Page 204 of May: Bloom & Bane

That was… beautiful, Ashán, Sage notes, his golden fertility magic wrapping around the edges of my shadow.

“Goodnight, you three. Í amar thé.”

The morning light warms the floorboards before Eden’s feet ever touch them. She stretches, her belly arching toward the ceiling.

“Don’t,” she mumbles into Sage’s chest.

She’s awake, Sage says. He’s been awake for over an hour. He wakes up at dawn just so he can watch her wake up. I would mock him for it except⁠—

I counted her breaths all night, so…

She heaves herself upright with the grace of an overturned beetle.

“Ashán.”

“Hm?”

“Why is there a wall of shadow around the whole nest?”

“There is no wall. There’s a perimeter.”

“It’s up to the ceiling.”

“It’s a thorough perimeter.”

She reaches out and pokes one of the load-bearing shadow-ribs I spent hours perfecting. It holds, because it is excellent work.

“Rahnové. I got up to pee twice last night and walked face-first into your perimeter each time.”

“She did,” Sage confirms. “I felt her hit it. Twice.”

“That was a security checkpoint, and if she’d simply identified herself⁠—”

“I’m pregnant, not infiltrating our own house.”

“—then the checkpoint would have let her through. The checkpoint knows her. The checkpoint is me. I would never let her walk into a wall.”

“Ashán. I have a bruise on my forehead.”

“… The checkpoint is a work in progress.”

Eden lets out a long, dramatic sigh, but her eyes are sparkling with affection. She reaches out, her small fingers wrap around the thick shadow-rib and squeeze. The dark melts instantly under her touch, curling harmlessly around her wrist.

“See?” I huff at Sage. “The biometric recognition software is fully operational. She just failed to initialize it.”

“She shouldn’t have to initialize a password to pee in her own house, Ashán,” he grumbles back, pressing a lingering kiss against the faint pink mark on her brow.

“Rahnové,” Eden purrs, running her hand along my vorí. “Come here.”

I lean closer, and she presses her lips against ours.

“Are you listening?” she whispers.

“Yes. This is the way we should talk more often.”

“The next time you lock me out of the bathroom, I will pee on your shadow. Got it?”

Sage loses it. His laughter is so loud it vibrates through our teeth.