeing Zane hold our petite daughter in his arms. She looked so fragile against his chest.
Arabella wrinkled her little nose, her tiny fists flailing in the air, and a sweet smile on her rosy lips. She had hair as dark as midnight and eyes as crystal clear as the ocean, just like her father.
Yeah, the middle of the night feedings were killer, but when she peered up at me as she did now, I would do it all a thousand times over.
She let out a cry that could have woken a small village. Our daughter might have gotten her stunning looks from her father, but she had the lungs of a banshee.
There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about the night we closed the veil, preventing an apocalypse in the making.
Life had resumed. The aftermath of what Heath had done was like a bloodstain. It had left its mark on all of us, and no matter how much you scrubbed, it was impossible to rid all of the remnants of that day from your mind.
But we had managed to pick up the pieces, putting order back into the world and among the reapers. We still had work to do, but anything worth fighting for took backbreaking labor.
Aunt Zoe and Uncle Parks had moved into the south wing of the manor shortly after. They still couldn’t keep their hands off on another. It was sickening…and really nice to see Parker so happy. It was all I had ever wanted for him.
Parker took to being a reaper like a duck to water. Who would have thought?
Zoe spoiled our daughter rotten, but then again, so did everyone, including Death. He was one proud big papa.
Zoe and Parker weren’t the only ones locking lips nowadays. Aspyn and Declan. After the battle, they had found solace and comfort in each other’s arms…or maybe it was more like in bed.
Aspyn needed someone like Declan in her life, to balance her wild side.
It was all about finding that perfect symmetry.
I sighed, pressing a soft kiss to the top of our daughter’s downy head. She was content to lie upon Zane’s chest, sucking on her fingers, at least for the moment. It would be only a matter of time before she exercised those lungs again.
From the moment Arabella was born, the council had a change of heart. They turned into a bunch of baby babbling softies, except for the divine. He didn’t have a heart.
I couldn’t blame the council for their acceptance of Arabella. She was charming and could thaw the iciest of hearts.
“She looks so peaceful like this, like a little princess.” Zane looked at me, his eyes all melty.
God, I loved them both, more than I loved coffee, and that was hardcore, because my love for vanilla lattes was just short of me attending caffeine anonymous meetings. “I thought I was your princess?” I said softly.
“You’re my queen,” he replied with a smirk.
THE END
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